New website for 80s London FM pirate Phoenix Radio

Phoenix Radio, a FM pirate station which ran from 1979-1984 in London has launched a website. The station played indie/alternative music and built up quite a following in London. The website includes a history of the station, some audio recordings, a clip from a 1984 Channel 4 feature. 

EDIT: Updated 4/8/25, the website seems to be offline but I have included the link to their Facebook page should they sort it out or launch a new website.

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixradio90.2londonpirateradio/#

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 BBC Radio 1 or Capital, setting the scene for the London FM pirate scene seen today.

 

FRESH FM: https://app.box.com/s/5gwkygkucn9y2xdo294h (4.22 mins)

 

TIME RADIO: https://app.box.com/s/ps6oclhjip5tdfilzzmu  (3.28 mins)


TKO: https://app.box.com/s/p3cwukppsxamlki2494r  (2.54 mins)

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.

   (2.44 mins)

Solar Radio, London

Solar Radio was another of the dance-orientated stations that sprung up on the FM band in the 1980s, having been formed after some of the DJs left Horizon to set up their own station. Here is a clip from 1985.




(2.14 mins)

London Basin Broadcasting Company

Here is a clip from a London FM station which called itself the London Basin Broadcasting Company (LBBC) from early 1984, featuring Steve Davis, Graham Archer and Chris Miles.



(2.57 mins)

Radio Invicta & Horizon Radio

Two of the pioneering soul stations in London in the early 80s were Invicta and Horizon. Here are some clips from the two stations from 1983.



(1.29 mins)

There's a lot more audio and information about Invicta at these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Invicta_(London_pirate_station)
http://www.radioinvicta.com/audio/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio-Invicta-924/146169279003?ref=ts
http://radio.eric.tripod.com/radio_invicta.htm
http://www.thepiratearchive.net/invicta.html


Here is a clip from Horizon. The station formed in 1982 but in 1984 a revolt led to 11 DJs setting up a new station, Solar Radio.



(1.05 mins)

I did find clips of Horizon and many other London pirates at this site: http://www.amfm.org.uk/
There's a lot more about Horizon and more audio at the Pirate Archive: http://www.thepiratearchive.net/horizon.html

In 2017 a new Horizon Radio website was launched: http://horizonradiolondon.com

London Weekend Radio

One of the most popular FM stations in London in the 1980s was London Weekend Radio. The station also helped launch the careers of Radio 1 DJs Tim Westwood and Pete Tong.

There is more about LWR at: http://wikibin.org/articles/london-weekend-radio.html
There also a longer, better quality recording at: http://radio.eric.tripod.com/lwr.htm
Also here: http://www.thepiratearchive.net/lwr.html



(1.42 mins)

Zodiac FM

Some of you might remember the shortwave station Radio Zodiac. After it closed it reappeared on the FM band in London. Here is a recording from the early 80s of the station signing off during a Christmas broadcast.



(3.48 mins)


The shortwave version was featured last year on Pirate Memories. http://piratememories.blogspot.com/2010/05/radio-zodiac.html

Thameside Radio

One of the most popular stations on FM in London in the early 80s was Thameside Radio which had a loyal following of listeners. Even today, there are several websites devoted to the station plus it has its own Wikipedia entry! Here is a little extract from the station but plenty more can be found elsewhere.

(2.49 mins)

Other links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thameside_Radio

http://www.thamesideradio.net/

http://fmthen.com/
http://thamesideradio.wall.fm/index

Uptown Radio & London FM

Here are a couple more FM stations from the London area from the early 80s. Uptown Radio used to broadcast every Sunday evening. I used to enjoy their entertaining shows and their signal used to come in well at my QTH just outside London. There is more about Uptown on the Surrey Sounds website. The other clip is from a station called London FM.



Uptown 1 (1:08 mins)




Uptown 2 (0:32 mins)


London FM (0:31 mins)


Much more information about Uptown Radio and London FM and several longer recordings on the Radio Eric site http://radio.eric.tripod.com/uptown_radio.htm and http://radio.eric.tripod.com/london_fm.htm

London Music Radio

Here is another station from the London FM scene in the 1980s.



(0.49 mins)

Much more information and recordings on the Radio Eric site: http://radio.eric.tripod.com/london_music_radio.htm

Also at the Pirate Archive: http://www.thepiratearchive.net/lmr.html

West London Radio

Here is a station from the 80s from the FM band. There were more weekend pirates around on FM in those days playing a wider variety of music than you get on FM in London now. Here is a short clip of West London Radio (sorry about the audio).



(2.27 mins)