Pirate Radio in the West Midlands today

crusher19860138crusher19860138 Posts: 1,278
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Hello,growing up in the 1970's/80's i have fond memories of an active pirate radio scene in the west midlands,in particular around dudley,stourbridge,halesowen areas,i listened to pirate stations well into the 90's,are there any good pirates still on air today?i would love to know.:)
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  • tokingmenacetokingmenace Posts: 34
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    Yes...

    See if you can get any of these:

    87.5 Distinct FM
    89.6 Deep FM.
    90.2 Fusion FM weekends
    92 Hot 92
    94.2 Skyline FM
    95.1 Kriss FM
    97.5 Sting FM
    106.3 Frontline FM

    :D
  • Matt00011Matt00011 Posts: 1,772
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    Fusion and Deep are my current favourites. The Pirate Archive is a superb site with audio mp3 from past stations including Freedom Radio, Exile, Dimension FM and Groove FM.

    http://www.thepiratearchive.net/
  • Dan SetteDan Sette Posts: 5,816
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    You see the problem is, they are pirates, operating on illegal frequencies.

    I have no problem with them when they choose their frequencies carefully, but get a bit miffed when stations I want to hear are obliterated by some poorly set up TX unit that drifts all over the place.
  • NewsbuffNewsbuff Posts: 2,035
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    Are these good pirate stations or just pirates?
    In my experience in the West Mids many pirated just pump out drum and bass or dance music and offer very little else.
  • Gary BrentonGary Brenton Posts: 642
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    Dan Sette wrote: »
    You see the problem is, they are pirates, operating on illegal frequencies.

    I have no problem with them when they choose their frequencies carefully, but get a bit miffed when stations I want to hear are obliterated by some poorly set up TX unit that drifts all over the place.

    I agree totally... it's bloody annoying when pirates come over legals which people enjoy. 106.3 (Frontline) is coming straight over Sunshine on 106.2! :rolleyes:

    What a stupid frequency to use... :confused:
  • jack846jack846 Posts: 655
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    double post.
  • jack846jack846 Posts: 655
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    I remember a couple of pirates using stupid frequencies. Stingdem use to broadcast on 107.5 - I believe near Wolverhampton. This of course was a stupid frequency as The Wolf was only 2mhz away. I remember Telford FM was completely battered by them in Redhill.

    I also remember Midlands Rush on 92.2 in the early part of 2010. It broadacst scrolling RDS. I think it came from Telford.

    Kriss FM, I belive still broadcasting, used to broadcast scrolling RDS and had quite a big signal across the West Midlands. It seems to be low power recently.

    Most of the pirates in the West Midlands nowadays seem to play Drum and Bass or dance music.
  • Gary BrentonGary Brenton Posts: 642
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    jack846 wrote: »
    I remember a couple of pirates using stupid frequencies. Stingdem use to broadcast on 107.5 - I believe near Wolverhampton. This of course was a stupid frequency as The Wolf was only 2mhz away. I remember Telford FM was completely battered by them in Redhill.

    I also remember Midlands Rush on 92.2 in the early part of 2010. It broadacst scrolling RDS. I think it came from Telford.

    Kriss FM, I belive still broadcasting, used to broadcast scrolling RDS and had quite a big signal across the West Midlands. It seems to be low power recently.

    Most of the pirates in the West Midlands nowadays seem to play Drum and Bass or dance music.

    Yes...they do unfortunately....there are very very few pirates that play classic chart music etc...

    I remember Kriss FM using 95.3 for a few years and that frequency was too near BBC WM which got battered quite a lot. After years of raids for their interference they eventually moved to 95.1.
  • crusher19860138crusher19860138 Posts: 1,278
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    I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2,i used to go out with one of frontline's female presenters in the 90's,and she told me of the time she was on air,and the door to the room she was in got kicked in by the police!!
  • Gary BrentonGary Brenton Posts: 642
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    I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2,i used to go out with one of frontline's female presenters in the 90's,and she told me of the time she was on air,and the door to the room she was in got kicked in by the police!!

    Frontline also causes interference to 'The Severn' from Shrewsbury which broadcase on 106.5 - especially in the fringe areas.

    I have nothing personal against pirate radio as I suppose they provide something different...but it does pee me off when they have no knowledge of other stations broadcasting in and/or around their chosen frequency. Their alleged frequency may be clear in the flat they are broadcasting from using a midi system radio with a bit of wire attatched to the back....but in reality most operators have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever concerning legal radio stations of which their 'pirate' signal will overlap. It has always been the same with the Midlands stations. I remember a few years ago when 'Silk City' operated on 101.5 and was causing interference to 'Touch 101.6' and also the radio control system of Birmingham airport! :rolleyes:
  • Sesay2000Sesay2000 Posts: 2,291
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    Didn't there used to be a pirate station in the West Midlands during the late 90s/early 00s that notoriously drifted carrier? I remember listening to one on a visit that kept drifting frequency between 105 and 108!
  • smorrissmorris Posts: 2,084
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    I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2
    Sunshine 106.2 is meant to cover south and mid Herefordshire. It doesn't even officially cover North Herefordshire or any part of Worcestershire, let alone Stourbridge. Neither is The Severn meant to cover eastern Shropshire. It's possible to receive them in these places on a better-than-average radio, of course, but that doesn't mean they get protection from interference. If BRMB didn't exist I'm sure you could receive Touch FM on 96.2 in large parts of the Black Country - that doesn't mean BRMB's on a bad channel!

    I expect OFCOM would quite happily licence a station on 106.3 in the West Midlands if it weren't for the 10.7MHz relationship to Radio WM (a precaution ignored totally in many European cities - and Bradford, for some reason - with apparently no ill effects).

    That's not to say pirates don't/can't cause interference - Silk City on 101.5 absolutely decimated Touch 101.6 well inside their official coverage area. There are numerous similar problems in London.
  • smorrissmorris Posts: 2,084
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    Sesay2000 wrote: »
    Didn't there used to be a pirate station in the West Midlands during the late 90s/early 00s that notoriously drifted carrier? I remember listening to one on a visit that kept drifting frequency between 105 and 108!
    That would be Silk City. For years they were usually on 106.8 but had frequent technical disasters.

    PCRL also never used PLL locking - they were so consistently off-channel that I ended up setting my preset for them to 103.45...
  • bodderzbodderz Posts: 1,245
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    I guess if/when the radio digital switchover happens, the cost of FM licences will come down, so we'll see a fair few pirates snapping up community licences?
  • Crapital FartCrapital Fart Posts: 401
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    smorris wrote: »
    That would be Silk City. For years they were usually on 106.8 but had frequent technical disasters.

    PCRL also never used PLL locking - they were so consistently off-channel that I ended up setting my preset for them to 103.45...

    SILK CITY WERE ACTUALLY ON 107.3FM AROUND 2000-2004, WHEN THEY COULD BE PICKED UP ON FM CONTINOUSLY ON ALL GAPS BETWEEN STATIONS BETWEEN 93MHz AND 107.3MHz!!!
  • slipstream42slipstream42 Posts: 2,963
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    They should come put on some stations here in Kent we have none! there are ones that are supposed to be heard but here in Thanet we can't even pick up Rise Nation.

    When on a trip to see friends in Cannock they always had Kriss FM on as well as some ragga pirate that kept going off now and then. Both quality stations and theres actually a lot to choose from, unlike down here.
  • BMRBMR Posts: 4,351
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    bodderz wrote: »
    I guess if/when the radio digital switchover happens, the cost of FM licences will come down, so we'll see a fair few pirates snapping up community licences?

    That is what I would like to happen. With pretty much all new and existing radios having FM (even the DAB ones are mostly dual band) there are still going to be loads of FM radios around when radio switchover finally comes.
  • slipstream42slipstream42 Posts: 2,963
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    BMR wrote: »
    That is what I would like to happen. With pretty much all new and existing radios having FM (even the DAB ones are mostly dual band) there are still going to be loads of FM radios around when radio switchover finally comes.

    Are the FM band actually going to be shut off? or is this speculation. I reckon it should be for pirates. The DAB and digital TV channels have the commercial station on there and FM has pirates so that it balances things out for all people.
  • Gary BrentonGary Brenton Posts: 642
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    Are the FM band actually going to be shut off? or is this speculation. I reckon it should be for pirates. The DAB and digital TV channels have the commercial station on there and FM has pirates so that it balances things out for all people.

    It is impossible to 'shut off' the FM band as it is in constant recieving mode on every FM radio... and as for using it for pirates is a bad idea because there would be no regulation and the whole Fm band would then be a complete mess with pirates causing mass interference to each other and also emergency services due to badly aligned transmitters. :eek:
  • bodderzbodderz Posts: 1,245
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    It would without regulation, but if Ofcom allocate FM licences at a reduced cost post switchover, and give them the old frequencies of the commercials/BBC who had moved to DAB, the FM band may be a haven of choice.. of course though, you'd have to still contend with the pirates who don't want to pay PRS costs!
  • belleville1belleville1 Posts: 2,674
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    Yes...

    See if you can get any of these:

    87.5 Distinct FM
    89.6 Deep FM.
    90.2 Fusion FM weekends
    92 Hot 92
    94.2 Skyline FM
    95.1 Kriss FM
    97.5 Sting FM
    106.3 Frontline FM

    :D

    87.5 and 90.2 are steaming into Cheshire, in the middle of the Wednesday afternoon school run. Not exactly prime pirate territory! I assume they're both Midlands; 90.2 is presenterless playing garage while 87.5 has an MC playing drum'n'bass and giving out plugs for a club night in, er, Brierley Hill.

    I've never heard either before (although I'm not a big pirate listener), so I assume there's some sort of atmospherics at work.
  • dpbdpb Posts: 12,024
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    I can regularly get 87.5 on a car radio in various places in Derby although it's weak but not normal weak signal - the only way I can describe it is it's like someone's using a low powered personal transmitter in the next street.

    I've only tried getting it in Birmingham once (on a set this time) but couldn't get it but it might have been off.
  • James Martin 2James Martin 2 Posts: 4,388
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    SILK CITY WERE ACTUALLY ON 107.3FM AROUND 2000-2004, WHEN THEY COULD BE PICKED UP ON FM CONTINOUSLY ON ALL GAPS BETWEEN STATIONS BETWEEN 93MHz AND 107.3MHz!!!

    Silk City were on 107.2 I think. Rutland Radio used to come through on that frequency from Oakham on the other side of Leicestershire when they weren't broadcasting!
  • JELLIES0JELLIES0 Posts: 6,709
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    I agree totally... it's bloody annoying when pirates come over legals which people enjoy. 106.3 (Frontline) is coming straight over Sunshine on 106.2! :rolleyes:

    What a stupid frequency to use... :confused:

    Didn't Sunshine start its life as a pirate station ? ;)
  • LaurelandHardyLaurelandHardy Posts: 3,806
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    JELLIES0 wrote: »
    Didn't Sunshine start its life as a pirate station ? ;)

    Yes it did. But I don't remember them causing any interference to other legal stations though. Their signal on 1017 khz used to travel here rather well mind!
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