Pirate radio in the United Kingdom Caroline and Radio London started to broadcast on medium wave to the UK from offshore ships or disused sea forts. At the time, these stations were not illegal because they were broadcasting from international waters. The stations were set up by entrepreneurs and music enthusiasts to meet the growing demand for pop and rock music, which was not catered for by the legal BBC Radio services. The first British pirate radio station was Radio Caroline, which was launched by Irish music entrepreneur Ronan O'Rahilly, and started broadcasting from a ship off the Essex coast in 1964. By 1967 ten pirate
Irish pirate radio weeks after the station opened. Sunshine Radio started on 531 kHz (announced as 539 metres) medium wave, adding an FM service a year later. Chris Cary went on to start Radio Nova in the following year, 1981, with studios in Herbert Street, Dublin. Nova was the first major Irish pirate to commence with FM, on 88.1 MHz (it ended up on 102.7 MHz). The station added an AM frequency at a later stage which varied between 819 kHz, 828 kHz 846 kHz and 738 kHz. After the success of Radio Nova on FM, Robbie Robinson broadcast Sunshine at high power