LWR (London Weekend Radio) was first heard in 1983, broadcasting on 92.5 at weekends (obviously!). In their early days they were more of a traditional rock and pop station, rather than the soul and dance station they became later on. Having said that, it was the first place you could hear Tim Westwood’s rap show.…
Groove FM was the second pirate radio station to be brought on air by Scott Davis, the founder of Exile FM. From the very start Groove had many of the old Exile presenters on board, which were joined by some of the key members of Unique FM, as well as few totally new to the…
Scott Davis had always been a fan of pirate radio, and in the summer of 1989 after listening to Freedom Radio decided to have a go at setting up his own station Exile FM. Scott brought his first transmitter which was just 4 watts off a small low powered local pirate station called KFM after…
Fantasy FM was first heard playing dance music at weekends during late 1991. They broadcast from Wolverhampton, firstly on 98.6, then 99.3 before settling on 100.7 FM by 1993. They played mostly house and rave music and also featured adverts for various businesses in Wolverhampton, such as Quest nightclub and Ruby Red Records. Some of…
UK Radio was the West Midlands longest running pirate station, operating from 1978 to 2003. The station would probably still be going today had it not been for the sad death of the stations founder, Paul Johnson, in 2003. As well as their own 25 years on air, UK Radio were involved in, and helped,…
Sunshine Radio in Ludlow dates back to the late 70s when they used to broadcast every Bank Holiday weekend on 239m (1242 kHz), and by 1981, 249m (1179 kHz). Around this time, negotiations took place with the IBA with a view to bring local radio to the area, bearing in mind at this point there…
Keith Rogers first moved into the pirate radio world with shortwave station Empire Radio in 1978, using the name Mike Thomas. He was also sometimes known as Paul Kent on Radio 242 and Radio Free Birmingham. However, in 1980 he decided to start his own station, so in December of that year Sounds Alternative was…
Spangles used to listen to Exile Radio while still at school. He and his friends would wait for a Saturday morning to tune in, being in Telford this was the only station that they could get. Then a few people he knew started up a station called Underground 101.9. That was a Friday night station…
Alice’s Restaurant are named after the song and album by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, and played rock music to London at the weekend. They were first heard in 1981, but many of their members have been rockin’ the airwaves on various stations since the 1960’s. Once described as a “rock giant” in national newspaper columns, Alice’s…
In the early 80s Cecil Morris was running Rising Star Records and Management from a shop at 151 Dudley Road Birmingham. He also branched out in to running a venue (The Elite) and a magazine (Rasta Mag), so it was obvious that Radio would be next. His first shows were on Sounds Alternative during 1981,…