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.