| Atlantic 252 (defunct) | |
| Broadcast area | Republic of Ireland (official) Britain and Ireland (de facto) |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 252 kHz (initially 254 KHz) with 500 Kw (100kw nighttime) power |
| First air date | September 1, 1989 |
| Format | Contemporary |
| Owner | Radio Tara Ltd (RTÉ/RTL) |
Atlantic 252 was a long wave radio station broadcasting to Ireland and Britain on 252 kHz (1190. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Frequency is a measure of the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit Time. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) This article is about Broadcast radio, for other uses see Radio (disambiguation. The longwave Radio band is a range of frequencies used for AM broadcasting, which extends from 148 Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. 4 metres), which provided service from 1989 until 2002. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International
The frequency was re-subsumed by RTÉ in 2002 to provide a version of RTÉ Radio 1 to the expatriate community in Britain. RTÉ Radio 1 ( Irish: RTÉ Raidió 1) is the principal radio channel of Irish An expatriate (in abbreviated form expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing
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Early history
The concept of Atlantic 252 can be traced back as far as August 1986 when Irish state broadcaster RTÉ announced it was to use their allocated longwave channel for a new pop music station. The longwave Radio band is a range of frequencies used for AM broadcasting, which extends from 148 They teamed up with Radio Luxembourg to form Radio Tara - the trading name of Atlantic 252, which being long wave would enable reception in Britain as well as Ireland. Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This was following Chris Cary's test transmissions from Clogher Head, County Louth in the mid 1980s with 254 kHz Longwave as "Radio Exidy"
In 1987 RTÉ commenced building a giant 3-sided 248 metre broadcast mast in Clarkestown, County Meath using a specially built pair of both air and water cooled 300 kilowatt solid state transmitters (which could be combined to give double power) built by Varian Associates, Texas despite protests from local residents. See also Clogher (disambiguation Clogherhead (Ceann Chlochair is a fishing village in County Louth, on the east coast of County Louth (Contae Lú is a County on the East coast of Ireland, on the border with Northern Ireland. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International The longwave transmitter Clarkestown is a Longwave Transmitter near Clarkestown County Meath, Ireland (see here for pictures County Meath (Contae na Mí is a county in Ireland, often informally called The Royal County Studios were set up in Mornington House, in the nearby town of Trim. Trim ( is the traditional County town of County Meath in Ireland, although the county town is now Navan. The station cost £6m to set up. Just over 47m people were in the station's broadcast area.
At 8am on September 1, 1989, Gary King announced on Atlantic 252, "Mine is the first voice you will ever hear on Atlantic 252. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) Gary King (born Stevenage, England, August 4 1963) is a British radio presenter who has worked for most of the country's best-known stations " This was followed by a specially produced pre-recorded introduction tape which introduced everybody employed by the radio station on its launch day from engineers, administration, management like Travis Baxter and John Catlett and the station's personality music presenter lineup including ex-Laser 558 presenter Charlie Wolf, MaryEllen O'Brien, Andrew Turner, Nicky Schiller, Henry Owens, Al Dunne, Tony West, Jeff Graham, and even an appearance was made by Rosalyn Reilly - who was to remain the station's cleaning lady for its entire twelve year history. Laser 558 was a popular European offshore Pirate radio station (others include Radio Caroline, Radio Noordzee and Swinging Radio England Charlie Wolf (born 12 April 1959) is a British -based Radio talk-show host Disc jockey and Neoconservative commentator The first record ever played on Atlantic 252's test transmission was "Ain't Nobody" by Rufus and Chaka Khan ('89 Remix) and the station's official "first record ever played" was "Sowing The Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears shortly after 08:00 local time on 1 September, 1989. Chaka Khan (born March 23, 1953) is a multiple Grammy Award -winning American singer known for hit songs such as "I'm Every Woman" "I Feel Tears for Fears (sometimes informally abbreviated to TFF are The second record played was "Monkey" by George Michael[1]. Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Γεώργιος Κυριάκος Παναγιώτου (born 25 June 1963 best known as George Michael, is a two-time Grammy Award winning
Although the transmitter was in the Republic of Ireland, the signal's reach meant that it was often considered to be a "UK" national station - the signal had even been received in Brazil at night-time, with other reception reports from such locations as Berlin, Finland, Ibiza, and Moscow. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Ibiza (Eivissa is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea about 80 km off the coast of Spain Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The Scottish musician Mylo has claimed it was the only station with listenable reception on the Isle of Skye. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a Mylo (born Myles MacInnes in 1973 on Isle of Skye) is a Scottish electronic Musician. Skye or the Isle of Skye ( Scottish Gaelic An t-Eilean Sgitheanach əɲ tʰʲelan s̪kʲiə At launch there were no UK-wide commercial stations (the first being "Classic FM" in 1992), and the lack of a UK broadcast licence attracted the attention of the IBA. Classic FM is one of the United Kingdom 's three Independent National Radio stations broadcasting classical music in a popular and accessible style The Independent Broadcasting Authority ( IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial Television ( ITV and Although the transmitters were theoretically capable of being combiled to operate at 600 Kilowatts output power International agreements limited the stations power to a maximum daytime output of 500 kW or 100 kW at night. The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 (GE75 is the internationally agreed frequency plan which was drawn up to implement the provisions of the Final Acts of the Regional Administrative LF/MF
Mid-1990s peak
Initially, the station transmitted only from 06:00 until 19:00, outside of which listeners were invited to tune to Radio Luxembourg. In 1990 the station began broadcasting until 02:00, and eventually by September 1991, a 24 hour service with the overnight automated slot called "The Big Mattress". The music format consisted of high-rotation mainstream pop and rock music, with influences borrowed heavily from American Radio, and through to 1993, the station was known to play much of the music mostly from the top part of the US charts. The station mixed the best songs from the last few years along with the best songs from the top 40 - this was called "Today's Best Music Variety" and you got it every time you hit the LW or Longwave button on your radio and tuned to 252. Commercial Radio and the BBC initially objected to the station, seeing it as a commercial pirate. Independent Local Radio The term pirate radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmissions However, as UK commercial radio developed and deregulation saw many more stations launching, formats similar to Atlantic's began to appear on FM offering superior audio quality. Atlantic 252's audience began the inevitable decline. Attempts at repositioning followed, including "Real Music, Real Radio", when the station attempted to tackle BBC Radio 1's "new music" format. At the peak of its popularity in the mid-1990s, Atlantic 252 had in excess of four million listeners, but vastly increased competition from local radio stations with similar formats and superior FM audio quality, as well as the renaissance of BBC Radio 1 and the repositioning of BBC Radio 2, saw this take a dive below one million by 2000.
Decline in popularity
During the 1980s and 1990s Long wave suffered a gradual decline in listenership, partially because of the reduction of signal quality and also due to more choice on higher quality platforms. The longwave Radio band is a range of frequencies used for AM broadcasting, which extends from 148 In late 1998 under the direction of David Dunne the station responded by shifting its format to concentrate on indie and other dance music, but continued to lose listeners. David Dunne is a UK Club DJ & Radio presenter. Career David Dunne has previously held the position of Programme Controller at Atlantic 252 In 1999 the station suffered its lowest Rajar ratings since the station first came on the air with the audience falling to just under 1 million listeners in Q. 4. '99. Then in November 1999 with the arrival of John O'Hara as the new Managing Director the station found a new focus and re-launched in February 2000 as "The New Atlantic 252" The format was Rhythmic CHR and the station was repositioned as "Nonstop Rhythm and Dance" The station played 12 songs in a row and featured Tony and Becky at Brekkie plus a brand new website at www. atlantic252. com. There was over £1million pounds spent on rebranding and marketing the station to a new audience and media buyers. However, although the station did see a rise in audience again back to around 2 million listeners during 2000 and 2001, the writing was on the wall when the sale of the station was announced in early 2001 by its owners RTÉ and CLT. The very last show on Atlantic was presented by Enda Caldwell on Thursday December 20, 2001, This was followed by a Tribute show produced by Enda Caldwell and Eric Murphy celebrating the station's 12 year history of broadcasting and featuring classic airchecks of each year of Atlantic 252's history then the station went into automation and continued broadcasting music without continuity and just commercials that had been booked for the month of January 2002 for about two to three weeks afterwards until the carrier fell dead and the music stopped playing. Enda Caldwell (born in Dublin on March 28, 1975) is an Irish Radio Presenter from Kilberry, Navan, County Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Enda Caldwell (born in Dublin on March 28, 1975) is an Irish Radio Presenter from Kilberry, Navan, County Eric "E" Murphy is a character on the Dramedy Television series Entourage.
Replacements
It was briefly replaced by a sports station, TeamTalk 252, which opened in the early days of January 2002. TEAMtalk 252 was a short-lived UK national commercial sports Radio station, based partially in the Republic of Ireland and partially in Leeds in This faced competition from BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT, and was itself closed in the summer of 2002, just a few months after its launch. talkSPORT is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters offering a commercial sports and talk radio service from London Summer is one of the four Temperate Seasons Summer marks the warmest time of year with the longest days The frequency is now used by RTÉ Radio 1. RTÉ Radio 1 ( Irish: RTÉ Raidió 1) is the principal radio channel of Irish DRM Tests have been heard on this 252 kHz frequency since 2007. Mornington House is now regional offices for Meath County Council. The Partypig was last spotted in Cabaret on Blackpool Pier along with Bobby Davro and Les Dennis.
Presenters
The presenters that worked at Atlantic 252 were what made the station so popular and different. The funny names idea originated in the USA at stations like WHTZ FM Z100. WHTZ, also known as Z100, is a Radio station that serves New York City metropolitan area, broadcasting on the FM band at a Frequency Many of the original presenter line-up came from Laser 558/UK Commercial Radio and BBC Radio One. Laser 558 was a popular European offshore Pirate radio station (others include Radio Caroline, Radio Noordzee and Swinging Radio England The Irish presenters on the air came from Dublin Superpirates like Sunshine 101 and SuperQ 102. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland.
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On-air identity
Station straplines included:
"The Best Music"
"Today's Best Music Variety"
"Today's Best Music Mix"
"The Big Mix Of Today's Hits"
"Today's Hits Nonstop"
"Real Music, Real Radio"
"Nonstop Rhythm and Dance"
Other frequently used phrases on the station were:
"we've got another Long Wave of nonstop hits on the way"
"this is the radio station with a wavelength all of its own"
The station had a sung jingle package called "Euro-Power". Simon Bates (born Birmingham, 17 December 1947) is best known for being a Disc jockey in the UK and New Zealand. Rick O'Shea Paul Crossan ( Real Name Paul Crossan')(born May 7 1973) is an Irish Radio Personality "Nice Guy Eddie" is a song by English Britpop band Sleeper, written by the band's vocalist and David Dunne is a UK Club DJ & Radio presenter. Career David Dunne has previously held the position of Programme Controller at Atlantic 252 Eddy Temple-Morris is a DJ, Record producer and TV Presenter. Chris Coco (AKA Chris Mellor is a club/radio DJ producer and music critic Mark Ovenden (born 20 June 1963 London UK is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subject of Graphic design, Cartography and Architecture The youngest of three sons Roy born in 1960 Derek 1963 a lost beloved sister in 1967 to the birth of Michael Gregory Joseph Wayne Parke Tony Wrighton is a Radio and Television broadcaster in the United Kingdom. Becky Chippindale is a UK broadcaster and author She was formerly co-presenter of the breakfast show on Atlantic 252. Enda Caldwell (born in Dublin on March 28, 1975) is an Irish Radio Presenter from Kilberry, Navan, County A presenter, or host (sometimes hostess, in feminine form is a Person or Organization responsible for running an event Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. A jingle is a memorable Slogan, set to an engaging Melody, mainly broadcast on Radio and sometimes on Television commercials.
The last station jingle package was a re-sing of the WKTU New York 1997 package.
Station voices included: Larry Thompson (first station imaging voice), Gary Gears, Bumper Morgan, Henry Owens, Merkle,Bill Cunningham (aka Wild Bill), Olga Kinsman (Whisper), Paul Bacon, David Kaye, Eddie Temple-Morris, Claire Sturgess (who was produced by Cameron Prudames & Eric Murphy) and Clara Lane (last station imaging voice). David V Hope (born 14 October 1964) known professionally as David Kaye, is a Canadian Actor who is better recognized for his Claire Sturgess is a British Disc jockey and voiceover artist
External links
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