Then versus now

As I like to say, comparisons are odious. To outright compare eras, people, individuals, and even free radio stations suggests one is approaching from an analogous perspective to reach negative, pejorative conclusions, coming from a 'better in my day' standpoint, if you like.

There are many variables to consider when standing up the 1990s free radio against its modern day iteration. Societal changes, particularly but not exclusively perpetuated by Social Media have altered humanity, and of course how people access and produce aural content. The advent of internet radio stations obviously involves a different form of technology required to bring an 807 valve rig into life, but unless one is misty-eyed about the ways of the past and lamenting how Social Media and Machine Learning AI have dulled individual and critical thinking, there are few if any compelling arguments to state which is 'better'. Preferences are one thing, what is actually better is quite another, but that only really stands up if there are two (or more) different approaches (traditional and contemporary) that ultimately arrive at the same outcome. 

My longwinded way of attempting but failing to get to the nub of comparison when in effect standing one era against another is, yes, odious. If I was going to find a criterion to laud one scene over another, it involves the wider significance of everything now being instantly accessible, rather than one having to work for it and wait. If only from an intellectual perspective, I feel it is correct to suggest that what is pondered over and then actioned is preferable to the instantly achievable. 

Leaving aside tech, societal change and the changing face of media consumption from linear to one-demand - heck, I even listen to Weekend Music Radio on catch up - this blog post is going to look at the respective shortwave free radio scenes, and how they stack up against each other. Not from a critical standpoint, but merely how they have changed, or perhaps have not.

Firstly, there are still plenty of familiar voices on the bands that in some cases were taking their first tentative broadcasting steps in the 1990s, whilst others have been around even longer. Radio Pamela, Pandora, Weekend Music Radio, and the Xenon Transmitting Company (XTC but previously Radio Mutiny) as a collective are arguably more active on shortwave than they were 30+ years ago, whilst further afield the likes of  Radio Delta / Delta Radio, Voice of the Netherlands, and even Radio Barones are still 'out there'. 

It is obvious to me that several stations from the UK that have only appeared in relatively recent times involve older operators who were first introduced to the hobby in perhaps the 1980s, or earlier still. I am not suggesting that there weren't any older operators in the 1990s, but in those days 'start up' stations such as Radio Confusion (later Subterranean Sounds), Live Wire Radio, Radio Blackbeard, Station Sierra Sierra, and so on were founded by a much younger demographic than those today who are introducing new names to shortwave. This obviously suggests that the nuts and bolts of building a free radio station is not appealing to younger age groups, with the technology and processes to get on the airwaves in general, not just shortwave, being far different to what they were. 

This leads me into broadcasters who like to relay other stations, not from cassettes sent to them a la the Northern Ireland Relay Service, but seemingly random choices from the internet that presumably correlate with the operators own interests / tastes, if albeit without the knowledge of  anyone involved with the inadvertently relayed station. There was an example of this only the past week, as Dance UK, an internet collective of DJs, found itself being relayed onto 6.9 MHz. Another illustration of this is the intermittent relaying of Coast FM, a Tenerife or Canary Irelands-based station, for reasons only known to the relayer. If you enjoy a station, why not just listen to it in the comfort of your own home, rather than feeling the need to be a conduit between the originator, and a somewhat bemused shortwave audience?

I am not saying the relays other than those pre-arranged and paid for didn't occur in the 1990s, but I would say that in the main it is a far more recent phenomenon, and obviously reflects the number of stations worldwide instantly available online, and their commensurate accessibility. Perhaps the rig owner simply wants the thrill of broadcasting on shortwave, but without the effort of putting out their own programmes? 

It has often been a moot point as to whether shortwave operators actually want to communicate with listeners, many of whom are slavishly devoted to QSL-card collecting rather than spending a greater length of time listening to what used to be semi-curated programmes, with a dash of off the cuff chat for good measure. I am though not a hypocrite; in my far younger days I was impatient to hear an ID, write down a track or two, before combing the band for other stations. To receive demands for a QSL on this basis must have really grated with some / many operators, to several of whom I was probably a borderline pain. This contrite author is now very much a poacher turned gamekeeper. 

However, for those stations that did / do like to receive feedback (no pun intended) about their signal and modulation, listeners were far more important in the past than in the contemporary SDR waterfall times in which we live. It is now extremely easy to monitor your own signal using a remote SDR from just about anywhere in the world, which severely restricts the need to solicit contact from listeners. If a station operator can self-monitor whilst playing music they presumably like, where is the motivation to put out an email address? Talking of such, in the early 1990s until about 1996 contact was all about writing to 'snail mail' addresses, often to locations synonymous with the time: Victoria Road, Salisbury; Green Park, Bath and so on, along with often heard P O Box drop offs in Wuppertal, Merlin, and Herten. There would also be a few stations that would risk their own addresses being announced, or that of a trusted associate, but there would always be a risk that a listener would, for example, put Midlands Music Radio on the envelope, instead of the more vague but safer MMR. 

After 1996, I recall mobile telephone numbers being announced and just before the turn of the millennium, email addresses would become more common. Nevertheless, when I left the hobby in 2002/3 (until about 2015) mailing addresses were still common, if albeit complemented by their email equivalent. Nowadays, it is exceptionally rare to hear a postal address or a mobile number being announced. The change from traditional to electronic mail is understandable, and of course is instantaneous, but phone contact, or the lack of it, suggests that many programmes are pre-recorded, removing the element of live interaction between operator and listener. There will though be individual reasons depending on the station in question, but the phone ringing in the studio during a live broadcast certainly added a frisson of interest, at least to this listener.

One counterintuitive downside to instant messaging is just that - its immediacy. Gone are the days when listeners would have to accept quite a wait to hear from operators, who in most cases would have to twiddle their thumbs before their box number or remote address forwarded their mail. Nowadays, listeners know that stations that announce an email address will receive their email straightaway, and in their minds will assume that a reply will be just as swift. For all the good things that Weekend Music Radio has brought to free radio, prompt replying has never been one of them ! However, I think I am right in saying that Jack has received emails complaining that a very recently sent previous email has not been replied to, even if it was only sent a day or two before. This is now though a societal norm; the instantaneous nature of technology and a cutthroat marketplace has brought up a generation hardwired to expect everything yesterday. 

There will I am sure be other areas of free radio that are very different in the modern era to what is four decades ago, but the use of 3 MHz in the 1990s during the evenings precipitated a significant amount of enjoyment I gained from the hobby. As far as I am aware, 76 metres is not characteristic with the free radio scene of today, but back in the day was the backbone of much of what was broadcast from the UK. It has been addressed ad nauseum within this blog, but the likes of Subterranean Sounds, Radio Armadillo, Weekend Music Radio, Wizard's Magic Spell, and Live Wire made Saturday nights something to look forward to. If one station wasn't active, others would be. There was, it seemed, an etiquette of not broadcasting when one of your aforementioned  contemporaries was active, compared to today when all the technology in the world doesn't seem to be enough for some operators to check a frequency before deciding upon it.

Previous posts have reminisced about bank holidays and shortwave free radio. Of the few bank holidays we have in the UK, this is perhaps the one that I associate the least with listening to hobby pirates, as conditions often worsened before rebooting in the late summer / early autumntime. Maybe I just had other things to do during the brief spells of nice weather normally associated with late May / early June. The realities of adult life means that will probably involve visiting a garden centre.

Has free radio changed of its own accord, or is it simply mirroring wider social change ? I personally think the latter, and whilst the Alan Deutschman book screams Change or Die, free radio will continue to buck trends in some ways, but in the end be just as influenced by moving with the times as any other part of life. Putting aside the futility of stating which era was better, I am though sure, for me at least, which I prefer.

Eurovision x Subterranean Sounds Redux

At the risk of returning to old ground - or am I now veering off topic since discovering the wonderful world of piped supermarket music - the recent Eurovision Song Contest from Basel, as each ESC happens to do, brought back memories from my own halcyon days of shortwave listening. 

The mid-1990s was a tremendous time for listening to 76 metres (3 MHz) in the evening, or more particularly after midnight. Ironically, Steve Midnight of Radio Confusion then Subterranean Sounds would be one of the few predominantly but exclusively British stations that was regularly heard after sundown, but would more or less be on his own in broadcasting late evening - say 1030 pm onwards. There would usually be a broadcast, perhaps what might have been termed a Eurovision special, on the conclusion of that particular year's contest. These are small but nevertheless significant memories that represent just one leitmotif of a scene that brought about the creation of this blog. 

Of course, Radio Confusion then Subterranean Sounds did not just broadcast once a year to coincide with what remains a rather dubious pan-European music fest that has now been hijacked by ideologies, and where contestants run the risk of being heckled due to the actions of their leaders, but for your correspondent would usually be as much about Eurovision evening as the contest itself. I also recall in the early days of Confusion broadcasting on 6 and 7 MHz a diet of Indie music, whilst Subterranean Sounds being more memorable for monologues on UFOs (the contemporary parlance being UAPs - Unidentified Aerial / Anomalous Phenomena) and tracks from Birmingham-based band Broadcast, as well as Papua New Guinea by Future Sound of London being regularly aired. Good days.

The night-time 76 metres scene was a bona fide extension, perhaps even an improvement, on the tradition Sunday morning 6 MHz scene, with Live Wire, Radio Armadillo,  and Wizard's Magic Spell being amongst the UK-based stations who also grasped the nettle. Weekend Music Radio would often run 3 MHz in parallel with other frequencies, whilst Brian of SF03 would frequently pop up at the end of the night to call CQ to some of the aforementioned. 

Although this has always been a strictly UK-based blog, honourable mentions must also be made for Radio Grensjager (Borderhunter), Radio Korak, and Radio Pirana, three stations I would consider to be at the highly acceptable, listenable end of the shortwave free radio spectrum, and whom were also synonymous with 3 MHz in the evenings.

Despite much water having passed under the bridge since, events such as Eurovision and UK Bank Holidays never fail to trigger positive memories of my listening past. As a new wave of UK stations complements the old guard, has the baton passed to a new generation of broadcasters and listeners? Of that I am not so sure, as presumably many still involved are those returning to the hobby, or who never actually left. 

With the advent of on demand streaming, instantaneous messaging, and digital radio searchable by genre, it is now difficult to imagine that many, or any, younger people have discovered shortwave and particularly free radio as I did in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, whilst change is inevitable, a glass half full attitude would say that it is good to hear that free radio on shortwave is still going strong, albeit in its current form. 

April Fools' Day and true free radio spirit

The first of April could often be relied upon to provide some alternative listening on the shortwave bands favoured by free radio stations, who of course were already bracketed as 'alternative' as in not the mainstream or if in the UK, the BBC World Service. All the better if the beginning of the month happened to be on a Sunday.

I cannot fully remember all that occurred that was free radio-related on 01/04 but perhaps the most famous miscreant was Weekend Music Radio, who aided and abetted the mysterious(!) Wee Guy Radio and Radio West Coast Commercial, the latter being a spoof of the late Norman Nelson's Radio East Coast Commercial, to provide some April Fools' merriment. To cut a long story short - the longer version can be found on WMR's excellent website - Wee Guy appeared on the erstwhile Radio Fax's frequencies that operated in parallel on 3, 6, and 12 MHz. Radio Fax wasn't your ordinary free radio station, often broadcasting a technology-related programme called 'Sparks' and being an almost all week ever-present on its triumvirate of channels. Although it transmitted from the Republic of Ireland, it was without success that owner Trevor Brook attempted to secure a UK broadcasting license. Despite having significantly curtailed its operations, to this day the BBC continues to enjoy a hegemonic dominance of legal UK-based broadcasting.

Radio Stella International, a station regarded as Scottish due to its inimitable operator Jock Wilson, actually broadcast from the same Eire-based site as Radio Fax. It was therefore possible for accidents to occur, such as Fax suddenly being heard on frequencies favoured by Stella, and guerrilla broadcasting by the likes of Wee Guy temporarily taking over 3910, 6205, and 12255 KHz! I suspect it was great amusement for those engaged in such tomfoolery, but perhaps not so for those on the receiving end!

It is perhaps now too long ago for me to differentiate between those who just popped up on the first of April, and the stations that broadcast at other times but who did so with silliness as their respective reasons for being. I recall a hilarious take off of many operators of the day, including Norman Nelson who became Norman Nesquik, and merciless ribbing of those behind West and North Kent Radio. Also, stations such as Radio Ridiculous, the Groovy Granny, and the presumably Welsh-based Voice of the Leek added to an alternative radio scene a frisson of not taking themselves too seriously. I have no doubt there were others, both those I have forgotten and indeed never knew of, but the pranks associated with WMR/Wee Guy/Radio Fax are the most indelible in my fading memory. There must of course be an honourable mention of The Ghoul, a spin off broadcaster from Radio Orion and Bogus Jobseeker transmissions. 

With the passing of the early 1990s the UK-based free radio scene on shortwave mirrored how the stellar music scene of the same era deteriorated almost overnight. I would suggest that 1990-92 was a golden period for free radio and music, with a very noticeable decline setting in before something of a temporary revival of both between 1994-96. From thereon in free radio and UK-based musical output went into overall terminal decline, with inevitably a few exceptions. Be it hobby pirates, music, literature, moral standards, and political parties, much in life remains subjective so therefore the aforementioned isn't a list of universal facts, but rather my own truisms as I see them. 

It cannot though be brought into question that the personalities that made free radio so interesting are not attendant with whatever scene remains. Canned, off the shelf jingles and computer-generated voices robotically espousing email addresses are though unfortunately the perfect accompaniment to operators who say little other than 'that was so and so...the next track is...' which seems more of an attempt to entertain themselves than anyone listening.

It is therefore to those pioneers of mirth from the late 1980s and early 1990s whom I salute, operators who added a dash of personality and imagination to proceedings. It was the risk takers out in the field and those that switched on their rigs after a heavy session in the pub who embodied true free radio spirit, the like of which are now just another relic of yesteryear. 

From Radio Blackbeard to Galaxy International and beyond, there is still a buzz around UK-based free radio

It was 1994. Andy Winter's Radio Aires and Radio London had morphed into the Wizard's Magic Spell(WMS), adding a further dash of UK-based intrigue and something listenable to the 48 and 76 metre bands.

From an initial interest in late-1990 the free radio scene of my choosing, i.e. those stations that broadcasted from the UK, there was an ebb and flow before it seemed to hit the buffers during 1993. Listening conditions had markedly deteriorated and some of the operators formerly heard very often had decided to devote more time to extra-curricular activities - if indeed those things and not being behind a free radio 'pirate' station could be classed as extra-curricular. It was though an affront to my somewhat immature brain that several favourite broadcasters who were formerly prolific on 6 MHz were now using their time in ways which to them were akin to 'getting out more' - for example spending more time with the opposite sex, and less in dark makeshift studios whilst perhaps talking to a handful of listeners, or less. 

Dialling back to 1994, the emergence of WMS added a pleasing accompaniment to and perhaps was a consequence of improving conditions, complemented by the subsequent reappearance or return by those who had been relatively conspicuous by their individual and collective absence. The year in question seemed if anything to herald a new era for established and popular broadcasters such as Live Wire, Weekend Music Radio(WMR), Radio Armadillo, and Subterranean Sounds to name just a few. Supplemented by not only WMS but an additional UK-based broadcaster known particularly well by one of the aforementioned operators, the UK free radio scene on shortwave seemed to be galvanised, once more making it interesting, entertaining, and often compelling.

I first heard Radio Blackbeard one Saturday morning on 6 MHz. Station operator Dave Norris had always remained true to his dance music preferences - something he does to this day. Feeding listeners on a rich diet of commercial and lesser-known dance and trance classics Blackbeard had the beat and edge of an FM pirate station, but which lent a different dynamic to what was normally heard on the shortwave frequencies favoured by free radio operators. Two tracks that immediately spring to mind that I heard on Blackbeard were Tinman - 18 Strings and Nush - neither were especially ground breaking but very much of their time but despite this, were not heard a great deal on mainstream radio when compared to contemporaries such as The Prodigy, Tony di Bart, Snap! and Maxx. 

That was though often the point of free radio which resonated the most with me - hearing music that wasn't just another rehash of what could be heard on local(legal) FM stations or on Top of the Pops. The freedom to play what an operator wanted and not be hamstrung by playlists or demands by advertisers gave listeners to free radio a much wider choice, but what excuses did those broadcasting the same music that could be heard anywhere actually have? The argument does though remain that free radio operators had the license(pun intended) to play what they pleased; it wasn't their mandate to pander to demographics or 'safe' tastes, or even actually please their listeners. 

As the 1990s wore on I increasingly drifted in and out of free radio as guess what, I too started to get a life outside of the house and away from the Saturday night and Sunday morning listening routine. I would though periodically hear Blackbeard - a station I always regarded as a welcome antidote to an increasingly Dutchification of the free radio frequencies. 

A rebooted version of both Radio Blackbeard and Station Sierra Sierra, another giant of the UK-based free radio scene during the 1990s, coalesced into a joint venture known as Galaxy International; not to be confused with Radio Galaxy which eventually gave birth to the Radio Merlin we all know today. Galaxy International was no ordinary venture for Dave, and Sierra Sierra operator Paul Stuart, who took their fondness of shortwave broadcasting to great lengths by transmitting quite literally out in the field from remote locations, where local interference was minimal to non-existent and issues with neighbours hearing free radio operators coming through on their televisions and landlines was thankfully conspicuous by its absence. One track I remember being an obvious favourite of the station was Needin' U by David Morales and although signals were not always great the sheer effort put in by Dave and Paul, as well as an assortment of guests cannot be underestimated. The early days of mobile phone and email communication were utilised to connect listeners in real time with Galaxy International.

The years passed, and I assumed that like so many other stations Galaxy International and its operators had moved on, which was more or less correct. However, Paul Stuart can still be heard broadcasting on the Leicestershire-based community station The Eye but Dave has returned to his Buzz FM roots - albeit now on the medium wave band but with still the same passion for broadcasting and dance/trance music as ever.

The medium wave band is a tough nut to crack for low-powered operators who have so many legal UK and European powerhouse broadcasters to compete with, and where possible, avoid. Buzz FM has been broadcasting on either 1494 or 1512 Khz in the last year, although I last heard the station on the latter. Due to my location and distance from Buzz's QTH I am best able to hear the station via the Doncaster-based SDR remote receiver but only after 10 pm. If you are able to detect a signal but unable to identify the broadcaster, it is worth comparing what you can hear with Buzz's Radio.Garden stream to ascertain if indeed it is the station.

I have pondered if today's free radio should be more about the dwindling band of individuals who are joining the hobby, those from the past who are still 'doing it' or the now tenuous connections to yesteryear which we cling to in a scene that is a pale imitation of its former self. Free radio will always represent different things to different people, with the past being anathema to many listeners just as the modern day version of it is of little interest to those who were around in the various heydays of the genre. That though in itself opens up another argument of when were the halcyon days of free radio? Again, a straw poll would elicit many different responses.

My best wishes to Dave for renewed good health. I am sure he would welcome contact from anyone who hears Buzz FM. 

Final broadcasts

Despite the passing of what is now a significant period of time, several UK-based shortwave free radio stations that have figured in this 1990s retrospective can still to this day be found on or around the 48 metre band. 

It is not the albeit honourably mentioned Radio Pamela, Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC), and Radio Merlin, as well as dormant stations like Weekend Music Radio(WMR) and Radio Pandora who are both it seems on extended hiatus, that are the focus of this blog post. 

When recently (re)listening to a YouTube clip of Live Wire Radio from approximately 20 years ago, it dawned upon me that this might well have been the last broadcast I ever heard from station operator Bill Lewis. That is not to say Live Wire called it a day at that time, but as I drifted away from the hobby and without any hard copy records or memories to suggest otherwise, there is a fair chance that this was the final time or one of the last when I heard one of the 1990s most recognizable free radio voices. 

Indeed, I can only be sure that I heard this broadcast as my phone call to the studio was acknowledged early in the show!

Despite delving into the 1990s UK-based scene to the greatest extent that I could, I have since pondered just when stations such as Live Wire, Subterranean Sounds, Scotland's Radio Gloria, and WNKR to name just a few broadcast their final programmes. It has also been a point of minor fascination as to whether these and other stations knowingly broadcasted their last programmes in a final flourish, or that they simply never returned to the air. This and what motivated individual operators to call it a day can only be answered by the protagonists themselves, but changes in circumstances, disillusionment with the hobby, and simply outgrowing what might not have had the same allure as the early salad days will surely rank highly in what has caused the significant hole left in UK free radio on shortwave by stations to this day who are conspicuous by their absence. 

It is far easier, or less difficult, to know how stations came into being and when they did so, but what characterized their final days and the reasons behind them by and large remain a mystery. This is though perhaps a metaphor for hobby pirates whose very existence must on the whole remain enigmatic and discreet. 

The door perhaps remains ajar for some stations who I otherwise assume to be consigned to history, and as such there may be operators who never actually 'officially' quit. If though broadcasters disappeared due to the deteriorating quality of free radio on shortwave, there is little on that basis to encourage them to return today.

By definition there are no rules, expectations, or standards demanded by free radio, and as such station operators can leave on a whim and return with alacrity without the need for explanation to listeners or to justify their actions to 'the man'. It is that unpredictability that has always lent a certain distinction to the scene, if albeit some operators let their so-called celebrity go to their heads - the only places it actually existed. 

It would be of interest to me if anyone out there has on record when the stations who have seemingly 'gone for good' actually called time on their presence on shortwave. Any recordings of final broadcasts would also be appreciated, even if only with hindsight has it since become apparent that these were the last times that they were heard, at least to date. 

The only WMR in town: Weekend Music Radio - Scotland.

I haven't seen the statistics but is it doubtful that in 1991 many 14-year-old's had ever heard of the celebrated clarinettist Acker Bilk. Even today, it is highly unlikely that the advent of Social Media and the Internet have broadened the appeal of the Somerset-born instrumentalist with the same demographic, but strangely many of my formative years would be all too aware of not the late jazz man's oeuvre, but one particular tune from his body of work.

For anyone who heard a track on shortwave I later found out to be called 'Fancy Pants', it usually meant one of two things: either Weekend Music Radio(WMR) had just returned to the airwaves for another broadcast, or that station operator Jack Russel was until next time about to close down. My last blog post mentioned Station Sierra Sierra's theme tune Don't Worry by Kim Appleby(the surviving half of Mel and Kim) and whilst many stations would bookend broadcasts with the likes of Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Fanfare for the Common Man and Man of Action by Les Reed, these and others were generic 'go to' tracks used by many stations to draw a veil over their latest broadcasts. There was though something unique about hearing a genre of music otherwise conspicuous by its absence on shortwave free radio, not only because of its 'foot tapping' qualities but that it would hopefully mean that I was about to hear one of Jack's broadcasts, rather than having just missed out on one. 

An overwhelming majority of the UK's free radio stations broadcasting in the 1990's were based in England, with only the Northern Ireland Relay Service, Wales' occasional broadcaster The Voice of the Leek, and Scotland's WMR and Radio Gloria broadcasting from what are today termed as the devolved nations. By this time the prolific Radio Stella, operator by the legendary Jock Wilson, has switched operations to the Republic of Ireland, to where taped programmes would be forwarded to go out on a variety of frequencies, perhaps as many as four at a time, including 6295 and 7446 kHz. There is obviously a limitation to spontaneous programming that's open-ended in length when relying on a helpful transmitter operator in another country to take the controls, but fairly frequent trips to the transmission site would allow for rig and aerial improvements to be made by Jock and WMR Jack. The complete history of Weekend Music Radio and details of some of those epic trips to Ireland can be found on WMR's website Weekend Music Radio Scotland - a fascinating journey through time of a station that first hit the airwaves 41 years ago. Although Jack has been heard at the latter end of last year doing programming for a legal shortwave relay station, there is nothing to indicate that he is about to break his WMR silence any time soon. 

A catchy theme tune is of little worth if the forthcoming programme or that previous to it were not of significant entertainment value. Those early days of my immersion into shortwave free radio included some great broadcasts, often with studio guests and including phone calls from some of those listening in. This all sounds now to be rather twee, but in those days Jack was in effect replicating how legal stations went about their business, but he did it better. Throw in an interesting mix of music spanning by then the two decades that WMR had been on the air only lent greater kudos to the station, one of the most listenable of the time. A broadcast would often be rounded off with a QSO - in effect a conversation with fellow operators once the call had gone out to anyone who fancied a chat - some of which that would be as entertaining as the programmes themselves. Radio Gloria's Alan Hayes would often pop up for a chat with WMR, as would a somewhat mysterious gentleman, I think called Brian, under the Sierra/Sugar Foxtrot 0(Zero) 3 moniker. 

A highlight of Christmas time in the early to mid-nineties would be Weekend Music Radio's festive broadcasts. Characterized by their longevity and of no little audience participation, these epic transmissions would often go out on several frequencies with a hope of reaching different, far-flung areas of the world, which they did on numerous occasions. WMR would though at times be radiating significant power for a free radio station, and whilst technical expertise can produce a strong signal greater than the transmitter's modest parts, Weekend Music Radio would often push the envelope to get out the kind of signal which was heard beyond the usual anticipated extent of how far from its location a UK shortwave free radio station would expect to be so. 

As my interest in the shortwave scene tailed off in the latter part of the 1990's WMR flip-flopped between frequencies and schedules, often sharing channels with other stations on an agreed basis and/or broadcasting out in the field, as it were. As with all things pertaining to Weekend Music Radio, far greater historical depth than my precis of the station can be found on the station's thankfully still 'live' website. 

It is now too long ago for me to recall the exact reasoning behind my falling out of love with the hobby, but a mixture of deteriorating listening conditions, and the move from my teenage years into adulthood precipitated relationships, work(and unemployment) and foreign travel which placed greater demands on my time, with a-by-then schedule limited to listening on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings proving to be unrealistic.

Weekend Music Radio was though one of the free radio stations that my listening was reared on, and very much contributed to the level of interest that I retained for perhaps the first seven years of the 1990's. It was those stations that appeared to me at the time to be broadcasting with spontaneity and without a defined schedule that most captured my imagination. As previously discussed local circumstances and indeed those within the operator's own household would greatly determine if/when a station would pop up on the band, generating a level of anticipation of not quite knowing when that would next occur - something which undoubtedly contributed to the appeal of listening to shortwave free radio. 

As a premise free radio has always meant to me to be a medium that is unfettered by restrictions, playlists, and schedules. Now, I understand to say someone, or something is 'free' tacitly gives license to do as one pleases within the bounds of whatever the pastime or predilection may be, and each person will have their own idea as to what 'to be free' actually constitutes. There was though always a certain mystic about shortwave's free radio scene built upon unpredictability of both when broadcasts would occur, and those attendant with live output. I never felt any great interest in listening to 'loop tape' broadcasts and whilst this approach was for many operators their only viable means to an end, especially when broadcasting 'on location', my preferences is not a criticism in itself, but an acknowledgement that free radio, for both listeners and operators, must always retain an 'each to their own' quality.

As time ushers in an increasingly fading memory - perhaps I should have starting writing this blog 10 years ago - of even my favourite stations of the time, one of which was Weekend Music Radio, there is little doubt that Jack Russel was a voice and personality synonymous with the 1990's UK free radio scene on shortwave. It is easy to accredit stations whose signals were usually strong, regardless of the modest or comparatively significant wattage they were running at the time, as favourites by dint of their relative listenability, but WMR walked the walk, talked the talk, and rightly became a firm favourite due to Jack's marathon live, unstructured broadcasts that lent more to spontaneity and improvisation that which couldn't inevitably be replicated through taped transmissions. It is to those early, halcyon days that I will raise a glass of something nonalcoholic - something that probably at the time would not have been found in WMR's studio!

NEXT TIME: Continuing the theme of UK powerhouse stations on shortwave...