Without pirate radio the old-skool hardcore and rave scene would never have been as popular as it was. It is fair to say that most of the visitors to this site would have had their first experience of hardcore via a pirate radio station. Pirate radio is nothing new - pirates have been broadcasting across the UK for years. For example, during the '70s and '80s the finest chart music was transmitted from the North Sea by Radio Caroline, later to become Laser 558. In fact in the days before FM became popular pretty much all of the AM dial was pirate dominated.

The Government do all they can to get pirates shut down. There is a special government unit called the Radio Agency, part of the Department Of Trade and Industry, who have the power to seize equipment when stations are raided. They try to shut down pirates by using any means they can - even by trying to turn the public against them.

The arguments the Goverment have given against pirates have included:

Transmissions interfere with aviation aiwaves	This was the allegation that they used to pursuade the public that they were a danger to airplanes. The was of course total bollocks - but as usual some gullible people actually believed it. When this argument was first raised pirates used AM waves to transmit - the aviation industry use extemely high frequency channels - far higher than even FM. So of course, this allegation was nonesence - and you don't hear it so much now.
Transmissions can interfere with other broadcasting, ie, TV	Of course once again this is untrue. If this were the case then the public would be forever complaining - and pirates would be raided much quicker than they currently are. You are more likely to get interference from your local mini-cab company's transmitter aerial.
Transmissions intrude over other legit stations	Whilst this is feasable it is unlikely. It would be foolish for a pirate to do this as they would be stopped extremely quickly. Pirates check a frequency before they use it, and bearing in mind that their tranmission radius isn't very great, it is unlikely that a station using the same frequency a hundred miles away is going to get bled over.

Arguments the Goverment could use, but funnily enough don't, include:

The Government lose licencing money because the pirates aren't paying it	Yes, aren't they indeed.
Artists don't get royalties for their records when they are played	Yes - but most records played on pirate stations are dub-plates by unknown DJs.

Listed below are other bits that you might like to read:

	Article: Ministry Magazine - May 1998 London station Deja Vu under the spotlight
	The pirates' kit
	Pirates in the past
	Pirate stations: a user's guide - London | The rest of the UK
	From humble beginnings - just who started on the renegade soundwaves?
	http://www.fused.com/pirate - a full list of frequencies (gosh - do I look after you or what?)