PCRL

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PCRL, the People's Community Radio Link, was a pirate radio station in Handsworth, Birmingham UK which started in the 1980s. The station was founded by Cecil Morris, described by a court judge as a "cornerstone of the black community" ^[1], in an attempt to quell the Handsworth Riots ^[2].

Although the police initially tolerated the station, welcoming the broadcast of calming messages to the rioting populace ^[3], the station and its studio transmission links later became a problem for the police, due to interference with the emergency radio system which at that time also broadcast on the analogue VHF band ^[4]. Police and broadcasting authority attempts to close the station were later the focus of further civil unrest in Handsworth.

The station catered for the immigrant and British-born Caribbean community, playing reggae, rap, soul, hip-hop, soca, calypso and other music affiliated to British Black culture. Unusually, for a radio pirate, the station carried regular and detailed news bulletins including outside broadcasts from their own on-the-spot reporters, plus health education messages focussed on AIDS and drug abuse.

PCRL closed in February 2004 after the station organisers were fined and Morris given a suspended prison sentence for illegal broadcasting ^[5].