XFM was seen as one of the "grandads" of operating pirates in Ireland, having run almost continuously since 1991, when it was called "Alice's Restaurant"; Although other stations such as Radio Star Country, shortwave pirate Jolly Roger Radio/Riverside Radio and EFR/Choice FM (Mayo) have been around longer. XFM played mainly alternative, indie and rock music. The station was founded by then Intel employee, music and electronics enthusiast Andrew Hartnett and his brother David. The playlist initially was created by Hugh O'Brien and heavily featured artists from labels such as 4AD, Beggars Banquet and similar labels. Its popularity peaked in the early to mid-'90s with the explosion of UK indie and subsequently US Sub-Pop music. Armed with a MiniDisc recorder Andrew and Hugh managed to acquire snippet interviews with artists such as PJ Harvey, David Gedge, Kelley Deal, Jarvis Cocker and others. Glen Hansard performed a one-off live session from the studio. Shows included the 'Chillage Idiots' with their weekly programme introducing mainly 'electronic music' artists. The station was one of the first to stream on the internet in 1995 using the Real Audio system. Much studio footage was video recorded and is still available on YouTube. Xfm's studios were based in Walkinstown, with a UHF link to an old piggery at Kiltipper in Dublin's south west where the FM transmitter was located. In 2002 Xfm's transmitter was stolen from the mountain location. A benefit gig was organised in the then Temple Bar Music Centre which was a success and the station purchased a new transmitter, returning to the air almost three months following the theft. Xfm operated on 107.5MHz and moved to 107.9MHz due to the FM spectrum being busy with adjacent pirates. The station did not receive any governmental action beyond inspectors observing the transmission site.