[cma-l] Grime Rinse FM pirate radio station goes legit

[CMA-L]

After 16 years broadcasting from east London rooftops, influential
station started by DJ Geneeus wins Ofcom licence

Alexandra Topping
Sunday 10 October 2010 19.18 BST
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/10/rinse-fm-ofcom-licence

DJ Geeneus was 16 when he broadcast his first pirate radio show from a
tower block in Tower Hamlets, east London.

With decks and mixer balancing precariously on top of a homemade
transmitter jammed between the sink and the cooker of his friend's
18th floor flat, Geeneus leant out of the window, pointed his aerial
towards Hackney – and turned the music up loud.

Sixteen years, countless rooftop broadcasts and dozens of brushes with
the law later, Rinse FM, often called the most influential pirate
station on air and credited with bringing artists such as Dizzee
Rascal and grime star Wileyto the public consciousness, is finally
going legit, to the slightly bemused delight of its 32-year-old
founder. "Getting the licence gave me the strangest feelings. Nothing
don't faze me ... but that did," he said.

Will he miss anything about being a pirate? "Getting on the roof," he
says. "Now I know I'm never going to do it again, I'm going to miss
it."

As well as running successful club nights in London, the station also
has a label that has just seen artist Katy B make it into the top five
of the UK charts. Her track On A Mission has been viewed more than
2.7m times on YouTube.

Geeneus, who goes by the name G and whose real name remains a mystery
even to many friends, set up Rinse with a group of friends including
the grime star Wiley and grime DJ Slimzee, because other pirate
stations told them they were too young to be on air. "We didn't know
what we were doing, but it was great. We didn't switch off the whole
time, someone would be DJ-ing while someone else was flaked out on the
floor. We freestyled — and we still are, really."

Geeneus reckons he has transmitted from every tower block in east
London. "I've been arrested about 15-20 times," he said. "Never been
charged though, I always managed to talk my way out of it." He fared
better than Slimzee — who was rewarded for his time spent on Tower
Hamlets rooftops with an ASBO banning him from going above the fifth
floor of any building in the area.

In the early years, the station operated on a shoestring, with Geeneus
scrounging for £1 subs from DJs, asking for transmitters for Christmas
and stealing the cables from his mum's iron and vacuum cleaner to stay
on air.

"We sold everything we had to keep it going", he said. "That
excitement of listening to radio just drew us in. You hear a good show
and you just want to get over there and get on air."

Things changed when Geeneus met Sarah Lockhart, 35, who was working
for a record label distributor handing out test pressings to pirate
DJs to create a buzz about the tracks. Five years ago she quit her
job, the two joined forces, and the battle to get a licence began. "We
were both obsessive about new music and the station but because it was
illegal you couldn't talk about it and we wanted to change that," she
says.

Lockhart, like Geeneus, left school without any qualifications, but
the 100-page application document submitted to Ofcom was largely her
work. "That was like my degree – and I passed," she said.

After dozens of meetings, setbacks and disappointments Rinse was
granted a community licence on 17 June. Unlike a commercial licence,
they cannot sell it on for profit and as part of the deal the station
must continually prove its worth to the community it serves. Geeneus
and Lockhart have already set up the Rinse Academy, giving hands-on
training and opportunities for budding MCs and DJs to shine.

"Pirate radio has been like a pressure valve for kids every since
Radio Caroline and we are carrying on with that," said Lockhart, who
also wants to work with pupil referral units, the last landing places
for difficult children kicked out of the standard school system.

Geneeus insists that radio kept him on the straight and narrow.

"Everyone I knew at school is in prison," he says. "I do feel a
responsibility to show young people that there is an alternative. That
there are other ways of doing what you want in life."

In their small but impressively professional new studio on a trendy
east London backstreet, its clear the station has come a long way.
Heated episodes, such as Wiley spending his show drunkenly berating a
rival only to have the DJ turn up at the studio with his crew, are a
thing of the past.

"It's very different," says breakfast DJ Scratcha. "When I started you
had to climb in through a secret opening in a shop shutter and pull
yourself up into this little room called the treehouse. Over the years
it just got better and better."

In the middle of his set, DJ Dappa turns down the pounding beat for a
moment to shout out to the Clapton crew, but these days - thanks to
the station's internet broadcasts - he could be hailing listeners in
Denmark or Detroit.

Geneeus insists that the success – and new-found acceptance into the
legal broadcasting world – is not going to change how things get done
at Rinse. Listeners shouldn't expect pop music or car insurance
adverts. "I'd rather be pirate and do what I want than legal and do
something I can't stand," he said.

What then, does the future hold? "I don't know ... a national licence
would be nice," he said with a smile. "We are just going to go on
doing what we do — but amplified."

Pirates that rode the waves

Radio Caroline The most legendary pirate station of them all, Caroline
broadcast from a former passenger ferry anchored off the coast of
Suffolk. Founded in 1964 by businessmen Ronan O'Rahilly and Oliver
Smedley, the station was home to DJs such as Chris Moore – who
presented its first show – Tony Blackburn, Johnnie Walker and Robbie
Dale.

London Weekend Radio Run by Jonny Haywood and Keith Green, , London
Weekend Radio began broadcasting from Lawrie Park Road in Sydenham
over bank holiday weekends in 1981. Radio Luxembourg's Peter Anthony
worked under the guise of Oscar J and Pete Tong and Tim Westwood also
got their first breaks at the station.

Dread Broadcasting Corporation Sometimes credited as Britain's first
black music radio station, DBC was set up in west London in 1981.
Calling itself "rebel radio" it played reggae, soul and R&B and
provided a platform for presenters and singers such as Ranking Miss P
and Neneh Cherry.

Kiss FM Founded in London in 1985 by Gordon Mac, the station played
edgy new music and provided a platform for new talent such as Judge
Jules and Trevor Nelson. It was granted a licence in 1990 and was
eventually sold to the media giant Emap, moving to a more mainstream
output.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/10/rinse-fm-ofcom-licence