Tom Hardy (broadcaster)
Encyclopedia
Having cut his pirate radio teeth running the unofficial station Radio Wessex whilst at teacher training college in Weymouth in Dorset and after a brief spell as a secondary school science teacher Tom Hardy began his professional radio career on the offshore pirate radio
ships The Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline
in the mid-to-late 70s. Arriving in Ireland in 1981 he was presenter, music director and studio manager at Dublin’s Sunshine Radio before joining Radio Nova, the city’s most successful ‘super-pirate’, as presenter and programme director. The mid 1980s
took Tom to Chiltern Radio
in the UK to work as presenter, music director and assistant programme controller for the company’s four-county network of stations.
By 1988, Tom was back in Ireland
to programme Kiss FM, Monaghan and after a brief return visit to Chiltern Radio, came back to Dublin in autumn 1989 to work as presenter, music director and assistant programme director at Classic Hits 98FM. In the early 1990s
, Tom was instrumental in making 98FM the city’s market leading commercial station. During his time with the station he was seconded to the Czech Republic to programme the company’s first overseas radio property, Kiss 98FM in Prague
. He successfully re-launched the GWR Group’s Leicester Sound in 1994, before taking up the group programme director position at SBS Radio in Stockholm, with responsibility for 12 market leading local and regional stations across Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Tom rejoined GWR in 1997 to programme 2CRFM in Bournemouth, taking it from number three to number one in less than a year. He became programme manager at Today FM in the Summer of 1998. Tom’s paternal grandmother is a McCarthy from inner-city Dublin; he is married with three children. Tom and his clan currently reside in Ratoath, Co. Meath. Further details can be seen at the Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame at http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djs7g2h.htm
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
ships The Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
in the mid-to-late 70s. Arriving in Ireland in 1981 he was presenter, music director and studio manager at Dublin’s Sunshine Radio before joining Radio Nova, the city’s most successful ‘super-pirate’, as presenter and programme director. The mid 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
took Tom to Chiltern Radio
Chiltern Radio
Heart Dunstable was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.-History:...
in the UK to work as presenter, music director and assistant programme controller for the company’s four-county network of stations.
By 1988, Tom was back in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to programme Kiss FM, Monaghan and after a brief return visit to Chiltern Radio, came back to Dublin in autumn 1989 to work as presenter, music director and assistant programme director at Classic Hits 98FM. In the early 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
, Tom was instrumental in making 98FM the city’s market leading commercial station. During his time with the station he was seconded to the Czech Republic to programme the company’s first overseas radio property, Kiss 98FM in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. He successfully re-launched the GWR Group’s Leicester Sound in 1994, before taking up the group programme director position at SBS Radio in Stockholm, with responsibility for 12 market leading local and regional stations across Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Tom rejoined GWR in 1997 to programme 2CRFM in Bournemouth, taking it from number three to number one in less than a year. He became programme manager at Today FM in the Summer of 1998. Tom’s paternal grandmother is a McCarthy from inner-city Dublin; he is married with three children. Tom and his clan currently reside in Ratoath, Co. Meath. Further details can be seen at the Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame at http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djs7g2h.htm