Addresses...

A few weeks ago the venerable Matt Roberts of the Xenon Transmitting Company (XTC) mentioned that a listener from the German city of Wuppertal had made contact with the station. The North Rhine Westphalian metropolis was the location of one of the most famous and oft-mentioned 'snail mail' contact addresses for free radio stations broadcasting from Germany, and indeed those from outside its borders seeking a reliable maildrop. Remember: this was in the era before email and text messaging transformed how we interact with each other. 

It got me thinking - what were the addresses used by free radio stations, UK-based and otherwise, that became synonymous with the scene during the 1990s? Without delving into any research material, here are the few I can recall:

P O Box 220342, Wuppertal

South Beechwood, Edinburgh

Victoria Road, Salisbury

P O Box 293, Merlin, Ontario

Green Park, Bath

Stone Row, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Ostra Porten 29, Ytterby, Sweden

Belvoir Lodge, Whimsey Park, Nottingham (sometimes misaddressed as Beaver Lodge)

P O Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, the Netherlands.

There will be more, and plenty of them at that, but most of the above would serve several stations during the 1990s, with one still used to this very day. 

As this blog becomes more tenuous in its adherence to the original reason it came into being, different slants on the 1990s UK free radio shortwave scene have all but been exhausted. It is hoped that fresh research material will come to light and/or that your correspondent will receive further inspiration so to be able to at least periodically 'blog' on the subject. Any comments, suggestions, and constructive feedback are always welcome, as is the retweeting and sharing of posts on Social Media platforms. 

Although I cannot be certain that there will be any further blog posts this is offset by the fact that my deep dive into the 1990s UK-based free radio shortwave scene will (hopefully) be on permanent record in its online home, to be found in the future by those who were around during such great, even halcyon days of hobby pirate broadcasting but as of yet haven't already perused my musings.