In November 1997, I was asked by LM/FM in Drogheda to join their new radio station Fresh 95.5FM, which was based in the Bracetown Business Park, near Clonee, on the Dublin/Meath border.

I accepted the job, which included compiling and reading the news, plus presentation of the stations Breakfast Show. All went well until January 1998, when the staff of Fresh 95.5FM were put on notice, with the station closing later that month. It had been discovered that the station did not have a licence to broadcast (at that particular moment) from the Irish regulatory body, the Irish Radio and Television Commission (IRTC). This was serious.

The station Management in Drogheda went ahead with the plan for a radio station which would broadcast to the Dublin/Meath area. They had commenced broadcasting two months prior to their application to the IRTC being considered.

The IRTC eventually granted LM/FM the licence to broadcast from Clonee, with the transmission equipment up on Saggart Mountain, on the Dublin/Kildare border. Luckily, the fact that they had started transmissions BEFORE being granted a license, did not cause any problems and the station recommenced broadcasting. However, by then I had moved on.

In April 1998, I made a complete change of career and started work in the Engineering Department of a newly-established GSM mobile phone network. I was very lucky because I literally started working for them seven days after I sent my CV in! That's good luck!!

Meanwhile, on the radio front:

December 2002: It would appear that the Radio Dublin saga has come to a very sorry end. For the details, click here.

Then in 2004, I was approached by the owners of a radio station called Premier Radio. With a Solid Gold format, this station started out as a pirate station in the 1980's, before closing down and applying for a Temporary Broadcasting License. Premier FM was eventually granted a 14-weekend Dublin City license in October 2004 and that's where The Stereo Steve Classic Chart Countdown began! I broadcast from 2 to 5pm Sunday afternoons, featuring the yearly chart of a chosen year.

The brief was simple; you can play any track as long as it fits in to the time scale of between 1960 to 1990! Fair deal! One of the best and most enjoyable gigs ever! You can read more about Premier FM here.