When R.A.W. first emerged out of the ether on the 5th November 1988, the station, thought to be an ‘overspill’ for F.T.P DJ’s, was initially called Superfresh FM. They lasted little more than a month or so, but for such a short-lived station they boasted quite an impressive studio from the sounds of it. Not only did they have a laser and FX box as used by Reggae sound systems but they also had the ability to take calls from listeners and put them live on the air. At times, there appeared to be some echo or reverb on the mic.

Operating on 104.95 (announced as 104.9) from 5pm to midnight (3pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), it was slightly more commercial than the other pirates at the time. DJ’s included Smurf, JB Lee (Jam Box Productions), Mixmaster M and Raw Master D.

Although the broadcasts started to get a bit intermittent during the last week of November, there were adverts being aired and competitions to win one of 10 RAW Radio T-Shirts and tickets to see Smith and Mighty. On top of this, with staff shortages, Mixmaster M announced that DJ’s could send tapes for broadcast to the stations address at 10 Banner Road, Montpelier.

R.A.W suffered their first raid around the 12th December 1988. This caused them to be off air until Christmas Eve when tests commenced on 104.2MHz, which continued on Christmas Day. SYT were due on 104.4 that day too, and when they appeared RAW vanished. When R.A.W. returned on 104.9 a while later, they jibed at SYT as being “YTS Radio”.

After this, R.A.W. were on air for just one more week as they decided to shut down and apply for a license on the same night that F.T.P did. At 22.20 on New Years Eve, the music was cut off and Raw Master D made a final farewell announcement on behalf of all the DJ’s.

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Audio

R.A.W. Radio 104.9 – House – 1988 38 mins
R.A.W. Radio 104.9 – J B Lee – 1988 46 mins