There was an attempt to obtain a broadcast license from the IBA and unfortunately this compromised the programme formats for the final months of their transmissions.
Radio Jackie was one of the most "raided" stations in London, lost a large number of transmitters, and most of it's staff appeared in court and were prosecuted under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.
The owner of the station and the driving force behind it was Nick Catford (DJ Mike Knight). Also well known on site (and to the DTI) was Brian Horne aka Abie Cohen, he was the most inventive when in court and regularly reduced the magistrate to tears of laughter with his unlikely reasons for being in close proximity to an illegal transmitter. On one occasion he explained that he was in the vicinity of Beddington sewerage works to collect daphnia for his OAP neighbours goldfish, the neighbour was duly called as a witness (Brian paid him £10 outside the court). When asked why he had a VSWR meter on the dashboard of his car, he said that it was to tune the engine. Brian was also responsible for setting up the London Transmitter of Independent Radio (LTIR), this broadcast a different station every night of the week on VHF. FM broadcasting was somewhat new to pirates, previously only using AM. Brian is now a respectable radio amateur, and Mike Knight works on the recently revived Radio Jackie on 107.8MHz for the Kingston area.
Another key person on site was engineer Mike Barrington, in addition to running his own station Radio Free Atlantis, he was the first person to successfully prosecute the DTI (namely Eric Gotts) for assault. He went on to work for several years as a radio engineer for the offshore Radio Caroline, and most recently is the Chief Engineer of Roughs Tower. Roughs is unique among offshore ex-military forts, in that it lays outside of British territorial waters and is technically an independent island, known as the Principality of Sealand
Key DTI personnel at this time were Jim Crow,Victor Frisby, Eric Gotts, Brian Holder, Brian Williams and Stanley Smith. Jim was known for his leniency in dealing with pirates, and turned a blind eye on many occasions. When he raided the station Swinging Radio England in Shepperton he ignored the glowing valves of the medium wave transmitter and concentrated on a defunct ex-army No.19 Set which he agreed could not transmit. Gotts and Holder in particular were fond of their work and took almost sadistic pleasure in prosecuting pirates. They were so dedicated that they even tracked down pirates on Christmas Day, which was an unofficial amnesty day for pirates in London.
I remember one particular Radio Concord transmission where three sites had been prepared in advance, the first was a house in Elgin Avenue where there was only power for the rig, but no lights. The rig was enormous, built on a milk crate, it had 813's in the pa, and another huge tray held the power supply and capacitors. We sat in the bay window looking out on the street (where the aerial was strung the whole length of the road), suddenly there was Eric Gotts in the front garden peering in. He could not see us in the dark, one of the Concord helpers (a French army deserter) ran down to the basement unplugged the rig and PSU, ran with it and climbed over the back garden fence. How he managed this I'll never know, must have been the army training. Anyway Gotts started to look bemused, the signal bearing had suddenly changed, when our site went off air, the next one had turned on. He eventually wandered off and we drove to the next site which was now on air, if I recall correctly this was located at Hornsey Rise in Goldie House, a squatted block of flats. These flats had open balconies connecting the front doors, and while we were there a women decided to throw over a washing machine (or fridge I can't remember) at her bloke who was legging it away at ground level. Certainly an eventful night which culminated in Arnold (driving his red open top MG sports car) being hailed down by the police at about 5am, they were parked facing the wrong way and Arnold just put his toe down and we escaped back to our HQ in Quex Road Kilburn.
Here are some articles which appeared in the Free Radio Magazine of the IFRC based in Coldershaw Road around 1972
Radio Nelson Raid
On Sunday the 5th March at 1-20pm the GPO came banging on
the Nelson door. Mr. Frisby, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Gotts
came dashing up the stairs to a bedroom where the
transmitter was (not Asleep) but very much awake and
shouting its head off. By the time Gotts made it to the
room Libby Caroline had pulled the plugs out and hid some
of the cassette tapes. They went through the whole house
pulling out drawers and cupboards to see if they could find
anything but they didn't and they put everything back as
they had found it “neat and tidy”.
Both Libby Caroline and Henry Morgan were questioned and they accused Libby of being the brains behind the station, so now she has a big head. Mr. Gotts & Co. said that the transmitter was the best built job they had seen, now Allen Ross has a bigger head, also they mentioned that the location was the cleanest house that they had entered.
With the GPO were 6 police officers; 2 entered the house the remaining 4 stayed outside. The Police were very good and didn't seem to know what they were there for. One Police officer kept on making remarks about the GPO and told Henry to get a van and broadcast from that, and he also said that he would put an aerial on his radio and tune into them every week from now on.
The GPO when asked for a receipt for the stuff taken gave it to Henry without any complaints; the receipt was for everything even the transmitter. The stuff taken was the transmitter, cassette tape recorder, 5 cassette tapes and a mains unit for the recorder, and all letters that the station had received. On the whole the Post Office were very nice to Libby and Henry. The papers kept on ringing up all day but they refused to talk to them.
The Daily Mirror wrote a very big piece on the raid, Nelson is the only pirate of late to get a big write up in this paper. News of the raid also appeared on lTV news that Sunday evening and was heard on the 6 o'clock news on the Beeb, all have big heads now.
After the raid on Nelson was known, other
land-based stations offered their TXs to us, for this we
thank you all very much. By the time this article goes to
print we hope that Nelson will be back on the air again.
Richard Johns, Radio Nelson DJ
Clive Barwood Column
At last after waiting getting on for six months for my 20-watt TX from the BIRM, it actually turned up, but alas it didn't work, and very nearly blew up. This was due to the shoddy workmanship of the engineer involved, and the pi-tank was all shorting out and in generally bad shape. As I was staying in London, my friend and me called in three local engineers, who were disgusted at the workmanship and design. The PA valve was also at fault. We rang him up, and he started making excuses.
In the end I decided to let them take it away to mend it, by using an 807 for the PA. After closer inspection, the RF section was not put together anything like a TX, so I could only think the BIRM engineers don't know what the hell they are doing. Even further inspection of the, TX showed that it wasn't a TX at all. This was very strange as it was so well built; it was very neatly put together.
As I have been in London, Radio 214 hasn't been on. We planned to come on in London, but because of that twerp we couldn't, but we plan to start an alternative station to 214 on about 227 or 230 metres.
Name for the station is not yet decided but I will let you know, in fact it may, be merrily going when you are reading this. We decided not to be pure underground, so disbanded Radio Seth. The new station will run alternative weeks. 214 will be on one week, and the next week the other station will be on. Each station therefore will be on once every two weeks.
While I was in London, I heard some good stations, Radio Samantha, Radio Odyssey, but there doesn't seem to be many like these. Jackie was professional but rather weak, while Samantha was Radio One strength. Needless to say I heard a lot of QSO’s. If you must QSO do it on Top Band or anywhere else but don't interfere with the show stations, as this is a bit silly. Anyone would rather hear a good show than someone testing his modulation or cursing Gotts & Co. Anyway sorry not to hear RNI on 270 if and when they do come on it will be really good. So until the next time keep listening.
Clive Barwood, Radio 214
Richard King Column
Well, this is my first column in FRM my first of many I hope. Every month I will keep you up to date with my station Radio Free Zettron and also, the pirate scene in and around North London, plus my views on other things.
Firstly about our TX, which was bought from the BIRM for £12, it was supposed to run 20 watts. When we switched it on smoke came pouring out of the back. So some engineers of a large London organization looked it over and found the 5B/254M valve was shorting. Later they found the circuitry so wired that it just wasn't a TX and that it could never have transmitted, the only good thing about it was that all the pieces were there but they just weren't connected up properly. So never buy TX' s from the BIRM as they are completely incompetent and untrustworthy.
Anyway we are now busy putting the "TX" into a new chassis and changing it from crystal controlled to VFO and we may even put it up in output, but for now it will only run about 12 watts. So for about 2 or 3 weeks RFZ will not be on the air, but here is our new schedule: RFZ - Saturdays 235 metres, 11-00am to 12 noon (alternate Saturdays) Sometimes on Sundays on various frequencies for 1 to 3 hours.
Now more news about other stations, as you all know Radio Nelson and Radio Odyssey were, caught but both will come bouncing back, Radio Odyssey came back after only one week off, but only on low power. Also IFRC HQ was raided and they even took material for the FRM (including my column) so I had to re-write this.
Slowly the North London pirates are coming back after hibernating for the winter, but these are the only regular show stations on now Radio Odyssey, Radio Free Atlantis, and a new station Radio Anonymous on 223 metres, every Sunday 1-30pm to 3-30pm. We (RFZ) will also be on by Easter, also a Radio Personality will be on by Easter no more details can be given at present but the owner will probably give you all the details soon. Also the former QSO Station Radio 5-0 is to start transmissions in May under a new name I have heard their TX from where they are now at RNI strength and the quality was as good as VHF. A friend heard them 40 miles away! So listen out for this one as they will play 40% underground and 10% oldies, and I predict they will be big one day.
Also rumours of the HBN (Helen Broadcasting Network) to reform, but you know what rumours are, just like the one about RNI on 270 metres. Now about last months FRM, John Kenway has the best idea yet except for one flaw to be an alternative to Radio One it will have to be at least Radio Luxembourg strength, so imagine how many watts would be needed as Radio Luxembourg run 150 Kilowatts and Monte Carlo run 400 Kilowatts. Also in answer to Keith Jackson, you talk of QSO stations as if they were pests, well OK maybe they are, but when you build a new TX you naturally want to test it and get it working at a peak so that shows will be better quality and as most people are too lazy to write to you a reception report, or even phone the only way is QSO. I am forming a small network called the Columbia Network and it consists of RFZ (Radio Free Zettron) and members of the now closed RGI (Radio Geronimo International). So only pirates wanting to join send an SAE to the address below. Also Paul Lewis in FRM 15 is mad! Building a 1000-watt rig for £20? It cost us that much for a 60 watt TX! As for Series gate modulation you need 5-watt amplifiers but such powerful blowers and that means a powerful power supply etc, etc, it just isn't possible for £20. I am sure us London engineers would do it if it were possible... but it isn't. Radio Jackie is non readable on a transistor radio in North London, while Radio Nelson (before they were caught) were barely readable on my mains receiver with 110' external aerial. Also if anyone connected with Radio Electra is reading this please send me an SAE envelope as I have some information to their advantage.
Well that's all for this month so keep listening and fighting.
Richard King (Controller/DJ - RFZ)
Whilst there were numerous Free Radio publications available in the seventies, land-based pirate radio rarely got any coverage in the national media. There were some exceptions, my own station Skyport was reported in a typical Daily Mail "reds under the bed" article and the following article appeared in Timeout Magazine;
Air On A Shoe String
There are more pirate broadcasting stations operating today in defiance of the duopoly of the BBC and lBA than there were in the heyday of the legendary ships and forts. After a period of comparative stagnation, with stations coming and going depending on the respective levels of determination of the operators and the Post Office engineers whose job it is to track them down, there is now a new feel to the scene.
Radio Jackie celebrates ten years of consistent broadcasting on March 18, specialist music stations appear regularly to cater for minority interests, there is a farseeing experiment in very local community access radio, and political propaganda stations, long a feature of France and Italy, are poised to make a major impact.
Land-based piracy started as soon as the Marine Offences Act 1967, took away the viability of the ships and forts like Radio City, Big L, and Radio 270, transmitting just outside territorial waters. The ships and their owners needed advertising revenue, and when that was denied they all eventually disappeared. Some deejays went on to become national figures on legit radio, as the small fanzines that still circulate to celebrate the brief period endlessly tell you.
Apart from creating demand for what became the commercial and BBC local networks, and totally changing Auntie's national programming, there were other effects. Whilst for some protagonists 'free radio' meant commercial radio, there were those who weren't in it for the money. An echo of this could be seen in the philosophy of the latter-day Radio Caroline with its Loving Awareness messages. (Caroline, just 15 years old this month-it was the first and last-has been off the air since October but claims to be coming back at the far long end of the medium wave band.)
The First Raids
The free radio enthusiasts, not bothered
too much about finance, set about learning transmitter
construction and studio work and went on the air from the
land. There, the full weight of the Wireless Telegraphy
Acts and the Post Office Act applies and when the first
raids started the operators were peremptorily reminded that
unlike other natural resources, the radio frequency
spectrum is in the gift of the Crown, to be dispensed with
as little openness as a paternalistic Civil Service can
manage.
Pirating means endless problems dodgy transmitters,
unsocial hours, damp days acting as lookout, lack of money,
and internal squabbling. The early land-based stations were
medium wave, but soon VHF technology was mastered by enough
operators to form a network, the London Transmitter of
Independent Radio, going out four evenings a week in around
1971-73. Today there are roughly the same numbers on VHF as
medium wave. Some stations haven't been able to handle the
more sensitive VHF technology; others say VHF's more
sophisticated (and thus expensive) equipment gives it an
essentially middle class bias. Since about 1975 there have
also been some short wave stations in operation, which
benefit from vast but uneven coverage and suffer from the
fact that only a small percentage of the population tune
around the short wave bands, even if their receivers can
pick them up.
You have to come back to the motivations for getting on the
air in the first place to see how stations operate and to
understand why some of them survive and others don't.
Politics: In France and Italy there have been hundreds of political pirate stations. The Cuban revolutionary Guevara said: 'The radio is a factor of extraordinary importance ... It explains, teaches, fires, and fixes the future positions of both friends and enemies ... ' Ironically the loudest political station is called Radio Enoch and 80% of its output is right wing extremism. At present it is on short wave. Two other short wave stations, Corsair and Skyport, intersperse left wing material between the music. The phenomenon is new, and what is astonishing is that it did not happen a long time ago. It is obviously only a matter of time before politics appear on medium wave and VHF, where many more will hear it. Approaches to existing music stations have been made by sections of both the National Front and the Communist Party.
Law Enforcement
The reaction of the authorities to these new developments will be interesting. Legal enforcement is carried out by Post Office engineers acting for the Home Office. The Radio Interference Department has a wide brief which includes malfunctioning industrial equipment, unstable and spurious transmissions, illegal use of the business radio bands, rogue amateurs, and, its most recent preoccupation, the 27Mhz Citizens Band subculture (TO 440). The chief enforcer is Eric Arthur Gotts, the subject of many anecdotes among the pirates. Arising from an incident in January 1977 Jackie took out a private summons for assault. Gotts was found guilty and conditionally discharged, and his appeal against conviction failed. Since then, except when Telstar South set up near Biggin Hill and were pounced upon a few weeks ago by 15 Special Patrol Group vehicles who thought they planned to jam the air traffic band, things have seemed very quiet. At least till March 4 when, in the friendliest way, Gotts descended on AMY. Their loss then was around £170, which will somehow have to be recouped. Unlike other stations they run an associated disco; yet others offer modest facilities for demo discs. But pirate radio is a costly hobby. The heavy expenditure items are the studio, records/tapes, batteries and transformers for power, and admin. The average transmitter costs about £50 serious pirates have three or more at the ready.
Taking precautions is part of the lifestyle (and in some cases one of the attractions, to be truthful). It is believed that the direction finding stations are at Ewell, Sanderstead, Brentford, and possibly East Finchley, and so transmitting sites (usually fields or blocks of flats) are chosen accordingly and changed frequently. The raids and prosecutions seem to work on Buggins' turn. The other main preoccupation is a rich proliferation of pseudonyms, which made this story fun to do, particularly as I was using one too-you see, technically it's an offence even to listen.
Short-life predictions
Pirate broadcasting is definitely here to stay-there must be nearly 200 transmitters and one can make the following predictions:
I. There will always be sporadic short
life stations.
2. Music stations will survive on consistency and audience
response otherwise there's no point in going on. It's a
pity that, after all the rhetoric, alternative music
stations themselves have so little variety. Top 40 from the
legits is challenged by a Golden Oldie/ Album/ Request
format ... more Invictas are needed.
3. Community Access is splendid, but AMY has to be seen as
a demonstration and experiment, prior to legal acceptance.
4. Political stations will multiply. These days 'free
radio' means Radio Enoch along with everything else.
Medium Wave/AM
How to listen: nearly all pirates transmit in a corridor between 215m(1395khz) and 240m(1250khz), which is relatively under-used in the UK during daytime. (At night atmospheric conditions change and continentals can be heard, which is why pirates don't bother then. The best equipment for listening is a good quality portable, which you can twist around for optimum signal. Medium wave/ AM radios use a ferrite bar as antenna which receives most strongly signals arriving at right angles to its length while nulling out those travelling along its length. Hi-Fi tuners often have inferior AM sections and poor antennae. Remember, a number of stations deliberately restrict their coverage area.
AMY
(217m/1386khz, 10.00-16.00)
Inventive community access station for six North London
boroughs. Good signal in area.
North London Radio or NLR
(221m/1369khz, 11.00-18.00)
Popular top-40 type shows, started in January 1978, off the
air for a while earlier this year but now back with a
strong signal.
Weekend Music Radio
(222m/1350khz)
South London-based pop. Off the air at the moment.
Jackie (227m/1332khz 09.00-17.00)
The Radio One of pirates based on Kingston/South London.
Busted many times but reliable. Signal weak in North
London.
Celebration
(230m/1314khz, 1100-1500)
Album/rock format based on American FM style started
regularly since March 1977. Off the air at the moment but
due back on this new frequency any Sunday now. West/North
West London.
Floss
(230m-ish)
New station almost ready to come on. Split off from
Celebration. Soft and heavy rock and news items. North West
London from May.
Telstar One
(235m/1278khz, occasional)
London's only semi-permanent live pirate with
ultra-informal presentation which appeals to some
listeners. Sporadic appearances usually from North London.
May move frequently.
Edge City
(235m/1278khz, 12.00-15.00)
Sixties music plus new wave. Started February 1979 as a
split from Radio City. From North West.
Radio City
(238m/1251khz, 12.00-16.00)
Pure classic rock'n'roll. Consistent station for the last
18 months with welcome individuality. Signal comes from
North/North West.
AMY East
(215m/1395khz)
Autonomous relative of the original AMY, this one will
serve East London from April 8. Frequency may change.
There are also a large number of occasionals; we've had several reports about the following: Back Street Radio (226m/1323khz) Capital 195 and Radio Clandestine in Tufnell Park, which put out 16 hours of punk-type programmes a day for two weeks before someone put their foot through the transmitter; Elaine (199m/1503khz and 186m/ 1602khz), Bank Holidays only; Music Radio 270 (270m/1107khz) Bank Holidays only; Wonderful Radio Camden (227m/1323khz); Radio Christmas (221/1396khz)-NLR under a another name. You may also hear the occasional QSO (two-way contact) station well past midnight on Friday/ Saturday at around 227m/1332khz.
VHF/FM
How to listen: the pirates tend to look for 'holes' in the coverage provided by legit stations. A good antenna is essential, particularly for stereo, but most Hi-fi tuners are attached to fIxed roof top aerials beamed at Crystal Palace/Croydon, whereas the pirate signals can come from anywhere. The ideal, of course is a rotator (you'll get several extra legit programmes and one extra lTV station with the right setup, so don't knock it). However, in most cases, we're back to the good quality portable, this time using a tiltable and rotatable telescopic whip. Reception will be better high up or near a window and any antenna should be horizontal or slanted to the ground, as this is the 'sense' in which nearly all VHF signals are sent, but experiment and see. Some stations change transmitters during a broadcast. All stations are Sunday only.
Thameside
(90.2,19.00-20.00)
Very slick pop/rock with competitions. Highly regarded and
consistent, this is the nearest we have to US-FM
presentation. All over coverage. Signal usually from the
West.
Invicta
(92.4,12.00-15.15)
Soul over London. Very professional see feature. Switch
transmitters during broadcasts but usually all over
coverage beamed from South. Some transmissions stereo.
Radio Free London or RFL
(92 or 92.4,15.00∑19.00)
Rock/album orientated. Claims link with original land-based
pirate; after several raids, back since February 1978.
Signal from North Kent, vertically polarised-may go
stereo.
Telstar South
(92.4,19.00∑20.00)
1960-74 golden oldies all requests. Started 1975.Signal
comes from the East, and is sometimes Dolby mono. Often
difficult to hear in West London.
Alpha
(92.5)
Holiday station only, since January 1978. Stereo.
North Kent
(92.8,20.00-22.00)
Rock station, but weakish signal except in South East
London.
West London
(94.4,19.00-21.00)
Pop/album station. Stereo, but difficult to hear outside
its own area.
Uptown
(94.4,21.00-23.00)
Intelligent rock station also based in West London. Stereo
but sometimes weak. Believed to be temporarily off the
air.
There are also further occasionals and holiday specials. Experimental broadcasts have taken place at about 104Mhz but most experienced pirates regard this as risky.
Short Wave
How to listen: the band used is referred to as 48 meters, which is just high of the legitimate 49 m band. The pirates have occupied a corridor between 6.2 and 6.3 Mhz. There are other European pirates in the vicinity, notably Radio Viking. Short wave broadcasts can be heard either within a few miles of the transmitting site, or, by ionospheric reflection, hundreds of miles away. However, their travel is erratic and without powerful transmitters and directional antennae, reception is a gamble and subject to fading. So you’ll have to rely on luck, though a 40 foot long wire and a good earth will help. Frequencies listed below are only approximate. Locations given are usually the believed transmitting site, but with short wave that doesn't matter so much. Just tune above 49m at 10.00 on a Sunday, play about with it and see what happens. There are a few stations, which duplicate transmissions on 41 m/7.35Mhz.
Empire Radio
(6.2)
Atlantis
(6.2)
Midlands
Iris
(6.205)
Free Radio Broadcasting Co
(6.215)
Shropshire
European Music Radio
(6.235/7.325,10.00-13.00)
Surrey, third Sunday in month-see feature.
Sunshine Int
(6.235)
London. First, second and fourth Sunday in month.
Solent City Int
(6.235/6.280, from 12.30 on)
North of England. Second and fourth Sundays in month.
Corsair
(6.255)
South West London. Noisy programmes with lots of Free Radio
propaganda. Leftish.
Skyport
(6.260)
South West London. Close links with Corsair.
Cavendish
(6.260, 11.00-12.00)
South East England.
Zodiac 49
(6.270, 10.00-12.00)
Sussex accommodation address
Tower Radio
(6.270) Cambridge
Enoch
(6.275)
West Midlands. Britain's noisiest political pirate right
wing extremists, but not NF. Transmissions currently once a
month, some of them single sideband and very powerful. May
start soon on 4lm and medium wave.
Voice of Britain
(6.2-3)
Sussex accommodation address. Fairly reliable
appearances.
Timeout March 23-29 1979 #466 article by Crispin Aubrey
The following article appeared over 2 issues of Free Radio Focus and gives an idea of the amount of free radio activity in London at the time. It was written by Ed Hatvany (Dave Grainger) of, amongst others, Radio Celebration.
Landbased London 1968-1974
(Originally published in Free Radio Focus 1976)
It all started with the closure of Radio Caroline in the
spring of 1968. Some months later a Radio Free London
situated in London, and operating on low power, could be
heard test transmitting on the medium wave at about
255metres. This station was run by people previously well
known in offshore radio. Shortly after this, other stations
began to appear, such as Radio's Helen & Telstar. These
would transmit at odd times on weekday evenings and use
various wavelengths (255m & 197m being popular). As
these stations expanded & improved the operators
decided to form a network, "Helen Broadcasting Net," or
H.B.N. as it became known, with stations such as Helen
North, Helen South (later Helen International)Telstar and
another new station which started early in 1969, Radio
Jackie, (formed from smaller stations like Red Rose.) The
HBN broadcast on Sundays on 197m, with each station having
a hour segment. However, due to various inadequacies the
Net' was short lived and the stations all went their
separate ways, Jackie changed wavelength to 227m. The other
stations closed down one by one. During 1970 numerous other
stations started up including for the first time test
transmissions on 88MHz VHF from Radio Invicta, an all soul
music station. During a typical listening weekend Radio's
Pandorra, Free South, Constellation or Stardust &
perhaps Free Caroline could be heard along with Jackie
& Free London.
By the beginning of 1971 a new station Radio Star on 227m was test broadcasting. Also plans for a new VHF station Radio Aquarius were going ahead (94.4 MHz Friday nights) . At this time Jackie was also considering an additional VHF service and tests were made. Eventually the organisers of Jackie & Aquarius got together to form a network called the London Transmitter of Independent Radio (LTIR) whose purpose was to lend out VHF transmitting gear to various stations interested in VHF broadcasting. During 1971 Radio Aquarius could be heard with light music on Friday nights from 10pm to 1am and Radio Jackie broadcast on Saturday nights with specialist programming from 8pm to 1am on 94.4MHz through the facilities of the LTIR.
Towards the end of 1971 Jackie & Aquarius were joined by a new station, Radio London Underground which specialised in progressive music and would broadcast on Sunday evenings, 10pm to 12 midnight. This station became very popular, its' popularity being attributed to their professional programmes. Also Radio Invicta were now broadcasting on 92.4MHz establishing a regular service on weekday evenings between 11.30pm &12.30am. Towards the end of 1971 & at the beginning of '72, the number of smaller stations operating in London increased with the formation of such stations as Jennifer, Thames (also Tower or Marina), Tracy, Samantha, Carol etc. However, operators like Constellation, Free South &Free London had since disappeared some months previously. Some of the larger better known stations were heard for the first time like, Radio Concord & Radio Odyssey both in North London & both very popular. In West London another station started, Radio Nelson, which suffered a spectacular ending in the way of a massive Post Office raid which was headline news at the time......
Here is a typical weeks listening schedule for Summer '72;
VHF
Radio Invicta 92.4MHz Mon-Fri.11.30pm-12.30am.
Radio Aquarius 94.4MHz Fri. nights. 10pm-1am.
LTIR Radio Jackie 94.4MHz. Sat. nights. 7pm-1am. (LTIR)
Radio London Underground 94.4MHz. Sunday nights.10pm-12pm.
(LTIR)
Medium Wave. Saturdays;
Radio Star 227m 11am-4pm;
Radio Carol & Samantha sometimes after 2pm on 240m.
approx'.
Sundays;
Radio Jackie 227m.10am-6pm
Radio Jennifer 260m.3pm-5pm
Radio Concord 230m.12am-4pm
Radio Odyssey 235m.11am-3pm
Radio Nelson 201m.9am- 1pm
Radio Carol & Radio Samantha sometimes after 2pm on
240m approx'.
Radio Tracy sometimes on 222m (Mornings).
Thames Radio (also Tower or Marina) 266m. 4pm-6pm.
On Short Wave at this time Skyport Radio, (so called because of it's proximity to London's Heathrow Airport) was transmitting to Europe on the 41mb changing to 48 metres in early 1973. At the end of 1972, Radio Gemini also started transmissions on short wave from around London. Back to Summer '72 and medium wave, as well as those listed above there were lots of small very sporadic stations on the air, e.g. SBN, (Southern Broadcasting Net'), Radio Valerie etc. Unfortunately after several months of good broadcasts Radio Nelson closed down but West London was soon to hear a new sound, Radio Anonymous on 223m every Sunday from 10.30am to 3.30pm.
However, most of the aforementioned stations did not last long into 1973, including one station which was doomed before it even started, a West London station called Radio Phoenix. Christmas '72 saw the close of Radio London Underground and Radio Odyssey who were now experiencing difficulties with their medium wave station & decided to join the LTIR, these programmes could be heard on Sunday evenings. Radio Star the regular Saturday broadcaster had already become interested in the LTIR and by the end of 1972 they also had programmes going out, this time on Thursday evenings, 10pm-12pm. Radio Invicta had by now switched their weekday service (evenings) to Sunday afternoons from 2pm onwards, this was because of a staff shortage. The people who previously ran Radio Anonymous formed another station, Radio City, but this was only a Bank Holiday broadcaster.
In the spring of 1973 some of the Radio Jackie & Radio Jennifer staff decided to leave to join a new station to London (previously heard in Essex & East London on 186m) called Radio Kaleidoscope, This station broadcast with higher power than most and had very professional programming on 266m from 12am-2pm at first but later from 10am-3pm. However, reception to stations already using that frequency was hampered, e.g. Thames, Tower & Marina, and not much more was heard from these stations again.
Other stations operating around this time, Radios Free Atlantis, Electra, Atlantis & yet another Free Caroline were experiencing staff problems and had since ceased to exist. Radio Invicta had again switched times, this time to Sunday evenings, and later extended this to cover Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday evenings as well. Now due to staff problems Radio Jackie & Jennifer had problems and the Jackie VHF service had to be temporarily suspended, and a new station, Radio Classic took their Saturday evening spot on the LTIR (also the medium wave service closed two hours earlier at 4pm.)
Here's a the summer schedule for a week in typical programme of 1973:-
Medium wave. Saturdays;
Radio Star 11am-4-pm. 227m.
Sundays;
Radio Jackie 10am-4pm. 227m. ;
Radio Kaleidoscope 10am-3pm. 266m.;
Radio Jennifer 3pm-5pm. 260m. (Irregular due to low
staffing.)
VHF
Sun-Tues, Thurs & Fri' nights
10pm-11pm Radio Invicta on 92.4MHz.
Radio Star. Thurs nights 9 or 10-12, 94.4MHz.;
Radio Aquarius. Friday nights 10-1am, 94.4MHz.;
R.Classic, Sat' nights 9-12, 94.4MHz. ;
R.Oddysey. Sun' nights 9-11 ,94.4MHz.
(All stations on 94.4MHz are LTIR stations.)
Later on Radio Odyssey left the LTIR never to be heard again, and Radio Classic moved to Sunday nights to make way for the return of Radio Jackie on Saturday nights from 9 till midnight. During the summer of 1973 Radio Star staff decided that they could no longer continue with their VHF service as well as mw, so this was terminated. Radio Kaleidoscope who had meanwhile become quite popular from their regular broadcasts were looking for room to expand, so they joined the LTIR with programming on Thursday evening from 10-12pm. taking Star's place. During this period Radio Jennifer received a series of nasty raids from the post office & had to stop broadcasting regularly (occasional bank holiday broadcasts could still be heard). Meanwhile Radio Concord were heard from time to time on Sunday afternoons on 230m, Later, the LTIR decided it still had room to increase it's programming & they started advertising for a programme contractor to operate on Wednesday evenings, and rumours started circulating that Radio Invicta might join the network. However nothing came of this, or of Wednesday evening broadcasts from any station. In the Autumn of 1973 the LTIR operators announced that the network would shortly close, due to the advent of legal commercial radio in London, and in October the last LTIR programmes were heard from Kaleidoscope , Aquarius & Classic. Radio Jackie stated that they had their own VHF transmitting gear, and would continue, but nothing much ever came of this. Some weeks later Radio Star revealed that they had plans to close as well, and shortly before Christmas their medium wave service, indeed their station was heard for the last time....
So this left the medium wave services of Jackie & Kaleidoscope & Radio Invicta who were soon to change to Bank Holiday only programming, Concord & City had since ceased broadcasting to any great extent. But despite all this Christmas '73 brought extremely good broadcasts from Radio Jackie using high power for 48 hours continuously on Christmas & Boxing Days, and Radio Tranquility using high power for three nights during Christmas week, very good programmes like phone-ins etc, presented by ex-offshore djs and also Kaleidoscope staff. Numerous other stations, too numerous to mention were heard as well as Kaleidoscope International on Christmas day.
Spring '74 came with the creation of a new station to broadcast alongside Jackie & Kaleidoscope, formed from various other stations like Radio Carol, London Weekend Radio and Skyport (SW). This was Swinging Radio England (SRE) on 239m from 10am-2pm. This lasted some months, but then after a post office raid & staffing difficulties they had to close never to be heard again. Some weeks after SRE's closure, during the summer of '74, some old familiar names to North London listeners were heard again over the airwaves, this time going under the name of 'Radio Dynamite 235'. They were of course the old Concord staff, Dynamite broadcast on Sundays 10am-4pm and used quite high power (500w at onepoint.Ed'). Also at this time another station opened up, trying out for the first time a high power night time medium wave service called 'Wonderful Free Radio London' (WFRL) on 266m every Thursday & Sunday night from 11pm-1am, tests had been going on for some months. This station proved very popular especially in North London (WFRL's service area) and also well outside London due to extended coverage at night. Radio Dynamite were impressed by this form of broadcasting (although they had tried it before without success) & decided to extend their service into the night with Dynamite NTS (Night time service), commencing at midnight on Saturday through till 10am Sunday when Radio Dynamite would start up from a different location or sometimes the same. However, differing ideas among station staff caused a split in the station between Dynamite NTS & Radio Dynamite, with the result of NTS re-emerging as Radio Concord & Radio Dynamite eventually being forced to close down due to intense post office activity.
In Autumn '74 test transmissions began from a new station, London Music Radio (LMR) on 389m (these tests being in the evenings). LMR was run by people who previously operated City & Anonymous plus a few of the Jackie & Kaleidoscope staff & was closely linked with Radio Invicta, (now a Bank Holiday only operator).
Here's a typical programme guide for Summer '74,
Medium Wave;
WFRL. Thurs & Suns,11pm-1am.266m.;
R,Concord,Sat/Sun 10pm-10am, 225m.;
Sundays: R,Jackie.227m,10am-4pm (later 2pm,)
R. Kaleidoscope.10am-3pm, 266m,
R. Dynamite, 10am-4pm,235m .
Others Linda Anne, Escort, Skyline, Atlantis, 227m. &
Big Noise (270) & LMR (389.)
VHF
R. Invicta, Bank Hol's, 10am-6pm Or 8pm, 92.4MHz
Sat LMR tests
By Ed of Radio Celebration
Thames Radio & Radio Britannia
A brief tale of landbased UK pirate radio 1968 – 1975
Like most of Britain’s youth, I was devastated
when the MOA came to pass on 14th August 1967. On that day
we lost not only vitality and choice in radio
entertainment, but also something much more sinister;
freedom of speech in broadcasting.
I was a young radio enthusiast living in South London, and
although a member of the local ham radio club, my interests
went beyond experimenting on the shortwave bands. My school
friends & I were all keen devotees of Radio Caroline,
but her increasingly flagging transmissions were not
getting the message to Government, and after hearing
landbased Radio Free London emulate the former ‘Big
L’, we decided to launch our own station.
It wasn’t hard to modify ham radio transmitter
circuits to the medium wave, and the parts were all readily
available from war surplus shops in London’s
Tottenham Court Road, or simply scrounged from old
TV’s and radiograms. Before long our shed in suburban
Coulsdon became the source of a 15 watt signal playing an
eclectic mix of records at strange hours and variable
frequencies. With financial help from friends and donations
from a local record shop, this evolved into Radio Thames on
220 metres, broadcasting briefly each Sunday using a long
wire aerial across the garden. Our first transmission was
on 25th August 1968.
Our downfall came in early 1969 when we attempted our first
all day transmission while my parents were out. Commencing
at 10:00, things were going well until a lookout noted two
serious looking men approaching on foot, one with an
earpiece. It was pretty obvious that the house with several
long haired youths out front was the source of the station,
and I nervously answered the front door whilst my pals
scattered. Having no knowledge of my ‘rights’
and being quite scared, I obeyed their instructions to cut
some of the transmitter wiring and hand over the valves.
The next evening the two men returned to discuss my
activities with my father, and introduced themselves as GPO
Officers Mr Crow and Mr Smith. They commented on the signal
being “of quite good quality, and heard as far as
Battersea” which I was secretly pleased about. They
then demanded I hand over the transmitter, but I had
foreseen this and had prepared a dummy, which they happily
took away. I was never prosecuted and I believe this was
because (a) I was still just 17, (b) one of the first
stations raided, and (c) they surely didn't follow correct
protocols, and any decent lawyer would have got me off.
Of course, to any true pirate operator, being caught and
shut down simply makes you more determined to continue, and
my group was no different. By good chance, a friend’s
father was a freelance journalist by profession, and had
some mysterious background in wartime radio equipment, as
well as a subversive streak. He suggested that we build a
more powerful transmitter, and using the (then) new
cassette tape technology, pre-record programs and move the
transmitter around each Sunday, hopefully delaying being
tracked down by the authorities.
As the GPO became better at locating the growing number of
landbased pirates around S.E. England, many other groups
had adopted this operating model, notably Radio Jackie who
eventually became the most famous. Again, like other
groups, we financed our station through daytime jobs and
running discos and used the equipment to record our shows.
Each Sunday we would set up at someone’s house and
transmit programs under the new name of Radio Britannia
(“Britons never, never shall be slaves”!) on
254 m (1183Kz). We also adopted a middle-of-the-road music
format not unlike Radio 355, and carried paid advertising
and various appeals for charities. Often we completed the
full 2-3 hour transmission, but sometimes the familiar
faces of Stan Smith and his bully sidekick, Eric Gotts in a
slow passing car forced an early closure of the station. By
1970 our audience across London, & Surrey was
increasing, but we were running out of locations, and
resorting to hooking into public phone boxes, railway
waiting rooms, and other strange sources for mains power.
Our benefactor then came up with a new solution. Together
with my main ally Adrian (aka Stephan West), we purchased
several DC-DC converters (and some VERY heavy ex-military
batteries!) which although inefficient, ran silently and
generated the necessary high voltage to run the 807 PA
valves in our 100 watt rig. We now scoured the lovely
Surrey countryside for hidden spots not too far from a road
(we had to carry the batteries!), string up an invisible
and expendable aerial between two tall trees, banged in
some earth stakes, and tuned up the rig. Using lookouts
with walkie-talkies, we never got close to being raided,
and never lost the gear.
In 1972 we reverted to the callsign Thames Radio
International (this being more palatable to some
parliamentary supporters working behind the scenes on
licence applications). Using pre-recorded programs on
cassette tapes, we broadcast almost every Sunday (and Xmas
which was a GPO accepted amnesty day) until 1973, with
semi-regular transmissions and Xmas specials into 1974 and
1975 (with joint transmissions on 49 m shortwave). On
medium wave we moved to 260m due to interference on 254m.
Our music mix was mainly a ‘Gold’ format with
some contemporary pop. I still produced a 30 minute program
under the name John Dale, but most programs were supplied
by a professional DJ under a pseudonym. We carried no paid
advertising, but supported free radio events, charities and
advertised our own ‘Paintbox’ mobile disco*.
After a while, we got smarter and arranged the equipment in
the boot of a car and found sites at the ends of country
lanes. This meant we no longer had to lug the heavy gear
across fields, and could immediately drive away if the GPO
arrived, just sacrificing the aerial if found. For those
technically minded, the transmitter was crystal controlled
with oscillator, buffer, and driver into the PA, which was
plate modulated by 4 EL84s series-parallel. We used a
standard pi-tank and RF ammeter to tune max power into a
long wire aerial. Our transmitter was once loaned to Radio
Jackie in the early 70’s to keep them going for a
couple of weeks.
We used an address in Coulsdon, Surrey for fan mail and
requests, and often received reports from places beyond our
service area of South London and Surrey, and several
European countries especially in winter. The mail always
got through, probably because it is (or was) an offence in
the UK for anyone to interfere with Her Majesty’s
Mail.
I sometimes wonder why Radio Britannia is hardly ever
mentioned in histories of landbased UK pirates, but I think
maybe because our target audience was slightly older than
most stations, and our small group didn’t mix much or
QSO with others, so we were largely unknown in pirate
circles. We still have the equipment in my friend’s
loft in Surrey, although looking at those power hungry
valves and heavy batteries and transformers, it’s a
wonder we didn’t consign them to the bin years ago!
Phil Crosby
Sydney, Australia 2007
* Our Paintbox Disco consisted of a twin deck DJ mixing
console, mixer, amplifiers, speakers and lightshow that
could be set up anywhere. It was a real money-maker. In
1972 we toured Holland and Denmark, ending up at
Scheveningen where we were tempted to join the Caroline
ship being secretly prepared for sea. After seeing the
condition of the Mi Amigo, we both decided it was not for
us, and returned to the UK.
Finally here is another list of some of the pirate stations of this era, I hope to bring you more information about this period of pirate radio in London when time permits. For those names I have omitted apologies, there will be updates in the future. Special Hello to the former staff of Skyport Radio, Rob Holland, Bob Earl, Terry Anderson, Jolly Roger Stevens, Dave Grainger (Eddy), Grant Goddard, Bobby Constable, Philip Day, Allen Reeve, and many others.
Catch you later
Mark King (Skyport Radio)
