The most popular posts

This trip through the 1980s free radio scene has featured a selection of nearly 130 stations. Most came from shortwave but also featured are some medium wave (from London and the Netherlands) and FM (or VHF as it was called then) from the London/North Surrey area.

I hope you have enjoying listening to them. I've had a look back to see which have been the most popular and here is the top 5: (cue the music)

1. Radio Jackie Raided . A bit of history as the then pirate broadcaster was raided before returning years later as a licensed local radio broadcaster.

2. Radio Ridiculous/Radio Tonair. A couple of Dutch stations who are both still around today.

3. Radio Invicta and Horizon Radio. Early pioneers of the soul music stations in London.

4. Skull & Bones Radio System. The 80s was a golden era for Irish radio and some of those stations feature on this blog. This is currently the most popular.

5. Radio Torenvalk, Woodpecker & Waddenzee. Three  medium wave Dutch stations from the 1980s.

Fresh FM, Time Radio, TKO

Here are three stations heard on FM across London in the late 1980s. All three were part of the new wave of soul/funk/hip hop stations targeting listeners, particularly from the black communities, fed-up with the mainstream offerings from Radio 1 or Capital, setting the scene for the London FM pirate scene seen today.

To hear clips from Fresh FM, CLICK HERE, or to listen/download from box.com, CLICK HERE

(4.22 mins)

To hear Time, CLICK HERE, or to listen/download from box.com, CLICK HERE

(3.28 mins)

To hear TKO, CLICK HERE, or to listen/download from box.com, CLICK HERE

(2.54 mins)

This is the end of my cassette recordings.

I hope you have enjoyed reliving the memories from the landbased scene between 1980 & 1987. It certainly brought back a few memories for me listening to them.

Remember you can find audio clips of stations by going to the Index of Stations and seeing when they were uploaded or by clicking on Labels if you are looking for stations from any particularly country or band. There's more than a 100 to choose from so plenty to listen to!

Hits FM, London

Hits FM was a station operating on FM in London in the mid-80s. In 1993 staff from the station merged with Laser, which had been operating on FM in the London area since 1990, to form Laser Hot Hits. In 1994 LHH began broadcasting on shortwave ... and is still going strong today. You can read more about Laser's history at www.laserhothits.co.uk

Here is a clip from Hits FM, made at Christmas 1987. Apologises for the poor sound quality.

To hear Hits FM, CLICK HERE
Or to listen/download via box.com, CLICK HERE

(2.44 mins)

North Dublin Community Radio

Here is a clip of North Dublin Community Radio, giving out address, talking about WLR and Beatle Radio from late 1987.


To hear NDCR, CLICK HERE
Or to listen/download via box.com CLICK HERE

(2.05 mins)

Radio Mr Sandman

Here is a clip of a Dutch station called Radio Mr Sandman, made in 1986. He said he was using 500W of power.

To hear Radio Mr Sandman, CLICK HERE 
To listen/download via box.com, CLICK HERE

(3.35 mins)

Radio Rainbow Germany

Here is a clip from 1986 of Radio Rainbow Germany, broadcasting via Radio Mirage.

To hear Radio Rainbow Germany, CLICK HERE
Or to listen/download via box.com CLICK HERE

(1.34 mins)

Radio Mirage

Here is a clip from Radio Mirage from 1986. The station first went on the air in the mid-80s and was around through most of the 90s.

To hear Radio Mirage CLICK HERE
To listen/download via box.com, CLICK HERE

(2.17 mins)

Radio Marabu

Radio Marabu first began broadcasting in 1984, and is still going in 2012, although these days it is via licensed relays. Here is a short clip of Marabu from 1986. You can find out more about the station on their website at: http://radio-marabu.de/

To hear Radio Marabu, CLICK HERE
Or to listen via box.com, CLICK HERE

(0.58 min)

Radio Orion, UK

When Radio Orion launched in 1986 it became the first 7-day free radio shortwave station. Among those involved was the late Paul Johnson of UK Radio. Here is a clip of him on Orion in July 1986.

To hear Radio Orion CLICK HERE

To listen/dowload via box.com, CLICK HERE

(3.35 mins)

There is much more about Orion and more audio recordings on the Pirate Archive's UK Radio page.

Radio Universum

Here is a recording of Radio Universum from Germany signing off, the recording was made in early 1986.

To hear Radio Universum, CLICK HERE
To listen/download via box.com, CLICK HERE

(1.41 mins)