Farewell to analogue
In a few short years, analogue radio as we know it will vanish into the ether, becoming white noise and making way for the brave new world of digital broadcasting. The pops, crackles, whistles and hiss that have lived with me for so long will disappear forever. Most of all, it is the Frequency Modulated band, the soundtrack to my generation, that will be most sorely missed when it eventually disappears, never to be heard again. Looking back on things, it’s been one hell of a journey.

But first (as they say in radio) a little perspective on the whole thing. The BBC's first FM radio station opened on 2nd May 1955 at Wrotham in Kent, broadcasting their three networks to London and the South East of England. After this, development of the FM radio network came quick and fast as most transmitters shared common masts with BBC television. Seven more transmitters opened in 1956 and by 1961 there were 27 VHF-FM transmitters on air covering most regions. Stereo broadcasting, which is what really marks the FM band apart, although first tested in January 1958 was rolled out more slowly with many stations not converting until the 1980s, around the same time I started to get caught up in it all.

In the 1980s, FM radio expansion continued at pace with both the BBC and commercial sector opening new stations. Nine BBC and 26 commercial stations started between 1980 and 1984 with near universal coverage achieved by the end of the decade. FM was by now standard on portable radios and a common option for cars. However, there were two major problems that plagued FM radio in the UK from the start, poor reception and lack of spectrum. Despite continued improvements over the years, these problems still affect the band. In London today, every inch of the dial is occupied with broadcasting stations. Pirate stations have been squeezed onto impossibly tight frequencies just to be able to exist, often causing interference with commercial stations and each other. This is one of the principal reasons currently cited by the authorities against pirate stations but is born from the inadequacies of the FM spectrum itself. Competition for pirate frequencies is consequently huge and they are guarded jealously and sometimes violently.

Until the early 1980s, the FM broadcast band in the UK extended only from 88.1 to 97.6 MHz, providing room for just three national networks and some local radio. Consequently, Radio 1 was only broadcast on FM for 23 hours a week, and there was insufficient space for both BBC and independent local radio to broadcast on FM in all towns and cities. To resolve these problems, the FM band was expanded from 87.6 to 107.9 MHz. This spectrum was phased into use in 1983 with new commercial stations coming on stream and the BBC expanding some of its city stations into county stations. The top end of the FM band was finally released for broadcasting in 1995. This was originally intended to be used to provide extra transmitters for the national networks, but was allocated to local and regional commercial radio instead. The lower part of the FM band, 87.6-88.0, was released for broadcasting in 1987, but not used until the 1990s when it was allocated to temporary low power stations. All these ‘fascinating’ developments meant that by the late 1980s FM had become the dominant medium for radio listening in the UK and as always, the new breed of ‘onshore’ pirate stations were quick to take advantage.

The Great FM Switch On
All this was happening in the heart of the Thatcherite mid 80s, when I was barely out of shorts and certainly too young to appreciate why the government was suddenly so keen to expand commercial radio (cash and nice cosy positions on the boards of large media organisations as it turned out). At the time, commercial radio was still a relatively unfamiliar phenomenon. In 1989, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) licensed 20 new stations, known as 'Incrementals' in areas already served by independent local radio. Originally intended as community radio, these quickly evolved into commercial stations. This all culminated in September 1988 with ‘The Great FM Switch On’. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Radio 1 had been allowed to take over Radio 2's FM transmitters for a few hours per week, most notably for the Top 40 Singles Chart on Sunday afternoons. It was not until September 1988 when the 97–99 MHz frequencies became available that Radio 1 acquired its own national FM network. There were suitably wild celebrations all around as Bros travelled the length and breadth of the UK in a helicopter ‘switching on’ the new stereo transmitters. 65% of the population were now able to receive Radio 1 FM.

Despite these ‘wild’ celebrations, as so often has been the case with Radio 1, the move to national FM broadcasting was prompted at least in part by the huge popularity of the pirate radio stations that were thriving during the 80s. The new commercial environment brought to radio, combined with the superior sound quality of FM stereo meant that as with the ‘old’ offshore pirates based on ships in the North Sea, success was almost guaranteed to the new generation who were simply playing the music the ‘kids’ wanted to hear, a defining characteristic of pirate radio. Broadcasting mainly from tower blocks, these onshore pirates were the pioneers of the pirate scene that exists to this day. These stations played mainly reggae and soul music and at their height numbered more than 50 with Invicta, Horizon, LWR and Solar becoming some of the better-known names. Of all these stations it was one in particular that became a household name, Kiss FM. The station, which claimed a massive half a million listeners with it's mix of soul, house and hip hop, eventually closed down its pirate operations in 1988 after years of illicit broadcasting with the goal of obtaining an official licence. In September 1990 it succeeded on its second attempt, becoming the only pirate station to ever successfully transfer to the mainstream.

Pirate FM radio in the UK has played a massive part both in my life and in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people over the last quarter of a century. It has kept the British music scene vibrant and provided inspiration and opportunity for many of today’s artists, yet is still tarred with the brush of ill repute, blamed for causing interference with the emergency services, castigated for providing a medium for drug dealers. Stations are hounded by the authorities, criminal charges, huge fines and jail sentences handed out to those that operate them, but even in these twilight years of the FM band, pirate stations continue to be more popular, prevalent and relevant than ever. I count myself fortunate to have been involved with some of these stations for the best part of my adult life, even including an experience that almost cost me my own life. The myth and mystique of the radio pirate is part of their continuing allure. When the FM band finally goes dead and the last pirate station crackles off air, I know I won’t be the only one shedding a quiet tear, I hope you will be too.

Commercial Experiments
The new generation of ‘onshore’, land-based pirate stations began to establish a real foothold in London during the 1980s, one they would never really lose. Carrying on where their forbears on the ‘offshore’ radio ships left off, they continued to fill a huge musical void that the BBC and fledgling commercial stations did not support. One of the true originals was Radio Invicta. Broadcasting every Sunday from 12 - 3pm, Invicta was notable not only as the first pirate with a format based predominantly on soul music ('Soul Over London'), but also for their use of FM, rather than the crackly AM stations that had gone before. As the 80s progressed, this new generation of land-based pirates also abandoned their idiosyncratic transmissions and moved towards 24-hour broadcasting. Soul remained a staple and stations like JFM rose to prominence when, after years of irregular Sunday afternoon broadcasting, they decided to go 'full time'. A boom in pirate radio activity followed, especially in London. Stations like LWR, Solar, Horizon, Skyline, Lightning and many others all broadcast on and off from various locations and suffered the inevitable raids at the hands of the radio authorities. But the biggest of them all and the undisputed pirate radio phenomenon of the 80s was Kiss FM.

In it's early days, Kiss FM was British black music radio personified as one of it’s founders Jazzie B - who won a Grammy in 1989 with the band, Soul II Soul – stated at the station’s inception:

"We switch on and we hear the nucleus of what black Britain has to offer. And it will remain that way until we are properly included. It will end when the BBC has black people in positions of power and when record companies and mainstream organisations have enough black people in place. Until then, there will always be pirate radio."

Broadcasting on 94.0 FM, Kiss became the most talked about pirate station in UK history, pulling in a massive half a million listeners whilst still illegal. The station started broadcasting in late 1985, run by charismatic London club DJs George Eracleous and Gordon McNamee (the latter became it's managing director) from London's N19 postcode. As a pirate from 85-88 it attracted acclaim for its upfront music and mixing and became notorious for the close attention it received from the authorities. In 1988, at almost the same time Radio 1 went national, it closed down in the hope of becoming legal and on it's second attempt in September 1990 finally rolled up the skull and crossbones for good having won a licence to broadcast to London legally.

Many involved with the station at the time believed that by becoming a commercial entity Kiss would be forced to surrender much of the freedom it had enjoyed as a pirate. It was therefore with a certain inevitability that the station became increasingly influenced by it's backers EMAP and by the mid 1990s had abandoned it's traditional emphasis on the best black and dance music in favour of a more mainstream sound. It's original DJ line-up seemed no longer to fit the station’s image and little by little it's finest talent (Steve Jackson, Norman Jay, Mannasseh, Bob Jones, Trevor Nelson, Danny Rampling, Judge Jules) ebbed away, either moving on or being fired. By the end of the 1990s many of those who remembered the original station before it attained legal status could barely recognise ‘their’ station. But whatever your view of the Kiss FM story, there can be no doubt that as a pirate they set the standard for all others to follow and remain the only unlicensed station to successfully cross into the mainstream. As a teenager, locking on to shows from the likes of Fabio and Grooverider, the station certainly started something in me that survives to this day and like many others I prefer to remember them coming through loud and clear on 94.0. To use an old cliché, in 1990 Kiss FM won a battle but lost the war.

Selling Out?
The way I saw it at the time, people were too quick to castigate Kiss for selling out. They were pretty much damned if they did and damned if they didn’t go legal, a dilemma that faces all pirate stations. The natural life cycle of a pirate is that a station will start out sounding fresh and exciting, offer something new or perhaps do something better than its rivals. This will attract popularity as word of mouth spreads and more and more listeners start to lock on. This creates more revenue as advertisers cash in on the popularity and the station starts riding high on a wave of popularity. This popularity brings with it the attentions of the authorities, keen to remind stations that they are still illegal. Even the most strongly resourced stations find it hard to weather constant raids on their studios and transmitters. There eventually comes a point, sooner or later, in the life of every pirate station where thoughts turn to the greener grass on the licensed side of the broadcasting fence. Why then does Kiss stand alone in having vaulted this legal fence?

A lot of people find it hard to understand the ongoing prevalence and popularity of FM pirates when modern radio is seemingly more diverse than ever. Yet OFCOM figures for 2004-5 show a huge growth in the number of pirate stations being raided, hardly a sign that pirates are packing up and going home, driven off by commercial stations. If you scan your FM dial today, you will find more stations than ever before but there is still a ludicrously restricted range of legal output. We are offered a great number of stations but this does not translate into diversity. If you actually listen to a lot of commercial stations they have a strange homogeneity. Is this a product of Of COM’s draconian broadcasting rules? Perhaps. Is it because many stations are owned by a single, larger parent media organisation? Without a doubt and whilst there are no simplistic reasons, many pirate stations have looked at the experiences of Kiss, watching their successes and failures closely, and have decided that their side of the fence, whilst not perfect, is certainly preferable to the commercial world. The grass, for the time being, is most certainly greener outside the local tower block.

Kiss FM deserve a huge amount of credit for having the courage of their convictions and fighting the system tooth and nail to force the authorities to grant them a license. Many people I speak to see the direction Kiss has taken as an unfortunate but inevitable consequence of venturing into the commercial world and a strong warning to other stations of the inherent dangers of going legal. In the word’s of Carl Brown, a loyal Kiss listener from day one:

“Kiss FM is one of those great should-have-beens. A station that promised so much has missed an opportunity to change the concept of how radio could have operated without the need for pirates. There was optimism that Kiss could change the attitudes of the moneymen towards underground dance music. One of the most exciting concepts that you had about Kiss FM was that, given the chance, they could have changed the way radio broadcasting was being delivered in this country, and maybe the world. A radio station which could show that musical freedom was marketable, giving us, the listener, the best commercial radio station in the world.”

It is ironic that lesson drawn from Kiss FM, the first and only pirate station to gain a full legal license is ‘stay pirate or sell your soul’. As anyone living in London will know, the airwaves are packed with dozens of pirates firing off all over the capital, a weekend collective of law defying broadcasting. Despite being the oldest 20th Century real-time mass communication medium, radio broadcasting still has immense power, a fact that radio authorities are well aware of. Kiss FM’s legal license was in every way a test of whether a pirate station could be moulded by the mainstream. Far from it being their choice to ‘go commercial’ they would not be broadcasting today if they had not done so, such are the commercial and political pressures exerted upon legal stations. Today’s pirates tell an important story about government policy towards radio. The continued success of pirate radio is due to the ability to show that DIY production values work. People respond to localised, eclectic, independent broadcasting which is why the pirates thrive. Musically, the stations are responsible for breaking many new genres and for supporting the constant organic development of underground music, free from corporate pressure.

Interference FM
The story of the ironically named Interference FM is indicative of the UK Government’s attitude to radio broadcasting and goes some way to explaining why no other stations have followed in Kiss FM’s footsteps. In June 1999 the station was launched as an accompaniment to the 'Carnival against Capitalism'. On June 18th it broadcast over a large area of London from various locations preceding the carnival day.

The station promoted the carnival with adverts and jingles accompanied by an eclectic mix of music and spoken word pieces on issues such as the state of radio licensing and third world debt alongside pieces such as Gerard Stanley's famous libertarian speech about capitalism. The station was a truly refreshing and revolutionary mix; counter-culture was available with a quick tune of the FM dial. The Radio Authority, a department of the DTI responsible at the time for monitoring the FM band, responded immediately by finding and seizing the station’s transmitters. Many within the pirate community were surprised at the speed with which the Radio Authority acted against Interference FM when other music-based pirates had been broadcasting with impunity for many months. It seemed that the station’s ‘political’ content was the key factor.

The lesson from Interference FM is that the Government is extremely reluctant to allow stations from an illegal background onto such a powerful mass broadcast medium as radio. Legislation is structured to make it as difficult as humanly (and financially) possible for stations to cross this divide. Kiss managed it, but over a decade ago and with the help of financial backers who eventually called in their pound of flesh and changed the nature of the station to suit their commercial needs. Small wonder that few pirates have been able or willing to consider going down the same road. The huge number of pirates operating today is a direct consequence of the onerous broadcast legislation in the UK. Although a major change in legislation is unlikely any time soon, there is clearly a case for making rules relating to small community orientated or niche music stations far more flexible. The will is there, and after years of perseverance the time has surely now arrived to fundamentally change broadcast legislation in the UK. Our vibrant pirate scene should be allowed to drive world leading excellence in radio, not be a dirty secret hidden away at the top of crumbling inner city tower blocks.

Interference FM briefly re-emerged later in 1999 at the Free Spirit Festival in Luton organised by the Exodus Collective. Along with thirty sound systems that filled up a triangle of land over a Bank Holiday weekend, the station broadcast over Luton from a telegraph pole at the top of the festival beaming out the good news that the festival was a 'dance with a stance.'

Unlike many European countries, which have a far more flexible approach to licensing small radio stations (for example the Netherlands allows community stations lacking resources to broadcast at weekends only without the need for costly infrastructure) the avenues available for legal radio in the UK short of a full license are laughable. They pretty much start and finish with the aptly named Restricted Service Licence (RSL). These are generally for a 28-day period and are applied for by a wide range of users from university radio to charitable or religious organisations wishing to support specific events. They act as a short-term token peace gesture to those who will probably never get their hands on a full radio license and do little to address the problem of diversity in UK radio.

When the RSL was first introduced, some pirate stations explored it as a possible bridge towards a full license. They quickly abandonedthe idea as it became clear that the RSL was in fact an expensive waste of time. Broadcasting restrictions meant output was overly formalised. Musical output was also restricted and the RSL limited transmission power to 30W, a pitiful broadcast range for pirates accustomed to chucking out 200W. No station could have more than two 28 day RSLs in the space of year, making it impossible to maintain any sort of listener base.

One of the most striking RSLs in recent years was Resonance FM. This broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall in central London, organised by the London Musicians Collective. During the weekdays it acted as an international gallery of radio art hosted by international artists programming a ‘greatest hits’ of radio from its long and rich history. During the night and at weekends a team of musicians and artists took over and defined a radically new sounding type of radio based around the pirate cornerstones of DIY values and anarchic fluidity. The results were often a mind-bending river of sound on a scale never before heard in the UK. Scheduling included real world music, poetry, field recordings, dinner parties in the studio, extended non-stop dj sets and other shows that defy description but inhabited twilight worlds of music, sound and speech. As with all RSLs, Resonance vanished after its allotted 28 day period, but serves as a striking reminder of the true potential of radio that is currently being stifled by red tape and legislation.

Community radio
One possible ray of light in the gloom is that Of COM is expecting about 50 community licences to be made available throughout the country over the next year, which may yet provide some badly needed diversity. Applications for uncontested places, such as rural areas, will be given priority over those in congested areas. However, Of COM has restricted licenses to stations that are not-for-profit, allowing only a maximum of 50 per cent of funding from advertising. This restriction will make it extremely difficult for stations to function effectively. Although the government has allocated a funding pot of £500,000 for community radio broadcasting in 2005-6, this will be administered by Of COM and will support few stations and it is unlikely that Of COM will look favourably on applications from pirate stations they have been chasing round the rooftops. Despite this, several pirate stations have approached Of COM about the new community radio licence. The best known of these is Station FM, warmly referred to as the ‘grand-daddy of all pirates’.

In the words of DJ Keithley, the station’s founder, "Pirate is a bad word. It's a community radio station; we are about serving the community”. So will this herald a new era of respectable ex-pirate ‘community’ stations? It seems doubtful - with only 50 licenses nationally and funding difficulties, the new community licenses will suit pirates no better than the old RSLs. The chances of seeing legal, underground orientated stations on the FM dial with eclectic programming and a gleefully disrespectful attitude to commercial whims are therefore very slim. Where Kiss led the way, others held back suspicious that the station would not be allowed to keep to the standards and ideals they had established as a pirate. The cynics eventually won the day and pirate radio’s brief flirtation with the commercial world was over.