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Radio

When I worked night shifts I would often listen to Radio 4 which would transfer to the BBC World Service at around 1am, not long after the shipping forecast I think. The announcement of “This is London!” followed by the Lillibullero theme made this brief patch of the night all rather sweet, conjuring up thoughts of our little storm tossed island in the Atlantic. When the World Service handed back to Radio 4 in the morning, the United Kingdom theme was played. Sadly, in their “wisdom“ the BBC decided to throw away decades of tradition and the practice was dropped. I mean, who wants to be reminded of the past, eh?


 
I think Caroline and the other pirates were of their time. No point in trying to replicate it as the music, the attitudes, and the young people trying to do their thing and have their voices and interests heard will never be the same. Better to start afresh. It will never translate to today. Just my opinion. Viv
 
Vivienne14 said:
I think Caroline and the other pirates were of their time. No point in trying to replicate it as the music, the attitudes, and the young people trying to do their thing and have their voices and interests heard will never be the same. Better to start afresh. It will never translate to today. Just my opinion. Viv
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I imagine if they’ve decided to call it BRMB they may attempt to make it similar in some respects, can’t see why they’d bother to resurrect the name, otherwise. Perhaps Les Ross will have the opening show?It’d be nice if it didn’t solely cater for the younger audience.
 
Vivienne14 said:
I think Caroline and the other pirates were of their time. No point in trying to replicate it as the music, the attitudes, and the young people trying to do their thing and have their voices and interests heard will never be the same. Better to start afresh. It will never translate to today. Just my opinion. Viv
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I think you absolutely correct Viv! As each generation comes along the likes and dislikes and interests never translate.
 
Variations on the "pirate radio" idea happen from time to time. There was a resurgence of small area limited hours stations in the 90s as part of rave culture and a few other things. There was a TV parody of this situation a few years back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Just_Do_Nothing

Fo rhose that are into the old radio shows you could try https://www.radioechoes.com/ There's a good list of old radio shows (although most are american) although you would need to know the name of the series. In some cases they have a couple of hundred episodes.
 
There are still Pirate radio stations here in London, some of them that have been going for a good number of years now have a Community License and are legal and have their own clear fm.
They cater for different types of dance and electronic music which, despite my age, I love.

@wam I loved the People do Nothing parody!
Those guys actually perform at Festivals etc for real sometimes.
 
At school in the 1970s I met an intelligent lad who built radios, he was involved in the Free Radio Scene in Birmingham and had many run-ins with the GPO and police. Their equipment was confiscated time after time. I became interested in DX short wave, but wasn't attracted to breaking the law by transmitting.
 
Stokkie said:
At school in the 1970s I met an intelligent lad who built radios, he was involved in the Free Radio Scene in Birmingham and had many run-ins with the GPO and police. Their equipment was confiscated time after time. I became interested in DX short wave, but wasn't attracted to breaking the law by transmitting.
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I too recall a couple of pirate radio lads in Erdington too. They were always ducking below the GPO radar in case they get their equipment confiscated. It looked like a lot of the stuff they bought was from army surplus stores that they would cobble kits together. They were always very knowledgeable and loved chatting about it.
 
once when i repaired taxy and cb radios in a shop pt one sunday morning a guy come in for a earial for this car i sold the earial for £15 and he said will you fit it i said no i am far too busiey today but he kept on about fitting it for nothing as he had just bought the earial so i got a big lump hammer an chisle went out side put the chisle on the wing and said were do you want it? he called a bad name and drove off:grinning:
 
Morturn said:
I too recall a couple of pirate radio lads in Erdington too. They were always ducking below the GPO radar in case they get their equipment confiscated. It looked like a lot of the stuff they bought was from army surplus stores that they would cobble kits together. They were always very knowledgeable and loved chatting about it.
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What is the problem with the GPO, is it a competition or taxation thing?
 
Richard Dye said:
What is the problem with the GPO, is it a competition or taxation thing?
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Good question Richard. I am sure some of the other forum members can answer this question better than me, but I think it was government legislation and who had control of the airwaves. I recall some people did have licences, but there was a lot of hoop to jump through including leaning morse code.
 
Richard, I think a special unit of the Post Office was responsible for detecting illegal communications as the GPO was officially responsible for communications. These days OFCOM is responsible, but the rules are the same. It is illegal to broadcast without a licence. Commercial licences are very expensive and not usually available to community groups. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/spectrum/rules
 
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