BAGGIES QUIP ENDS IN DOCK

13th Dec 2002.

A giggle and comment on air about the Albion has led to a 12-month conditional discharge for a woman unwittingly speaking on a pirate radio station in Dudley.

Hayley Davies ‘played a relatively minor part’ when she was heard on Groove FM last December.

The 27-year-old single mum had been invited by a friend to check out the Porter Street studio Dudley Magistrates was told on Tuesday.

Prosecuting Martin Jenkins said Davies, of Acacia Close, Tividale, was heard on air when the three-storey block of bedsits was raided and officers stumbled across sophisticated equipment being used to transmit to the Black Country.

He said Groove FM had come to the attention of the Radio Communications agency in 1998 and there was a high profile attempt last year to find out who operated and managed the station.

Mr Jenkins said: “Davies didn’t feature in the early investigation and there is no evidence of financial gain.

“The main profit of pirate radio is avoiding the crippling fees which legal broadcasters pay.

“And for people who want to listen to Radio 2 in the comfort of their own home the programme is interrupted, also these stations interfere with emergency services which could pose a serious danger to life.”

Defending Peter Smedley said Davies was invited to say hello to a caller and give an opinion on a radio phone-in about the Baggies.

He said her involvement was not professional and she was simply ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Unemployed Davies who pleaded guilty to taking part in an unauthorised broadcast, was also ordered to pay £300 costs.

 

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