Irish pirate radio  Pirate radio in Ireland has had a long history, with hundreds of radio stations having operated within the country. Due to past lax enforcement of the rules, the lack of commercial radio until 1989, and the small physical size of the country, pirate radio has proliferated up to recent years. They were tolerated to a point by the government which only occasionally raided them in an effort to show compliance with Irish law, although the national broadcaster, RTÉ, took a harsher approach, including radio jamming. In 1940 Mayo man Jack Sean McNeela died on Hunger strike in Arbour Hill Military Detention Barracks after 55 days protesting his arrest for operating a pro IRA pirate radio station. While the number of recorded pirate radio stations was in the hundreds, only a few have been notable enough to be remembered. Pirate radio reached its height of popularity in Ireland in the 1980s after UK entrepreneurs Robbie Robertson and Chris Cary launched Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova in Dublin. They were soon joined by Irish business people and entrepreneurs. It was commercial music radio at a time when state broadcaster RTE struggled to capture the youth market. This was followed by the arrival in 1982 of South Coast Radio, ABC Tramore and Radio ERI in Cork. These were pirate radio stations run for the first time on a commercial basis with the critical support of Ireland's advertising industry based in Dublin. Radio Nova in Dublin, launched as a 'clutter free' radio station, was arguably the catalyst for a sea change in radio in Ireland. It was an era of unregulated freedom on air that produced what many view as perhaps the most exciting era for radio in Ireland. Professional market research conducted in the 1980s by reputable market research companies such as Lansdowne Research, Irish Marketing Surveys and Behaviours and Attitudes showed that these radio stations consistently lead RTE in terms of reach and market share. In Cork, Radio ERI had a consistent reach in excess of 50% with a reach of 63% recorded in 1986/87, an unprecedented listenership figure. The station boasted an extensive marketing and sales department which produced no fewer than six future local radio managing directors or chief executives throughout Ireland under the legalised regime after 1989. In 1988 it, along with stations such as Sunshine and Q102 run by Mike Hogan (who was the first Managing Director of Dublin ILR franchise holder Capital Radio in 1989) and owned by nightclub impresario Pierre Doyle, had annual sales revenues in millions of pounds. These commercial radio stations and others such as Radio West in Mullingar, Coast 103 FM in Galway and WLR in Waterford changed the landscape of radio in Ireland.