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Sad news of the passing of Admiral Robbie Dale (aka Robbie Robinson) of Radio Caroline and later Sunshine 101 fame.
RIP
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Robbie Dale (Sunshine 101 Founder) RIP
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Re: Robbie Dale (Sunshine 101 Founder) RIP
I was sorry to hear last week of the death of Robbie Robinson, aka Robbie Dale. He was one of the pioneers of the superpirate era in Ireland. In fact, his station Sunshine Radio was the first superpirate. Chris Cary, better known for superpirate Radio Nova, was involved with Sunshine's launch, but it was always Robbie's baby.
In the first year or two, the emphasis was on its medium wave transmitter, which had a mighty powerful signal. I seem to remember in the early 1980s that if you switched from RTE Radio 1 on FM (or VHF as it was known then!) to Medium Wave on a portable or home radio you got Sunshine Radio! I am not 100% about that - it could have been switching from RTE Radio 1 on MW to Radio Nova on FM a year later!
After the arrival of Radio Nova, which was Sunshine Radio's first serious competition, Sunshine Radio began to pay more attention to an FM transmitter. Eventually, some years later the station name was changed to Sunshine 101. Sunshine always had more of a community feel to it than its other superpirate rivals, and of course it lasted longer than any of the other superpirate players in Dublin. This was a testament to Robbie Robinson's commitment to Sunshine.
Robbie, like a number of English players in the Irish pirate scene in the early 1980s, especially the superpirates, had done his time in the offshore pirate scene - Radio Caroline in his case. Aside: there were some who did it back to front, i.e. came to the superpirates first, particularly Radio Nova, and then went to the offshore pirates! I think that was after they had heard about the scene here.
Anyway, he managed a very professional operation even if the studio was a portacabin in the grounds of a hotel (Sands Hotel, Portnarnock)!. Tomangos Disco in the Sands Hotel did not have to look too far for deejays! Robbie gave a lot of Irish deejays their first break in a large pirate (and probably first official pay packet for radio too!), having previously been with smaller pirates. People who came from smaller pirates included: Greg Gaughran, Aidan Cooney, David Dennehy, David Lyons, Jim Kenny, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Vincent, Paul Bradley, Tony Dixon, Tony Fenton, Declan Meehan (RTE Radio 2 in between!) and Martin King. There were a few who transferred from Radio Nova: Gareth O'Callaghan and Ernie Gallagher. Gareth decided to get involved with the relaunched Radio Caroline. No doubt his boss Robbie gave him some good advice there!
Sunshine Radio was where I first actually heard the following presenters: Robbie Dale (the man himself), David Dennehy, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Bradley, Tony Fenton, Martin King, Justin McKenna, Cathy Cregan, Tom Hardy (one of the people who came from the offshore pirates) and Pat Courtenay.
Steve Conway gave Robbie a mention in his book about his own later experiences with Radio Caroline - Shiprocked. Steve rang Robbie at Sunshine Radio, who gave him some help by agreeing to play along with Steve's and others ruse that they were buying radio equipment in the UK for Sunshine - the English authorities did not care about foreign pirates!
RIP Robbie Robinson.
In the first year or two, the emphasis was on its medium wave transmitter, which had a mighty powerful signal. I seem to remember in the early 1980s that if you switched from RTE Radio 1 on FM (or VHF as it was known then!) to Medium Wave on a portable or home radio you got Sunshine Radio! I am not 100% about that - it could have been switching from RTE Radio 1 on MW to Radio Nova on FM a year later!
After the arrival of Radio Nova, which was Sunshine Radio's first serious competition, Sunshine Radio began to pay more attention to an FM transmitter. Eventually, some years later the station name was changed to Sunshine 101. Sunshine always had more of a community feel to it than its other superpirate rivals, and of course it lasted longer than any of the other superpirate players in Dublin. This was a testament to Robbie Robinson's commitment to Sunshine.
Robbie, like a number of English players in the Irish pirate scene in the early 1980s, especially the superpirates, had done his time in the offshore pirate scene - Radio Caroline in his case. Aside: there were some who did it back to front, i.e. came to the superpirates first, particularly Radio Nova, and then went to the offshore pirates! I think that was after they had heard about the scene here.
Anyway, he managed a very professional operation even if the studio was a portacabin in the grounds of a hotel (Sands Hotel, Portnarnock)!. Tomangos Disco in the Sands Hotel did not have to look too far for deejays! Robbie gave a lot of Irish deejays their first break in a large pirate (and probably first official pay packet for radio too!), having previously been with smaller pirates. People who came from smaller pirates included: Greg Gaughran, Aidan Cooney, David Dennehy, David Lyons, Jim Kenny, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Vincent, Paul Bradley, Tony Dixon, Tony Fenton, Declan Meehan (RTE Radio 2 in between!) and Martin King. There were a few who transferred from Radio Nova: Gareth O'Callaghan and Ernie Gallagher. Gareth decided to get involved with the relaunched Radio Caroline. No doubt his boss Robbie gave him some good advice there!
Sunshine Radio was where I first actually heard the following presenters: Robbie Dale (the man himself), David Dennehy, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Bradley, Tony Fenton, Martin King, Justin McKenna, Cathy Cregan, Tom Hardy (one of the people who came from the offshore pirates) and Pat Courtenay.
Steve Conway gave Robbie a mention in his book about his own later experiences with Radio Caroline - Shiprocked. Steve rang Robbie at Sunshine Radio, who gave him some help by agreeing to play along with Steve's and others ruse that they were buying radio equipment in the UK for Sunshine - the English authorities did not care about foreign pirates!
RIP Robbie Robinson.