Sunshine Radio in Ludlow dates back to the late 70s when they used to broadcast every Bank Holiday weekend on 239m (1242 kHz), and by 1981, 249m (1179 kHz). Around this time, negotiations took place with the IBA with a view to bring local radio to the area, bearing in mind at this point there…
Keith Rogers first moved into the pirate radio world with shortwave station Empire Radio in 1978, using the name Mike Thomas. He was also sometimes known as Paul Kent on Radio 242 and Radio Free Birmingham. However, in 1980 he decided to start his own station, so in December of that year Sounds Alternative was…
Spangles used to listen to Exile Radio while still at school. He and his friends would wait for a Saturday morning to tune in, being in Telford this was the only station that they could get. Then a few people he knew started up a station called Underground 101.9. That was a Friday night station…
In the early 80s Cecil Morris was running Rising Star Records and Management from a shop at 151 Dudley Road Birmingham. He also branched out in to running a venue (The Elite) and a magazine (Rasta Mag), so it was obvious that Radio would be next. His first shows were on Sounds Alternative during 1981,…
Scott Davis had always been a fan of pirate radio, and in the summer of 1989 after listening to Freedom Radio decided to have a go at setting up his own station Exile FM. Scott brought his first transmitter which was just 4 watts off a small low powered local pirate station called KFM after…
UK Radio was the West Midlands longest running pirate station, operating from 1978 to 2003. The station would probably still be going today had it not been for the sad death of the stations founder, Paul Johnson, in 2003. As well as their own 25 years on air, UK Radio were involved in, and helped,…
The first 7-day a week white pirate station in the Black Country was Power House Radio. They had been on since 7th February 1988 from Rowley Regis. At this point Craig Benson was running a car hire business that booked some advertising on PHR. It was through this connection that Craig Benson obtained his first…
In August 1979 two pirate stations started broadcasting. One was the short-lived Radio Active, while the other was someone relaying tapes of London’s Radio Jackie on 227 MW. A meeting was arranged, and in staggered the radio legend that is Steve Merrick, “wanting to sound like Radio Jackie”. That was met with some amusement by…
Deep FM broadcast dance music from Wolverhampton. They were first heard in the early 00’s on 89.6, and were heard mostly at weekends. If anyone has any more information on this station please contact The Pirate Archive. Downloads To save any item from this list then Right Click and ‘Save Target As…’ Audio Deep…
Fusion FM first took to the airwaves in 2001, using a 2 Watt vfo rig from Matt James, aka J Bassline G, parent’s house in Brandhall/Oldbury. The signal was only good for around 3 miles, but could be heard 7-8 miles away on a good day. Fusion or Jay wasn’t heard on air for a…