1980's
From Freeradio
The 1980's are the period between 1st January 1980, and 30th December 1989. Plenty happened in this decade, not least in the field of free radio ...
Land based pirates
In the early years of the 1980's, there were a handful of land-based pirates in the UK, mostly concentrated in London. As the decade progressed, the number of free radio stations rapidly increased, largely to serve the needs of groups of people un-represented by the legal stations - notably ethnic minority groups.
As the number and popularity of the pirate radio stations increased, so did the Establishment's efforts to shut them down. DTI raids and prosecutions increased to the point where some of the larger pirates were suffering transmitter raids daily and frequent studio raids.
Laws against unlicenced broadcasting were also tightened; penalties were greatly increased in the Telecom Act of 1984.
At the beginning of 1989, a law was passed banning people convicted of pirate broadcasting from presenting on licenced radio stations, and another law allowed the DTI to confiscate records played on pirate radio stations.
Also at the beginning of 1989, a substantial number of pirates - especially the larger ones in larger cities - closed down for a very different reason. The Establishment was by that time using the "carrot and stick" approach of awarding a number of community radio licences, and many pirates closed down to apply for said licences. A number of such licences were on offer in London, other areas being awarded community radio licences at the time included Birmingham.
But the airwaves didn't stay empty long. Initially, there were soon new pirates to take the place on the dial, of the ones which had closed. In some cases, DJ's from pirates which had closed down, were to be heard on some of the new pirates.
Furthermore, a number of stations which had closed at the beginning of 1989 had returned by late 1989, after having their hopes of a licence dashed. (Birmingham is an example of where several pirates, hoping to go legal, were left disappointed).
Land-based pirates of the 1980's include:
Derbyshire - Radio Nemesis of Clowne , NMR of North Derbyshire , Radio Zoe of Clowne
Nottinghamshire - Heatwave Community Radio of Nottingham ;
West Midlands - Asian Radio Broadcasting of Birmingham , Enterprise FM of Birmingham , Freedom FM Dudley , Fresh FM Birmingham , Kiss FM Birmingham , Metro FM Birmingham , PCRL Radio of Birmingham , Power House Radio of the Black Country , Sangam Radio of Birmingham , Sangeet Radio of Birmingham , Skyline Wolverhampton , UK Radio of the Black Country ;
South Yorkshire - Radio Britannia , East End Radio of Sheffield , Ocean Sound of Rotherham , Rebel Radio of Rotherham , Solid Soul Radio of Conisborough, WLNG of Scunthorpe , ZFM of Sheffield ;
West Yorkshire - ABC Radio of Leeds , NLV of Keighley , Paradise City Radio of Bradford , Peoples fm of Leeds , Rapid FM of Leeds , Soundwaves of Bradford , Radio Veronica of Bradford
Offshore
The 1980's got off to a poor start from the point of view of offshore radio, with Radio Caroline's ship the Mi Amigo sinking on 20th March 1980. As a result, Caroline was off-air for 3 years - and there was no offshore radio covering the UK during this period.
In 1983, Radio Caroline returned from a new ship, a converted Icelandic trawler called the Ross Revenge. Format on its return was album rock, frequency was 863 kHz MW (announced as "319").
The following year, a new offshore station - Laser 558 - began broadcasting from another ship - the MV Communicator. Format of Laser 558 was mostly hits and recent hits, with some oldies.
Soon afterwards, Caroline was to move to 576 kHz (announced as "519"), the music played became slightly more mainstream but was still largely album rock. Around the same time, 963 once again became active - this time with a Dutch language station, Radio Monique, also broadcasting from the Ross Revenge.
The increased offshore radio activity soon drew the ire of the Establishment. In summer 1985, the British DTI launched a campaign to stop boats from supplying food, fuel and other items to the MV Communicator and MV Ross Revenge. A DTI ship, the Dioptric Surveyor, was sent to watch for ships visiting and supplying the offshore radio ships. Laser DJ's dubbed this action "Eurosiege 85".
On 6th November 1985, the MV Communicator was escorted into Harwick harbour by DTI, Police and Coastguard vessels. This was the end of Laser 558.
Caroline continued, and within days, Caroline had settled on a new frequency - 558 kHz. Now, the format became significantly more commercial and chart-orientated (although still with a rock bias).
By the end of 1985, the DTI had stopped Eurosiege, and Caroline was left alone, at least for the time being.
In late 1986, Laser was to return - on a new frequency of 576 kHz, and under the name of Laser Hot Hits. Format was similar to that of Laser 558, but this time the jingles were entirely in English.
Sadly, the new frequency was not as good as 558. Daytime reception across the UK was reasonable, but there was much interference after dark.
In addition, Laser Hot Hits was dogged by technical problems, particularly with their mast. In heavy seas and gales, the masts kept collapsing and putting Laser off-air for days or weeks at a time. In mid-1987, Laser closed for the last time.
It was now the turn of the weather to give Caroline trouble. A vicious depression in late October 1987 gave rise to force 12 gales across much of southern England (including the Thames Estuary), and was dubbed the "October hurricane". The immediate effect of this storm was to put Caroline off-air due to spray from the sea, and it is thought to have so weakened Caroline's famous tall mast, so much that it collapsed soon afterwards.
Caroline returned, at first on low power using a temporary antenna. As time went on, Caroline's power and range increased, but sadly never reached the coverage they enjoyed using the huge mast.
Meanwhile, Radio Monique are understood to have morphed into Radio 558, then into Radio 819 (both Dutch language stations). In addition, a short wave religious station - World Mission Radio - began broadcasting from the Ross Revenge.
Again, the Establishment got irate. On 19th August 1989, the British DTI and Dutch radio regulators launched a joint raid on the Ross Revenge, silencing all services. Such a raid on a station in International Waters was unprecedented and of dubious legality. This led to protests in London, and to the setting up of the Caroline Legal Fund, to challenge the legality of the raid in court.
Also in the late years of the 1980's, Caroline's frequency of 558 kHz was allocated by the British authorities to Spectrum Radio, a multi-lingual ethbic station for London. This was far from ideal for either Caroline or Spectrum. Eventually, Caroline moved to 819 kHz.
Even so, Caroline - and offshore pirate radio in the UK - was not to last long beyond the end of 1989.
