Groove FM was the second pirate radio station to be brought on air by Scott Davis, the founder of Exile FM. From the very start Groove had many of the old Exile presenters on board, which were joined by some of the key members of Unique FM, as well as few totally new to the…
Starlight FM were first heard in the summer of 1990. They broadcast on 101.5 FM and quickly became a big player in the Birmingham Rave scene. If anyone has any more information on this station please contact The Pirate Archive. Downloads To save any item from the list then right click and ‘Save Target As…’…
In August 1979 two pirate stations started broadcasting. One was the short-lived Radio Active, while the other was someone relaying tapes of London’s Radio Jackie on 227 MW. A meeting was arranged, and in staggered the radio legend that is Steve Merrick, “wanting to sound like Radio Jackie”. That was met with some amusement by…
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,…
Fusion FM first took to the airwaves in 2001, using a 2 Watt vfo rig from Matt James, aka J Bassline G, parent’s house in Brandhall/Oldbury. The signal was only good for around 3 miles, but could be heard 7-8 miles away on a good day. Fusion or Jay wasn’t heard on air for a…
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…
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…