The first UK bank holiday of 2024, a rather early Easter, is upon us, which inevitably, to me at least, brings memories flooding back of free radio of yesteryear, of times now very distant past.
Indeed, a programme called How We Used to Live, a staple of Friday mornings at primary school, watched when my alma mater's only 'big telly' was wheeled into the classroom, rather tenuously springs to mind, quite simply because 'how we used to live' when 1990s free radio was in full bloom is extremely different to the age in which we now reside, despite thirty years representing a mere grain of sand in the grand scheme of things.
I've touched upon it before in this blog, but bank holidays could often be a let down for the casual or dedicated free radio listener. Whether it was poor listening (and transmitting) conditions, or that free radio operators had shock horror other things to do with their time, the daytime offering on 48 and 41 metres would frequently be ordinary at best, bordering on the non-existent.
The daytime hours, primarily the morning, would be when I would without fail somehow miss out on the broadcasts of Total Control Radio, later renamed The Nitrozone, despite continually scanning the bands whilst their broadcasts took place. I only subsequently found out about their activity after the event, usually through reading logs in the BDXC (British DX Club) magazine or Pirate Chat news sheet. The station remained probably the only 1990s UK-based operator that I failed to hear. Any recording of TCR would be appreciated!
The evenings would be a different kettle of fish. Post-pub broadcasts by the likes of Live Wire Radio and Weekend Music Radio were common, with live broadcasts which included interesting, if albeit sometimes inebriated chat, listeners calling in, along with varied music content that kept this correspondent awake until sometimes 4am. Throw in Subterranean Sounds, WMS, and Radio Armadillo into the mix, and it made for a great scene of different but highly listenable characters, although signal and propagation would vary from the 'big beasts' such as Live Wire and WMR, to those who could not push as many watts through their rigs.
Fast forward to today, and whilst yesterday represented my first 'listen' of the year, the Good Friday bank holiday did if anything revert to 'back in the day' type. The Xenon Transmitting Company, previously known as Radio Mutiny during my teenage years, continues to entertain and provide a level of nostalgia for the 1990s scene whilst still remaining relevant, and most welcome, in the modern age. Furthermore, the signal strength XTC was putting out yesterday, at time S9 +10-20 dB via the Weston super Mare SDR, is by far and away the best the station has ever produced in my memory. Indeed, during Matt Roberts' time as Radio Mutiny, and later when broadcasting under the XTC moniker, I would often struggle to receive a listenable signal either due to my poor receiving equipment, it being at the time a very low power operation, or both, but yesterday was akin to listening to a clean and strong signal a la Live Wire, or Radio Fax.
As someone who generally prefers 80s electronica and synth, and very early 90s dance music, my recent musical listening has stimulated memories of just how influential UK-based free radio has been on some of my musical tastes, sometimes through tracks I was too young to appreciate/remember when first released, or where releases would bear many of the hallmarks of or had obviously been influenced by the early to mid 80s. Such examples of these would be:
- Blancmange - Living on the Ceiling
- All Seeing I - First Man in Space
- Future Sound of London - Papua New Guinea (having since become a darling of compilation albums)
- Air's Moon Safari album, including tracks Kelly Watch the Stars, All I Need, and Femme d'argent.
- Dubstar - I Will be Your Girlfriend, Stars, Not so Manic Now.
- Drum 'n' Bass/Jungle - something I first heard on Subterranean Sounds, to whom I indicated what eventually became an ephemeral liking of!
Indeed, there are many tracks that became and remain earworms due to their airing by free radio stations in the 1990s, along with broader interests of for example Metallica due to Live Wire Radio, and The Eagles because of Weekend Music Radio.
If though I had to choose one station whose output prompted me to purchase the most tracks, it would be Subterranean Sounds. Coupled with operator Steve Midnight's interest in Ufology, something that has fascinated my for over 35 years, there was certainly a tremendous synergy between the station and this listener, which unfortunately would be often tempered by a poor signal, especially during the days of Subterranean Sounds' forerunner, Radio Confusion.
The reinvigorated Weekend Music Radio, albeit via the facilities of A N Other presumably located over the Irish Sea, has once more become a staple of 6 MHz. The lack of a requirement to facilitate the technical, as in broadcasting side of operating a free radio station, has obviously freed up Jack to 'transmit' on a weekly basis, something he would manage for a time when using owned transmitters, but ultimately became difficult to impossible to maintain, especially when relying on a mobile site. Will any other titans from the 1990s follow suit? It seems unlikely, although it should be remembered that golden oldies Radio Pamela and Radio Pandora continue to rage against the dying of the light, as does Matt Roberts - albeit a comparative stripling!
UK-based shortwave free radio continues to inexorably and inevitably decline, but life today is not as we used to know it, specifically how we create and consume entertainment are chalk and cheese compared to three decades ago. It is also an inconvenient truism that free 'pirate' radio was already in decline during the 1990s after its 1960-80s heyday. That does though open up the bands to more Russian-based buzzers and numbers stations, so every cloud, etc, etc!
