Inside the world of pirate radio - Newsnight

Pirate radio is still going strong despite the rise of internet radio.
For some, it seems, the FM frequency retains an allure strong enough to see them break the law. Dan Freedman has been tuning in. ** To get our latest videos hit the SUBSCRIBE button bbc.in/1K4vv4e **

[@wisteela]

Long live pirate radio

[@Larri-b]

Long live the Pirates

[@TRIPPLEJAY00]

And now they have a license well done Flex the hard work paid of. I remember I first listened in my home town of Crawley in evening on 103.6 FM in 1991

[@andymate2006]

I went to England in June 2017. I found SO many pirate stations it was crazy but I loved it. I tried to start a pirate station in Australia back in 2010 but got shut down within 2 months. Australia is WAY to strict on pirates.

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Try from 6pm to 6am when they aren’t working. By the time they get in to work your off so can’t track you. Worked for me till the djs winged they wanted to listen at work that I switched on 24/7. Within a week they had a case open. They couldn’t get to my rig up a 700ft electric pylon without national grid climbing it so came for the studio

[@antonio1681]

@@Kalus_Saxon what about FCC?

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Antonio APC79 FCC..... that American?? I’m in England we have ofcom regulating us.

[@cthoadmin7458]

Here in Australia, I do miss London pirate radio, real fringe stuff. I’d like to broadcast here is Brisbane maybe set up something for ethnic communities, real hard core stuff, but I’m guessing the ACMA would shut me down, and I’d get prison time.

[@Stereophonics-11]

went to london in later 2021 and in my hotel room from my alarm clock i couldn't receive shit and couldn't spot any pirate stations, managed to find radio X playing an acoustic version of dont go away tho

[@adammercysystem6450]

driving round in the work van locked in to Flex... good times!

[@AdamCSmith]

I’m a purist, internet radio is not radio. Long live KIPM Outer Limits! #HF #shortwave

[@anthonyduncalf-uk]

Every dance music genre started life on Pirate Radio. BBC Radio 1 have dance and Hip Hop shows due to Pirate radio doing them. And the format of the shows where they give shout outs to people is from pirate radio . Respect to anyone who's ever run one you people are the innovators.

[@GG-pm5xi]

Pirates keep radio local

[@TakeMeBackPirateRadio]

They also help grow organic local movements and grassroots movements.

[@PaigeBrown93]

I Remember Pirate Radio Stations Growing Up, Almost 27 Now! Crazy, Memories!

[@piterex7]

Can anyone track me for using ham walkie talkie ? I mean not all the time just some time with out license?

[@allankempson6951]

I remember pirate radio when I was growing up, they introduced me to a lot of music genres I wouldn't have heard otherwise. Flex FM was one of my favourites.

[@aerial558]

Pirate radio without doubt changed radio, I was involved back in the 80s/90s great fun until you get court😭in my humble view the best pirates where in the 70s & 80s, excellent video thanks for sharing your thoughts 👍

[@ecaepevolhturt]

South Woodford, 2003, midnight, recording FM radio onto a cassette tape whilst chilling out.

[@TakeMeBackPirateRadio]

Do you remember Flava FM, Deja Vu FM and Rinse FM?

[@mattconner11]

Man, so its 2021 and a certain communication monopoly wont let you say things or tell the truth , whats pirate FM doing these days? Hopefully more than dance music.

[@paulmarkmoffat4638]

long live Flex FM

[@kaifooter5249]

If you do run a radio station on FM if your using frequency that's unused and are a local signal 2 to a max of 5miles Ofcom won't bother with you.

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Kai Footer Who wants a 5 mile signal though. I can get that off my house roof. You can get away with a massive signal from 6pm-6am. I was using 300watts on a 700ft national grid pylon on the Thames for the past 10yrs with cyndicut fm. Almost hitting the south coast to Cambridge, the whole of Essex London and Kent were solid apart from around Croydon where bbc were blocking us. As soon as I went 24/7 last December they hit me.

[@rissonedacrissone]

@@Kalus_Saxon thats mad i loved cydinicut it was every where even in my part of deep surrey it was coming in criss. Is there room for a return ? Big up 906 massive

[@Kalus_Saxon]

rissonedacrissone To be honest no...... After the raid I moved studio and a lot of the djs fucked me about so I turned it off

[@Trancetechniqueradio]

Superb !

[@davidenglish1321]

Used to play on flex yrs ago..AKA Big Dave

[@TakeMeBackPirateRadio]

Big up!!

[@LazlowUK]

Can't stop the pirates

[@wutheringheights01]

Big up Steve from Coventry requested this banger

[@speeder3235]

And this radio looks like a Legal radio, but its a pirate radio. Why? Less money but more risk. You need to think about risk before you start and get caught...

[@antonio1681]

The money though !!!!

[@kaifooter5249]

They say flex FM interferes with emergency things nah that's crap big lie because flex as I know is on 99.7 FM and where I live away from London we have BBC radio 1 and here that's on 99.7 so they lie and lie the BBC interfearing with stuff nah so flex isent shut up Ofcom.

[@gatesmw50]

They ALWAYS make that claim about interference. Same old government FLUFF !

[@rhyssrovers1953]

The emergency services use encrypted digital frequencies

[@djk2509]

Ofcom just don't like the fact that people want to be there own and get heart and play there own stuff they don't like the fact that they can't control what gets played and with the fact that they said pirates also interfear with other Normal station as long as you know what legal stations are on what frequency:s in your area and use transmitt on a dead air space on the FM then your fine the FM is 87.5mhz to 108.0mhz there's lots of space on it.

[@anthonyduncalf-uk]

What they mean is due to the transmitters being made by someone with electronic skills they can be poorly made and leak onto other frequencies as well as the one it's transmitting on. Whether that's true or not who knows !

[@SNCKPCK]

PIRATE RADIO !!!!!!!!!

[@dantaylor7344]

Why do pirate stations now? What's the point? Back in my day it was the only way to hear best early jungle but now..............

[@djmikespeed]

Big up boyz :)

[@Kalus_Saxon]

They didn’t last long after this. Put a bee in ofcoms bonnet for bragging on this doc. I think it was last year they bent over and took a licence so don’t get out anywhere now. I stayed pirate till the end. Pointless getting a community licence and being allowed 25wts

[@outlawandwize]

200watts

[@EpicPenguin5078]

Long live the pirate

[@mindblast3901]

Pirates stealing other pirate radio Transmitters is wrong and low

[@tar0286]

How much does this stuff actually affect emergency services because that's really the only bad aspect of it

[@whatabouttheearth]

Look up a frequency spectrum chart of the country and you'll find where the frequency allocations in that country are. Generally claims that Pirate Radio interfere with emergency services are a lie just to bully them, because everyone is against that so the state uses that bullshit to deceive the public into being against them. In the US alot of Pirate Radio still play music but are more political activist, "fighting the man" or community based and England seems to about music, Alot of Americans see "sticking it to the man" as a birthright.

[@yvonaj3493]

Thanks God for pirate stations haha

[@andymorris6636]

Free radio lives

[@billmilosz]

Here in the US The Man WILL shut you down. $$$$$ fines $$$$

[@kenny9512]

Where did he get those keys?

[@patrickrogers4697]

Love you boat god

[@roytan7962]

i do it too 😆

[@0921jsdhkjsjsnn]

Why were they using two dipole antennas?

[@MrIcide]

colinear bundle/gain effect

[@radioarchives101]

Double stack configuration, technical twice the gain and effective radiated power. However that was a bad example in this video.

[@danielrae]

@@radioarchives101 That wasn't our Antenna! We took the interviewer up someone else's block. We were coming from the golden triangle at the time "crystal palace" .

[@me-cq7wv]

FM will be finished in 10 years. Enjoy it while you can. Internet radio will take over.

[@gatesmw50]

Here in the States (USA) the 2 largest owners of FM stations both filed for bankruptcy. Yet our FCC chases FM pirates. Nothing like protecting a dying entity !

[@howardvercetti8906]

Who's is listening to FM radio nowadays? LOL

[@michaelturner4457]

@@howardvercetti8906 From what I've seen, people who drive cars tend to listen to FM radio stations, including myself.

[@64bakes]

People still listen to FM. Think about how many cars are on the road that aren't new - 8-10 years old or even older in some cases. Even new vehicles still have FM radios installed. DAB is crap - drops out all the time and broadcasts are so heavily compressed with low bitrate transmissions, the sound quality is appalling compared to FM broadcasts. Internet radio in cars isn't as easy as it sounds. You'd need to stream from a smartphone which is a bit of a faff if you're in a car. A decent app dedicated to streaming radio content would be helpful though. I think the worst that will happen to FM is that coverage of major commercial stations will gradually transition over to internet / DAB only and FM will be kept occupied by local community stations, or the occasional BBC local service. So it won't be "finished" as it will still have a purpose to serve.

[@TakeMeBackPirateRadio]

@@howardvercetti8906 In the UK a lot people still tune into radio from their cars and most of the listeners are usually drivers as they still have radios built into cars and the government doesn't want to lose radio all in all because it generates a lot of money from licensing and advertising. In the UK there still a culture radio amongst from people aged 30 upwards.

[@dianescholz3335]

I'm so sick of Dennis Mitchells Saturdays

[@Joel-c9i]

KURUPT FM, THE REST ARE IRRELEVANT!

[@islandflavafm8240]

Hell yea I got Transmitters for sale

[@antonio1681]

How much?

[@ABB-bw6tc]

How much

[@seanobrien9722]

Any1 else here from united stand if u no u no . U no

[@CBRadioWayBack10-4]

it would be nice to see the rig builders while they build the transmitters, tune them, use band pass filters and check how clean they are on analysers, but they won't as that would prove they don't interfere with other services or users, or do they ?? Anyone ever checked a rig on an analyser ?? maybe a new video ?

[@RSCOZZY]

They are built USING analysers. No crappy biscuit tins nowadays. All about quality, continuity, and reliability.

[@mohammedharoon8627]

Long live pirate radio