DTI
From Freeradio
From the mid-1980's to the late 1990's, "The DTI" was the feared enemy of pirate radio stations in the UK - the state officials whose job it was to track down pirate radio stations and other illegal radio users, to confiscate illegal radio equipment, and to prosecute illegal radio users.
DTI stands for Department of Trade and Industry - which is, and was, actually a very big government department with a whole host of responsibilities. When pirates talked about "DTI", however, they tended to mean the section devoted to radio regulation. In the mid-1980s this section was called the Radio Regulatory Division, by the late 1990s it had become the Radiocommunications Agency.
History
For many years, radio regulation in the UK was exercised by a division of the Post Office Telecommunications.
When PO Telecommunications became British Telecom in the early 1980s, radio regulation became part of BT's responsibility. It was during this period that illegal CB radio users (please note: in the UK ALL CB radio was illegal until late 1981) nick-named the radio enforcement officials "Buzby", after the cheesy bird character in the BT adverts of the time.
When British Telecom was privatised, regulation of the radio waves passed to the Home Office for a while.
By 1985, the DTI was in charge of radio regulation.
In the early 2000's (?) , regulation of radio frequencies was passed on to the newly created Ofcom (Office of Communications) - which also took over the jobs of regulating radio and TV programmes, and awarding radio licences, from the Radio Authority, Independent Television Commission, and Broadcasting Standards Council.
Significant actions
Eurosiege 85 - in 1985, the DTI took action to force the offshore radio stations Radio Carolene and Laser 558 off-air, by monitoring and prosecuting their suppliers
