[cma-l] BBC Four, Friday 29th September at 9pm, 'The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs'

[Clive Glover]

I found it an interesting perspective (and reasonably accurate as far as I know) on what was happening at the time in parallel to what I knew and was involved in - campaigning for CR licences to be made available. Living just outside London I was very aware of these London based pirates as I could hear many of them particularly at weekends when they assumed that the DTI staff would not be working. It did perhaps play down some of the violence on both sides involved in the "raids" when RIS staff shut down stations - I remember seeing photos and videos of this.

As this programme concentrated on the black urban music pirates in London it didn't mention the other pirates - Radio Jackie comes to mind- in London or those in other cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds or Bristol. I thought it did cover quite well the divide between those who wanted to promote and celebrate their particular music and those who saw a significant business opportunity.

Mainly it made me think back over the long period of joining others with similar visions of CR across the country and campaigning to make it real. Now so many of us are living the dream by being involved in running our own local radio stations of all kinds working with hundreds of local people and having fun (as well as getting tired out!)

So, for me, a fascinating "history" documentary - and with some very familiar faces too!

Clive Glover

On 2 Oct 2017, at 18:52, Julian Swift-Hook | Kennet Radio wrote:

> Well, as one who grew up through that period in a white middle-class provincial town, I found it eye-opening …. What were the inaccuracies?
>  
> Julian
>  
> From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Phonic FM
> Sent: 02 October 2017 13:41
> To: The Community Media Association Discussion List <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] BBC Four, Friday 29th September at 9pm, 'The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs'
>  
> Not that fascinating or even very accurate. painted a very BBC view of what was happening, as well as being very London centric. Could have been good, but was pretty average.
>  
> On 29 September 2017 at 17:23, CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk> wrote:
> Earlier this year, former unlicensed station Radio Caroline was awarded its first AM broadcast licence in 50 years allowing the former ship-based station to broadcast to Suffolk and parts of north Essex. In 1967 the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act came into force to stop unlicensed stations such as Radio Caroline from broadcasting.
> Fast forward to the 1980s and a new generation of pirate radio stations exploded on to Britain's FM airwaves. Unlike their seafaring 60s forerunners, these pirate radio stations broadcast from estates and tower blocks in London, Birmingham and other cities to create a platform for black music in an era when it was largely ignored by the mainstream music industry.
> 
> For over a decade, these 'rebel' DJs used legal loopholes and technical know-how to forge a cultural movement bringing Britain's first multicultural generation together under the banner of black music and club culture.
> 
> A fascinating documentary charting this cultural phenomenon will air on BBC Four on Friday 29th September at 9pm (available on iPlayer later). 'The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs' celebrates a different side of Thatcher's Britain in a time of entrepreneurialism and social upheaval and tells the untold story of how that generation of pirate radio broadcasters changed the soundtrack of modern Britain forever.
> 
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