Author: urbanocturnal

Rediscovering my pirate radio tapes from the 90s

Posted on by urbanocturnal

In the years between 1995 and 1999 I recorded a number of tapes of London’s pirate radio stations. Pirate radio was my gateway into the world of jungle music, as I was just shy of the minimum age limit to be (legally) admitted into raves. I remember countless nights when I would be sitting by my table-top FM radio and listening to the likes of Kool FM, Eruption, Rude FM and Don FM. Whenever I would hear something that I would really like, I’d throw in a blank audio cassette and start recording, although I had to make a careful decision each time as good quality tapes were not cheap!

Those years marked the evolution of jungle into drum & bass, and every few months a slightly different yet distinct sub-genere would emerge that is still possible to date with accuracy today. It was an exciting time to be listening to the pirates, as well as to legal stations like Kiss FM and the iconic One In The Jungle show on BBC Radio One. I was pleased with my growing tape collection and felt like I was documenting an important part of the UK’s music history. I also had quite a few pre-1995 tapes, which were copied for me by a friend to help me catch up on what I had missed out on in the early jungle days.


What happened next was heartbreaking: while I was away from home, a flooding accident damaged a lot of our possessions, and it appeared that all of my tapes had perished alongside. That’s what I carried on thinking for about 20 years and until last week, when we discovered that many of these tapes were in fact preserved and had been quietly sitting in a cardboard box in my brother’s garage ever since!

The tapes seem to have survived huge temperature and humidity variations, which simply amazes me. I’ll be gradually digitising and uploading them in the next few months. Rediscovering these tapes feels like entering a time capsule and brings up a mixture of emotions ranging from wistful nostalgia to happiness and gratitude. Below is a July 1997 recording of Life FM, a somewhat short-lived pirate station of which I couldn’t find any other recordings online.

The London FM Dial Project

Posted on by urbanocturnal

Back at the start of the first lockdown in 2020 I decided to revive an old passion of mine — listening to London’s pirate radio. Below is my original Instagram post describing what I was hoping to achieve at the time:

 


10 months later, I am happy to report that I have uploaded over 30 pirate radio recordings — all made in 2020/21 — and many more uploads are on the way. Whenever I managed to record something really good from community-licensed stations, many of which are former pirates themselves, I uploaded that too. This project now has its own website and a small but growing following. There are no restrictions in terms of musical styles. The idea is to showcase the diversity of London’s local FM radio landscape and to pay homage to a medium that was instrumental in the formation of multiple musical genres but is now endangered by the proliferation of digital streaming. I hope you take the time to check it out! Below is one of my favourite recordings so far:

Pirate Vibrations Part 1 (Mix)

Posted on by urbanocturnal

This mix was supposed to be the sequel to Junglist Credentials Part 1, but when I finished it I realised that it has a very different sound so I decided to give it a new name instead of simply calling it “Part 2”.

The idea behind it is the same, however: to recreate the atmosphere I experienced while listening to London’s pirate radio as a teenager in the mid-90s. The track listing dates back to circa 1994 and once again there are a few lesser known tunes thrown into it for good measure.