Near FM’s origins goes back to the pirate radios from the 1980s and credit unions and food co-ops from the 1970s, and even the dizzy awakening of freedom and civil rights of the1960s.

Back to when local people decided that the north side of the City, with its undeserved negative reputation propagated by the media, needed its own radio service to tell its own stories, positive stories.

In a little corner office upstairs in the Coolock Development Centre, the offices and studios of Near FM 101.5 opened its doors on August 26th 1995. Smoking was allowed in offices in those days, and in studios.