Sounds of 1980s British shortwave pirates

Tune around on a Sunday morning 40 years ago and you'll be struck by how many free radio stations
from the UK were around.

Unlike today, the 1980s saw many stations take to the airwaves on 48 and 41 metres. Some broadcast once a months, others more regularly. Many were slicky produced fast-moving shows which had an army of fans, often recorded in advance on to a cassette tape then broadcast from a remote location, to evade the GPO.

Here are some of the British stations I heard in the early 80s. Some of these audio clips have already featured in my Pirate Memories blog. The number in brackets is the time each station appears on the recording. The link at the end of the index will take you to the Mixcloud page where this recording is hosted.

Radio Apollo (0.0)
Atlanta Radio (0.48)
Radio Caroline Shortwave (3.10)
Radio Corsair (4.40)
Radio East Coast Commercial (7.45)
Empire Radio (11.42)
European Music Radio (13.17)
Radio Gemini (18.24)
Radio Impact (21.56)
Radio Krypton (29.51)
Skyport Radio (31.10)
Weekend Music Radio (32.57)
Radio Zodiac (34.53)

Total running time: 36.34 minutes

More sounds of 1980s British shortwave pirates

I've put together another collection of audio clips from some of the British shortwave pirates you could expect to hear on 48 or 41 metres during the early part of the 1980s. Enjoy the memories!

The number in brackets is the time each station appears on the recording. The link at the end of the index will take you to the Mixcloud page where this recording is hosted.

Radio Atlantis Shortwave (0.0)
Britain Radio Int (3.14)
Radio Cavendish (5.27)
Radio Falcon (8.32)
Radio Lynda (9.31)
Radio Orion (11.37)
Radio Pamela (15.14)
Spectrum World Broadcasting (16.13)
Starboard Sound (20.10)
Radio Stella (21.37)
UKR (22.19)
West European Free Radio (27.53)
Radio Woodstock (28.55)

Total run time: 33.09 minutes



This is the link to my Mixcloud page: https://www.mixcloud.com/shortwave_listener/

Sounds of 1980s London medium wave pirates

During the 1980s some pirate stations could be heard on medium wave. The most famous was Radio Jackie which was campaigning to receive a licence, although it took them until 2003 to receive that licence. Others were hobby pirates who popped up at the weekends. I've pulled together a collection of audio clips of some of them I heard from my location just outside London.

Some of these audio clips have already featured in my Pirate Memories blog, plus a few new ones I found on my tapes. The number in brackets is the time each station appears on the recording. The link at the end of the index will take you to the Mixcloud page where this recording is hosted.

Radio Jackie (0)
County Radio (2.11)
Radio Mi Amigo (2.55)
Radio Floss (5.13)
Radio Sovereign (8.27)
Southern Radio (9.46)
South East Sounds (10.07)
Three Boroughs Radio (16.20)

Total running time 17.36 mins



This is the link to my Mixcloud page: https://www.mixcloud.com/shortwave_listener/

Sounds of London's FM pirates from 1980s

Back in the 1980s I was living about 30 miles from London and would be tuning around to hear the
FM pirates from the capital. Maybe not a front row seat - more like two rows back. Some stations came in better than others. I've put together a compilation of audio clips from some of the stations I managed to hear.

If you want to discover or hear more about these stations there's quite a few websites looking back at that era. Two excellent ones are AMFM and The Pirate Archive

Some of these audio clips have already featured in my Pirate Memories blog, plus a few new ones I found on my tapes. The number in brackets is the time each station appears on the recording. The link at the end of the index will take you to the Mixcloud page where this recording is hosted.

City Sound (0.0)
Fresh FM (0.34)
Hits FM (3.49)
Horizon (6.37)
Invicta (7.46)
JFM (11.21)
KJazz (13.38)
London Basin Broadcasting Company (14.51)
London FM (17.50)
London Music Radio (18.22)
London Weekend Radio (19.13)
People's Choice (20.57)
Sina Radio (21.17)
Solar Radio (21.57)
Sunfire (25.17)
Telstar South (28.23)
Thameside Radio (29.13)
Time (32.05)
TKO (35.35)
Uptown Radio (37.45)
Radio Zodiac (40.37)

Running time 43.30 minutes




This is the link to my Mixcloud page: https://www.mixcloud.com/shortwave_listener/

Sounds of the 1980s Irish shortwave pirates

The 1980s was the heydey for pirate radio in Ireland as hundreds of stations took advantage of a loophole in the law and headed to the airwaves across the country. While most of the activity was on FM and medium wave, there was also plenty of activity on shortwave.

I've put together a collection of the Irish shortwave pirate stations I heard from my listening post in the south east of England during the 1980s.

Some of these audio clips have already featured in my Pirate Memories blog, while others are new short clips I came across going through my tapes again.

The number in brackets is the time each station appears on the recording. The link at the end of the index will take you to the Mixcloud page where this recording is hosted.

THE STATIONS

Capital Radio Int (0:0)
Radio Dublin (3:11)
Big D Radio (4:48)
East Coast Radio (5:16)
Boyneside Radio (6:52)
Radio Ireland Int (7:33)
Mi Amigo Radio Int (9:14)
Misty Mountain Radio (10:18)
North Dublin Community Radio (11:05)
Radio Drogheda (13:10)
Radio Rainbow Int (13:18)
Riverside Radio Int (18:50
Shamrock Radio (21:16)
Radio Skywave Int (22:20)
South Dublin Radio (25:17)
Skull & Bones Radio System (27:33)
South Coast Radio (30:32)
Suirside Radio (30:48)
WABC (31:11)
Radio Valleri (31:41)
Westside Radio (32:32)

Running time: 36:10



To hear many more recordings, interviews and other memorabilia from that era visit the Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive at pirate.ie

Also for an A-Z of Irish pirate radio visit the DX Archive