UK bank holidays - free radio style

For many parts of the United Kingdom this weekend, specifically Monday, represents the final bank holiday before Christmas. Traditionally a time when inclement weather would chase the majority of people indoors, a country once associated with rain, cool temperatures, and high winds even during the so-called warmer months is now facing up to a new reality of insufficient rain, prolonged drought-like periods, and conditions more akin to the Mediterranean than the climate being driven by its usual Atlantic influences. 

The summer was never the best time to listen to free radio on shortwave with conditions often not conducive to broadcasting, and free radio operators (and listeners) having other, perhaps better things to do. The August bank holiday would though usually be busier; with summer effectively over transmitters and receivers would often be returned to.

I have no idea who if anyone from the UK will broadcast this weekend. Dare I say that I have no interest in knowing who will do so? That is rather harsh but as two months have now elapsed since I last tuned an SDR in anger, the current free radio scene is not only depressing when compared to the halcyon days of the 1990s, but also when viewed in relief.

Too much reminiscing cannot be good for one's wellbeing, especially when the modern era is a leitmotif for the inexorable decline of society, its behaviour, morals, and values. However, whilst comparisons are odious will those who were not listening to free radio in the 1990s actually elicit any enjoyment from today's UK-based free radio offering on shortwave? Perhaps they will, with what is 'out there' in the main representing the decade and generation it is in. For those who remember and were there, the 1990s, whilst not a time so distant in the grand scheme of things, is in reality an unrecognisably different age to the one we currently reside in.

A snapshot of an August bank holiday could include on 6 MHz the likes of Radio Confusion(later Subterranean Sounds), Total Control Radio(who became the Nitrozone), as well as Radio Armadillo, the Xenon Transmitting Company, and Station Sierra Sierra. The evening's entertainment, primarily on 76 Metres, would be handled by Live Wire Radio, Wizard's Magic Spell, perhaps Weekend Music Radio, and some of the aforementioned stations active during the daytime. There were of course others, such as the late Paul Johnson's UK Radio, and Radio Merlin International(formerly Radio Galaxy) whose respective omnipresence made them almost taken for granted in plain sight.

As has been discussed at length in this blog it wasn't purely the quantity of stations, but the quality of output which resonated with listeners. It is undoubtedly true that the 1990s were very different times when it came to technology and the risks that free radio operators had to take, but this 40-something personally preferred the days of maildrops, DJs who spoke to their listeners, a variety of music not heard on legal stations, and live programming to text/email contact, canned announcements, and 'the next record is...' utterances from those with little or nothing else to say. That is not to mention the bewildering habit of some operators restricting their output to the relaying of legal stations, which to them may amount to 'pirate' broadcasting but really is nothing more than a whole heap of pointlessness. 

If Radio Pandora and the Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC) take to the air this weekend, that would be regarded as a 'result'. These two free radio stalwarts of contrasting vintage at least have something to say, and include within their programmes a taste in music that isn't staid, predictable, or samey. 

Within free radio circles there seems to be a large archive of recorded, photographic, and printed material from the 1960s until the mid to late 1980s. The 1990s is not similarly well catered for, with as far as I know only this humble blog dedicated to the decade. I therefore challenge anyone sitting on a cache of interesting UK-related free radio material from the 1990s to this weekend bring it forth, whether that be in the form of recordings, QSL cards, photographs, and/or magazines dedicated to the scene. If nothing else, perhaps impart some of your own memories, whether from a listening or broadcasting perspective?

There must be lofts, sheds, and garages groaning with free radio paraphernalia that has not seen the light of day for 20-30 years. If so, why not make it a bank holiday project to bring to light any of the above, if only to prove that I didn't actually dream a decade worth of free radio actually happened!