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 had initially been earmarked for at least two stations – meant that inevitably a number of pirate stations reappeared, the biggest ones being Kiss FM (2000–2001), specialist dance station Touch 107, Radio Magic 107.6FM, Galtee Radio, Country Gold, Estuary, NCW 106, and Wave FM (2003), which later became Galaxy 105 (2004). There were also all-too-brief appearances of Q101, Power 98FM, Club FM, Fresh 103 and Enterprise Radio Galway's first pirate radio station was Saor Raidió Chonamara (Free Radio Connemara) which first came on the air during Oireachtas na Gaeilge 1968 as a direct response to the Irish government's inaction over