...the mere mention of the name still inspires awe.
It shook Irish radio to its very foundations, changing the way programmers and listeners viewed the medium. Despite breathing its last link (in its original form) in March 1986, its influence is all around us still.

IN THE BEGINNING there were two men. The year was 1980 and they had seen BBC news coverage of the blossoming pirate scene in Ireland. Spotting an opportunity, they headed to Dublin and set the wheels in motion. The sinking of Radio Caroline's ship left them with time on their hands - but in this instance, that was far from dangerous. Folklore tells many different tales from this point on, however Chris Cary (pic) and Robbie Dale founded Sunshine Radio in 1980. Cary decided - for whatever reason - that it wasn't for him and put new wheels in motion.

IN JUNE 1981, on the vastly underused FM band, a strong, slick test signal appeared, and by the start of July, Radio Nova was in full swing. Sunshine Radio had planned on using 88FM so that anybody switching their radios between the 531 signal on MW and 88FM wouldn't have to 'change that dial' so to speak. So was it a coincidence that Nova turned up there? Probably not knowing Cary's business mind.


BY THE END OF 1981, Dublin city had fallen in love with Nova's 'clutter-free' signal and output. By the summer of 1982, RTÉ - who in response to the pop pirates had launched RTÉ Radio 2 in 1979 - were so frustrated at dwindling listenership and advertising revenues that they jammed Nova's signal.


OUT OF THE BLUE in 1983, a government raid went one better than RTÉ and silenced Nova altogether. They returned next day to close properly and their 6pm closedown on May 19th 1983 will live long in the memory of anyone in the city that day, or listening to the strong MW signal around Ireland and in many parts of the UK. The shockwaves spread around the country's hundreds of pirate stations, most of whom closed in fear of losing their equipment. Incredibly, using borrowed equipment, Nova were back on air by the weekend!

The Great Irish Radio Experiment: This full page colour (rare enough at the time) ad appeared on billboards, with this scan taken from the Sunday World of 26th June 1983 - click to get a better view of the faces, all named in the side panel...

SHIFTS IN PROGRAMMING and well-documented public rows between Cary and some of his team, particularly the news-staff, saw Nova slowly go downhill and by March 1986, Cary decided to pull the plug.


This is the final hour, as it went out on 738kHz AM, leading to 6pm on March 19th 1986.

Hot Press newspiece February 1984. "Radio Nova laid off fifteen members of it's staff last Friday..." This piece relates to the RTÉ jamming of the station.

ZOOM 103, with the same dj line-up but without 'The Boss', started instantly where Nova left off.

CARY WAS NEVER one to lay idle, and in mid-November 1987 a signal appeared in Dublin on 99.9MHz playing only cd music by the name of Radio Nova! Cary was back! On the 18th November, Radio Nova, the CD version started.
The old crew had made a success of Zoom in the form of Energy Power 103 FM (the name changed shortly after launch) and in a matter of days, they jumped between the sheets one more time with Nova and Energy joining forces. There was a slight schedule revamp, but Nova Power 103FM lasted only a few weeks.

BACK HOME in Britain, Cary (as always, so far ahead of the posse) got into the infant satellite decoder and smartcard business and bought airtime on two of the audio subcarriers of a very popular film channel and in May 1988 launched Radio Nova - The Power FM. There were never going to be enough listeners due to the expensive outlay required for equipment, but with an FM relay provided by Cary from Three Rock in Dublin, and a growing list of stations around the British Isles carrying Nova's Night Network, the 'way ahead of its time' pan-European radio channel stood a good chance, but it was never to be.




Radio Nova's news and presentation team read like a who's-who of the legal radio scene today. They worked with the best. They trained with the best. Radio Nova is all around us. It never really went away.