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London pirate radio - news and discussion

Im not sure, but what with the digital crossover and DAB radios and all that, I seem to remember hearing that the government was going to sell the FM spectrum? Is that right? Not sure what that would mean for pirates - can you have a pirate digital signal? Cant see why not (probably more expensive gear). Much rather that mainstream radio all went digital, and pirates took full control of FM.

Interesting thing about the governments drive towards digital radio, and how the quality is shit and will get shitter (check the comments) here:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/uk-government-says-dab-to-be-the-primary-platform-for-radio

I was staying at someones who had a DAB radio, and i noticed it sounded a bit tinny and warped, and from what I could make out it appeared that the best quality you can get is 192kbps - like an okayish mp3. Is that right?
 
Why is it that the people who like shit music are the ones that start pirate stations?
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samk said:
Taking a wild guess, because they are funded by nightclubs?
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I dont think thats true - some people who start/finance stations may have their own agenda, and people who put on promotions may get involved in a station, and some stations have a more business approach than others, but you have to say that the people who run stations do it for the love.

Look at guys like Eastman and Flirt at Kool FM - Flirt as good as lived in that station. Eastman's an ambassador for the love of music, trying to spread the pirate gospel abroad. There's a huge amount of hard work and dedication that goes in to it, and there's certainly no big clubs pumping money through them.
 
i was listening to some topnotch 93-97 jungle/dnb on 90.6 this weekend - no mcs and no station indentification - can anyone pick it up and get an ID on the station?

For a while Unknown broadcast on this freq, but I think in the last week theyve moved to 89.4. Would appreciate some info, cos cant pick it up from home, but would tune into the net stream if i knew what station it was (google doesnt seem to help much).

Ta
 
ska invita said:
i was listening to some topnotch 93-97 jungle/dnb on 90.6 this weekend - no mcs and no station indentification - can anyone pick it up and get an ID on the station?

For a while Unknown broadcast on this freq, but I think in the last week theyve moved to 89.4. Would appreciate some info, cos cant pick it up from home, but would tune into the net stream if i knew what station it was (google doesnt seem to help much).
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Yeah, I caught that a couple of weekends ago too - great d'n'b in the mix but no ID at all, and well, it clearly wasn't Unknown! I heard it might be a return of Mission FM that used to broadcast some years ago on that frequency? :confused:
 
stephj said:
I heard it might be a return of Mission FM that used to broadcast some years ago on that frequency? :confused:
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90.6 is familiar - I think your right, Mission broadcast on it, and so did Pulse FM.

For a moment i thought it might be what Weekend Rush broadcast under, but that was 92.6 IIRC - but anyhow, i searched for weekend rush, and theyve got a website up, and according to that they are doing some test transmissions, so it could be that!
http://www.weekendrush.co.uk/
the timetable suggests just prerecorded old shows:
http://www.weekendrush.co.uk/times.htm
...more evidence! though reading the "about" section i dont know if this weekend rush is the same as the original weekend rush from 91.

---

whilst writing this post ive come across this:
http://www.ukpir8radio.co.uk/
which is a listing of up to date london pirates - 90.6 shows a DNB station with no name!
 
ska invita said:
For a moment i thought it might be what Weekend Rush broadcast under, but that was 92.6 IIRC - but anyhow, i searched for weekend rush, and theyve got a website up, and according to that they are doing some test transmissions, so it could be that!
http://www.weekendrush.co.uk/
the timetable suggests just prerecorded old shows:
http://www.weekendrush.co.uk/times.htm
...more evidence! though reading the "about" section i dont know if this weekend rush is the same as the original weekend rush from 91.
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The Weekend Rush internet station isn't the same as the original London pirate as far as I know.

Used to love Weekend Rush back in teh day, 92.6 then 92.3 :)
 
The only non-reggae ones I seem to be able to get with any significant strength in Shepherds Bush are Point Blank FM, Passion FM, and Laylow FM which are all excellent.

I'm certainly not getting most of those stations. Have you all got kick ass aerials or something? Or am I too West London?
 
skyscraper101 said:
am I too West London?
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Most of the aerials are up (in hackney, in hackney!) in East London so that must be it. Quite a few stream on the net these days though...

I havnt tried it, but this lot have a little pirate radio player that allows you to stream all the stations up at the time:
http://www.londonpirates.co.uk/Home.htm
gonna give ita go in a bit

EDIT: just installed it - it takes over your internet explorer, but i never us IE anyway, so at least now have a reason to use it. Quite a handy little thing...

A lot less intrusive one page on the net from which you can get all the streams is here:
http://scanner.irational.org/cgi-bin/pirates/listing.pl
 
I watched some guys put up an ariel on the roof of a block of flats earlier this year from my flat.

They had some nerve and were obviously not bothered by heights running around up there :eek:

Sadly it's been removed now :(
 
I used to like Don Fm, later on Dream Fm. :)
Nowadays I think Unknown is my favourite, not all the djs play my preferred style but there is some good music on there. Found my current favourite label through listening to Unknown. Keep up the good work!
 
speed-it-up said:
I used to like Don Fm, later on Dream Fm. :)
Nowadays I think Unknown is my favourite, not all the djs play my preferred style but there is some good music on there. Found my current favourite label through listening to Unknown. Keep up the good work!
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Yes, I like Unknown but I think my favourite at the moment in Housefm as quite a few of their evening DJs are playing quite tech stuff.
I love the Religion House and Techno show on a Saturday evening and the shows before and after are great too.
 
stephj said:
This could have been posted in a few places, but thought I'd keep it to the music forum.

Spending some good time flicking through the dial at the weekend, London continues to be utterly crammed with pirate stations - some great, more than some pretty dire.

Here's what I picked up in varying reception over the weekend just gone...

87.9 Shine FM (house)
88.2 Rude FM (drum'n'bass)
88.6 House FM (house)
89.4 Unknown FM (house)
89.8 Station (reggae/ragga)
90.2 Pointblank FM (house/breaks)
90.4 Woah (r'n'b/hip-hop/soul)
90.8 Lightning (reggae/ragga/r'n'b/hip-hop)
91.6 Genesis Radio (talk/reggae/ragga/r'n'b)
92.2 Metrolove Radio (r'n'b/soul/reggae/hip-hop)
92.7 Energy (r'n'b/reggae/soca)
92.8 Klimaxx Radio (r'n'b/reggae/ragga)
93.0 Rhythm Radio (garage)
93.8 Vibes FM (reggae/ragga)
94.0 Touch FM (house/garage/drum'n'bass)
94.6 Kool FM (drum'n'bass/jungle)
95.1 Origin FM (drum'n'bass/jungle)
95.5 On Top (r'n'b/hip-hop/r'n'b/grime)
96.3 Hot 96 (r'n'b/hip-hop/reggae)
97.6 Bounce FM (r'n'b/reggae/hip-hop)
97.9 Passion FM (house)
98.1 Mystic (r'n'b/reggae/soca)
98.3 RJR (reggae/soul)
99.3 Select UK (house)
99.5 Galaxy Radio (talk/reggae/ragga/soul/hip-hop/r'n'b)
100.2 Tru (garage/r'n'b/drum'n'bass)
100.4 Rinse FM (grime/dubstep)
101.2 Unique (reggae/r'n'b)
102.5 Inna City Radio (r'n'b/reggae/hip-hop/garage)
102.8 Urban Love Radio (reggae/r'n'b/hip-hop)
103.0 Icecold (garage/house/drum'n'bass)
103.8 Blues (r'n'b/reggae)
104.7 Subjam (garage)
106.8 Laylow FM (garage/drum'n'bass/grime/r'n'b)
106.9 Conshus (hip-hop/ragga/reggae)

:eek:

Despite Ofcom constantly upping the stakes - increasing fines, dishing out ASBO's to stop people climb onto towers, spending more resources to take stations off air, aswell as supposedly there being more choice than ever before with digital radio and community licenses, I don't think I've ever seen as many pirates anywhere else across cities I've ever visited (UK and abroad) than right here in London.

:D

It seems that London pirates have pretty much been instrumental in the development/popularising of most contemporary and modern music styles in this country (and sometimes beyond)??

late 70s/early 80s - DBC (reggae)
80s - Kiss/LWR/Horizon/Solar/JFM (soul/jazz-funk/hip-hop)
very late 80s/early 90s - Sunrise/Centreforce/Fantasy (house/techno)
90s - Kool/Rush/Don/Pulse/Rude (hardcore/jungle/drum'n'bass)
late 90s - Ice/Freek/Girls/London Underground (garage/uk garage)
00s - Rinse/Dejavu (grime/dubstep)

:cool:
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Excellent. Thanks for posting that. Its time for me to go and find a decent ghetto blaster.
 
Louise +1 said:
Its time for me to go and find a decent ghetto blaster.
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raheemdotherightthing.jpg
 
ska invita said:
Could you ask your mate why they broadcast in mono? Kool really doesnt sound too good these days (in terms of sound quality)
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most pirates broadcast in mono because it seems to propagate better than a Stereo signal.

Plus stereo encoders are just another bit of gear to replace each time ofcom come round so they are not really worth it (they dont cost much but I suppose most would prefer an RDS encoder instead).

I'd rather have a good quality mono signal over a bad quality stereo singal anyday......
 
rutabowa said:
the sunday afternoon show was great this weekend, the dj had a horrible comedown and kept saying his life was a mess and then he played "sitting on the dock of the bay" in the middle of all the hardcore tracks because he said it fit his mood better than the other stuff.
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:D
 
I like select, not just cos they play decent house/tech house but because the presenters keep their fucking mouths shut. My biggest issue with sooo many of the pirate stations is 'Yeah man, wikkidist choon comin up...' 2 bar of tune then 'Blah blah blah text from simeone23 and her cru blah blah blah' 2 bars of tune 'Bog shout out to fatty max and the type 2 diabetes cru, yeah man keep on eatin those pies' etc etc.

I miss Girls FM.
 
kyser_soze said:
My biggest issue with sooo many of the pirate stations is 'Yeah man, wikkidist choon comin up...' 2 bar of tune then 'Blah blah blah text from simeone23 and her cru blah blah blah' 2 bars of tune 'Bog shout out to fatty max and the type 2 diabetes cru, yeah man keep on eatin those pies' etc etc.
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Adam & Joe - Pirate Interludes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/adamandjoe/downloads.shtml

:D

kyser_soze said:
I miss Girls FM.
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n4995453479_4458.jpg


*reminds self to rip old TDK's I have
 
kyser_soze said:
2 bars of tune 'Bog shout out to fatty max and the type 2 diabetes cru, yeah man keep on eatin those pies' etc etc.
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i wouldnt say anything bad about the type 2 diabetes cru, just cos they have reduced insulin sensitivity doesnt mean they wont fuck you up.

it is true though - MCs ruin plenty good radio shows.
 
WWWeed said:
most pirates broadcast in mono because it seems to propagate better than a Stereo signal.

Plus stereo encoders are just another bit of gear to replace each time ofcom come round so they are not really worth it (they dont cost much but I suppose most would prefer an RDS encoder instead).

I'd rather have a good quality mono signal over a bad quality stereo singal anyday......
Click to expand...

Technically transmitter speak is that you need another 6dB of transmitter power to do stereo to get the same service area as a mono station.

Unfortunately I used to work for a legal station which did not have enough power (due to crap aerials) in the middle between two transmitters. Our solution (the engineers) was to put into mono and solve the problem. The station manager made us turn it back on as people had complained their little red stereo light was not lit. The audio feed was actually mono. :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
 
FANTASTIC!! I tuned in to ERUPTION a year or two ago and never caught the name, and didn't remember the freq!
Nice one!!
 
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