The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Discuss & sharing nostalgia relating from the pirate stations of the 60s up to modern day inactive stations.
famefm
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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:44 pm

Okay thanks I thought it was going to be a long shot anyone else knowing about them I heard them comeing on for the first time on the 12th of December 1985 and it only lasted about 5 months I thought you were still in London in 1986

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Albert H » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:59 am

I was back and forth. I also went to Japan for a few months them.
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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by FMEnjoyer » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:04 pm

Nice stories I like that wire link, that must have had a few DTI scratching their heads. I recall TKO as well and another station I just remember was Twilight Radio, might have been later though that 80's and early nineties is a slightly lumped together in my head. Something nice about low audio and hiss and mono signal with crackly sounds nice to reminis about those days... sounded relaxed and whilst i would listen any tie I coudl it was often Friday evenings and Sat/Sun.

Back then listening to the pirate radio was an event.. how times had changed. That Bullock bloke has some gems he recorded from Southend.

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:37 pm

FMEnjoyer wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:04 pm Nice stories I like that wire link, that must have had a few DTI scratching their heads. I recall TKO as well and another station I just remember was Twilight Radio, might have been later though that 80's and early nineties is a slightly lumped together in my head. Something nice about low audio and hiss and mono signal with crackly sounds nice to reminis about those days... sounded relaxed and whilst i would listen any tie I coudl it was often Friday evenings and Sat/Sun.
Twilight radio was on 101.1 in 1990 I believe and thanks for likeing the 1980s stories as I already said
Far to many stories told over and over again about the 90s and not nearly enough for the 80s pioneers that made all that followed possible

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:39 pm

Sorry that last bit was from me it's merged with the other post I was quoting

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Albert H » Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:31 am

Back in those days we had a lot of fun. We used some very "experimental" gear, and achieved remarkable results with limited money and all sorts of other privations (the tops of tower blocks are seldom nice places to be!).

We developed all sorts of covert link systems, built transmitters out of junk, made aerials from coat hangers and all sorts of other bizarre efforts! Many stations were able (for a while) keep to a schedule, and the listeners knew when particular shows would be on, and the audience for what we were doing was immense.

The law changes in 1985 put some people off pirate broadcasting altogether (it became a criminal offence rather than a civil one). There was "Countdown Radio" on medium wave, on every day, counting down to the law change....

It has to be remembered that we all tried our best to avoid interference to other services (interference would get you raided quickly), and we quickly adopted phase-locked loops, paired transistor PAs (which tend to null even harmonics) and all sorts of other measures to ensure we achieved pretty high technical standards. I developed audio limiters and compressors to give a loud but correctly modulated signal, and developed stereo coders that would provide a high quality, broadcast standard stereo signal as good as (and frequently better than) many legal broadcasters.

I lived in Bromley in 1980 when Roger put Bromley Sound on from the RFL tree site near Keston Mark. On the first weekend, it appeared every 4MHz across the band! Two of us hurried up to Keston and disconnected the car battery from the rig. We left a polite note explaining the problem, and the next week it appeared on just one frequency!

On another occasion, Radio North Kent (92.8 MHz) drifted badly during its broadcast, causing interference to Radio Weird on 92.6 MHz. On the following week's broadcast, Radio Weird held the "Radio North Kent Court Case", where Justin Simmons (the operator of RNK) was accused of "interfering with a much nicer station". When asked "How do you plead?" the answer was "Sycophantically, your Honour"..... It was very funny, and was pirate radio at its creative best!

Some of the "Intrepid Birdman" Shows on Thameside Radio were truly zanily brilliant, with Dave "Birdman" giving Kenny Everett a run for his money!

Howard Peters on Raiders FM could also be very funny and never boring!

It might be sensible to start a new thread about pirate memories. We all tried our best to operate high quality, credible radio stations, avoided causing interference, minimised the cost of our broadcast equipment because we all knew that it wouldn't last for long....
"Why is my rig humming?"
"Because it doesn't know the words!"
;)

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by FMEnjoyer » Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:59 pm

What we would give for something interesting and unusual on the radio whilst it's winter and covid 19 doing its winter surge again. Instead we are online mindlessly glaring at the same sites trying to feel informed..on our bookmarks list. I guess we can make an exception for this site.

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Phoenix » Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:34 pm

Was that the one where the studio was down an alley off the high street and door on the right
Went them with AVM once

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Effemm » Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:57 pm

Great stories lads...

Tim Westwood was one of LWR’s DJ’s & quite literally became a god if you like, to teenagers back in the 80’s. The electro hip hop breakdancing scene was just taking off, but the music wasn’t on the radio & Westwood’s show bought it to the table !!
He gave London the opportunity to get involved, to send in bedroom DJ mix tapes, beat box sessions, organise “battles” in nightclubs & tell all about Graffiti sites that had recently appeared !! It was so new and fresh ....Then came radio interviews with big names & even his own page in Blues & Soul magazine advertising little LWR !!
Westwood as most will know went on to much wider things but his roots are from LWR.

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Sat Dec 11, 2021 11:03 pm

I remember him on his Tuesday show on LWR in June 1986 on the night it was announced that the home office cancelled the community licences they had promised for 1986 he was so upset and fuming with the authorities and I wish I hadn't lost my recording of it if anyone has any recordings from the end of June 1986 on LWR it's well worth finding it

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Albert H » Sun Dec 12, 2021 6:23 pm

A whole lot of stations were thoroughly shafted by that broken promise!

Of course the first London-wide licence that became actually available went to Kiss, partly because the DTI Radiocommunications agency staff knew that Gordon and his pals wouldn't have a hope in hell of running an actually financially stable station! As I recall, they ran out of money after about five months, so it was just a matter of time before it was bought out by (in this case) Crapital Group.

The same "business model" has been applied to all the second and most of the third-tier stations - wait for the initial enthusiasm for running a station to die down, and then let the big boys pounce. That's why there are now endless "Heart" and "Gold" stations across the dial in most of the UK. It was a complete stitch-up.

It's still not possible to run a small-scale commercial station in the UK because of the ridiculous OFCOM rules. I know that there are a (very) few exceptions to that, but on the whole, they're run by fanatically enthusiastic operators who are prepared to slave away for no money.

That's why there are still (a few) pirates!
"Why is my rig humming?"
"Because it doesn't know the words!"
;)

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:36 pm

No it was jazz fm first because Gordon Macs kiss had gone for it first and jazz were awarded it in the summer of 89 and they started in March 90 kiss gone one of the next 2 London wide licences along with melody ( later to become magic) on 104.9 they came on about a month before kiss and they were due to be on 100 fm but kiss persuaded melody to swap the 104.9 because kiss 💋 liked the thought of 100 in their name and it wasn't capitals group that bailed them out it was baurer you know that rival to global who own magic

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by FMEnjoyer » Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:41 pm

This is well bring back memories...good replies. Anyone remember London Posse. I think a lot of people are looking back through time with the corona shite we are having to deal with gives a much need break from it.

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Albert H » Mon Dec 13, 2021 12:11 am

Fame - you're right. Jazz was first by a few months. It was Emap that took over Kiss - and fired most of the original staff.

Ownership of commercial radio in the UK is a real mess - and largely illegal, since most stations are actually owned by overseas companies - in direct contravention of the 1990 Broadcasting Act! Tracing ownership of Bauer, Global, GCap, Emap and the rest is a largely futile exercise, since they all take steps to conceal their actual ownership by use of "nominees" inside the UK.

When Chrysalis took over a couple of London stations, it was pointed out that record companies were specifically excluded from station ownership, but OFCOM just don't care. As long as the fat brown envelopes full of used currency keep turning up, they'll look away from the dodgy practices of the media conglomerates.
"Why is my rig humming?"
"Because it doesn't know the words!"
;)

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by famefm » Mon Dec 13, 2021 12:18 am

Yes that makes sense and one of the first djs to be sacked was Nick Power who was back on pirate radio less than 9 months after kiss launched on pulse 90.6 fm and I remember listening to him on the last day on the 94 kiss closeing down predicting it would be a load of crap he was laughing about how a legal kiss would sound if they got a licence

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Re: The LWR 92.5 FM thread

Post by Ian » Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:36 pm

famefm wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:11 am Brilliant story Albert I didn't know that one and do you know anything about Fame945fm that was on at the end of 1985 which used the horizon frequency like TKO used the Solar frequency but unlike TKO comeing on without Solars approval fame was helped by horizon did you ever help or know the people involved with fame fm?
Gordon Mac mentioned Fame fm on a YouTube documentary. It’s BBC Radio 1 , last caller ring back documentary. Around 6 minutes 30 seconds in , it gets a mention

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