London pirates

Just returned last night from Marxism 2008, the annual socialists' event in central London.

While there, I was staying on the 4th floor of student accommodation. Using my Roberts ecologic 1 radio, the following free radio stations were heard on the night of Friday 3rd July 2009:

87.5 Dockland FM (?) , no RDS
87.8 Shine FM, RDS = SHINE879
89.8 Station FM , no RDS
90.1 Point Blank, scrolling RDS = POINT
BLANK
90.6 Unknown FM, scrolling RDS = UNKNOWN
FM
91.8 Passion FM, RDS = PASSION
92.7 Freeze FM , scrolling RDS = Freeze
FM_92.7
93.8 Ragga FM , no RDS
94.0 Touch FM, RDS = TOUCH'94
94.6 Unidentified, string of repeating adverts, scrolling RDS advertised coming events
95.5 Upfront 955, no RDS
96.1 S-Dance, RDS = S-DANCE
102.8 ULR - Urban Love Radio , no RDS
105.6 Jiggy Radio , scrolling RDS = JIGGY
RADIO
108.0 Unknown FM, no RDS, announced as unknownfm.net

In addition there were more Unidentified stations on 88.2 (rave) , 88.6 (rave) , 89.35 (rave) , 90.8 (reggae) , 91.6 (rave) , 93.0 (reggae) , 95.1 (rave) , 97.5 (reggae) , 99.5 (reggae) , 99.8 (reggae) , 100.4 (dance) , 101.2 (R&B) , 102.5 (reggae / lovers rock) , 103.6 (Asian) , 103.8 (reggae) , 105.2 (dance / R&B) , 106.5 (rave) , 106.7 (rave)

And the ILRs heard included:
95.8 Capital FM , RDS = CAPITAL
96.9 Choice FM , no RDS
97.3 LBC , RDS = LBC_97.3
100.0 Kiss FM
101.4 On FM - website
102.2 Smooth Radio
104.9 XFM , RDS = X_F_M
105.4 Magic
105.8 Absolute Radio
106.2 Heart FM, RDS = HEART
107.1 Choice FM , no RDS
107.5 Time FM
107.8 Radio Jackie


The following morning, at 08:40 am, the following were also heard:

97.9 Passion FM , RDS = PASSION
99.1 Irie FM (?) , no RDS

And at 23:00, another was added:

87.8 Hightz Live , RDS = www.hightzlive.com

Farewell West Yorkshire

Well, today was my last day at Arqiva. So. it seems a good time for a final round-up of what's on air in the Leeds area:

Roundhay Radio are doing an RSL on 87.9 FM. RDS = ROUNDHAY

Fresh FM 95.6 and Peoples FM 104.5 are still on-air. Haven't heard Radio Frequency 88.1 for about a week now - raided?

Ah well, still haven't found a new job yet so it looks like I'm on the 'rock 'n' roll' for now. Nevertheless, I'm determined not to let my radio skills go to waste ... and I've plenty of time on my hands to pursue my latest 'project' ...

Sheffield 103.1 is BCR

While visiting Sheffield this evening, the station on 103.1 was positively ID'd as BCR.
Back to full programmes again :)

Catching up ...

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, I've been ultra-busy. Well I've finally found a few microseconds of free time, so I'll try to fill you in on what I've heard on the radio recently ...

In the West Yorkshire area, there are currently 3 regular pirates on-air, namely Fresh FM 95.6, Peoples FM 104.5, and Radio Frequency 88.1

In addition, right now there are 2 Asian RSL's; Leeds-based Hum FM 87.9 - RDS is their phone number - and Bradford-based Asian Air 87.7

Penistone FM, who have previously done RSL's, have won a full-time licence on 95.7 and are currently testing. RDS = PENISTONE . Signal is audible as far north as Garforth, although a slight annoyance is that their frequency is adjacent to Fresh FM 95.6 - hence Fresh's range to the south is somewhat reduced due to splatter from Pensitone FM. Also, Penistone FM's range is curtailed to the south by splatter from BBC Radio Nottingham on 95.5 (Mansfield TX).

Finally, on 103.1, non-stop music with no announcements has been heard on 103.1, both tonight and on at least 3 occasions over the last 2 weeks when I visited Sheffield. This was Burngreave Community Radio's allocated frequency, now sounds like test transmissions - are BCR getting set for a re-launch, or is this a completely new station testing?

Hopefully I'll have some answers next time I make a blog entry. Which hopefully won't be too long!

Gizza job

Just been on the Birmingham March for Jobs, called by the Unite union. I have a particular interest in this cause, as I will be laid off from my current job on 30th June :(

Of course, I took my Roberts EcoLogic 1 radio along with me, and logged a number of stations at Centenary Square:

87.7 South Birmingham Community Radio, RSL.
89.1 Aston FM, small community station. RDS = ASTON FM
91.3 Raaj FM, an Asian community radio station. RDS = RAAJ FM , info text was the phone number
92.0 Hot FM, pirate. RDS = www.hot92.net
94.2 Skyline Radio, pirate? Weak, no RDS. Is this the same Skyline Radio which used to broadcast from Wolverhampton in the early 1990's ?
95.1 Kris FM, pirate
98.7 New Style FM, local non-profit community station (similar to Sheffield Live). RDS = NEWSTYLE
101.5 Silk City FM, pirate, with scrolling RDS
107.5 Sting FM, pirate. Strong signal, mono, no RDS

Also of note: heard BBC Radio Stoke on 94.6

Real Radio all at sea

This afternoon from 1pm to 2pm, Yorkshire regional IRR station Real Radio aired a programme about the offshore pirates of the 1960's. Named "When Pirates Ruled The Airwaves" (more details on Real Radio website), this included interviews with ex-offshore pirate DJs, and also airchecks of stations like Caroline, Swingin' Radio England, and Big L Radio London.

This was part 1, so I'll definitely have to listen in again next week for part 2. I also plan to see the film "The Boat That Rocked", set on an offshore free radio ship, sometime over Easter.

London log

Was in London today, for the big "Put People First" demo against job losses.

On the coach down, an unidentified pirate was heard some way north of London (approx junction 7 of the M1) playing a loop tape of an advert for an event in Reading. By junction 6, this had been replaced on the frequency by the London pirate Platinum FM.

After the march arrived in Hyde Park and before the speeches started, I put my new radio to good use. It's a Roberts ecologic 1 DAB/FM with RDS radio. The RDS is actually more versatile than that on a car radio; as well as the station name, you can also see the Programme Type (PTY) and scrolling programme info. Not that the Programme Type is of much use in practice - many of the pirates selected "Talk" or "News" for this flag!

Anyroad, here is the list. Mostly pirates (or presumed pirates), unless otherwise stated.

87.5 Platinum FM, no RDS
87.7 NME Radio (RSL), RDS = N_M_E
89.4 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN
90.6 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN
90.8 Lightning FM, RDS = LIGHTNIN
91.6 Genesis Radio, no RDS
91.9 Pulse FM, RDS = PULSE_FM
93.8 Vibes FM, RDS = Vibes FM (Do not adjust your screen - it seems it is possible to have small letters in a station's RDS name!). Scrolling info RDS = "Vibes 93.8 FM. The People's Choice."
94.0 Touch FM, RDS = TOUCH'94
95.5 On Top FM, RDS name was scrolling
96.0 RDS = S-DANCE
96.4 Hot 96, no RDS
97.9 Passion FM, RDS = PASSION
99.3 RDS = SELECT_UK
99.5 Radio Galaxy, RDS = galaxy
106.4 Village Radio, no RDS
108.0 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN, scrolling info RDS included studio text number

Unidentified stations thought to be pirates (all no RDS except 94.5) were heard on 88.6, 89.8 (Station FM?), 92.2, 92.3, 94.5 (RDS name scrolling with an ad for an event), 97.6, 98.2, 99.1, 99.7, 100.2, 100.4, 101.2, 101.7
(Believe it or not, this is probably not an exhaustive list!)

In addition, ILR's Radio Jackie 107.8 (the ex-pirate) and 96.5 The Eagle were also heard.