Rodney P - The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs

In the 1980s a new generation of pirate radio stations exploded on to Britain's FM airwaves. Unlike their seafaring swinging 60s forerunners, these pirates broadcast from London's estates and tower blocks to create a platform for black music in an era when it was shut out by legal radio and ignored by the mainstream music industry.
In the ensuing game of cat and mouse which played out on the rooftops of inner-city London across a whole decade, these rebel DJs used legal loopholes and technical trickery to stay one step ahead of the DTI enforcers who were tasked with bringing them down. And as their popularity grew they spearheaded a cultural movement bringing Britain's first multicultural generation together under the banner of black music and club culture.
Presented by Rodney P, whose own career as a rapper would not have been possible without the lifeblood of pirate radio airplay, this film also presents an alternative history of Britain in the 1980s - a time of entrepreneurialism and social upheaval - with archive and music that celebrates a very different side of Thatcher's Britain.
Featuring interviews with DJs, station owners and DTI enforcers - as well as some of the engineers who were the secret weapon in the pirate arsenal - this is the untold story of how Britain's greatest generation of pirate radio broadcasters changed the soundtrack of modern Britain forever.
An Acme Production.

[@OldskoolK31]

As a white kid, living in a white village in England on the outskirts of a large multicultural city with some great black / underground music pirate radio stations, I can honestly say that Pirate radio changed my life and the entire UK.

[@richard29415]

Yeah I'm in Kent and I'm white too. I also love listening to pirate radio for underground music.

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Is it wasn’t for the English engineers building the rigs none of it would of been possible…..

[@photoholicflix]

Growing up in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, I had no idea about this pirate radio culture. I'm totally fascinated with subject. Thank you for creating and sharing. Great curation of an underground culture.

[@UKG247]

1993-1998 were the golden years of pirate radio. I remember it well. Still listen to Drum and Bass today. That era was something truly special.

[@Kalus_Saxon]

I’m up in crown court next week for transmitting of a 700ft national grid pylon on the Thames. No recent pirate has ever had the signal I had pushing with 300wts off there.

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Zak Jansen It’s 700ft tall in the flight path of city airport.. thy had to put light on it 😁 kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3-ri3R7id6qrsU

[@captnarcandagrimekid5228]

@@UKG247 I had a friend from Bristol mailing me cassette recording of pirate radio sets back in 97-2002. It's how I found out about DnB, Jungle, Bassline, garage, and eventually, Grime. Respect to PassionFm and SmoothFM!

[@Kalus_Saxon]

Kalevi Urpilainen Trust me not everyone’s got the bollocks to do what we did having to burn off metal doors the council put up to stop us... and you try dealing with 50 djs that all think their superstars because they got a few hundred views on Facebook live.... ! Setting up the studio and and getting a signal up is easy.. It’s when people start leaving the studio in a mess and not turning up or wanting pay subs next week because their in benefits... Trust me there’s sum useless wankers out there and most seem to be djs and mcs! 🤣 Im Working right across from my rig site now and seeing it every day with my antenna still up there is annoying because I can start another station easily... I just can’t be arsed to deal with all the dickheads again

[@J77housedj]

The chief from the DTI taking pride in crushing records.... made my DJ nerves twitch.

[@MrAaronbill]

Power makes man destroy beauty in validation of himself . I see that shit everywhere man . It caught me too when I saw that ,could almost hear the man's arsehole clapping.

[@ChrissyboyH44]

@@MrAaronbill The system can always be beaten, the rules are there to be broken. Will always be the way.. no surrender to the D.T.I. :-)

[@inspectornova1871]

That was cringy to say the least. He even laughed lol. Wonder if he'd still laugh it off now?

[@MrAaronbill]

@@ChrissyboyH44 totally agree man

[@bencolemanart]

That's some book burning shit right there. No respect for creativity, art, culture. Disgusting.

[@lhfworks9996]

This documentary should resonate with people NOW more than ever...one love!

[@louisokeefe8307]

R.I.P. Lloyd Plumber from Kool Fm... Grew up with Lloyd in Bedford and went to school with him till he left to live in London sad to here of his passing... He will always be a legend... From your school pal Louis from back in the day... Be at peace in gods home , you are truely missed...

[@GayFrogsTho]

There used to be an amazing pirate radio station in Portsmouth. It was hosted by a dude clearly stoned of his face and spinning reggae. Being stuck in traffic has never been more enjoyable.

[@thebudmakesuweiser2709]

Brilliant m8 ✌💚👊

[@branscoffield2434]

I am not mentioning what my ' handle 'was driving around with a huge ariel attached to the car just to pick up where the next illegal rave was when it evolved to supporting the new genres of dance music..remember that one!! lol

[@bobblewebb01]

120 in the middle lane in the rain...big up Rodney P

[@definty]

DAT Tim Westwood photo had me creasin LMAO

[@brotoseno437]

Respect for this big effort for the culture. Hope there would be a great impact for our better tomorrow, salute!

[@TitchLDN]

Once kiss went commercial i didn't listen anymore

[@sethlogan9724]

Once Flaming Lips went commercial, I listened even more.

[@mattyj.]

Total crap after that , Steve Jackson , Colin dale ,Colin favour those where the days

[@XiamaraTheToxicMu]

@@mattyj. Colin Dale from the 1960's Radio Sutch?

[@SHEARMINATOR]

Listening to kiss in the bam bam era and Chris Philips at 10 were the best legal days

[@TitchLDN]

@@SHEARMINATOR yeah bam bam and streetboy in the mornings rolling along m40 early mornings funny

[@pugzli1]

awesome documentry

[@mattydon3032]

Yes bro spending hrs In a good record shop good memory my kids don't understand this they get music download to there phones no experience of hearing that tune in a packed shop n rushing to buy it lol

[@photoholicflix]

This is awesome. Thanx for sharing.

[@user-xc8pv4ip2f]

Nowadays radio content is only ... 15 tracks. Nothing to listen and no choice to pick . Club culture is dead too.

[@jpswerve182]

I KNOW.You hear the same song every hour, everytime a new presenter comes on. Tune to another station and you'll hear the same song a couple of seconds behind

[@mikipiediaelburro7588]

That's why pirate radio exists to this day...to combat that of which you talk

[@ChrissyboyH44]

@@mikipiediaelburro7588 and long may it live on, no surrender to commercial slavery.

[@Selous_Scout]

Exactly Vip rooms wtf it’s just commercial crap

[@ChrissyboyH44]

@@mercian9425 Not the same anymore though as doing it illegally on fm with a microwave link back in the day. Seeing how far you could get out. That was the whole fun in it.

[@CrueLoaf]

Good documentary. Captures the excitement, passion and wonder of something new (at the time). I had a lot of friends in Croydon back in ‘85 who were all listening the jazz funk soul pirate stations. It was an exciting scene.

[@sisyphusstate]

Loved this Rodney! Thanks

[@janrobinson4394]

Yeah Radio Invicta 92.4 fm happy days answering the phones and keeping watch for the GPO

[@Pappiah]

This is an amazing doc

[@mattacornley]

Such a great doc 🙂🏴‍☠

[@brianearl7358]

wow this is awesome documentary soul funk jazz pirates // of the early 80s / i listen to them all solar/ jfm/ horizon / k jazz / it gave me a life in music and buying thoses rare funky imports / it was and still is my music / i love / the night clubs the weekenders / made many new friends / all b cos of pirate radio / well done to all thoses on air taking the very high risks / gave me a life no amount of money can buy/ yes in still tuning in and buying

[@AwesomeMetalBands]

Absolutely brilliant documentary very interesting.

[@LondonSoundSystem]

Pirate radio, through the music and culture of enthusiasm taught and gave me an awful lot, like many kids, we bought the records from market stall record shops, used whatever equipment we could find and learned the skills of selecting, cutting, scratching and mixing...Then built and bought soundsystems and ran parties....in the end though, it was all supported and made possible because the musicians that made all those genres of music that were played were highly competent, inspired and experimental....without their superlative musical systems, the feeling in the reaction to the tunes would never have carried the movement forward.

[@SHEARMINATOR]

So many wicked pirates in the past few decent lads I know went from pirate now on DAB so proud of them 😎 release radio kicking out Hampshire, Surrey u know the score

[@hashnoodle-mu1zo]

Big respect to da riddim kiila you a legend to me bless up peace and respect ✌️

[@remaininginlight]

Great upload Rodney!

[@UpandDownRacing]

great docu and some great tunes.

[@jasonhardy4207]

I remember Demon Boyz, Vibes played to the record wore out on the Bristol pirates back in 88. Great times!

[@stuartrobb673]

Eric gotts! We were running down the stairs whilst he was coming up in the lift. I bought a over 100 of 587BLY transistors which were the core of ‘80’s transmitters, did about 100w safely. That would cover all of london

[@jarrellmason9080]

I find it interesting as an American how blind British culture was in catering to the urban population as to where Kiss didn't go commercial til 90. Where as over here in the States it is urban radio galore. This reminds me of how rap was treated on the airwaves before commercial radio caught on to the money making potential.

[@wisteela]

Superb video. Many thanks for uploading.

[@nojabhere]

Traffic Jam and smart boys 101.2 ahhh yeah *long live pirate radio*

[@audiomashup]

Good watch this documentary

[@jayheywood9635]

nice

[@nikaldo7819]

pirates makes the radio

[@kennyclark5882]

Riddim killa is quite the documentary maker

[@wdsracer]

What is the pirate radio scene like today in 2024 in London?

[@BoSSLeVeLs]

Wow I forgot Trevor nelson had hair 🤣🤣🤣

[@stuartrobb673]

The funny thing is, lots of people claim to have been involved, but it was actually a very small community, mainly because the number of people in London who could build rigs you could count on the figures of one hand.

[@Sonnyblack100]

Roger rog 👍🏼

[@philcrosby8931]

Yeah. I got busted by Gotts & Smith in the 70's. Thugs. both of them. Great clip and shows just how important pirate radio was, but sadly incomplete as Radio Jackie wasn't mentioned. They went through the whole drama of pirate (AM/FM), getting raided constantly, then the bizarre way they got a license. Maybe material for a Part II?

[@oldschoolhiphop1131]

Great times great video, but this mystifies me, why do people accept things like the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)? After fighting against the system they allow themserlve's to be owned by it.

[@tacticaltouchgrassrootssoc6980]

It was great to have Choice Fm and Kiss legal. But Gordon mac saw the vision in technology and set up MI soul on line and DAB. I used to be Skyline playing reggae.

[@boogiel01]

when i got busted Eric Gotts confiscated my records but i did get them back after a court case lucky me :)

[@effteisme]

wow

[@mrndlprsnr]

salute, i didnt see a mention of time fm chris nat et al

[@fnk101]

Thats was good.. deep.. but good.. Big up

[@maxinelawrence2332]

Thew

[@Nobody-hc2bo]

Nice Space Invader piece at 29:00

[@bencolemanart]

How do we get in touch w Pyers Easton and liberate those little boxes of history from his basement? Serious inquiry!

[@jtb9751]

Great

[@slickmix3255]

Bring back the pirates mainstream radio is dead

[@TitchLDN]

love building the links RF ones that is

[@TitchLDN]

Me da the Engineer back in days

[@Baber1]

56:16 first bit a jungle.... loooong

[@ernstqueller]

Danny Jon Jules (Cat from red dwarf) @ 9:25, white tee ???

[@finebalance]

If only the Internet had come along a few years earlier. . . Kiss FM got absolutely raped. They just took the name and re-branded a load of small commercial stations with it.

[@spngled8654]

Brilliant Working class legends

[@grandadgamer8390]

No Westwood, terrible for such a key person for bringing hip hop and electro to London. Loved his LWR show

[@richardbare9911]

Funny how theres a whole lot of white sounding black folk (and white sounding white folk) pontificating over this subject... to clarify im a white fella who was massively influenced by these pirate stations

[@Ma21L]

You can actually still get LWR radio!

[@john111257]

Proper radio

[@jpswerve182]

7:10 that point he made about the white djs "they existed in a world of black music, without black people." Still goes on today. Nothing has really changed.

[@GayFrogsTho]

I hear what you're saying, but Id rather see this as an opportunity to bring people together. Youre totally right.

[@SnabbKassa]

It was Labour, not the Tories who held back independent radio with regulations for decades and insisted only the BBC should be allowed.

[@kubak5306]

great documentary

[@aaliyahh4630]

Could someone please name some of the tracks in this documentary please

[@RodneyP_UK]

Shazam 😉

[@sharnelesinge8720]

can anybody tell me the name of the song playing in the background is at 25:00 minutes is please?

[@jazzjon69]

Creative source - you can't hide love

[@sharnelesinge8720]

jazzjon69 thank you!

[@oliviatagoeduring]

what is the name of the song playing at 19:02 ?

[@mct1970]

olivia tagoe-during Nitro Deluxe - “Let’s Get Brutal”

[@oliviatagoeduring]

AmarildoZitoVava thank you

[@jacko717]

Track starting at 18:48? Tip of my tongue but I'm struggling!

[@marty9451]

Nitro Deluxe - Let's Get Brutal

[@jacko717]

@@marty9451 ahhh of course! Thanks for the reply Martin!

[@J.A.C.619]

10:30 I swear to god I've hear'd it before! What song is it! 12:00 Hashim - Al Naafiysh (1983) 13:24 New Order - Blue Monday (1983) 16:27 What song is that? 17:34 SL2 - Way In My Brain (1991) (The original song played here is Wayne Smith - Under Me Sleng Teng) 22:44 Loose Ends - Hangin' On A String (1985) 34:15 Whats that song? 42:19 whats that song? 51:09 whats that song? 53:50 Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam (1988 or 89) 56:30 Whats that song?

[@bonyarimusic8227]

the song at 10:30 is Wa-Do-Dem - Eek-a-Mouse kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJmkZqavoN9smZI

[@J.A.C.619]

Bonyari Music Thank you.

[@lieutenant3207]

51:09 is Eric B and Rakim - Paid in Full, 56:30 is Jo - R-Type. You probably heard Wa-Do-Dem in the intro of Wots My Code's Dubplate.

[@J.A.C.619]

lieutenantThire Thank you, And yes I did hear Wa-Do-Dem from Wots My Code.

[@aaliyahh4630]

45:17 which isnt listed took me a while to find is loose ends - slow down

[@sethlogan9724]

Jam On It

[@Raven-cq2lq]

Song at 11:01?

[@aaliyahh4630]

What is the track starting at 45:17 please?

[@slipsby2704]

darude - sandstorm

[@aaliyahh4630]

@Judgement A Come oh thanks a million mate I would have been searching forever!!! I like these old beats like electro got any other recommendations? Most in that documentary I like but I don't have a clue on the songs in the background... I only know the obvious hip hop

[@phillblake6829]

The guy laughing about grinding records 😡

[@charliepopay4709]

Whats the tune at 15:50?

[@5hr00mtea]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJ7NqWSoZtSgnbs

[@scottb32a]

sound dimension 'real rock'

[@bencolemanart]

15:30 fucking nailed it. The neoliberal myth in full effect.

[@Seal00754]

It was a shame that the pub/club DJ's found that is was safer to go to Radio. For those that caused grief to the good times in the live scene, the only place left was to broadcast the music that the people wanted. I knew guys in the tech side and loved the buzz. But today we get limited programmes on the official (BBC) stations if we are lucky and they are placed on air at graveyard or cracking dawn times. Websites like Blip.FM is always trying to get the songs that the media companies are desperate to kill off through greed. Promotion of Music should always be free. Free Radio lives on.

[@philipmcdonagh1094]

mabe in getting old but today's music is rubbish

[@compressivehumanscompressi5897]

does anyone know the name of the engineer at 12.14 ???

[@jpswerve182]

Pyers Easton

[@jennahowe7087]

compressivehumans compressivehumans and my dad was roger Howe he passed away last month his bravery can be rewarded by what we have on air today x

[@Sonnyblack100]

Was your dad from Mordon area south London. If so he built our rigs kool fm ! Rip legend

[@demoon841]

？？？48:19 惊险六四？？

[@nojabhere]

Keep on moving soul 11 soul

[@amb600cd0]

D for v

[@hubzcaps]

F yhea. I heard good life in ther hahaha

[@stuartrobb673]

I hosted radio invicta in my studio in Cheam & ClapN with a link transmitter to Southwark et al, and set their studios up, got the TX’s built. Bob tampaski, Gilles lived 20 doors away from me, Bob Duffy made the transmitters, as did roger the dodger from tolworth, we supplied rigs and studios to Chris of Horizon who found the Crystal Palace loophole. @JamesJohonsonFlint.

[@djmane9641]

wicked pure righteousness to all the true and living and big up rodney p and all the pirate stations, i still got some of them lwr tapes .