Heatwave Radio – Nottingham

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…

Kiss FM – Birmingham

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…

Sheffield Community Radio (SCR)

SCR were first heard on 1st May 1989 on 105 FM. Their aim was to provide a radio station dedicated to Reggae and Soul music Things took off quickly and they soon diversified the music they played to include Dance, Techno, House, and Drum & Bass. They later moved down to 101.5 FM. They had…

Emergency FM – Bradford

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…

Classic Radio – London

Long before the days when the FM dial was full of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, there was another Classic Radio… This one was first heard in January 1988, and served North London’s Afro Caribbean community. Early tests were on 105.5, but they later moved to 94.2, expanding to a 7 days a week service. At Times,…

Time Radio – London

Time Radio were first heard in early 1987 on 103.7 FM. They featured many new DJs from the local scene, but also some pirate “names” such as CJ Carlos and Graham Gold. They were later heard on 102.2 FM, and sometimes used other names like Time Community Radio and Big Time Radio. By June 1987,…

Quest FM – Dudley

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…

Horizon Radio – Nottingham

Horizon Radio were first heard in late 91/early 92 on 100 FM. They grew quickly and by the summer were broadcasting 24 hours a day, and went on to become one of big 4 pirate stations from Nottingham in the mid 90s. In mid 1992, due to the arrival of Classic FM, they moved up…

Frequency FM – Leeds

Frequency FM were first heard in May 2006 They broadcast from Leeds on 88.1 FM, with a format of Drum & Bass, often with an MC rapping over the music. From the start they were a professional outfit with a very powerful signal, much stronger than any previous pirates from Leeds. They had very high…

Twilight FM – Hull

Twilight Fm were first heard in 1993 on 105.4 FM. In the early days they played mostly pop music, but as time went on, they played more dance music. Arguments over music policy did cause a split at one point, with some DJs leaving to start Buzz FM on 106.6, and Sweet FM. After a…