UK pirate radio

History of pirate radio in the UK

Pirate radio existed in the UK before World War II. During the late 1950's to early 70's pirate radio stations, such as Radio Caroline and Wonderful Radio London were extremely popular, but were later outlawed.

Background

On August 14 1967 - In the United Kingdom a Marine Offences Act came into force prompting many offshore radio stations to close, most prominently Radio London off Frinton in Essex at 3pm local time on this day. The Act boosted a campaign for onshore commercial radio to be legalised, which would enable listeners to choose a non-BBC English-language station and cause the establishment style of BBC radio to be relaxed and refreshed. See BBC Radio 1.

Modern day pirate radio stations often cater for local communities and underground music fans that are not necessarily catered for by larger corporate radio stations.

Some of the pirate stations are now legal and successful outfits, including Radio Jackie and Kiss FM in London, and the Sunshine Radio in Ludlow, Shropshire, which was run from studios at the end of a farm drive in its unlicensed days.

UK cultural references

On the album "The Who Sell Out" by The Who, their music tracks are separated by PAMS jingles from the period of 1964 to 1967 when they were used by "Wonderful Radio London".

Peter Townshend remarked in the Melody Maker: "You don't realize how good something like the pirates are until they're gone, so to give our album that ethereal flavour of a pirate radio station we incorporated some groovy jingles. And so The Who sell out."
John Entwistle later stated a different opinion in the NME: "Do you remember that dreadful thing "The Who Sell Out"? I never wanted to do that. It was done mainly for America. What a load of rubbish!"

The Goodies ran a pirate radio station in the episode Radio Goodies.

Notable pirate radio stations in the UK

This is a partial list of stations either in the UK or in nearby offshore waters. Some of these have been shut down while others have become legal.
* Britain Radio
* Radio Caroline
* Kiss FM (now known as Kiss 100)
* Radio Northsea International
* Radio Jackie
* Radio Kaleidoscope
* Swinging Radio England
* Thameside Radio
* Wonderful Radio London

Merseyside Pirates of the early '80s

Liverpool had a vibrant pirate scene in the early '80s and this also spread across the Mersey to Birkenhead. Although there were many stations, frequently unimportant and transient, the scene itself was long-established and revolved around two key broadcasters: Rick Dane of Radio Jackie North and Bert Williams of Merseyland Alternative Radio. These two formed the twin nuclei around which many other DJs, engineers, profiteering wide-boys and other colourful characters came and went.
* Radio Jackie North
* Merseyland Alternative Radio
* Radio Alpine
* Zee 100