In conclusion: Is nostalgia what it used to be?

I have long pondered as to what made the UK's contribution in the 1990's to shortwave free radio what it was, but have concluded that there are too many personal and external factors for this to be succinctly and concisely encapsulated. Where though the hobby slotted into the mosaic of one's own life is a significant criterion on which to base any sort of conclusion, this can only ever precipitate subjectivity as to how individuals related to the stations they heard, taking personal taste into consideration and where their own 'jumping off point' into free radio began.

My experiences of pirate 'free' radio began in 1990; therefore, I had no other stations who began life prior to that date with whom to make a comparison. Many though listening in that era will already have 'previous' of doing so, and could weigh up the relative merits of what they were hearing then with stations from the 1980's. Far from being bowled over by the UK stations of the 1990's, especially those most prolific in the early years of the decade, listeners reared on 1980's free radio might have thought it an ersatz imitation. This scenario is obviously not just limited to the aforementioned decades, but very much relates to when the listener joined the party. 

This leads on into my thoughts of the current overall free radio scene on shortwave, and not just that which pertains to UK-based stations. Those who are completely or relatively new to consuming free radio may not be any the wiser as to what could be heard in the past, and its relative merits, and so will to take today's output for what it is. It is easy to be critical of this inadvertent ignorance, but it is just the same for contemporary audiences as it was for those of us who began listening thirty years ago, but engenders inevitable 'things ain't what they used to be' type emotions if free radio of today is viewed somewhat dimly when juxtaposed with what I initially titled the genre's 'golden era'.

It is not possible for this blog to step into individual circumstances, mindsets, and personalities other than those of your correspondent. This collection of memories and opinions has always been about my take on what I heard, and how it was regarded at the time and since. There are no rights or wrongs, nor can someone else's taste that is different to mine be regarded as inferior; in the last fifty years television and radio has always offered choice and the chance to 'turn over' or move the dial to something more palatable, with free radio being no different to that. I would though say that aside from the now infrequently heard Bogusman and Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC) listening options are far less diverse than perhaps at any time since pirate radio began broadcasting in earnest during the 1960's. 

There are though many reasons as to why shortwave free radio is vastly different today to what it was thirty years ago, reasons that transcend personal preferences and circumstances. Whilst my take of how the shifting sands of life have infiltrated and exerted influence over, imperceptibly or otherwise, the world of hobby pirates and their listeners, it will I am sure be far from exhaustive. 

When I began listening to free radio at the age of fourteen I was a naive, impressionable youth. It is now impossible, 25-30 years on, to put myself in the shoes of my teenage self. What was new and impressive then to an adolescent wouldn't necessarily hold the same appeal today. It is therefore difficult to ascertain if nostalgia ain't what it used to be, simply because the free radio I first received in 1990 was being heard by very different ears than it is today.

The world has dumbed down, and continues to do so at an alarming rate. Many in society are now impressed with the banal, crass, and vacuous on which much of social media is underpinned. It is hard to imagine listening to shortwave being regarded by the youth of today as anything other than an unnecessarily cerebral way to hear stations, both legal and some hobby pirates, that can be heard with greater clarity and less effort through web streams. The achievement of locating signals through the crackles and static could now be seen as a frustration that outweighs the benefits.

For some time now the world has been in the grip of a 'fast fashion' mentality, that demands instant availability of what is often ephemeral and shallow before being disposed of as quickly as it arrived. This symptom of our time has bled through into impatience and short attention spans, as what was in vogue yesterday becomes the equivalent of today's fish and chip wrappers. In this sense it is far easier to play back to back music than put the necessary effort into producing interesting, thought-provoking programmes.

Rampant housebuilding in the UK has put paid to both the broadcasting and listening side of radio by conventional means, and is something that has undoubtedly affected free radio. Stick with me on this! One prominent operator from the 1990's had fields at the bottom of his garden, which turned in the blink of an eye into a housing estate. As the UK government continues with a level of housebuilding which it believes will cure all the country's financial and accommodational ills, properties are being built closer together than ever which creates more electrical interference from adjacent sources - the flip side being of free radio transmissions bleeding onto telephones, televisions, and other neighbourhood apparatus common to most homes and complaints about antennas has made broadcasting 'from home' a very difficult or almost impossible scenario for many. Which leads me into...

Remote broadcasting, out in the field as it were, has always been an option for pirate stations already limited by personal circumstances and/or those wishing to reduce the risk of detection to a bare minimum. Finding a suitable location and powering up transmitters etc with car batteries or a generator was always a colossal hassle, and really puts an operator's long term commitment to the test. Curious hikers and dog walkers are by no means a new phenomenon, but continued urban sprawl, something particularly noticeable in the last decade, with many of those places classed twenty to thirty years ago as remote now no longer being so. It is undeniable that to find anywhere in the UK that nowadays is genuinely isolated takes a much longer journey than it used to.

It should though be remembered that much of life is cyclical. Where someone or something may have its fifteen minutes of fame before slipping back into the shadows, natural cycles of interest and being 'in fashion' soon turn into obscurity and the easily forgotten. Modern proof of this would suggest that the popularity of vinyl records is going through something of a renaissance, but I cannot help but feel this is more out of copying the habits of others out of a desire to fit in, to be de rigueur, or even to be deliberately contrary. Should free radio also be subject to being of a cyclical nature or not, it may now for many be as far from its apogee as it ever has been and due a rebirth, or alternatively the die has now been terminally cast.

All things in life to a certain degree and at one time or another will change and do. No area of life is immune to this, but change in the modern era is automatically seen as a negative consequence of the days we live in, and is often correct in saying so(in my opinion). Free radio is not insusceptible to this, either by circuitous or direct consequences of inevitable societal change.

Technological strides including an instant availability of music and speech-based podcasts has removed the element of anticipation redolent with for example waiting for the Top 40 chart and even our favourite free radio stations to return to the air. As with fast fashion and 24/7 supermarkets, everything one conceivably needs in life is now available at a minute's notice. I am not a complete Luddite, nor do I cling to the days of yore for all it represented, but it is undeniable that the internet and DAB have made it far easier for many to consume media than battling through the crackles and unfavourable propagation. 

Thirty years ago there were few other mediums of communication other than radio and television. The printed word was of course an important form of conveying the latest occurrences but that too has sharply declined since the advent of the blogosphere(no irony intended) - as have standards of English in all its orthographic and mechanical nuances. As the variety of platforms has broadened so has the bewildering choice from where the general public can get their kicks; it is not unfair to suggest that shortwave radio will now be a long way down that list, and an alien concept to many.

In what can be a construed as chicken and egg cause and effect, a lack of operators or at the very least a large reduction in their number will mirror the downturn in listener numbers. Which precipitated the other is moot, although I suspect it was a process that went hand in hand rather than either blinking first. Many free radio operators active in the early 1990's will have been influenced by their 1970 and 80's counterparts, who themselves presumably drew inspiration from the 1960's pioneers. I am aware that several stations from the 1990's were influenced by one of their contemporaries, for example XTC, Subterranean Sounds, and Radio Armadillo were in part shaped by Radio Orion and then the Bogusman - the common denominator being who we first knew as Mike Wilson. As though each decade has passed a net deficit of new stations have taken up the mantle, or should that be grasped the nettle? It is again moot, but will there be a future scenario where operators draw inspiration from today's crop of those who adhere to continuous music and minimal interaction?

In an attempt to distill the very essence of free radio from my own experiences of listening to it in the 1990's, I have probably found it easier, or less difficult, to ATTEMPT to get under the skin of the station operators to ascertain just what made them tick and offer psychological explanations for their individual motivation, than get a handle on my own reasoning for listening and for a time, how the hobby held me captive. Although imperceptible at first it soon became apparent to me as this blog developed that I had left it too long, perhaps by a decade, to get to the very heart of what free radio meant to me at the time and why, and to find it a position in the then prevailing zeitgeist of my life, either as a counterpoint or reflection of it.

I have though accused myself of attempting to find a deep, psychological, and academic answer to a question that simply doesn't require one, or even where one doesn't actually exist. Comparisons are odious; over thinking things in what is usually a fruitless pursuit of something that is at best subjective, at worst isn't even there to pursue, can be just as egregious. In that sense I conclude that I listened, enjoyed, and moved on. There is in the end no need to go any deeper to justify a harmless facet of one's life than that. The 1990's were often turbulent years in my life and at times free radio was a 'go to' solace, but a danger was always there of taking it too seriously and venerating those who were just normal people often broadcasting from their bedrooms. 

My rather prosaic conclusion would be to remember the past for what it represented for you(if indeed you are able to do that) and recall the great listening days that many of the early to mid-years of the 1990's represented. This should though be done in isolation to the rest of what made up life at the time, and not be seen as its defining factor. To do so will only engender greater disappointment that indeed, things ain't what they used to be. I see little point in rheumy eyed reminiscence of flicking through QSL collections and crackly recordings, for this will only itself draw out conflicting emotions of loss and negative comparisons with the present.

If the very tenets of what free radio stood for, although I admit that is a flexible definition and something of a movable feast, are still important to the listener supporting the stations that still align with what entertainment in their own preferred sense represents remains an important part of the quid pro quo relationship between stations and their audience, at least with those operators who wish to interest their listeners. In my case that would be XTC and the Bogusman, but for others it will involve different stations in keeping with one of free radio's philosophies: each to their own.

Be glad you were there in the 1990's, if indeed you were, but what made it what is was will not be coming back, in general or its free radio element, and the time to move on is at hand. This is as much a lesson for me as the one I am proselytizing. 

Thank you for reading.

What the world of UK-based shortwave free radio looks like today

If I am to use the 48-metre band as a default focal point for where to locate today's crop of shortwave free radio stations, it looks very different to its early 1990's counterpart.

To identify the level of modern-day pirate activity strictly from how busy 6.2-6.4 MHz happens to be is perhaps as specious today as it was thirty years ago, but that area of the radio spectrum was always the 'go to' place to locate hobby stations and for all intents and purposes, it is the same today. 

There are though some subtle and obvious changes to where else free radio can be consumed, with for example 3 MHz at times being very busy between 3900-3945 kHz, as it could be in the 1990's during the evening, but nowadays it is often used by those stations that have 'gone legit', for example the Dutch duo Radio Piepzender and Mike Radio. The band can also become swamped with high-powered signals that I hesitate to say emanate from 'relay' stations but from transmitters of unknown location, although perhaps situated in the Republic of Ireland, who live-stream for example Zenith Classic Rock, an Irish-based station who numbers FM, Medium Wave, and DAB as its usual homes. I am not suggesting that because of the aforementioned trio of stations that 3 MHz is out of bounds for other operators, but as a direct comparison with the 1990's the band would only normally come alive in the late evening when the likes of Live Wire Radio, Subterranean Sounds, Weekend Music Radio, and Radio Armadillo, to name just a few, would come on air. 

In my early days of receiving free radio I was frustrated in my attempts to hear anything away from 48 metres due to the extreme limitations of my listening station. Although I was never ungrateful of what I had or envious of those with sophisticated communications receivers at their disposal, my analogue National Panasonic and Venturer radios were not the best at picking up stations on 7 MHz, to a point where they would struggle to hear anything. It is perhaps something I didn't appreciate at the time but the 'as standard' telescopic antennas which came with the two named receivers could not be expected to be universally effective over the whole spectrum which they were expected to cover. These were antennas that weren't tuned to be fruitful for any particular area of the band but to give a general, if albeit limited overview of the best signals they could realistically be anticipated to pull in. Even when I upgraded to a simple long wire antenna, which didn't exactly stretch the whole length of my back garden, the results were disappointing but being as technically-minded then as I am today, there was no hint of me taking the plunge into antenna tuning unit(ATU) territory.

The 41-metre band was therefore an area of the spectrum where I struggled to hear stations, even ones broadcasting from the UK. It was though used to a greater extent than it is today, whether that be because of atmospheric conditions, a lack of crystals, or that listeners nowadays do not know to tune in to 7 MHz, I couldn't say. There were though many broadcasts from the likes of Radio Confusion, Radio Geronimo, and Terry Phillips' Radio Mi Amigo that passed me by, but a UK-based station from thirty years ago and before, Radio Pamela, can still be found fairly regularly on or around 7605 kHz, although Steve Most's broadcasts often skip out on this frequency to continental Europe, where reception is often better than in the UK.

Regular free radio broadcasts from the UK on shortwave are though dwindling, as are the amount of stations who transmit on 6 MHz or elsewhere. Radio Merlin International continues to be heard on 6305 kHz on an almost daily basis, despite some at times dramatic announcements from operator Paul Watt that the station is shutting down or 'won't be around for a while'. Initially as Radio Galaxy International - not to be confused with the Radio Blackbeard and Station Sierra Sierra collaboration Galaxy International - and for almost the entire period of my on-off relationship with free radio, Paul has used 48 metres on 6240 and latterly 6305 kHz; I am happy to be corrected but I cannot recall either Galaxy or Merlin ever using another area of shortwave.

Radio Nova is a station I have heard several times over the last few years, although I am not aware of it having connections to any stations from the past who shared the same name. Perhaps the operator(s) of today's Nova have previously broadcast on shortwave but that is also something I am not party to. Invariably found on 6940 kHz and specialising in a rich diet of classic rock, the station is often heard with a strong signal in the UK, and can pop up during daylight hours on just about any day of the week.

Firstly in the guise of Radio Mutiny and now the Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC),  Matt Roberts' stations have always been during my love-hate relationship with free radio a regularly irregular part of the 48-metre scene, but continue to broadcast when personal circumstances and radio communications conditions allow. A previous blog dedicated to XTC elaborates on the station's enduring quality amid so much mediocrity, and how it represents a much needed flip-side as a counterpoint to generic, back to back music-type broadcasters both legal or otherwise.

Occupying slightly different programming territory, Radio Parade has over the last few years become one of the most prolific UK-based broadcasters on shortwave. With a music selection that might include Johann Strauss, operatic extracts, and the theme from the former BBC TV sports programme Grandstand, Parade can never be accused of being predictable and slavishly reverting to type. I have mostly heard the station around 6.95 MHz and on the 76-metre band, although it has also been logged adjacent to 5.8 MHz and occasionally on 48 metres.

Radio Pandora is a station I first heard in 1993-94, about the time that operator Steve St. John first took to the airwaves. Known for his on air chuckling and 'hellos' to other operators including XTC's Matt Roberts Steve is one of the friendliest voices to be heard on 48 metres(and on 3 MHz in the past), although sadly these days with far less frequency. I would never class Pandora at any time during the last three decades as a frequently heard station, at least by myself, although I doubtless missed many of the station's transmissions due to the perfect storm of low power and my at-the-time inadequate receivers. It would perhaps be a surprise if I told you just how old Mr. St. John actually is but discretion is the better part of valour, but an evergreen, personable nature only lends greater mystic and respect to this underrated broadcaster.

There are several stations - Little Feat Radio(LFR), Radio Underground, and Focus International - which I believe could still be categorized as active but on which I otherwise have little knowledge. I believe the latter two operators were far more active in the early years of the new millennium but that coincided with a fallow period of your correspondent's interest in free radio. Any information as to this triumvirate's respective statuses would be appreciated.  

As I detail what remains of any semblance of a UK-based scene on shortwave, it has been brought home to me just how depleted in a quantitative sense what can be heard when compared to the early 1990's and even the initial years of the current millenary. If I instead use a qualitative yardstick by which to measure a like for like contrast the results are equally as grim; the reasons I believe to be behind that will be addressed in this blog's concluding post. 

There is though some hope for the future, with several new stations having recently broken ground on 48 metres and 3 MHz. Radio Jennifer seems to have settled on 6400 kHz as its regular frequency, if albeit one it has to 'share' with Radio Pyongyang! I have also heard the station around 3900 kHz, with a strong signal and vastly improved audio. Image Radio is another new kid on the block, a station I think first emerged a few weeks ago as Lockdown Radio during initial tests around 6225 and 6250 kHz - the latter not being the greatest frequency for a low powered hobby pirate that will on occasion have to 'battle it out' with other Korean-based stations. A further broadcast as Image Radio, this time on 6325 kHz, produced an S9 signal at my location, when the band either side of that frequency was mercifully quiet.

It remains to be seen if the various novel coronavirus-related lockdowns in the UK will have produced any other new stations, as radio enthusiasts and society in general continues to grapple with the new normal, and how to while away the hours in our homes. It is though plain to me that as each new generation of free radio stations replaces those who have ceased broadcasting, levels of both quality and quantity are inexorably declining.

NEXT TIME: My conclusions and summing up of the 1990's UK free radio sphere, and whether nostalgia actually is what it used to be.

Remembering those who have crossed the great divide

As the lifespan of this blog draws to a close, I consider that the overall UK scene during the 1990's has been covered to the best of what my memory and limited hard copy and internet-based research material will allow. Others may disagree, but this blog has never been about simply producing an A-Z companion of what could be heard on shortwave broadcasting from UK shores, but my experiences of what was a major part of life from nascent teenage years until my early twenties. 

I have neither sought to portray myself as an authority on what could be heard, nor suggest that the only stations that existed were the ones I received. If a station broadcasts but no one hears it, does it therefore exist? Absolutely, and I have attempted to depict the scene as a whole, and even given as much detail as I could garner about operators who I knew of through reputation alone, which would have included word of mouth and reference to free radio 'pirate' publications. 

It is inevitable that some blog posts have focused on what might be termed the 'popular' stations, those heard most often and with the biggest signals, but if I had to encapsulate the decade in six stations I believe that dedicating individual posts to Weekend Music Radio(WMR), Live Wire Radio, Subterranean Sounds, Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC), Radio Armadillo, and Radio Orion/Bogus Jobseeker does just that. This senary of stations spanned, and in some cases still does so, the desires of many listeners, although not all, with thought-provoking and at times humorous speech-based programmes where music might serve as an interlude rather than the main feature, technical mastery, personable and charismatic presenters, and a left field choice of music that represented the operator's taste rather than simply to be contrary to what can otherwise be heard elsewhere. None of the aforementioned sextuple of stations achieved all of traits listed, nor would anyone expect them to, but examples of low power being mitigated by alternative programming and audience participation melded with powerhouse signals certainly aided the bracketing of these six as, for me at least, the essence of what made in particular the early to mid-1990's such great years of listening on 48 metres, and latterly 3 MHz.

When listening to radio presenters, legal or otherwise, it is sometimes easy to overlook that they too away from their celebrity(either in their own eyes and/or those of their audience) are human like the rest of us, and vulnerable to the same frailties and day to day realities of life. It is with this in mind that several free radio personalities from the 1990's are inevitably no longer with us, their passing usually being unheralded when compared to the more widely known of their ilk.

Radio 48 was one of the three stations I heard on that October morning in 1990 which kicked off my interest in shortwave free radio. As with the other two operators, Live Wire and Ozone International, Radio 48 would as a consequence have received my rather gauche letter but all three graciously replied, as did those in 1991 who were behind Radio Geronimo, which proved to be Radio 48 under a new guise with 48's Howard Bell now known as Chris Watson. An on-off involvement in free radio continued, as detailed in Shaun Geraghty's tribute until Chris's untimely death in 2017. 

Although the origins of Radio Gemini reached back far beyond the 1990's remit of this blog, operator Colin Dixon was still broadcasting until I would estimate 1994-95. A connection with shortwave free radio would be retained during the early years of the current millennium, where Colin would channel his vast free radio knowledge of yesteryear into Laser Hot Hits' "Anorak Hour" programme. Colin Dixon will though be best remembered for Radio Gemini - primarily by a generation of listeners reared on the early days of 'pirate' radio. His death was reported in early 2008.

Radio East Coast Commercial(RECC) was as stated on the tin, a station that was based in East Anglia. Although I did correspond with station operator Norman Nelson this would have been during 1993-94 and my memories of the station are, I am sad to say, minimal. I do though recall a DX programme which aired on RECC that detailed what other free radio stations could be heard on 48 metres and beyond, with particular attention given to those operators who embodied the desire to produce entertaining transmissions and at times suffered for their art through raids, and the loss of remote broadcast sites. It is sobering for me to recall that Norman Nelson, who himself was lightheartedly spoofed as Norman Nesquik in a Wee Guy Radio April 1st broadcast, died in November 1995, only a few months after I had completed my A-levels. Norman would only have been in his late forties. 

The final word should though be saved for Paul Johnson, the operator of UK Radio International. Although the station's local FM origins harked back to 1977 my memories of Paul were initially from his programmes on Radio Orion, which as previously discussed became the Bogus Jobseeker, then simply the Bogusman. Despite for a time having a range of presenters to call upon Radio Orion was to me all about the inimitable Mike Wilson, to a point when I would almost be disappointed if the man we now know as 'Bogus' wasn't at the controls. This was in no way intended as a slight upon Paul, but more a reflection of Mile Wilson's already nonpareil standing with many in free radio land. 

As the man behind UK Radio on shortwave my memories of Paul Johnson primarily centre on hearing his broadcasts on 6266 kHz, often it seemed at any time of the day, night, or the week. I would describe Paul's style of broadcasting as more traditional and of course less quirky than that of Mike Wilson, but obviously that is stating the obvious and again is not a negative reflection of his on air method. In what proved to be a vain attempt at securing a gig with legal local radio station's many of Paul's programmes would though serve as unofficial auditions, which perhaps shaped his approach to broadcasting - imperceptibly or otherwise. It may have pained him that he was never successful in 'going legit' but an unstinting dedication to his craft highlighted that Paul was first and foremost 'in it' for a love of broadcasting, which his UK Radio vehicle enabled him to indulge, notwithstanding numerous setbacks precipitated by raids and the loss of broadcast sites that ultimately served to redirect many future programmes away from more traditional broadcasting methods onto web streams. 

Incredibly it is nearly twenty years since Paul passed away, at the 'no age' of 42. Immortalized to this day by Bogusman's 'RJW selection' - although I won't elaborate on it RJW refers to the initials of Paul's real name -  Paul will be remembered in the West Midlands and beyond as a dedicated broadcaster who never through his programmes betrayed any personal or station-related problems that may have dogged him at various times during his life. There was no doubt that he was in his element behind a microphone, and came across as a thoroughly decent and humble individual. I am indebted to the Pirate Archive website for their comprehensive retrospective of the UK Radio story.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that other proponents who made up the UK free radio scene on shortwave during the 1990's are no longer with us. I can though only give due reference and respect to those who I am aware have passed away, but it is important to remember all operators who gave considerable time and some cases took significant risks to entertain sometimes only a handful of listeners, and perhaps emulate the stations that they themselves had grown up listening to.

Radio Orion to the Bogusman: Broadcasting that transcends the decades

In the early years of my listening to shortwave free radio, Radio Orion was one of the regular broadcasters to whom a watch could be set. Those things that I had forgotten which are now more than a hazy memory but will still not come into sharp focus have at times dogged the production of this retrospective, but unless it was all a dream and we aren't really here, I am sure that West and North Kent Radio(WNKR) on 6275 kHz, Ozone Radio in their usual 6280 berth, and Radio Orion ensconced on 6290 kHz nailed down their respective frequencies but in a way that did not clash with each other, usually through scheduling the times they came on air to reflect the others' habits. That is at least how I remember it, but corrections are as ever welcome. 

By the time I had entered the fray in 1990 Radio Orion had already been a shortwave fixture for four years. Initially set up in conjunction with Paul Johnson's UK Radio - a further blog post will in part be dedicated to the late 'Paul' - Orion set a precedent for being at the time the only free radio station to broadcast on a daily basis. None of your Sunday-only shenanigans here!

In effect fronted by one Mike Wilson, already known in the West Midlands for his involvement with FM projects, Orion did have several other presenters at their disposal but my initial and most memorable encounters with the station have Mr. Wilson's individual style seared into my mind. And for good reason. 

To talk now of a UK-based Radio Orion on shortwave will leave many listeners relatively new to shortwave free radio, and even some of those who aren't, none the wiser or confusing it with an Orion Radio, a Dutch station that could also for a time be heard on channels frequented by hobby pirates. To even bring the name 'Mike Wilson' into a free radio-related conversation would leave many blank faces, but whilst Radio Orion was by 1990 firmly established on 6 MHz and at times elsewhere on shortwave, the man we then knew as Mike Wilson was only getting started on a broadcasting odyssey which would be the cause of controversy, bewilderment, but also veneration amongst free radio listeners; the latter emotion precipitated by both backhanded compliments and those of unabashed appreciation. 

It is my understanding that Radio Orion continued under that identification for most if not all of the 1990's, but a less than subtle shift was emerging behind the microphone. Mike Wilson was never one for spinning back-to-back records or being backward at coming forward, but to me what was an obvious change in his personal circumstances precipitated an alteration in broadcasting alias to The Bogus Jobseeker. Now, from what the we can deduce from that sobriquet is that 'Bogus' was in receipt of what at the time in the UK was called Jobseeker's Allowance(JSA) - unemployment benefit by another name given window-dressing by the Tony Blair government.

To receive JSA applicants had to enter into a quasi-contract that paid a meagre 'benefit' in return for the jobseeker committing to applying for x amount of vacant positions per week or fortnight. There are the obvious arguments that such state handouts are not designed to be lived on, instead to be used as a stop-gap before reentering the world of work, but the paltry amount the allowance actually paid the unemployed in my view crossed the line to become a disincentive for many to seek work, rather than a well-aimed boot up the backside to 'get on one's bike'.

To coin oneself as a bogus jobseeker would suggest for all the outward appearances to the Job Centre suggesting the contrary, that there was little interest in finding work and therefore fulfilling the claimant's side of the JSA deal. It can also be argued that Mike Wilson morphing into the Bogus Jobseeker did not represent an actual change in style, insomuch to say that it became more arcane or even abstruse, but a shift from what would otherwise be classed as a bog-standard DJ handle to a controversial and potentially divisive nominal representation of the presenter's chosen lifestyle added a greater mystic and notoriety to already entertaining and often cerebral programmes. 

Therein for me lied the rub. Many in society will give short shrift to those who outwardly flaunt a reluctance to work - especially if that is done at what people like to call at 'the taxpayers' expense'. By starkly refashioning himself as a bogus jobseeker Mike Wilson was left wide open to criticism - something he may have relished or underestimated, I cannot say. I think though much of any criticism aimed at 'Bogus' would in fact have been thinly-disguised backhanded compliments, that it seemed preposterous for someone of such intellect and perspicacity to in effect drop out of society.

In ordinary circumstances it would not be appropriate for me or anyone else to comment on the lifestyle and choices of someone we have never met, or even spoken to. We have never walked a mile in their shoes, or in any way have cognizance of what has precipitated their quiddity. This though is more than slightly undermined by naming oneself a bogus jobseeker, the antithesis of hiding one's light under a bushel and an incitement to criticism, whether ultimately deserved or otherwise.

It is perhaps with this is mind or no longer in receipt of JSA - from not being in possession of any of the facts I again cannot say with great certainty - that the previous on-air appellation was watered down simply to Bogusman, to maybe retain a link with the new generation of listeners who had locked on to what were post-Mike Wilson broadcasts. If anything programmes under the presenter's 'third-coming' have gathered apace, becoming more discursive but which continue to generate laugh out loud observational humour from what to most would be mundane, everyday occurrences and scenarios.

Where there might be ambiguity regarding the choice of moniker the quality of programming in both its musical and speech-based elements remains unequivocally constant. From references to the 'Grauniad', a deliberate misspelling of the centre-left UK daily The Guardian, to one-time neighbour Malcolm pottering around his garden, and a musical taste often procured from record shop(remember them?) bargain bins, the Bogusman manages to effortlessly segue from aphorisms to a pertinent music track via an anecdote whilst outwardly suggesting his modus operandi is without coordination or plan. There is undoubtedly an element of genius to the proceedings.

There is much more to be said about the early days of Radio Orion and its other presenters, including on the excellent Pirate Archive website. A timeline of how the station evolved, or simply changed identity would roughly run along the lines of Orion existing until the very early years of the new millennium, by which time Mike Wilson was known on the station as The Bogus Jobseeker(TBJ) and shared programme duties with The Ghoul. Prior to Paul Johnson's untimely death in 2003 TBJ was also heard on UK Radio, predominantly on 6266 kHz. Perhaps brought about by Paul's passing there was then a lull in broadcasts by TBJ before a re-emergence that saw him broadcast eponymously, insomuch that the eponymic name behind the microphone and that of the station were one and the same, something which continued on the retitling as Bogusman.

To be termed a cult figure, legend or similar is subjective, and relates to connecting a set of values and predilections that we as individuals have rather than an 'across the board' popularity, and to some extent through comparisons with those operating in the same field and being known for a level of notoriety that isn't necessarily condoned. There is little doubt that whilst not pursuing such epithets the man we know today as the Bogusman has achieved such status, and although an OFCOM raid in December 2018 put paid to conventional free radio broadcasting, the man himself can still be heard on occasion via the legal Channel 292 facilities, usually on 6070 kHz. 

There is though some self-awareness of a take on life that's translated into the station's email address which begins as 'different radio'. Influencing the likes of Subterranean Sounds, Radio Armadillo, and the Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC) the 'difference' between anything Mike Wilson and his 'Bogus' idents have been appended to with what would otherwise be classed as conventional free radio, in other words the relatively formulaic approach pursued by many or most other operators despite 'free' radio theoretically opening up a world of alternatives, is stark but in my view not done for shock value, but as an accurate representation of a man who continues to organically bring humour, intelligence, and unpredictability to a now otherwise moribund genre not simply to play devil's advocate, but to be himself in the one realm of his life that allows him to do this. If free radio is only good for one thing, it is this.  

The Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC): A periodic but vital element of UK-based free radio

If I said to you that one of the UK's foremost free radio stations to broadcast on shortwave during the 1990's started out in life as Radio Feedback Attack, I am sure that it would be puzzled faces all around. A further clue that this station remains to this day as one of the most listenable on 48 metres will though considerably narrow down the field.

Stemming from the word xenos which roughly translates from post-Homeric Greek as 'stranger', Xenon, a colourless noble gas derived its name from trace elements found of it in Earth's atmosphere. Now, I am not sure of the particular motivation to rename the former Radio Mutiny as the Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC) although an indirect homage to the 1970's Swindon-based rock and new wave group XTC can neither be ruled out or confirmed by your correspondent. 

To define the word stranger would infer someone otherwise unknown, or even a person or entity to be avoided either through ignorance, or any number of cliched characteristics that generate feelings of fear. Over the years XTC(the shortwave station) has at times been a stranger to the bands, often because of local and household circumstances familiar to many hobby pirates. There is though little doubt that the station's renaissance since the herald of novel coronavirus has been especially welcome; as well as dispelling any comparison the definition of the linguistic stem might allude to the station, its periodic table counterpart also lacks the colourful and stimulating distinctness that characterizes XTC's commitment to speech-based programming laced with a broad musical taste. 

My first recollection was not of XTC or Feedback Attack but the station's medial identity, Radio Mutiny. This would be at some point in the mid to latter part of 1991, which was perhaps the finest year of the decade for listening on shortwave to UK-based free radio stations. When it is considered that the likes of Weekend Music Radio(WMR), Radio Confusion, Live Wire, Radio Orion, Station Sierra Sierra, Britain Radio International and so on were conspicuous by their prolificacy, it is now easy to forget just how good the scene was at that time. It must though be said that 1991 was a fantastic twelve months of football, music, and girlfriends for your commentator, with the free radio dimension of my life only adding a further jigsaw piece to what was a briefly perfect but ultimately evanescent interlude to otherwise turbulent teenage years.

In many ways XTC continued in the same way from the station's nominal rebirth in 1993 until relatively recent times with what would be termed as occasional broadcasts, which as time passed and circumstances changed became less regular still before the operator, who himself would eventually change identity from Tommy Teabags to the comparatively prosaic Matt Roberts, would be restricted to bank holiday transmissions. The various lockdowns of the last eleven months did though give XTC a renewed impetus to come on air, at a time when listeners and operators would find themselves with more time on their hands and in some cases, as with mine, the need for positive distractions whilst convalescing from the virus. 

Admitted as much by Matt Roberts, XTC is a low power station that uses basic equipment. Therein though lies the dichotomous existence of free radio; it is rare that stations whose reason for being is anything other a pursuit of technical excellence, often using high power, seek interaction with listeners other than a cursory nod to an email contact address, all the while rattling through 'back-to-back' music without anything except a canned identification to assure listeners that there is indeed a human element attached to their operation. It is not beyond the realms of imagination to suggest that these stations will use more modern and probably expensive hardware, but with it seems a sole purpose to achieve technical perfection at the expense of taking the trouble to produce a programme that is actually entertaining. This approach will be grist to the mill for some listeners, but I sense not for as many as some station operators would like to believe.

There is little doubt that the attraction of hearing stations like XTC derives from fusing together intelligent, speech-based content with a dedication to spinning what are by my definition quality tracks, not simply to play devil's advocate to hackneyed output found elsewhere on shortwave and FM but as an expression of the operator's taste - something that would usually be discouraged in legal radio. I would though say this attraction has a third dimension, that such engaging output is broadcast using modest equipment, and has on occasions but unbeknown to listeners in real time had to run the gauntlet of various familial and neighbourhood interruptions during the course of transmissions. All part of the fun for hobby pirates, perhaps, but in reality few free radio stations welcome unforeseen events!

It is testament to the XTC record library, much of which is in vinyl format, contains several tracks that I have requested. Playing listener requests is possibly a tad too conformist for free radio stations when their very being is meant to represent the antithesis of legal broadcasters who have little to say and rely upon 'shouts out' and mind-numbing verbiage, but from the KLF to Primal Scream, Matt has graciously always played what I  have asked for. I do not from this suggest that my taste in music is particularly exquisite, but we do at least share some common ground which otherwise for me veers towards dance, while Matt is very much an adherent of indie rock.

It is easy to dismiss the credentials of stations that have 'been around' for what by any definition is a long time, especially when their broadcasts are so infrequent. What though should be remembered that as life inevitably changes from the relatively carefree days of youth into the humdrum years of responsibilities correlative of adulthood, it is easy for free radio operators and listener alike to drift away from free radio as other demands and attractions inevitably compete for attention. The fact that Matt has not forsaken free radio even as his personal circumstances changed over the years, something which has at times clipped his broadcasting wings, is testament to the pulling power that the 1990's scene had on those involved directly or otherwise, and the enduring appeal it engendered for a hobby which as is common with most things in life, isn't what it used to be. 

Despite a picture I have painted about the contrasting free radio scene of today when compared against that of thirty years ago, the 48-metre band can still be classed as busy, admittedly mainly with Dutch stations, utility interference, and what at times seems to be targeted jamming. It is therefore becoming, despite the sharp drop in UK-based broadcasters, more of a challenge than ever to find a clear channel and one that isn't splattered by adjacent stations 5-10, and sometimes 20 kHz either side. When personal circumstances and band conditions permit the best frequency to receive XTC is usually 6321 kHz, although the station can theoretically be heard anywhere from approximately 6255 kHz to the aforementioned channel.

I doubt there are any future plans for XTC other than to 'carry on broadcasting' in the same time-honoured vein that has enabled the station to be held in such high regard by those listeners not simply 'in it' to garner QSL cards. Much will inevitably depend on the station operator's continued enthusiasm, something that will ebb and flow for those who whilst not completely relying upon thoughtful contact from listeners, would rather receive well-written correspondence than grovelling pleas for verification cards even though in XTC's case they are rather good, and are still available in hard copy and 'e-QSL' formats. 

I conclude this latest blog post with a twofold plea for more broadcasts from XTC(if only to keep alive my now flagging interest in the current free radio scene) and that those who receive the station regale Mr. Roberts with missives worthy of what they are hearing.

Going underground - with the Subterranean

It was to be several months after first hearing Subterranean Sounds' forerunner Radio Confusion before I got around to contacting the station, specifically its operator, Steve Midnight. As I have chronicled in a previous blog post, our first contact was to say the least somewhat inauspicious.  

The date would be around the beginning of April 1991. Your correspondent, then a rather naive 14-year-old with a style of contacting stations that betrayed my neophyte status as a free radio listener, wrote to the inimitable Mr. Midnight, solely it would seem, with the intention of procuring an at-the-time highly coveted QSL card. I now freely admit that I felt justification in my immature brain to request a tangible verification of receiving Radio Confusion, albeit probably only by dint of hearing the station identifying itself and its contact details. Nothing else. I obviously did not elaborate further about the programme, on what subject Mr. Midnight was holding forth, nor the musical content. With complete justification, these were the kind of begging/grovelling letters that the operator rightly gave short shrift to.

Yes, I did receive a QSL - at the time this induced in me a 'job done' mentality - but attached was a mild rebuke, along the lines of 'yes, you can have a QSL card; after all, if you hadn't heard the station you'd just be kidding yourself'. Feeling chastised but understanding the aforementioned words of wisdom and my own, rather embarrassed sensibilities, I doubt I ever wrote again to a station purely on the hunt for a QSL, instead turning my hand to what to me at least were interesting letters. Whilst these may have been grist to the mill for some operators, others remained more concerned that their signal had reached my area of the world. Even though my slavish desire for verification cards had been staunched, many station operators still assumed, even though one was never requested, that the underlying reason for contact was to add to my then QSL collection. 

I don't recall corresponding with Mr. Midnight again until Radio Confusion had morphed into Subterranean Sounds. I had though missed many of Confusion's broadcasts which took place on 7 MHz, an area of the band that my analogue National Panasonic receiver struggled with unless stations were running high power. Only when I had upgraded my listening station, albeit modestly, and that Subterranean Sounds was primarily heard on 3 MHz, usually around 3945 kHz, did I become a regular listener and correspondent, including several telephone chats with Steve.

The early days, in other words during the Radio Confusion-era, a music policy that centred upon the 'indie' genre was particularly evident, drawing inspiration from labels such as One Little Indian, now renamed One Little Independent in the wake of George Floyd's death. It is though Subterranean's varied output that included tracks by The Future Sound of London, Broadcast, and a period around 1995 where jungle/drum 'n' bass was give airtime, that particularly resonates with me to this day. Far though from being a continuous music station only interspersed with the occasional identification, Mr. Midnight would not be averse to including speech-based content to complement his musical taste, nor to launching into polemics on subjects that especially exercised his interest or displeasure. 

There would also be variation in Subterranean Sounds' programmes from the occasional guests who would join Steve in the studio - live and unleashed. Including Radio Mutiny/XTC operator Tommy Teabags/Matt Roberts, Live Wire's Bill Lewis, and Radio London/Aires' Andy Winter, the one name that stands out from the aforementioned free radio leviathans is Des Francis/Steve Collins of The Nitrozone, a station formerly known as Total Control Radio(TCR). Despite the conspicuously infrequent broadcasts by TCR and then under The Nitrozone name, I was never able to receive any broadcasts by either. The only time I therefore heard the station operator on the air was when he took part in a broadcast by another.

As is common with most of the stations that I have written about over the last couple of weeks, I cannot really put a date to when I last heard a broadcast by the station that was far better known as Subterranean Sounds than its former identity; I would though estimate it to be over twenty years ago, which seems highly implausible but sadly more than likely. There is almost a complete absence of information online to complement this abridged overview of one of the UK's most listenable free radio broadcasters during the 1990's, but I am sure some of those reading will be able to flesh out the detail from their own memories of the station.

There is nothing to suggest that Mr. Midnight is planning a triumphant return to the airwaves any time soon, with the station's period of operation adjourned sine die. I have though often pondered as to whether a resumption of broadcasting by many of the leading lights of the decade would tarnish or embellish their respective legacies, and if such an eventuality would give a much-needed shot in the arm(a somewhat poignant idiom) to the current scene that relies more on continuous music and canned announcements than producing diverse output that also includes, shock horror, interaction, opinion, and comment. Sometimes the past is best left just there and whilst nostalgia isn't always what is used to be, the feelings and enthusiasm generated in the 1990's will never be replicated by an attempt to reboot the scene thirty years later.

For me free radio in the 1990's embodied a spirit of a time which has manifestly moved on. There is little doubt that speech-based content accompanied by personal music taste was already a dying art thirty years ago, but was underpinned by the likes of Radio Orion(later the Bogus Jobseeker and the Bogusman), Subterranean Sounds, and XTC. Although the Bogusman can occasionally be heard via Channel 292, it is really only the evergreen XTC who now bucks the trend with programming that the audience won't seek alternatives to after a few minutes of listening. 

There will be many reasons why decade by decade the free radio scene has, although subjective and inevitably compared to a time that I regard as a golden era, deteriorated to a point where it seems many stations exist solely for the pleasure and satisfaction of the operator, instead of being a means of entertainment for shortwave listeners. I do still have to keep reminding myself that free radio can never be all things to all people, but at the same time those stations operators who are not overly concerned with what their listenership thinks must not just assume that an audience reared on dire and formulaic legal FM fayre simply wish to hear a replicant, ersatz version on shortwave.

It is though the unique take on shortwave broadcasting so personified by Subterranean Sounds that encapsulated a free thinking and nonconformist antithesis to the already homogenised legit radio of the time, which has subsequently taken boring genericism to new depths. It is not to what we yearn for now but will no longer come to pass that should occupy our thoughts, but how fortunate those of us who listened to UK free radio stations in the 1990's actually were.