In 1987, DJ Frenchie left/was sacked from PCRL, so decided to start his own station. So on the 1st May 1987 Second City Radio (SCR) was born on 93 FM. SCR was a lot mellower than PCRL playing more soul and dance music, including house music which was new at the time. The station was…
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 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,…
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,…
In 1990, a number a Freedom Radio DJs including Wayne James, Lee Clarke and John Saunders decided to break away and start their own station. So, in April of 1990 the first tests took place for Elite 100 FM. The station was more of a dance station than Freedom, had some good DJs and was…
Chicken George had been a DJ on PCRL for many years. When they temporarily closed down in early 1989 to apply for a licence, he was heard for a while on Supreme FM. However, he was soon to break away to start his own station. This station was to be called Laser and was first…
Rise FM were first heard testing in December 1988 on 104.3 FM. Soon after, they could be heard every Sunday evening with a mix of the harder end of dance music. DJs included DJ Sam, Boy Wonder, Mellow D, Dynamic, Frame and Phase 9. Later broadcasts were on 98.4 FM before disappearing altogether. Some of…
The first 7-day a week white pirate station in the Black Country was Power House Radio. They had been on since 7th February 1988 from Rowley Regis. At this point Craig Benson was running a car hire business that booked some advertising on PHR. It was through this connection that Craig Benson obtained his first…
Whilst many of the big pirate stations were 7 dayers, there were many others that only operated at weekends. One of these was Sweet 101 FM. It was set up by DJ Feedback B and was first heard in February of 1990. Their aim was, as they saw it, to fill a gap by playing…
Scott Davis had always been a fan of pirate radio, and in the summer of 1989 after listening to Freedom Radio decided to have a go at setting up his own station Exile FM. Scott brought his first transmitter which was just 4 watts off a small low powered local pirate station called KFM after…