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 Irish language broadcasting. The station used a medium wave transmitter surreptitiously imported from the Netherlands. The Irish government responded by proposing a national Irish-language radio station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta which came on the air on Easter Sunday 1972. Its headquarters are now in Casla, Co. Galway. In the summer of 1978, a pop-format pirate radio station, IRG Independent Radio Galway, staffed mostly by local university students, began broadcasting from a studio off Shop Street, Galway City. IRG remained intermittently on the air, despite halfhearted raids by Gardaí (Irish police), until the early 1980s. In 1981, WCCR (West Coast Community Radio) began broadcasting headed by Gerry Delaney as station manager. Kevin and Mike Mulkerrins were new voices on the air along with Bob Houston, Keith Finnegan and Shane Martin. The location for WCCR was about 4 miles outside Galway City in a frozen chicken warehouse. In 1983, Radio Renmore took to the airwaves founded by Gary Hardiman, Brendan Mee, Tom Breen which took on DJs like Brian Walsh, Mark Kavanagh. Radio Renmore was the only radio station in Galway that got advertising from both local business in Renmore and Galway city, in 1983 Snowflake Radio followed the Christmas of that year, and in the summer of 1984 Renmore Local Radio (RLR) was born, fronted by Gary Hardiman and presenter Brendan Mee and also presenter Brian Walsh. With its Galway-accented jingles advertising the station's presence on 199 metres MW, the station was a great local success. The station was nevertheless supplanted in 1984, by the professionally backed Atlantic Sound broadcasting from Forster Street. A difference of opinion between station owner and on-air DJs led to the departure of nearly all staff, who then set up WLS Music Radio (which stood for 'West Local Station') across the street in 1985. Shane Martin (from the now-defunct WCCR), was brought in by station manager Mick Naughton to revive Atlantic Sound and change its radio format to suit the Galway audience. Shane called in favours from local bands and DJs and entertainment friends to assist with the new makeover. Thus began a great rivalry between Atlantic Sound and WLS. It was a healthy rivalry that lasted over a year, until one Sunday morning