Cause and Effect presents:
No, we’re not talking about the Pittsburgh pirates or the swashbuckling sort, today’s Cause & Effect episode takes a look at the Pirate Radio movement.
In 1964, there was nowhere easy for British youth to listen to rock ‘n’ rollers like The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones. Commercial radio wasn’t yet an option, and the guardians of the publicly-owned British Broadcasting Corporation considered such music immoral, antisocial and unfit for public broadcast. Yet just three years later, on Sept. 30, 1967 — the BBC switched on the transmitters of Radio 1, the country’s first dedicated popular music station. What happened to change their minds? The answer to that question — and the story of how pop music came to the FM dial in the U.K. — involves illegal offshore broadcasters AKA PIRATE RADIO.
Drive around some parts of London today and you’re still liable to hear mainstream radio broadcasts drowned out by fleeting bursts of unfamiliar music. Pirate radio stations have been illegally hijacking the FM dial since the 1990s, but while the pirate scene is far smaller than it was in its heyday, the influence of pirate radio has endured and the movement is still thriving on a local scale, and a vibrant array of online-only stations are inspired by the energy and spirit of the pirates.
Billy Fury & The Tornados, “Halfway to Paradise Live”
from We Want Billy! Live
Ling Music Group - 2014
Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group, “Rock Island Line”
from Rock Island Line - Single
Fantasy Day / União Lisboa - 2013
The Hitmakers, “Stop the Music”
from Dansk Pigtråd: Vol. 2, Pt. 1 (1963-1968)
Universal Music A/S - 2007
The Smoke, “Wake Up Cherylina”
from My Friend Jack Eats Sugar Lumps an Anthology
Morgan Blue Town - 2015
Medicine Head, “(And the) Pictures In the Sky”
from New Bottles, Old Medicine
Cherry Red Records - 1970
The Spiders, “Anything You Want”
from Sixties Japanese Garage Psych Sampler - Digitally Remastered
TTW - 2013
The Undertones, “You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It!)”
from The Best of the Undertones
Union Square Music - 2010
Lila Iké, “Where I'm Coming From”
from The ExPerience
In.Digg.Nation Collective/Six Course Music/RCA Records - 2020
Carrie Thornbrugh Cause and Effect April 29th, 2023
Posted In: Fund Drive, Music, Music Shows
Tags: #wrir #localmusic, Electronic, music, Music show, obscure, variety, WRIR