Any pirates received special tratement from DTI/Ofcom ?

[FMEnjoyer]

In many raids of big pirates DTI/Ofcom seems fairly reasonable. Did anyone suspect specific stations got special treatment being left alone, in frequent raids, tip offs, or got of lightly, and why, they liked the music in the annals of time ?

[shuffy]

In the North West where I'm from, I'd say definitely not. I was a lot closer to the scene in the 80's/90's and the fight between the pirates and the authorities was pretty personal, bordering on obsessive. There were more complaints from legals in those days too, and even allegedly interference from engineers working for those legals. From what I hear, the situation in London was similar.

I've spent a lot of time in London over the years and noticed stations which were always on when I went down and seemed to stay on for long periods, but wouldn't like to speculate as I wasn't there continuously after the mid 90s. I know lots of the big pirates could be back on in record time after a raid.

These days they don't have the resource to go chasing pirates and RF "issues" need prioritising. I reckon the rule of thumb is just to keep the number/frequency of people you're pissing off to a minimum, so no splattering of 80's/90's/00's chart music across the whole band with huge power please. Oh hold on, wait a minute...

[Persona Non Grata]

There's been a few rumors of stations down through the years of stations being deliberately overlooked (or even receiving police protection) from the GPO/DTI/Ofcom because of how rarely (if ever) they got raided however there are alternative explanations:

• Some stations were located in parts of town where the authorities were reluctant/hesitant to tread
  
  Some stations had unusually clean transmitters on well chosen frequencies which the authorities had no reason to act against
  
  Some stations were just.....lucky ?

[LeeCavanagh]

keep the number/frequency of people you're pissing off to a minimum, so no splattering of 80's/90's/00's chart music across the whole band with huge power please. Oh hold on, wait a minute...

lol , nothing wrong with 80s music… but if you sprog then no sympathy.

[LeeCavanagh]

Your right about engineers at stations , I’ve also been sat in a room of presenters all talking about the station I was on, and they jokingly said I bet your on it, I just laughed it off. I’ve heard of the same happening at Sunset Radio (back before it changed name in Manchester).

[shuffy]

Your right about engineers at stations , I’ve also been sat in a room of presenters all talking about the station I was on, and they jokingly said I bet your on it, I just laughed it off. I’ve heard of the same happening at Sunset Radio (back before it changed name in Manchester).

Specifically - KFM had their link jammed repeatedly for long periods in mid 1984. This contributed to the studio move later in the year, to co-locate with the TX. I'm sure the rumour at the time was that it was BBC engineers jamming, but decades later I was told by an ex KFM'er that it was actually someone on the IBA side. Could have been time dimming the memories, who knows.

Incidentally, Southside was jammed around the same time - actually it might have still been Small Town Radio at that point - but allegedly that was hams. Ditto the Superstation around 93.

[shuffy]

lol , nothing wrong with 80s music… but if you sprog then no sympathy.

You know we agree on that! It occurred to me when writing, that I could be describing GRT S*HITS or similar (barring the sprogging of course!)