Metro FM were first heard with test transmissions in early December 1988 with full programmes following shortly afterwards. They were initially a weekend station, but soon became daily and eventually a 24 hour 7 day operation. They started on 104.9 FM with a format of black music and community information with DJs like Super C,…
One of the longest running free radio stations on Merseyside was Radio Merseywaves. The station started in late 1984 by Merseyside’s free radio legend Bert Williams. At first it was only on FM during Sunday evenings on 94.8MHz with just Bert himself. It then expanded to medium wave on 1179kHz, again only on a Sunday…
The first station that this crowd put on the air was Radio 220, but in April 1979, they became Southern Radio. The station could be heard on Sundays across South East London on a number of frequencies before settling on 1413 kHz. They had a rock music format and also featured free radio news in…
There are few pirate stations as important or influential as Radio Invicta. They first played “Soul over London” in 1970, becoming the first soul pirate in Britain. They were pioneering in many other ways too. Where most pirates of the day broadcast on medium wave from fields, the soul boys at Invicta wanted the better…
Sherwood Forest Radio were one of the East Midlands early pirate stations, playing mainstream pop to Nottingham in the mid 1980s. They were first heard in Late February 1985 on 103 FM with the transmitter set up on top of The Victoria Centre. A great transmitter site….apart from the lifts causing a bit of interference!…
E-Zee FM broadcast dance music to Nottingham in the early 1990s. If anyone has any more information on this station please contact The Pirate Archive. Downloads To save any item from this list then Right Click and ‘Save Target As…’ Audio E-Zee FM – 101.4 – Nottingham – Stuart King – Jan 93 25 mins E-Zee…
Rave FM were first heard in 1990, broadcasting Rave music to Nottingham on 101.7 FM. They broadcast from flats in Radford and also the Lenton area of Nottingham, amongst other places. In 1992 the owner of Rave FM changed the name to Touch FM and tried to get a license to broadcast legally. This never…
Centre Radio were one of Nottingham’s more mainstream stations, and were first heard at weekends in 1984. By 1989 they could be heard on Sunday afternoons from 3 till 6 on 105.7 FM. DJs included Roger Ramjet and Stuart King. They continued to be heard well into the 90s, with DJs like Eddie Austin, Ian…
DJ Frenchie was one of the original DJs on PCRL, presenting the third programme on its first day. He enjoyed the experience on PCRL for a couple of years, but PCRL was a reggae and soul station and he wanted to be a part of a soul station. He therefore left to set up a…
One of the bigger Birmingham stations of the early 1990s was Power FM. They were first heard in late 1990 and were essentially another Black station. They broadcast the usual diet of reggae/soul/dance but in the early days even had an indie show on Monday evenings. They had a good signal across the Midlands and,…