Chris Philips and Ben West were both interested in starting a pirate station. Following some involvement in other projects, they decided to join forces, and so on 1 December 1985 Starpoint FM was born on 88.6 FM.
Originally broadcasting once a week on Sundays, demand quickly prompted the addition of an entire weekend broadcast. The format for the first few weeks was a complete mix with everything from rock ‘n’ roll to sixties R&B, with a bit of Salsa, reggae, gospel, jazz, hip-hop and top forty shows. Lots of new DJs joined including DJC who was to play a growing role in keeping the station on air, before long taking over from Ben West in running the station with Chris Philips.
Attempts were made to broadcast seven days a week, but this caused problems which resulted in lengthy periods off air. They had another good run from the summer of 1988 on a new frequency of 94.3, but by the end of the year many DJs had left.
DJC continued running Starpoint on his own through to 1990. The final broadcast on 93.2 went out just after Starpoint’s fifth birthday, in October 1990, with a party at Crazy Larry’s in Chelsea.
In June 1991, Starpoint Radio operated one of the first restricted broadcast licences for a period of twenty-one days and the first show came from the unlikely venue of Windsor Safari Park. Later, Starpoint’s management joined forces with another former unlicensed London radio station to operate a satellite-based radio station.
In February 2005, management decided to part ways and Starpoint Radio was reborn as an internet radio station.
More information on Starpoint FM can be found on the following sites:
Downloads
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Newspaper Cuttings
Newspaper Cutting 1 – August 1989