Dream FM was one of the most well known pirates in Yorkshire during the 1990’s. It boasted over 30 DJ’s and a range of different dance music styles such as house, dub, trance, hardcore, funk, soul, acid, jazz, hip, hop techno and chill out to name but a few. Merchandise was also available through Dream…
One of the biggest ever pirates in the East Midlands, indeed at the time probably one of the biggest pirates outside London, was Globe FM. The station started in October 1991 on 101 FM. When Classic FM started they made a brief move to 105.3, before settling on 107.7. They had a run of nearly…
The story of Radio Kaleidoscope can be split into two phases. Phase one was between 1967 and 1972 when the station broadcast from South Essex. They had become very popular, but by 1972 had become short of members. At around the same time a number of presenters were about to leave Radio Jackie, so, “The…
Radio Veronica was first heard in the Autumn of 1986. They broadcast from Bradford, but their strong signal could be heard over a wide area. Initially, their broadcasts took place on Sunday evenings from 8pm into the night. They were mainly on 105.5 FM, but occasionally 104.9 FM was used. By late summer 1987, Veronica…
There had been a long history of pirate radio in the East Midlands, but little to do with serving the areas’ black community. This was to change with the start of Heatwave Community Radio (HCR). They started in January of 1988 on 105 FM and quickly gained a large following. This was helped by their…
As the jingle once said, “Every city’s got a Kiss”, and Birmingham was no exception. Kiss FM Birmingham was first heard in August of 1988 on 105.5 FM. They played dance, soul, hip hop, house, acid and rap music and even had a rock show on Friday nights! Right from the start they were a…
In the 1980s Edzy was a member of the reggae, house and hip hop into over-the-top, bass-heavy dance music band, Unique 3. They pressed up a few white labels of a track called The Theme and found themselves with a massive underground hit on their hands. They were swiftly signed by Virgin subsidiary Ten Records…
Quest 100 FM was formed in early 1992 by pirate DJ’s Dave Kilner, Steve Wilson and Andy Young as a result of feeling disillusioned by the state of Midlands based pirate radio at the time (i.e too much Rave, egos and crap DJ’s). Inspired by the more dance and soul based pirates in Birmingham and…
Centreforce Radio started life in May 1989 broadcasting from East London on 88.3 FM. The station was setup with the help of Andy Swallow and a few other people from Echo’s, which was a small night club in East London, by the Bow flyover. The club hosted a couple of nights such as Tony Wilson’s…
Fantasy FM started broadcasting from North London in August 1989 on 98.6 FM. They played Acid, Rave & Hardcore music, all of which was massive at the time, and was also dominating the mainstream music charts too, during the time Fantasy was on air. During the early part of 1990, Fantasy changed frequency to 98.1…