Bank Holiday free radio; enduring musical influences

The first UK bank holiday of 2024, a rather early Easter, is upon us, which inevitably, to me at least, brings memories flooding back of free radio of yesteryear, of times now very distant past. 

Indeed, a programme called How We Used to Live, a staple of Friday mornings at primary school, watched when my alma mater's only  'big telly' was wheeled into the classroom, rather tenuously springs to mind, quite simply because 'how we used to live' when 1990s free radio was in full bloom is extremely different to the age in which we now reside, despite thirty years representing a mere grain of sand in the grand scheme of things.

I've touched upon it before in this blog, but bank holidays could often be a let down for the casual or dedicated free radio listener. Whether it was poor listening (and transmitting) conditions, or that free radio operators had shock horror other things to do with their time, the daytime offering on 48 and 41 metres would frequently be ordinary at best, bordering on the non-existent. 

The daytime hours, primarily the morning, would be when I would without fail somehow miss out on the broadcasts of Total Control Radio, later renamed The Nitrozone, despite continually scanning the bands whilst their broadcasts took place. I only subsequently found out about their activity after the event, usually through reading logs in the BDXC (British DX Club) magazine or Pirate Chat news sheet. The station remained probably the only 1990s UK-based operator that I failed to hear. Any recording of TCR would be appreciated!

The evenings would be a different kettle of fish. Post-pub broadcasts by the likes of Live Wire Radio and Weekend Music Radio were common, with live broadcasts which included interesting, if albeit sometimes inebriated chat, listeners calling in, along with varied music content that kept this correspondent awake until sometimes 4am. Throw in Subterranean Sounds, WMS, and Radio Armadillo into the mix, and it made for a great scene of different but highly listenable characters, although signal and propagation would vary from the 'big beasts' such as Live Wire and WMR, to those who could not push as many watts through their rigs. 

Fast forward to today, and whilst yesterday represented my first 'listen' of the year, the Good Friday bank holiday did if anything revert to 'back in the day' type. The Xenon Transmitting Company, previously known as Radio Mutiny during my teenage years, continues to entertain and provide a level of nostalgia for the 1990s scene whilst still remaining relevant, and most welcome, in the modern age. Furthermore, the signal strength XTC was putting out yesterday, at time S9 +10-20 dB via the Weston super Mare SDR, is by far and away the best the station has ever produced in my memory. Indeed, during Matt Roberts' time as Radio Mutiny, and later when broadcasting under the XTC moniker, I would often struggle to receive a listenable signal either due to my poor receiving equipment, it being at the time a very low power operation, or both, but yesterday was akin to listening to a clean and strong signal a la Live Wire, or Radio Fax. 

As someone who generally prefers 80s electronica and synth, and very early 90s dance music, my recent musical listening has stimulated memories of just how influential UK-based free radio has been on some of my musical tastes, sometimes through tracks I was too young to appreciate/remember when first released, or where releases would bear many of the hallmarks of or had obviously been influenced by the early to mid 80s. Such examples of these would be:

• Blancmange - Living on the Ceiling
• All Seeing I - First Man in Space
• Future Sound of London - Papua New Guinea (having since become a darling of compilation albums)
• Air's Moon Safari album, including tracks Kelly Watch the Stars, All I Need, and Femme d'argent.
• Dubstar - I Will be Your Girlfriend, Stars, Not so Manic Now.
• Drum 'n' Bass/Jungle - something I first heard on Subterranean Sounds, to whom I indicated what eventually became an ephemeral liking of!

Indeed, there are many tracks that became and remain earworms due to their airing by free radio stations in the 1990s, along with broader interests of for example Metallica due to Live Wire Radio, and The Eagles because of Weekend Music Radio. 

If though I had to choose one station whose output prompted me to purchase the most tracks, it would be Subterranean Sounds. Coupled with operator Steve Midnight's interest in Ufology, something that has fascinated my for over 35 years, there was certainly a tremendous synergy between the station and this listener, which unfortunately would be often tempered by a poor signal, especially during the days of Subterranean Sounds' forerunner, Radio Confusion. 

The reinvigorated Weekend Music Radio, albeit via the facilities of A N Other presumably located over the Irish Sea, has once more become a staple of 6 MHz. The lack of a requirement to facilitate the technical, as in broadcasting side of operating a free radio station, has obviously freed up Jack to 'transmit' on a weekly basis, something he would manage for a time when using owned transmitters, but ultimately became difficult to impossible to maintain, especially when relying on a mobile site. Will any other titans from the 1990s follow suit? It seems unlikely, although it should be remembered that golden oldies Radio Pamela and Radio Pandora continue to rage against the dying of the light, as does Matt Roberts - albeit a comparative stripling! 

UK-based shortwave free radio continues to inexorably and inevitably decline, but life today is not as we used to know it, specifically how we create and consume entertainment are chalk and cheese compared to three decades ago. It is also an inconvenient truism that free 'pirate' radio was already in decline during the 1990s after its 1960-80s heyday. That does though open up the bands to more Russian-based buzzers and numbers stations, so every cloud, etc, etc!

In conclusion - was 1990's UK free radio 'all that'?

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.

Free Radio Ghosts of Christmases past

For about six or seven years of the 1990s, shortwave free 'pirate' radio was a huge part of my life. Until approximately 1997-98, I was probably one of the most prolific listeners to 48 and 76 metres, mining the aural bounty that would invariably be heard most weekends, and occasionally during the school/working/unemployed week when the likes of UK Radio, Radio Atlantis(West Midlands) and Radio Armadillo could sometimes be heard.

It is now too long ago to explain why my interest waned, although I would estimate with a high degree of certainty that other, more tangible aspects of life attractive to someone in their early twenties gained greater prominence. I do vaguely recall that listening conditions deteriorated, and that the stations I favoured were become more conspicuous by their absence, or had closed down altogether. 

As ever, life did not stand still, and that was also true for free radio on shortwave. Stations ceased to operate, others appeared that were often ersatz replacements of those lost to the scene, insomuch that my listening tastes were no longer being catered for. The world was perhaps moving into an era I wasn't too keen on following, with free radio being a microcosm of that.

If I was asked to recall my most fond memories of listening to UK stations on shortwave - this is, after all, a blog dedicated to the UK element of what could be heard on 6 MHz, and beyond - I would say that Christmas time was the most essential listening of the whole year. The recent re-emergence of Weekend Music Radio(WMR) has rekindled memories of Jack's epic programming during the festive season, often running several frequencies in parallel, with output, usually live, containing a variety of presenters and live phone calls, all before the days of email and logging websites. Any absence of WMR during the Christmas period would be extremely obvious, although a heavy session in the pub would usually account for such non-appearance. 

It was understandable when Christmas Day on shortwave during daylight hours wasn't always as busy as one would hope, as despite popular misconceptions and rumours to the contrary, free radio operators are human too, and, like the rest of us, had family festivities to attend. It would though be in the evening, increasingly so on 3 MHz (76 metres), when the real, serious listening would take place. The likes of Live Wire Radio, always with great programming and a signal plus modulation to match, Subterranean Sounds, Radio Armadillo, WMS, and often WMR on a recorded loop would make night-time listening a rewarding, if somewhat exhausting experience. An honourable mention must also go to Radio Grensjager (Borderhunter) from somewhere on the Dutch/Belgian frontier, who also delivered charismatic, entertaining programmes during this time. Even Radio Barones, the 1.6 MHz stalwart, would occasionally pop up on 76 metres. 

I eventually drifted away from free radio in 2002. It was only around 2014-15, with the aid of the now firmly established and incredibly helpful Internet that I began to think about past times, and who, if anyone, was still 'out there'. With the help of Software Defined Radio(SDR), predominantly those based in the North West of Ireland and Weston-Super-Mare, I began listening, albeit intermittently, a few years after that, which eventually spawned this blog.

My written account of listening to free radio in the 1990s was motivated by a lack of other, similar, chronicles of a scene that whilst great at the time to me, was in terminal decline after the heady days of offshore radio from the 1960s, and its land-based offshoots thereon in. I was though also compelled to put on record my appreciation of a scene that, in my humble, subjective opinion, was far better than what was being heard when I returned to the fray, up to the present day. Maybe nostalgia isn't what it used to be; hearing output from 30+ years ago through my now middle-aged, adult ears might not have the same appeal, but I won't attempt to rewrite history or diminish a hobby that gave me great pleasure at the time. Perhaps what I heard was of its time, but to this day and quite likely beyond, my best Christmases were synonymous with hearing great free radio programming.

Those remaining true to the medium include the aforementioned Weekend Music Radio(albeit via an odd relay), the Xenon Transmitting Company's Matt Roberts, and Steve Most of Radio Pamela. I am not sure if Radio Pandora's Steve St. John is still broadcasting, although Radio Blackbeard can again be heard on 1512 kHz. 

Much of free radio on shortwave now consists of a raft of Dutch stations, including many who do not bother to check who is on or near their intended frequency, stations that change their names on a whim but are logged as separate entities - there are Dutch and UK-based stations doing this - and frankly bizarre but often high-powered relays of seemingly random legit internet or DAB-based station, for reasons unknown. 

Of course, UK free radio has always been made up of an eclectic mix of individuals, which as a fringe operation, a niche within a niche within a niche, is only to be expected, but the motivation for getting on the air does seem to vary significantly operator to operator. Not many appear to be driven by interaction with listeners; I suspect for most achieving technical mastery whereby a signal and modulation worthy of the names was always the priority over 'being a DJ'. If so, fair enough, but canned jingles or no identifications whatsoever seems to render the effort made to get on the air somewhat pointless, but that opinion is very much from a listening, not a broadcasting perspective.

I won't be partaking this Christmas but for those that do, I hope your listening tastes will be sated. I will though be raising a Peroni Zero and Tesco mince pie to those 1990s entertainers who gave my own yuletide festivities that added kick, including the added thrill of anticipation when my receiver's signal meter suddenly became enlivened by a strong dead carrier. Sadly, these are more ghosts of Christmases past than those present, or yet to come.