Radio ABC 94 FM

Dublin’s ABC94 FM’s was founded by Paul Barrett and first began broadcasting on 25thSeptember, 1995 using a low powered transmitter and with pre-recorded programmeson 94.2 and 88 FM. The station operated from an office block in Dublin’scity centre and it wasn’t long before live programmes were introduced andthe station’s transmitter power was increased. Eventually we shut downour 88 FM frequency and moved our main transmitter to 94.3 FM.

ABC’s formatwas mainly to play pop music with a high content of oldies which very fewother stations were doing. We also broadcast other types of music in the evenings, including rock, reggae, jazz, traditional and Irish music,dance, indie and classical to name but a few.

Another departurefor the station was the outside broadcasts that it undertook - the firstbeing our 1st Birthday Party which was broadcast from The Temple Bar onDorset Street, where we gave away two holidays and many other prizes. Wewere absolutely astonished at the number of people that turned up on thenight, especially as it was held on a Monday!! We also did many other O.B.sincluding several months of “Friday Night Live” from The Fleet Barin Fleet Street. As well as this we also had roving reporters at the St.Patrick’s Day Parade and in various shopping centres in the run up to Christmas- we even got and interview with Santa Claus!!

Over the yearswe extended our broadcasting hours and at one point had live programmingfrom 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. 7 days a week. On Sundays our programmes wererelayed on shortwave and we received reception reports from the U.K. Franceand as far away as Germany.

We also operateda full-time sister station to ABC for a time on 93.8 FM. The station wasKISS FM and was on air from midnight until 6 p.m. and played dance andchart music. After 6 p.m. G.L.R. (Gay Lesbian Radio) shared the 93.8 frequency.

In December1999 that station ceased live programmes and after an absence of a fewmonths ABC returned with an automated service and occasional liveprogrammes. We also operated a second automated service on 87.6 FM - BeatFM which played dance and chart music during the week and at the weekendson the same frequency we operated Gold FM which played non-stop 60’s music.

Dublin’s ABC94 FM continued until January 2001 when it finally closed and for several months relayed programmes from Premier 92.6 FM on 94.3 mhz. InAugust 2001 our 94.3 FM transmitter was shut down for the last time. Sincethen we have carried out low powered tests on both FM and shortwave butwhether ABC returns to the air full-time remains to be seen.

We have notmentioned any of the station’s DJs by name because there must have beenat least 200 people who have passed through the station during its sixyears on air - so we could not possibly mention names without leaving somebodyout! Many friendships were formed (and broken) by the people involved inthe station and we say a big THANK YOU to all those who helped on air andbehind the scenes to make Dublin’s ABC 94FM as popular as it was and forgiving so many people so many good memories.