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…
Boomerang FM broadcast from Edinburgh 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 Boomerang 100 FM – Edinburgh – DJ Menace – Early 1993 46 mins Boomerang 100 FM…
Although born on the Shetland Isles, Ian Anderson started his broadcasting career on Radio Caroline in 1974, before moving onto other offshore stations Radio Atlantis and Radio Northsea International. He was then in at the start of land based commercial radio in Scotland at Radio Forth. The idea of a local radio station in his…
Calderdale Sound were first heard in 1976, with occasional broadcasts until 1984. They were based in the small town of Todmorden in the Calder Valley. The town is set between 3 valleys, so reception of nearby local stations was poor In 1984 a new transmitter was bought and the station re-launched on 1405 kHz with…
Music City Radio (MCR) were first heard across Leeds in late 1986 on 90.3 FM. They were set up to serve the city’s black community playing mostly reggae and soul music. The station always had a good signal, and then following a raid in 1988, decided to go even further with the addition of another…
ABC FM (Alpha broadcasting Company) were first heard across Leeds in late 1986. They were based in the Chapeltown area of the city and played mostly reggae and soul music. They could be heard at weekends and weekday nights initially on 94.6 FM. Following some raids and a period off air, they returned in December…
In the late 1970s, there was a station called Phoenix Radio, that broadcast progressive and alternative rock on 214m to East London and Essex. That station closed in September 1980 and most of the people involved went on to start Alices Restaurant (although later on, Alice would split into 2 stations and the Phoenix name…
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,…
Charles Turner had been involved in the 1970s station Radio Aquarius and Alistair Bates in the early 1980s station RFM. In 1983 they decided to join forces in a new venture that would become KFM. This was to be a professional operation from the start, so a company was formed, Mersey Valley Electronics, and a…