London pirate radio - news and discussion

[DaveCinzano]

For the class:

Special Branch getting worried about the popularity of Radio Is My Bomb...

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/UCPI0000028596.pdf

Special Branch getting palpitations over imagined flying columns of anarchist transmitter squads picking off Radio Investigation Service teams in highly orchestrated rooftop ambushes

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/UCPI0000028591.pdf

Spotted in amongst swathes of documents (700+!) released by the Undercover Policing Inquiry in relation to spycop Bob Lambert...

 

[DaveCinzano]

...And more on the 1980s Radio Interference...

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/UCPI0000028545.pdf

 

[ska invita]

I just got rickrolled by Venture

 

[ska invita]

Just scanned through the FM and 100 is some crap called Hits. Kiss sold up and no longer on digital. End of an era (of course Kiss itself is long dead and it's pure commercial music product content output converter belt for years now)

 

[cupid_stunt]

Just scanned through the FM and 100 is some crap called Hits. Kiss sold up and no longer on digital. End of an era (of course Kiss itself is long dead and it's pure commercial music product content output converter belt for years now)

Bauer Media has owned Kiss for some years, but flipped its FM outlets to Hits last Sept., but it's still on DAB, together with other Kiss branded stations.

Hits Radio will replace KISS on FM in London, Norfolk and the West of England this Monday, 23rd September 2024.

This change is sooner than anticipated, even with Bauer announcing details in August.

RadioToday understood the move would wait till the new Media Act was implemented, eliminating the need to request format changes for frequencies changing from KISS to Hits.

Hits Radio takeover of KISS 100 FM London frequency is happening this Monday

Hits Radio will replace KISS on FM in London, Norfolk and the West of England this Monday, 23rd September 2024.

radiotoday.co.uk

Now the new Media Act has been passed, the radio companies can just flip formats and station names, without even getting advanced approval from OFCOM.

The can also drop any regional output, and basically network everything from London, or wherever. Global has recently announced they're doing that across England, but keeping some regional output in NI, Scotland & Wales.

Bauer has already done that, there's a chap that drinks in my village micro-pub that used to all the IT stuff for their regional output, he got made redundant on the run up to Christmas.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Introduced by an old mate of mine, Mark Dezzani, this is an interesting presentation by Nick Catford, aka Mike Knight, who was a co-founder of the famous Radio Jackie, London's longest running pirate station, from March 1969 as a p/t station, launching 24/7 in 1983, then forced off the air in 1985 after IIRC three raids in one weekend, following changes to the law.

Then in 2023 it returned legally, having brought the bankrupt Thames Radio, and still transmits 24/7 to SW London from new studios in Tolworth, with the transmitter housed opposite on Tolworth tower.

It starts with some background information on the infamous Eric Gotts of the GPO/DTI, and how much trouble he was, even resulting in Catford being the first, and IIRC only, pirate radio operator to be jailed. Although later Radio Jackie won a court case, and Gotts was convicted and fined for assault, resulting in no more raids for five years, until changes to the law.

Also features the infamous Victor Frisbee from the GPO, described as 'a miserable bastard', and the early transport to transmitter sites - a pram, which also got taken on the tube along with all the equipment.

Some classic photos from the early days are featured, and also on the RJ website's history page.







The illegal 24/7 days -



Before & after the raids in 1985 -





The local paper was there during the last raid -

 

[skyscraper101]

Nice little clip from way back

 

[pesh]

tune

 

[cupid_stunt]

Nice little clip from way back

It's incredible the extremes they went too, there were lot easier ways of doing it, like a microwave link from a remote studio to the transmitter site.

 

[skyscraper101]

Another one here…

 

[ska invita]

Keep meaning to watch this, parking for later
Genesis....

 

[cupid_stunt]

That was a good watch, ska invita, thanks for posting.

 

[ska invita]

i find it hard to get excited by museums tbh but:

Rebel Radio | Barbican

Experience the sound of resistance and reinvention across this month-long celebration of pirate radio and its lasting impact on music, culture and community.

www.barbican.org.uk

 

[danski]

i find it hard to get excited by museums tbh but:

Rebel Radio | Barbican

Experience the sound of resistance and reinvention across this month-long celebration of pirate radio and its lasting impact on music, culture and community.

www.barbican.org.uk

Just came to post that!

 

[cupid_stunt]

The Science Museum uploaded this interesting video to youtube a few days ago, it focuses on 80s London landbased pirate radio, and is well worth a watch.

If you listen to anything between pop, soul and grime, British Radio Pirates from the 60s - 00s likely played a role in getting those rhythms out of your speakers today. Join Pyers Easton, a former Pirate Engineer, as he takes us back to the 80s the heyday of pirate radio that shaped the British broadcasting industry as we know it.
Part One: Engineering
Part Two: Community of Pirate Radio
Part Three: Legacy
- all in 24 minutes