UK pirate radio

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Main article: Pirate Radio

Contents

[edit] History of pirate radio in the UK

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Pirate radio existed in the UK before World War II.

PIRATE RADIO TOOLBAR ( A usefull tool to listen to pirate radio

[edit] Background

On August 14, 1967 - In the United Kingdom a Marine Offences Act came into force prompting many offshore radio stations to close, most prominently Radio London off Frinton in Essex at 3pm local time on this day. The Act boosted a campaign for onshore commercial radio to be legalised, which would enable listeners to choose a non-BBC English-language station and cause the establishment style of BBC radio to be relaxed and refreshed. See BBC Radio 1.

Modern day pirate radio stations often cater for local communities and underground music fans that are not necessarily catered for by larger corporate radio stations.

Some of the pirate stations are now legal and successful outfits, including Radio Jackie and Kiss FM in London, and the Sunshine Radio in Ludlow, Shropshire, which was run from studios at the end of a farm drive in its unlicensed days.

[edit] UK cultural references

On the album The Who Sell Out by The Who, their music tracks are separated by PAMS jingles from the period of 1964 to 1967 when they were used by Wonderful Radio London.

Peter Townshend remarked in the Melody Maker: "You don't realize how good something like the pirates are until they're gone, so to give our album that ethereal flavour of a pirate radio station we incorporated some groovy jingles. And so The Who sell out." John Entwistle later stated a different opinion in the NME: "Do you remember that dreadful thing The Who Sell Out? I never wanted to do that. It was done mainly for America. What a load of rubbish!"

The Goodies ran a pirate radio station in the episode Radio Goodies.

[edit] Notable pirate radio stations in the UK

This is a partial list of stations either in the UK or in nearby offshore waters. Some of these have been shut down while others have become legal.

[edit] Merseyside Pirates of the early '80s

Liverpool had a vibrant pirate scene in the early '80s and this also spread across the Mersey to Birkenhead (when the woolybacks had a shillin' for the 'leccy meter). Although there were many stations, frequently unimportant and transient, the scene itself was long-established and revolved around two key broadcasters: Rick Dane of RJN and Bert Williams of MAR. These two formed the twin nucleii around which many other DJs, engineers, profiteering wide-boys and other colourful characters came and went.