The "Kiss FM (Wexford)" thread

[Dogger]

Heard the station was raided this morning... anyone from Kiss have the details? They're off-air anyway.

[Mike]

Leigh was informed by the ODTR that they had received complaints from legal stations: "I was told that it wasn't because of interference"

This has to be the first admission by an ODTR or DTI official that interference WASNT the reason for a raid !

Oh wait didnt they admit that with Radio Milinda (1972) as well ?

[pa transistor]

Any one know how long it takes to get your gear back after a raid or what exactly are the ins and outs of these types of situations:confused:

[xt2]

Your best bet is to call Niall McCaughey from the ODTR on (01) 8049600 tomorrow morning. Know doubt he is one of the people from the ODTR who came out to you. You were probably handed a copy of the broadcasting act and his business card if it was him.

As far as I know, don't quote me on this, but I think they just take the gear and you never see it again.

Sorry to hear about it.

[Mike]

Unless they take you to court OR TOU take THEM to court and the judge orders them to give it back.

Unless youre succesfully prosecuted wihn two years theyre supposed to give it back and pay compensation

[kiss FM]

Yes it was Niall McCaughey who came, along with four others and 2 gardai.
During the whole thing they were all very pleasant and courtious.
They arrived in a black VW Transporter minibus with blacked out
windows. I opened the door and met Niall himself with a search
warrant. He told me that at the
end of the day it was my property and I was entitled to have it back.
The raid was brought on by a complaint from a school teacher, so I was told,
and not because of any interference. They even took my laptop which I use
to gig at the weekends and it had nothing to do with the running of the station.
Now I have to go about looking for something to get me by so I can make
a living.

They also took:

2 PCs & all cables, keyboards and 2 mouse,
Numark MP3 controller,
Dell flatscreen moniters,
LG 17" plasma flatscreen TV/moniter
Berhinger DX1000 Studio mixer,
Berhinger BC1 condensor mike,
Berhinger Shark mike processor,
Sennheiser Mike stand!! and mike cable,
Philips twin deck CD player/recorder,
2 sony minidisc players,
Sennheiser Headphones,
Orban Optimod 8100a,
RDS encoder,
Link TX,
Link RX,
250watt main rig,
Nokia 5110 and data cable,
All the power supply units for anything that needed one(even the nokia),
All Audio cables.

They left the telephone and some cds, How nice!

They videotaped the whole thing too! I requested a copy of the tape (for annorack purposes)
but they would'nt give it to me for fear it would appear on radiowaves! as if!! ;)

[Dogger]

ROFL about the video, but holy crap, they even took mobile chargers! Bit over the top. And that's some dosh you've got invested there, too. Must hurt.

[Mike]

If you REALLY want a copy of that video tape.

1) Try putting in a claim under the data protection or freedom of information acts
2) If they prosecute you your soliciter can demand a copy off them for defence evidence
3) Failing that bring some legal action (even if you havent a leg to stand on) against the ODTR and get your soliciter to demand it as a court exhibit.

Once you get your hands on knock off a thousand copies (remember its very quick easy and cheap to make VCD copies) and flog them on radiowaves for €10 each to pay your legal bills

Complaint by a school teacher ? was it over alleged libel (Most of us in the radio business know that phone-in requests which mention schoolteachers by name should never be read out on air unless one is 1000% sure that theyre bone fide) or just some narky anal retentitive twat looking for something to complain about ?

[021]

God, can they not have left this station alone at least until the new regional youth station came on air? thats still several months away.
I was in that area a couple of months ago and Kiss was very popular. Big financial loss with all that gear taken.
re. prosecutions I understand certain people in Limerick will be before the courts in a few weeks time (this court case should have happened already but was put back).

[pa transistor]

does it seriously take 2 years to get the stuff back. Also is there any way of finding out if a prosecution will follow.
Apart from being fined 20 odd grand (which to the best of my knowledge has never been enforced) what would be typical of the kind of fines stations have faced in the past.
This always seems to be a bit of a hazy area. Any one got THE FACTS! Wasent Kic FM in Dublin in a similar situation?

[16.db]

Kick fm where warned many many times when their main transmitter was taken they set up another one at their studio
site the problem was they were causing intereference with
shannonside radio to the best of mky knowledge it was only
tx 's that were taken . The owner of the studio site was fined
2000 pounds not sure if they paid.
Your case is very rare you must of sounded very pro maybe too
pro and taking too many listeners of the legal stations
some one really got the hump
sorry to hear abouit your situation.

[Tabasco]

I'm told by a reliable source that the local Wexford station were NOT behind this raid.

Isn't the junior minister for communications a Wexford TD? Maybe that teacher knew someone...

[kiss FM]

Hi Tabasco,

I dont think that SER were behind the raid because I honestly dont think that I was doing any damage to their listenership figures and it certainly was'nt my intention. Despite what people may think I dont actually have any gripe with the people at South East, In fact I owe gratitude to Clive for giving me a chance all those years ago, even though it did'nt all go like I would have wanted it to. However I was young and silly in those days and things did'nt go too well and for the record, not that it matters now, certain things to which I was accused of, I actually had no part of, but there's no point in talking about it now!

By the nature of the raid it seemed the ODTR really wanted to make an example of Kiss. They made sure that we were totally wiped off the air with nothing left but a telephone and some CDs. Some before and after pics of the studio can be seen in the Wexford People Newspaper this week.

Finally to Radiofreak, some airchecks lying around, I'll have a look. Unfortunatly most stuff was on MP3 and "THEY" have all the computers.

Regards,

Leigh.

[NTSC]

Did this raid come 'out of the blue' , or were there already approaches/warnings made to kiss from the 0DTR??

[kiss FM]

Out of the blue. They claim I was warned back in 98 when kiss was on air before but all that happened was a nice fella (who I have learned is dead now) came down to be, looked at the setup and we had an annoracking session.

So, yeah, out of the blue!

[The President]

The schoolteacher story sounds a bit shakey, it would appear that in some of the more recent raids some of the stations have not been closed because of the unlicensed broadcast aspect but because of a complaint of another nature, I have seen it happen in the past and it takes a lot of time and effort to put together a raid purely on unlicensed broadcast grounds, a much quicker approach is to claim slander or criminal damage against the station in question and hey presto, bye bye equipment. I`m not sure whether this approach has been adopted by the ODTR, I would imagine not. Securing a raid would appear to be as simple as having someone make a statement to the gardai even if it is fabricated and low and behold you`re raided on a totally different issue altogether. As for getting it back, they have up to 12 mnths to file for a prosecution against any individual that they feel responsible for the particular crime and the equipment can then be held for a further 6 mnths once a case has been filed with the courts. If no prosecution is secured, then you have been found guilty of no crime and so legally the equipment should be returned to it`s rightful owner or very good reason given in writing as to why it has not... That`s my clear understanding of the matter.

Ps. Sorry `bout the bad news Kiss, The world just gets more bland and boring by the day. Niall, smile and be proud of your legacy.

[NTSC]

Why was Kiss Wexford unfairly treated??
For a start hardly a week goes by without someone in Dublin going on a daft frequency, yet there are very few raids (as in seizures) there. There is no information that Kiss were causing interference.
And the few people in Dublin who were raided (Kic FM ) did get plenty of warning, unlike Kiss Wexford.
Had Kiss's raid something to do with the forthcoming regional station Beat FM???
What about the stations who are not 100% legitimate, yet at the same time are possibly complaining about pirates?
For example there is one Local Radio station not a million miles outside Co.Wexford which is still using a STL in the UHF TV band which is no longer allowed, and so technically making it a pirate!

[kiss FM]

It seems that someone with some sort of pull wanted us wiped completely off the air! however, I was in touch with my solicitor and there seems to be something that they overlooked! this could be VERY interesting!

Obviously I'm not gonna talk about it here........ yet.

[The President]

I`d be interested in hearing what`s been overlooked, obviously one has to respect your right to protect your interests, and good luck. I find it unacceptable that the ODTR can carry out raids in such a selective manner, surely, unless I am very much mistaken, their role is to clamp down on all "illegal", and I use the word lightly, radio stations.

Anyone with half a wit would know that if it carrys out such selective raids, that it will come in for criticism, but as it is with so many of the government bodies, they more than likely feel that they do not have to be accountable to the public.

Good luck and I hope your efforts prevail.