In the early 1990's there were perhaps 20-30 UK-based free radio stations active on shortwave, a figure itself that was probably significantly lower than that in each of the preceding two decades. Nowadays, the number is somewhere between 8 and 12, notwithstanding the locational ambiguity of station like Laser Hot Hits and Radio Harmony.
The Radio Harmony of today is frequently heard blasting out on 5780 kHz, which it is doing as I type. In 1991 I recall a station of the same name that for a relatively short time was a regular feature around 6295 kHz, usually outside of the days conventionally thought of as the only times to be able to hear free radio stations. As with the contemporary Radio Harmony I don't recollect being too enamoured with its 90's namesake, but one thing that does stick in my mind was its rather unusual mailing address, a city somewhere in the US named Venus, before reverting to a post office box number in the genteel Essex seaside resort of Frinton on Sea. I presumed then as I do now that both stations, by nominal happenstance or connection, use(d) transmitters based in the Republic of Ireland, as I also came to believe about Laser Hot Hits that although originally located in the UK, the station's broadcasts eventually radiated from across the Irish Sea. It is these sort of uncertainties, and when programmes are recorded in one country but broadcast from another, that makes it difficult to attribute stations to being British, Irish, or from wherever.
My estimate of the amount of stations broadcasting from the UK during the 1990's initial years is based upon who I actually heard, but also from the little research material pertaining to that era that is available online. There were many other stations that I never actually had the pleasure of receiving, although several did call it a day in the early part of 1990 - several months before I started listening to 48 metres. Some of my previous blog posts have focused on who would be regarded by those who listened regularly as the big beasts of UK shortwave free radio, but there was plenty else out there besides, including those whose broadcasts were frequently heard to stations more fleeting in lifespan, to the point of being ephemeral. And then there were those that I never heard for whatever reason, whose only actuality became apparent to me through free radio publications, and from subsequent research. This blog post will though concentrate on who else I did hear, some of whom I corresponded with.
A station I believe closed down at the end of 1990 but from who I received one of my first QSL cards was Atlanta Radio. Operated by well-known free radio personality Mark Stafford, details of his wider radio career can be read at Mark Stafford and whose connection to radio, albeit through syndicated broadcasts, continues to this day: Stafford's World
Another station I only briefly received during the early 1990's was Derbyshire-based WBMX, whose operator used the Northern Ireland SW Relay Service's facilities before going legit in BBC local radio. A fellow UK-based station that also relied upon being relayed to reach a shortwave audience was the Merseyside stalwart Concept Radio, who for a while could be heard via Eire's Jolly Roger Radio on 6230 kHz. The history of Concept and the station's embracing of modern technology through which archived shows are streamed can be viewed at Concept News and Concept Radio
There will be many among you who are familiar with the MW Free Radio website dedicated to the Dutch Medium Wave scene and operated by David, probably the most knowledgeable person anywhere, including in the Netherlands, when it comes to what can be heard between 1.6 and 1.7 MHz. It will though perhaps be less known that David, who started listening to free radio only a few months before I did, was very active within the hobby from an early age, including the production of the self-published Pirate Chat periodical that ran for approximately six years and which gave him a solid grounding for what has today become a very successful writing career. Furthermore, as presenter Andy Winter(I think that is correct) this man for all free radio seasons produced programmes for other stations, including Live Wire Radio, and his own relay station, Radio London. There is a further connection with UK shortwave free radio that from 1994 to what is now a period of dormancy which links David to the 48 and 76-metre bands, but at the risk of saying too much and drawing all the many strands of his free radio life together, I will leave it to the man himself to elaborate further, should he wish to.
Elsewhere during the nascent years of listening to shortwave, stations I heard included Radio Gemini, Radio Ability - a station dedicated to championing the cause of the disabled and relayed by a Radio Atlantis otherwise unconnected to previous stations of that name - and the Hampshire-based Freesound Radio.
Free radio has also had its brush with humour. Although characterized as being free from musical constraints, broadcast schedules, and programme styles it is inevitable that pirate broadcasters can become somewhat formulaic when faced with the obvious restrictions redolent with often being one-man bands transmitting from bedrooms, or in problematic remote locations. It was therefore refreshing to at times hear the already broken mould being fractured some more, albeit with often time-limited and one-off programmes aired for example on April Fools' Day.
Voice of the Gout Sufferers was a name that would on occasion appear, obviously coincidentally, on frequencies used by Scotland's Radio Gloria. Usually consisting of short but sweet(or should that be sour?) diatribes by Bap McPhee the broadcasts would be gone as soon as they arrived, but proved that shortwave could also be a showcase for those who didn't take themselves too seriously, which several operators(no names mentioned) were perhaps in danger of doing so. Other similar instances included Weekend Music Radio's alter ego Wee Guy Radio that if memory serves me correctly once referred to Radio East Coast Commercial's operator, the late Norman Nelson, as Norman Nesquik!
A station that was heard so infrequently that many believed it did not actually exist at all, Voice of the Leek was the only broadcaster I recall that purported to be broadcasting from Wales. Airing programmes concerned with issues of independence for the principality, there has since been some doubt cast as to whether the operator had a genuine or exaggerated Welsh accent, but regardless of the authenticity of the broadcasts they undoubtedly sprinkled the 48-metre band with an alternative to what was already termed alternative radio, but could at times be depressingly samey. Some would argue that impersonation, if that's what it was, was not in this example the highest form of flattery, but I even recall an unnamed station unfavourably comparing a character from the vulgar UK magazine VIZ to another certain well-known free radio operator of the time. Answers on a postcard...
Groovy Granny was a station that was heard for a time in the late 90's and into the early part of the millennium. It is moot as to how groovy a man purporting to be an ageing disgracefully octogenarian actually is, and whilst material for such a concept would in the end be finite, this was another example of how shortwave could be used in the name of free radio just as much to further an operator's bizarre humour as to broadcast one's own favourite music. A station QSL is included here courtesy of the Shortwave DX blog website
In many ways the UK version of shortwave free radio typified a spirit to break away from what was by then an already homogenised legal radio scene which offered little in the way of variety, or the need for presenters to think beyond the script placed in front of them. If though it was bad then, what is now to be found on FM is beyond awful. As the amount of UK-based stations on shortwave has fallen so has the multi-sided variegation of what once represented diverse characters, opinions, and music tastes, which reflected a time of freedom of expression that prosaic FM dross and political correctness have since made it their business to stamp out.
With a larger amount of stations on the air there was always the chance of a greater diversity of styles and individuality, something which has inevitably drained away now that active UK stations number no many than perhaps a dozen. That, by the way, is not a criticism of any of those operators who continue on shortwave, when I am sure it would be far easier for them to not do so.
NEXT TIME: Part 2 of the stations who made up the UK free radio scene on shortwave in the 1990's.
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