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Posted by Mike My name is Mike McPartland and although I was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, I now live in Toronto Canada. I have been here for 16 years. I was the biggest pirate radio fan in Ireland in the 1970's/80's. I just found your website and I have been living in a time warp all weekend listening to clips from various stations via your website. However I was disappointed to listen to Nova's closedown audio. It ended abruptly after about 6 minutes although the actual clip is 14 minutes long. I remember that day in May '83 as if it were yesterday. I was 23 years old and I was sitting at home in Drimnagh in Dublin, off from work, nursing a sprained ankle and listening to Nova. I recorded the last hour or so of the closedown with John Clarke on air, followed by Tony Allan. I have lost the tape since then, so I was looking forward to hearing some of it again when I discovered your website. But as I say, it ended after 6 minutes!!!!! Boo hoo!!! Can this be rectified? I hope so. I remember so much of the radio scene from that time. I remember the big 5000pound giveaway. I remember it chewing up the phone lines. I was listening to Nova and it went right down to the afternoon of the last day of the giveaway period when they finally played the three songs in the right order. I remember trying to call in and I remember a girl from Churchtown in Dublin winning the prize. It was electrifying! It was magic! It was fantastic!! It was my youth! I vaguely remember George Long on Nova, but I think you were towards the end of Nova's life, if I am not mistaken. Nova was kinda fizzling out after 1984 or so, for me anyway. So a lot of the atmosphere had evaporated, at least in my mind. The fact that I was progressing further into my twenties might have had something to do with it, but I kinda doubt it. Radio really did have a special feeling around the late 70's and early 80's. One of my biggest regrets in life is having never gone over to Inchicore in 1977 when I was 17, to hang out around Radio Dublin. I have heard of so many people who are now household names in IRL, who did just that. They eventually got on air, and started a career that has them on radio and TV and made them quite wealthy too. John Clarke, Marty Hall (Whelan), Declan Matthews(Meehan), Ian Dempsey, Aiden J(Cooney) who I later became friends with, Gerry Ryan, Greg Gaughran, etc, etc. I remember their first days on the air. I was almost obsessed with radio, and with who was behind the scenes and orchestrating the whole thing. It was my youth! I loved radio. I still do. I love Toronto radio now too although it doesn't have the magic that the pirates had in the late 70's/early 80's IRL. But even still, I am more interested in the quality of the voice of the jock on air than in the music he is playing. As I used to say in the 80’s, any idiot can go on air and play records, but to do it right takes a professional voice and professional approach. That’s why Nova was so good. Thanks to your website you have made me homesick. That is NOT a good thing! I returned to IRL for good in 2000 only to discover that the country had gone through almost a revolution and a huge turn-around in the 90's and is nothing like the country it was in the 70's and 80's. I was so out of place and so disillusioned with the IRL of the 21st century, that I returned to Canada after 8 months and I will probably never return to IRL again. Apparently quite a few people have done the same thing. It is known in North America as the $50,000 mistake. That, plus some family arguments, have made IRL a not-so-inviting place for me. So your web site is reminding me of how good it was back then, and almost rubbing my nose in the fact that it is not like that now!!!!! Anyway, keep up the good work, and please try to get the entire Nova closedown audio sorted out. I just l-o-v-e this kind of thing. Thanks for the memories…… …..Mike…..
on January 11, 2005, 13:08:14
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