Hardcore Music Alley - Pirate Radio (Pirates In The Past)

Early-'60s
The first ever unlicenced station, Radio Caroline begins broadcasting pop and soul from the North Sea, Radio London follows suit from a base in the Thames estuary. The term 'pirate radio' is born.

Mid-'70s
The first urban pirates begin to broadcast out of London, playing soul and reggae.

'80-'85
The pirate phenomenon grows as stations like JFM, In-Victa, Solar and Radio Grooves spring up. The dominant sounds are still soul and reggae.

'85-'88
Stations like LWR and Kiss become familiar names to music lovers in the capital, and launch the careers of many famous radio DJs. Pirates feed the public's hunger for the soul, funk, rare groove, hip hop and reggae sounds. As more stations spring up, competition gets fierce, and people go to great lengths to protect their transmitters. "Paul 'Trouble' Anderson slept on our roof-top with a baseball bat a few times," recalls Kiss FM's Dave VJ.

'88-'89
Kiss closes to go legal, but a new generation of stations is born with the race of acid house. Centreforce and Sunrise become the ravers' favourite stations, playing house anthems as the soundtrack to the summer of '89.

'89-'91
Centreforce and Sunrise are forced off air, but Fantasy, Dance FM, Climax and Green Apple quickly take their place. Their tough variety of house begins to mutate into what will become the hardcore sound. "Pirates are what made this music happen: hardcore, jungle and garage," claims Fantasy veteran DJ Hype.

'91-'95
The DTI shut down Fantasy and Dance FM for good, with stations like Kool FM and Rush taking over. The Jungle sound develops out of hardcore to conquer the airwaves. "Jungle and drum'n'bass would never have come through like it did without the underground stations," reckons Kool FM's Eastman. "Kiss are always three years behind and Radio 1 are five years behind."

'95-'98
The garage sound takes hold of pirate radio. Again, pirates represent the new music almost single-handedly. "Pirates were educating the listeners about this music when no-one else was interested," says Dreem Teem's Timmi Magic.