The overarching aim of this blog was always predicated on harking back to a past that is not memorialized elsewhere, other than perhaps by a few downloaded QSL cards and certain stations mentioned little more than in passing. If I can be afforded to use 'the past' in this sense as a reference to the 1990's, there are though several links to it still active on shortwave to this day, some of which are continuations in one form or other that have endured over the last three decades.
Radio Blackbeard was a station I first heard in 1994, who I initially recall using 48 metres on Saturday mornings. The history of the operator's interest in free/pirate radio did though go back to the 80's, when Dave Norris started broadcasting on FM under the name Buzz FM, within a certain metropolitan area of England's East Midlands. Friendship with free radio leviathans Bill Lewis and Paul Stuart eventually led Dave into shortwave broadcasts using Radio Blackbeard as his HF hat, with a dance music policy favouring the trance genre that reflected the staple output of Buzz.
I cannot recall when Radio Blackbeard ceased broadcasting under that guise on shortwave, but Dave has never really left the scene, including what was for a while a regular stint on Lazer Hot Hits. and continues to this day to broadcast under his original ident but on 1494 kHz, albeit with a limited geographic reach due to a strong Moldovan broadcaster that uses the channel during daylight hours. Buzz is though occasionally heard some distance away when conditions allow, including via the Scottish-based Argyll SDR remote receiver.
There was though to be another strand to Mr. Blackbeard's presence on shortwave in the 1990's. Regular broadcasts with Station Sierra Sierra's Paul Stuart and other local radio luminaries commenced in the latter part of the decade under the name Galaxy International, not to be confused with the entirely unrelated Radio Galaxy, the previous name of who we know today as Radio Merlin. These entertaining but labour-intensive transmissions were conducted out in the field, quite literally, where remote broadcast sites would be used to reduce the chances of RF interference piquing the interest of local neighbours and the authorities. Running regular broadcasts from car batteries in countryside where there will always be a passing hiker with more than a little curiosity as to what is occurring is though a form of free radio martyrdom, and whilst highly laudable and even a tad romanticized for those listening rather than at the sharp end, it was inevitable that these enjoyable live broadcasts would eventually come to an end. I always recall the 1998 David Morales track Needin' U being a regular feature of broadcasts, and was obviously a favourite at the time of Paul Stuart.
My previous blog post mentioned how not only did Radio Mutiny and Radio Galaxy eventually morph into XTC and Merlin respectively, but that they are to this day still operating to some degree or other on shortwave. Whilst Merlin is a daily feature on 6305 kHz XTC's presence is a case of less being more, although by Matt Roberts' own admission the station has perhaps been more active since the advent of the novel coronavirus than at any other time in its history.
The 1990's version of Radio Mi Amigo brought me at the time into contact with the amiable Terry Phillips. Subsequently involved with the likes of WNKR(West and North Kent Radio, in case you were wondering), WFRL(Wonderful Free Radio London) and Focus International, Terry can still on occasion be heard guesting on Radio Pamela, which brings me on to...
Another operator who has been broadcasting on shortwave long before I became aware of free radio stations on shortwave, Steve Most's Radio Pamela has remained a constant presence insomuch that the name has remained unchanged since I first received the station in 1991. I would otherwise say that Pamela's broadcasts have over the years been sporadic, although I undoubtedly missed a great many of them what with Steve's penchant for transmitting on frequencies outside where many listeners would venture to hear free radio broadcasts. As with XTC Radio Pamela has over the last year been a particularly and relatively frequent presence, predominantly on 7 MHz, mainly 7605 kHz, and latterly 6803 and 6319 kHz. With a liking for rock classics and even the Japanese take on the genre, the best way to keep up to date with Steve's intentions is via his Twitter page: Radio Pamela Twitter
Aside from Radio Pamela there was also a short-lived station in the 1990's named Radio 49, who I believe that Steve Most was also involved with. Any further information would be appreciated.
Since the demise of the Bogusman's broadcasts following a raid two years ago by OFCOM(Office of Communications) that was precipitated by the use of an International Distress Frequency - the one in question being 6312 kHz - and something of a schoolboy error for such an experienced free radio operator, Mike Wilson/Bogus has been completely absent from conventional broadcasting. Conventional in this sense would equate to free radio operators using their own broadcast equipment - transmitter, antenna, et al.
In recent times the inimitable Bogusman and his unorthodox take on life that remains a nonpareil on shortwave has once again resurfaced, albeit having finally fallen on his sword by going legit and paying for broadcast slots on the German-based Channel 292. It would be very easy for the Bogusman to call it a day now that the classic route to free radio broadcasting has all but been closed to him but who knows, perhaps using alternative facilities is just a stop-gap before re-emerging on shortwave in a manner to which he has been accustomed under various guises including Radio Orion and the Bogus Jobseeker. Another former exponent of Orion, The Ghoul, someone who revels in shall we say a rather atypical broadcasting style has also been heard on Channel 292, whose schedule for both 6 and 9 MHz is worth keeping an eye on for future Bogusman programmes.
My logbooks and hard copy QSL cards from the 1990's have sadly long since bitten the dust, and therefore cannot act as a useful point of reference when compiling these blog posts. I am therefore very much relying on, and at the mercy of, my memory which inevitably will not recall all that occurred on shortwave that emanated from the UK. A classic example of this is not being able to pinpoint the exact time I first heard Radio Pandora, although I would estimate it to be during 1993. As was common with other stations during the first Covid-related lockdown I noticed a spike in Pandora's output, often with a signal that was far stronger than during my frustrated attempts to hear station operator Steve St. John in the '90's.
As I have written elsewhere - Free Radio in the time of Covid-19 - listening to shortwave free radio during my convalescence from novel coronavirus provided some much needed solace and positivity, and in many ways reignited my interest in free radio which admittedly has since fluctuated. Radio Pandora was one of those stations that helped my recovery by not only broadcasting when I had little else to do but rest, but also through replying to my emails which were perhaps the first ever correspondence I shared with Steve, 27 years after first hearing him on the 48-metre band. Radio Pandora has once more retreated into the shadows, but I believe that some broadcasts have been made on Medium Wave frequencies.
Kudos to both Steves, Most and St. John, for persevering with a hobby that is obviously in their blood. I don't know about Steve Most, but the operator of Radio Pandora is somewhere between the end of his seventh decade and the early part his eighth, but it is the commitment and persistence of these and other operators who have over several decades regaled listeners with their own choice of music, often I am sure despite at times awkward personal and local circumstances and when they've had to very much work around difficulties to remain on the air.
NEXT TIME: More of the stations that formed the UK free radio scene on shortwave in the 1990's.
