Urban Dictionary defines something that is 'all that' to be a cut above, superior, even an entity or individual who is at the top of their respective game. How then, can I justifiably saddle the 1990's UK free radio scene on shortwave with such a burdensome epithet when at the time of listening, I didn't have another era/decade to compare it to? We again find ourselves in a world according to subjectivity.
The answer comes from how the memory of free radio from 30+ years ago has stood the test of time, including how those recollections hold their own when confronted with the few recordings available of stations broadcasting during the 1990's.
It goes without saying that the 1990's, although not really that long ago were comparatively far more innocent times, lacking the technical sophistication of our contemporary era. In an age where we have many ways in which to communicate with each other, the oxymoron in the room is that humans now struggle to verbally communicate in a coherent manner, with technology replacing the need for many to even think for themselves. Furthermore, some source their guiding principals from the often unsubstantiated and frequently scurrilous utterances of those who post whatever pops into their heads onto what seems to be an unregulated free for all known as Social Media.
Therefore, whilst music is a huge part of my everyday life - 1991 remains my favourite year for music, but the 80's is my life's defining soundtrack - and it should never be forgotten that many if not most of the UK-based free radio stations operating on shortwave played tracks which remain with me to this day, it was always the levels of communication which set apart the 1990's 'pirate' scene from those I've dipped into and out of since.
Not only did the likes of Live Wire and Weekend Music Radio(WMR) have powerhouse signals and diverse playlists, they involved listeners with the programmes, including through live interaction and interesting chat, which meant that the audience was never far from an interesting nugget about the presenter's life, chat about conspiracy theories and UFOs - this would be a speciality of Subterranean Sounds - and sometimes the exaggeratedly lugubrious utterances of Mike Wilson/The Bogus Jobseeker who would use the Guardian newspaper (Grauniad) as a favoured prop. It came in shapes and sizes, but charisma was writ large through all of the listenable UK-based stations.
I have sometimes pondered that many operators were purely motivated by seeking technical mastery than becoming a DJ/presenter, but several stations managed to be on point with not only their signal and modulation, but also through a style of programming which was essential listening when the presenter was either talking, or wasn't. Imagine that in legit radio, let alone within the meagre fayre dished out by many of today's free radio denizens.
Another question I have posed is would I have got as much enjoyment from listening to 1990's free radio using my now 40-something ears, rather than those belonging to the gauche teenager I was over 30 years ago? This is where I see how the likes of the aforementioned Live Wire, WMR, Subterranean Sounds, and Radio Orion, along with Radio Armadillo, WMS, Xenon Transmitting Company, Station Sierra Sierra, Radio Blackbeard, Britain Radio International and so on have aged particularly well: the few recordings I have heard of the above have never led me to question why I used to base my weekends around listening to what was, after all, illegal radio. They all encapsulated what was good about radio, and communication in general, at a time when most of what we had was just verbal communication, but never felt impoverished because of it.
Our current day and age appears to be concerned with churning out replicants, seemingly rolling those off a production line who are encouraged to be who they are, but in reality copy what many others are doing. Instead of an explosion of individuality, we are now seeing a world of people who dress the same, look the same, and are desperate to follow celebrities on Social Media, all the while protesting their entitlement to say what the want, and be whomever they desire to be, but have little if anything about them which sets them apart from their generational peers. If Social Media content makes the decisions of many, why should we be surprised that individual, critical thinking is increasingly conspicuous by its absence?
This inevitably leaches into free radio, originally a medium synonymous with removing the restrictive shackles of state and/or advertisement controlled broadcasting, whilst playing the music the operator wants to hear, with the added bonus that the audience are also willing adherents, but now so much of what is out there is continuous music, so much so that canned announcements or 'the next track is...' represent something of a dubious bonus, rather than what should be insult to injury.
Free radio reflected the times in which we lived. Those schooled on 1980's pirates will likely give short shrift to the output from the following decade, whilst those who have only ever known free radio from 2000 onwards may look down on the 1990's and beforehand as old-fashioned and twee, when in reality the scene had cojones, depth, and substance. When one compares such qualities to a contemporary era which includes Dutch stations changing identities with the wind, and a few UK-based stations who have the personal touch of a Cyberdyne Systems-produced cyborg, then there is absolutely no comparison!
Having not listened to shortwave during 2024, nor even checked websites where the latest loggings are uploaded, I feel now to have finally lanced the free radio boil. That isn't to say I won't on occasion search for recordings of those who I enjoyed listening to from a bygone era, but otherwise I really now can say goodbye. I enjoyed it while it lasted and yes, nostalgia really was what it used to be, but in the main living in the past is not a healthy way to blot out the many uncertainties the world currently faces, nor to fight against the dying of the light.
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