Another Bank Holiday Monday - but was anyone broadcasting?

Another bank holiday Monday in England, the fourth in less than two months. Regular readers will recall my disappointment over the years as to what would be heard, and frequently not, on public holidays, be that because of poor broadcasting (and reception) conditions, my limited listening station and antenna, as well as station operators having other things to occupy their time off.

Today has been a mixed bag of what I've heard, and those stations that I either didn't receive, or were simply not active. 

The recent albeit unorthodox return of Weekend Music Radio was today, similar to other bank holidays in England, conspicuous by its absence, lending credence to the notion that the relays of old and contemporary programming by Jack Russel are in fact emanating from the Republic of Ireland. I believe next Monday is a bank holiday in Eire, when we may hear WMR's programmes drifting across the Irish Sea on a day other than a weekend. 

On to what I did hear. An early check of the bands yielded Radio Jennifer at 0730 on 6270 kHz, whilst later in the morning a Radio Pythagoras was detected on 6200 kHz. It would seem that this was a recording of a station from the 1980s, albeit with very occasional what appeared to be live interludes where a male announced an email address - something they of course didn't have in the 80s. I wonder therefore if this was a test by an unknown operator who doesn't at this stage wish to go public, instead airing archive material as a vehicle to getting 'on the air'?

Elsewhere, free radio stalwart Radio Pamela continue to get the very most (Steve Most) out of their low power operation, with a signal peaking at S7 on 6908 kHz. Also on the 43 metre band, Radio Nova stayed true to its preferred frequency, 6940 kHz, and rock-dominated programming with only jingle idents. Laser Hot Hits was also heard in the vicinity, on 6922 kHz, but I am never sure if the station broadcasts from the UK or Ireland, or if this too was an unofficial relay of archived material. 

One notable absentee was Matt Roberts' Xenon Transmitting Company (XTC), a station otherwise synonymous with bank holiday free radio. On this occasion the operator was otherwise engaged, but will hopefully return on the next bank holiday, at the end of August, which unbelievably is the last one before the festive period!

Finally, its not shortwave but another kingpin of 1990s free radio, Radio Blackbird, can currently be heard on 1512 kHz. Between the aforementioned stations there are decades and more worth of free radio experience but when they've finally hung up their microphones, what will the scene be left with?

Radio Stella, Weekend Music Radio, and lost archives

A serious drawback when compiling this blog has been the lack of a physical archive to accompany station-specific posts, as well as to give readers some visual respite from my rambling style. 

Sadly, my collection of free radio news sheets, stickers, logbooks, and QSL cards left the building long ago; the aforementioned were no match for my now fully developed minimalist tendencies. 

There are of course some excellent online depositories of free radio paraphernalia, amongst them being the Will Phillips and Tom Read websites, but the lack of a personal stash of free radio ephemera to add flesh to the bones has perhaps made this blog less user friendly than it might be.

However, within the palaeolithic layer of forgotten odds and ends I have recently unearthed a few photographs sent to me by several free radio giants of the 1990s - namely Bill Lewis and Radio Stella's Jock Wilson. I thought the latter to be particularly pertinent, what with Jock's association with Weekend Music Radio's Jack Russel and how both, along with the likes of Live Wire Bill, would periodically head to the Republic of Ireland to maintain Radio Stella's transmitters, which were I believe located in close proximity of those used by Radio Fax and Reflections Europe. 

Why is this pertinent? Well, the recent spate of broadcasts by someone believed to be located in Eire of back in the day Weekend Music Radio shows, some from as long ago as 2014 and perhaps even earlier, has piqued the interest of those who fondly recall WMR as one of the defining stations of the decade. It is unclear why these archive shows are now rearing their head but far from being a new occurrence, such transmissions started over twenty years ago. Whether the person responsible then and now are one and the same is a mystery in itself, but we can tentatively assume that it is. Whoever is behind these unofficial relays certainly has some serious wattage to draw upon. 

Age has wearied the above photograph, sent by Jock Wilson in 1992, but there are several points of interest within it. Transmitters for 7 and 11 MHz are pictured, which broadcasted Stella's pre-recorded programmes in tandem. 3 and 6 MHz would also be used. 

Close to the top left of the snap is the calling card of the mysterious engineers who installed the equipment - Bodgit and Scarper from somewhere in Scotland! The sticker to the lower centre will be very familiar to many in the UK and Ireland who listened to Atlantic 252 on longwave during the 1990s, whilst an early iteration of a Tango drinks can is visible top centre. 

I hope Jock and his accompanying coterie of shadowy radio engineers do not object to this free radio laid bare-type photograph being put out into the public domain. After thirty one years I would hope that such material is now declassified, but what a fine example of the pre-digital era of broadcasting in its purest free radio form!

The few other photo QSL-type pictures I have unearthed are from Live Wire Radio, one specifically of the station's studio used in the latter years of its presence on shortwave and the 1.6 MHz mediumwave band popular with Dutch hobbyists. If you are reading this Bill, perhaps you could let me know if it is OK to use this photograph to accompany a future blog post. 

In the early 1990s one would never have imagined the overwhelming impact digitisation and the internet would have on our lives, but then neither could we have predicted the terminal demise of physical photographs. Proof writ large, once more, how much life has changed in the last thirty years. 

Another Bank Holiday Damp Squib, albeit with the 'return' of Weekend Music Radio

There is little if anything the current UK free radio scene on shortwave has in common with that of the comparatively golden era of the 1990s. As though was again proven yesterday, bank holidays have to this listener usually been a washout - both meteorologically and for their radio silence. 

Three decades ago the action on bank holidays would usually take place in the evenings, and overnight. For whatever reason - apathy, poor conditions, it being more risky to broadcast during daylight hours, and operators having other/better things to do - 48 metre band would in the main be very quiet, and subsequently very disappointing. There were of course always exceptions to the rule, but the extra UK bank holiday to celebrate King Charles' coronation undoubtedly reverted to type.

Where the respective eras also share common ground relates to those who were actually heard during the weekend, rather than on the bank holiday itself. Stalwarts Radio Pamela and Radio Pandora - the two Steves - continue to bang the drum amidst the dying of the light. Elsewhere, relative newcomer Radio Parade intermittently broadcasts an eclectic array of music on differing frequencies among the 3, 6, 8, and I think 9 MHz bands.

Otherwise, the gradual but inexorable decline of shortwave free radio continues, with the absence of Radio Clash, Valley Wave Radio, Radio Jennifer, amongst several others continues to be noted. The venerable Matt Roberts of the Xenon Transmitting Company was not heard this bank holiday, but was active the weekend before which yes, was another albeit annual Monday off rather than one 'celebrating' those in ermine who resemble adults that have raided a particularly bad fancy dress shop.

The weekend as a whole was not though without some leftfield interest. From Friday evening through to late Sunday a strong signal, mostly on 6295 kHz, was heard broadcasting old shows by the Scottish broadcasting leviathan himself, Jack Russel of Weekend Music Radio(WMR). Something similar happened to WMR twenty years ago or more, when a transmitter of unknown location and ownership inexplicably began broadcasting taped shows from times past. For whatever reason, this has started to happen again, with shows aired from for example 2014.

It was a surreal experience for this unashamedly geeky 1990s free radio chronicler to again here WMR. Even though Jack has never completely ruled out returning to the airwaves, for his unmistakable voice to once more grace 48 metres took me back to far better times when free radio had charisma, characters, and interaction in an era before technology and email addresses replaced conversation and snail mail contact. It was almost as if the indirect re-emergence of WMR was an inadvertent rebuke of the current scene, which is (un)arguably at an all time low. Incidentally, I wonder if the Coleraine address previously used by WMR will get any mail as a consequence of these wildcat broadcasts?

The theory goes that the transmissions which are not really a relay emanate from the Republic of Ireland - I too have my theories which I won't make public. The Eire connection is perhaps given greater credence by the absence of these broadcasts on bank holiday Monday, which of course was a UK-only affair. Whatever the motivation and QTH, these broadcasts of a free radio legend added a frisson of interest, whilst representing a microcosm of what true free radio once was. The diverse chat and musical output from likeable personalities such as Paul Stuart, Bill Lewis, Steve Midnight, Mr. Armadillo, The Wizard, Roger Davis, The Bogus Jobseeker/Mike Wilson, Jack Russel and others are echoes to another time which are now represented by the likes of Matt Roberts, and Radio Blackbeard's (1512 kHz) Dave Norris.

Mysteries like these which in all likelihood will never be solved are a component part of what made free radio/hobby pirates so interesting. Perhaps there is a hidden message in the rogue WMR broadcasts to prompt Jack to get back on the bands, or maybe they are simply a case of mischief making. Either way, when transmissions airing shows the best part of a decade old, and not being done so by the voice behind them, quickly become the highlight of the free radio weekend, it speaks volumes of what the UK free radio scene on shortwave has now become.