Pirate Radio - Historical Timeline by Sarah Bentley

F**k The Legal Stations (Rum & Black)
Hype: "Pirates are the domains of kids with passion. Who else is going to hang off a tower block at 3am fixing an aerial? Pirates are an escape. At 16 I was heading for jail or death. Pirate radio saved me."

This history is by no means definitive but an overview of the main events told by a handful of producers, DJs, MCs and station managers whom, after two decades of reefer blazing, have come up with this version of the history of drum & bass pirates. Depending on whom you talk to, the story of drum & bass pirates will differ according to location, crews of friends and scene associates. Everyone will have a different pirate station and selection of DJs and MCs that, according to them, were the centre of their sonic universe.

Regardless of the variety in experiences there is a common thread of spirit, dedication and ownership that unanimously runs through everyone's experience. From the man that has over 6000 tapes of Kool FM shows to the courageous roof jumpers and baseball bat armed rig protectors, the sense of ownership and pride felt by drum & bass fans about the pirates means they will stop at nothing to keep them on air. In the words of Brockie, who has DJed on Kool Fm since 1992: "Without pirates drum & bass would be dead. They kept the scene alive throughout all the changes in sound and popularity. We're the hardcore. We were playing it before Kiss and Radio 1 took notice and we'll still be playing it when they've finished."

1964
Eastman (Founder of Kool FM): "I loved radio from day one. Caroline were heroes to me."

The history of pirate radio in the UK begins with Radio Caroline. Broadcasting four and a half miles off the Essex coast, they transmitted legally as technically they were not in any country, so not liable to any laws.

1966
Tony Monsan, Solar Radio manager and original DJ on Radio London: "We'd go out all weathers. Even if the lifeboats were on standby, we'd get to the station on time for our shows."

Radio Caroline was joined by Radio London, Radio England and Radio 270. By this time Radio Caroline had six million listeners and Radio London eight million.

1967
The government introduced the 'Marines Broadcasting Offences Act' making it unlawful to operate, fund or work on an unlicensed station. The BBC launched Radio 1 recruiting pirate DJs Tony Blackburn, John Peel, Johnny Walker and Dave Lee Travis.

1970-1979
The first on shore pirates emerged in London. Radio Jackie, Radio Free London and Kaleidoscope led the way in the onshore airwave revolution.

1980-1984
General Levy, deejay and vocal on jungle tune 'Incredible': "Black people hit the airwaves. Our music wasn't on any legal stations so we had to have pirates."

Stations playing reggae, dancehall, rare groove and soul took to the airwaves to serve Britain's, then un-catered for by radio, black community. Numerous high profile jungle and drum & bass artists, DJs and producers began their careers playing reggae or hip hop on stations like DBC (Dread Broadcasting Corporation), LWR, WIBS, Galaxy and Station in London and PCRL in West Bromich. DJ Hype played a reggae and hip hop show on WIBS.

1985
Kiss FM launched to play house, soul and hip hop across London. Run by club DJs George Eracleous and Gordon Mcnamee (who later became the legal station's MD) they went down in pirate history for pulling 1/2 million listeners. Music honchos Steve Jackson, Norman Jay, Mannasseh, Trevor Nelson, Danny Rampling and Judge Jules began their careers on Kiss.

1986-87
Fabio: "I raved with Colin Dale and he had a show on Kiss. He also had a show on a pirate, Phase 1. He asked me to stand in for him. I wasn't a DJ but I had plenty of tunes. I did the show and was hooked. I got a daytime slot and got into hardcore sounds. Phase 1 started it for me."

Bryan Gee: "A new pirate in Brixton called Quest was advertising for DJs and it was a case of if you've got records-you're on. It was a crazy location, you could have lost your life walking into it but that was part of the buzz."

South London stations Phase 1 and Quest had friendly competition. Earning their stripes on Phase 1 was Booker T, Dave Angel, Colin Dale, Commander B, Fabio and Grooverider. It was on this station DJs found a love for hardcore, gradually phasing out their rare groove, hip hop and reggae sets for rave music. Quest FM had Bryan Gee, Jumping Jack Frost and Chris Goldfinger presenting shows, Bryan Gee and Jumping Jack ignoring stick they got from the station's management for supporting what was thought of then as a white scene. Centreforce and Sunrise led the way in dance music as both stations were 100% dedicated to rave.

1988
Bryan Gee: "In '88 me and Frost took over Quest and changed its name to Passion. It ran from my flat for eight years. We did a daily breakfast show playing hardcore, acid house and rave. Majors started sending me records and that's when I realised the power pirates had. When 'Mr Kirk's Nightmare' come out we blew that tune up. We only had one copy but all the DJs dropped it."

The government announced an amnesty to all pirates that wished to apply for a license. Kiss closed to apply for legal status. Many pirates followed suit, hoping to be granted a license or at least be served by Kiss.
The invention of the microlink, a device that relays a stations signal to a distant transmitter made it harder for the DTI to locate and raid studios. This led to an explosion of new pirate activity up and down the country.

1989
Hype: "I started playing hardcore and acid house on Fantasy FM. It's where I got the name Hype. D&B didn't exist then, it was hardcore so I'd cut up the breaks and scratch. I'd go on air at 10pm and stay on till 6am. It was new and exciting."

Centreforce and Sunrise were forced off air by the DTI but were quickly replaced by a new generation of stations, Dance, Friends, Energy, Fantasy and Chaos in Sussex. North London's Fantasy FM played non-stop house and rave. Hype, Rap, Mr C, Ellis Dee and Rob Elliott did shows.

Marc Mac, 4Hero: "I had my own station, Strong Island Radio in Broxwell. We played hip hop, rare groove then acid house. To trace history of drum & bass you have to go back to rave days, that's when scenes biggest players were cutting their teeth on pirates spinning rave music."

Marc Mac set up Strong Island Radio but shut it down when Kiss applied for their license thinking they would be serviced by Kiss.

1990
Hype: "Mystery Man [manager of Fantasy] was inspirational. He'd take us to raves. Leave us in the car then come back ten minutes later and take us straight to the decks to play. He was a one-man army."

Fantasy FM shut down to start broadcasting on cable, which unfortunately never happened. Despite being off air Mystery Man continued to host legendary Fantasy raves at Astoria, London with DJs Rap, Hype, Krome, Spice, Rap, Colin Faver, Fabio, Grooverider, DJ Ron, Kenny Ken and Randall all part of the Fantasy posse.

Kiss FM were granted a license and resumed broadcasting. Many of the DJs that had made the station famous moved on or were fired and the station took an increasingly commercial angle.

1991
Shabba D: "It all happened from the Nightingale Estate, Clapton, Hackney: Weekend Rush, Kool, Defection. All the mans was from there."

In September 1991 Weekend Rush launched from the Nightingale Estate and so began a new era in dance music known as jungle. Hardcore station Pulse followed suit with a big weekend show coming from Hype. Three weeks later Kool FM was set up by Eastman (then owner of a security firm and reggae sound) and Smurf and launched on 94.5FM. Both stations attracted big name DJs and MCs. Rush had Red Ant, Brain Killer, Mix Master Mike, Rusher, Funky Flirt (who later switched to Kool), Ragga B, Shabba (who later switched to Defection then Kool) and Tony T whilst Kool had the likes of Brockie, DJ Ron, Younghead, Ragga Twins, Det, 5ive-O and Navigator.

Weekend Rush ruled the airwaves but were notorious for taking their raving more seriously than the station. Eastman was more sensible, stockpiling equipment ready for DTI hits.

Eastman: "We worked close with Rush. We were top enemies but we were friends. We shared a flat. We was in the bedroom, the living room was middle ground, then you had kitchen where they were."

Rave stations Chillin, Deltaforce and Audio Maze continued to play a mix of hardcore, house and jungle in London. Ratty played on Signal FM whilst Mickey Finn rinsed out Green Apple with Funky T and Dominate, Gemini and Nicky Blackmarket, Carl Cox and Kenny Ken.

1992
Daddy Freddy: "Jamaican vocals took over from the likes of Rat Pack and Chalky White. We'd send tapes of pirate shows and raves back to Kingston. The black stations hadn't supported rave but did jungle cos of the reggae and dancehall samples."

Weekend Rush continued to dominate the jungle scene with Kool clicking closely at their heels. Both stations held successful first birthday bashes in small warehouses in East London. Jungle mania was spreading across the country and pirate stations sprung up in Reading (Direction), Leicester (Fresh) and Nottingham (Real). Impact, Innocence, Syndicate, and Pulse flew the flag for the non-Nightingale estate crew but had minor reputations compared to Kool and Rush. Don FM, broadcast from Wandsworth, launched in November (after three weeks as Raw FM) and gained a high profile for playing house and hardcore. Ed Rush began his DJ career on Don. Rude Fm launches in North London.

A 16 year old Andy C starts a weekly show on his local pirate station Syndicate FM. Loving the vibes he distributed tapes of his shows at school. Over in Bristol the Full Cycle crew were mashing up the airwaves on Passion FM, Roni Size getting his name when he had to plug himself on this pirate playing alongside Krust and Die.

Krust: "Passion was the information centre for the heads back in the days of the brick phone. It was just a couple of enthusiast running it. That's how we got on Galaxy. Our shows on Passion set us up for that."

1993
Brockie: "Back in the day I was on Kool every day with MC Co-Gee. Every spare hour I was there. It was our lives. The rave promoters from Thunder & Joy, Roast and Telepathy used to come chill with us. There was real unity back then."

Eruption FM launched in February on 101.3 to play hardcore and jungle seven days a week. Don FM's audience increased when MC OC hit the airwaves alongside the Lucky Spin Crew. Function, Touchdown, Index, Destiny, Kickin, Rude, Chillin' and Syndicate represented for the hardcore and jungle scenes but it was still Weekend Rush and Kool that led the way, both holding packed raves and broadcasting seven days a week. Kool was part of the legendary Jungle Fever, their first event held on August 13th 1993 at Curtain Rd, East London attracted just under 1200 junglists.

Eastman: "After we paid everything the four of us got about £37, after having a jammed out rave. It didn't put us off though. It wasn't about the money."

Part of the original Weekend Rush team left to start new station Defection. They were immediately big, Goldie, Mix Master Mike, Kemistry and Storm and Shabba were all part of the original Defection crew.

Eastman: "Us, Rush and Defection had our aerials and rigs together. We were getting whacked by DTI so much we got an empty flat on the 20th floor, blocked it up with concrete filled with girders and iron bars and left our rigs in it. We put a metal door on, then a front door and climbed up side of building, no ropes. They used to do it all the time - our Smurfy, Colin Diser from Rush and Miley from Defection. They'd just jump over the roof and climb on balconies. Risked their life and limb just to play their music."

1994
Shabba: "Kool took over in '94. They were the dons of jungle pirates, no question."

This was the height of jungle, the year when it was the official music of the streets. Kool FM held their legendary fourth birthday party at London's Astoria and caused a roadblock from Charing Cross Road down to Trafalgar Square, 3000 people inside the venue with an estimated 3000 outside.

Navigator: "Kool FM's fourth birthday changed everything. It was so big jungle couldn't be ignored anymore. That's when Radio 1 realised they'd lost touch with youth and started planning '1 In The Jungle.'

The Full Cycle Crew left Passion to do the The Full Cycle show every Thursday evening on Galaxy FM who broadcast across the South West. They were one of the first jungle shows to incorporate non MC based talking, Roni, Krust and Die inviting guests such as Giles Peterson and various record label execs to come talk about the scene.

Krust: "Our Galaxy show reached a lot of people. I meet mans now with huge collections of tapes of our Galaxy shows. It had a big following in prison, when you're inside and you hear your name shouted on radio that's deep."

As he had signed Full Cycle artists to his V label Bryan Gee had almost exclusive access to the new Bristol sound that he dropped on his Sunday night show on Kool. His shows were legendary and paved the way for Roni's 1997 mainstream success with his Mercury award winning album 'New Forms'.

Bryan Gee: "The Bristol lot were explosive. They were young and hungry and bursting with talent. It was their time."

1995
Mark Mac, 4Hero: "The scene changed. It split into different splinter genres. Jungle was still there but you had intelligent, darkstep, techstep. drum & bass got a new audience and kids from Hackney and Brixton started listening to garage."

Jungle's glory days were over. The scene was becoming synonymous with violence and promoters ostracised the ragga element. Kool took Jungle Fever out of London to reduce potential for local bad men attending their raves. The Jamaican toasters were pushed out in favour of double time emceeing fronted by likes of Det, Skibadee and Shabba.

Radio 1 launched '1 In The Jungle' with a rotation of DJ's and MCs whilst a string of new Jungle and drum & bass pirates such as Concept, Conflict and Future emerged with Rude FM, Eruption, Kool and Rush continuing to represent. Defection stopped broadcasting.

1996-1998
Shabba: "We went back to the drawing board and sound rebased itself."

Rude FM's third partner who'd joined them in 1993 left in 1996 to start Ruud Awakening. The original management kept the name and Ruud Awakening had the frequency, 104.3FM.

The DTI were striking hard and Kool had a few difficult times during '96 where their transmissions were constantly interrupted by DTI hits. Eventually they switched to weekend only broadcasting.

Garage became the official sound of British streets with only die-hard listeners continuing to support the jungle and emerging drum & bass sounds. Numerous jungle producers and DJs such as The Dreem Team switched to playing garage. Traditional reggae, dancehall stations ceased supporting drum & bass, the reggae samples and toasters gone, the sound held little appeal.

Passion FM, the station run from Bryan Gee's house since '88 changed management in '96 to become Lightening FM, the station playing reggae, soul, hip hop and dancehall but no rave or drum & bass. Eruption continued broadcasting with shows coming from Nicky Blackmarket, DJ Zinc and MC Rage. Navigator became the unofficial voice that brought jungle to the mainstream on Radio 1's '1 In The Jungle'. Due to rave bookings the double-time MCs were often unable to do the show resulting in Navi, a ragga emcee, being called in last minute to cover up to three weekends out the month.

Navigator: "I met Tali a few years back with Krust on a flight to Slovenia and she was like, "Wow Navi, you're a legend. I use to listen to you every week on Radio 1". She's from New Zealand and that made me realise just how big the show was."

The success of Roni Size's 'New Forms' LP introduced drum & bass to student campus radio stations across the country. In 1998 Radio 1 changed the '1 In The Jungle' format, the emcee based show moving into the hands of Fabio and Grooverider who played drum & bass. Two new stations, Stompin' and Inferno started broadcasting in London but with the focus now on garage, they made little impact on streets.

1999
The first new station solely dedicated to playing drum & bass and old school twenty-four hours a day seven days a week hit the airwaves as Origin FM on December 31st 1999. Based in North London the station has gained massive respect amongst the scenes now veteran producers and DJs who see the same passion in the station's team as they had in the early days. Easy M, station manager: "I'm not myself when the radio's not on, it definitely becomes a part of you. We had so much trouble trying to switch on and I said if we hadn't done it by the new millennium we shouldn't bother. We worked flat out for three weeks running up to December 31st and at 8pm we had one last crack at it and done it."

2000-2002
Drum n Bass hits the web and Internet radio stations become the new pirates. www.Pyrotechnicradio.com blows up with hundreds of stations setting up across the globe including www.basedrive.com, www.rinse.com, www.invincibleradio.com and Marc Mac's www.Newwaveradio.com

Hype: "It's all about Internet radio now. The pirates are still there but with the Internet you can do it legally and broadcast to a global audience. When there's the technology to listen to Internet stations in your car that will really change things."

After winning two Accelerated Culture Awards in a row (2001, 2002) Kool FM switches back to broadcasting five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday. They introduce an online live streaming option. The BBC launches 1Xtra to exclusively play black music with Flight, L Double and Bailey representing for jungle and drum & bass.

2003-2004
Rude station manager: "We've been there from the beginning, through all the stages in drum & bass we continued to represent. Only us, Kool and Eruption can say that and that's something I'm proud of."

Internet radio continues to explode with drum & bass pirate activity the same as in 1999-2002. Veteran broadcasters Kool, Rude and Eruption maintain their reign as long term daddy's of drum & bass with Origin FM representing the new wave of die hard enthusiasts. Stations playing a mixture of street music including garage, hip hop and dancehall are gradually introducing old school and jungle shows back into their schedules. Internet radio continues to expand and as broadband spreads into people's homes Internet radio looks set to become the future of drum & bass broadcasting.