DimensionFM-LogoSpangles 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 that used to broadcast from a box van. They lasted about 3 months and then gave it up.

He then started thinking about a station of his own and, as a few of his mates were DJ’s, he spoke to them about it. They were all keen to have a go so he looked on the net for a circuit diagram and came across a site for Veronica kits. He soon purchased a PLL kit from them and a 25 watt amp. Dimension was born.

The station was first heard in June 1999 broadcasting to a small area of Telford of about a 5 mile radius on 106.6 FM. The first 6 months were a learning curve and they used a flat and went direct. They steadily built up a good group of listeners. The phone was quiet at first but then, after putting posters up, telling everyone they were on and getting hundreds of flyers on the streets, the phone lines went mental. Unfortunately their location was found out by the council, so they had to move before the DTI were tipped off. The studio had brand new Technics 1210 turntables and £1000’s worth of tunes, so it was not worth the risk.

After that, they went mobile in a van using a generator for power. They would sit in the van in the clouds for hours and did this for about 2 months, until more money was invested into the station allowing them to buy links, a new transmitter and a new studio.

By early 2001 they were broadcasting all weekend sometimes running as much as 240 Watts with the transmitter located high up on The Wrekin. This gave them a whacking broadcast range of 50 miles, sometimes getting calls from over 100 miles away. They had a huge following that got bigger & bigger every week.

By 2002 they had changed frequency slightly to 106.3 and by 2003 they were on 92.2. Many of the DJ’s also performed live shows at venues across the county including a regular Dimension FM night at the Elephant and Castle in Ketley. The station also branched out into selling mix CD’s and Dimension caps and jackets via their website.

After broadcasting on the FM dial for over 4 years Dimension FM and its management had a major raid on Sunday 23rd September 2003. The studio, transmitter and peoples homes were raided, meaning a serious court case was inevitable. They decided to go out in a blaze of glory for one last weekend over the 17th and 18th of January 2004.

This court case started in February 2004 with fines and community service orders handed out the following month. Listeners rallied round and raised £400 for Dimension FM in the hope that it could win a battle to start broadcasting again with a legitimate licence. However the station decided there were too many obstacles in the way so the money was donated to the cause of a local girl with cerebral palsy and whose family hoped to take her to Florida for dolphin therapy.

The station decided it had proved itself as a true leader in pirate radio in the West Midlands, so decided to refocus its attention to the legal side of radio. Part of this was to join forces with other ex pirate operators and create a new internet only radio station broadcasting each and every night live from their website and others. There were also plans to apply for an RSL licence so as to get back onto the FM dial with the hope to gain a full time ‘community licence’.

More on Dimension FM can be found on the following pages:

The Studio Story
Reviews about Dimensions signal and output from the listeners
The Court Case
Facebook Page

Downloads

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Photos

Video

Dimension FM – 2002

Audio

Dimension FM – Last Weekend – 17/1/04
DJ Bomb 4 mins
Bry / Tree 66 mins
Deano 112 mins
Dubmaster 59 mins
K T 122 mins
Kuz 62 mins
Naylor 114 mins
Stevo 118 mins
Superman 58 mins
Thumpa / Clipper 118 mins
Dimension FM – Last Weekend – 18/1/04
Cheadle / Hubby 50 mins
Kimi 30 mins
Kuz 56 mins
Lych 53 mins
Mart 60 mins
Mi6 / 2K 116 mins
Neeson 121 mins
Spangles – Final Show 132 mins
Taylor J 50 mins