Two pirate radio stations in Huddersfield, England, have been raided and shut down. Ofcom officials pulled the plug on Vibes and Frontline, which broadcast urban music. The two stations, which had to move premises frequently to avoid being caught, were tracked down by the communications industry regulator to adjacent properties in Almondbury on Wednesday. A 21-year-old woman was arrested.
Larry Stoddart, who was one of the pioneers of pirate radio in Huddersfield in the early 1990s, said about £5,000 or £6,000 of equipment, including transmitters, turntables and amplification equipment, was seized. He said: “Without pirate radio, it’s going to be a very sour Christmas. “These are the only stations providing music that a lot of people want to listen to. Thousands of people listen to pirate radio. If they are using public money to hound pirate radio, it’s a total waste.”
The stations, which operated on FM frequencies 90.6 and 94.7, mainly played reggae, R ‘n’ B and soul and had been running for about four years. They transmitted primarily at weekends and survived thanks to revenue from advertising by small businesses and promoters of club nights. The man behind Vibes, known only as ‘The General’, has been involved in pirate radio for 20 years and has become a cult figure in the scene.
He said: “I feel rotten about it to be honest. “We give the community up-to-date information about what’s going on and music that they want to listen to. We play what other radio stations aren’t playing.” But he vowed pirate radio would be back. “I’ve got plans,” he said.
Mr Stoddart, 45, said pirate radio helped to reach young people with important messages. He said: “Our main listeners are teenagers and we provide a lot of messages raising awareness of knife and gun crime, sexually transmitted infections and other issues. We are looking for some sort of legislation that would allow pirate radio to operate – maybe having one station per town or city. They say transmitting pirate radio could bring an aeroplane down, but so could a mobile phone.” He said there would be a campaign to bring pirate radio back.
An Ofcom spokesman said: “Ofcom can confirm that it has carried out a raid on two illegal pirate radio stations. Equipment was seized during the operation and is being retained as evidence. The investigation is ongoing.”
During 2008, Ofcom carried out 36 studio raids, secured 28 prosecutions and 14 formal cautions, removed 489 illegal transmitters and issued 74 written warnings to combat illegal broadcasting activities.
(Source: Huddersfield Daily Examiner)
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 14:49
“They say transmitting pirate radio could bring an aeroplane down”
When I was taken to court for running a 10 watt Medium Wave pirate radio station in the Midlands in the seventies, the prosecution said I was using a band used for shippping. Some in the courtroom, including the magistrates, either smiled or laughed.
The authorities infuriate me. Pirate radio gives such a lot of pleasure both to the broadcasters and to the listeners, and as was the case in the nineteen seventies, they provide a service which is unique. The people who go round confiscating equipment etc. are killjoys who make traffic wardens look like Father Christmas.
It’s time we had a system like they do in America where you can broadcast on low power so long as you don’t cause interference. If you do, apparently, the authorities come down on you like a ton of bricks; that makes sense.
There used to be a similar problem with CB radio until so many people used it illegally that the government had to give in. It’s a shame that things have to be that way, but I wish the masses would start pirate stations; then they’d get legalised.
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 23:55
It’s a pity that OFCOM doesn’t do the same here in London and take these pests of the air.
We have over 80 pirate stations in London, several of which are causing interference to legal stations.
Many local low power FM community stations in London are suffering severe interference problems due to pirates. Even some of the major London wide stations are having problems being heard in areas close to a pirate transmitter, this is because the pirates are using frequencies only 200kHz away from a legitimate station.
The London pirates are also degrading reception for some listeners in the home counties. The pirates are using the frequencies of stations just outside of London thus causing co-channel interference.
OFCOM really needs to address the pirate problem in London and and try to regain some kind of control over the airwaves.
on Dec 12th, 2009 at 15:16
Business as usual.
Authorities always go for the easy way out.
In this case; take down the small pirates, they are doing no harm but are easy to catch.
The London pirates, financed by drugs money, and causing real problems, seem to be left alone.
Ofcom is just another Telecom regulator not working for the interest of the public, but just for its own sake.
Giving broadcasters a hard time by imposing unnessary rules and overcharging.
And not doing what they should do: taking down the London pirates.
on Dec 13th, 2009 at 10:09
I think it is only right that pirates are shutdown if they are causing interference to established legal stations:it is annoying when you\’re listening to your favourite programme on an established station only to be interrupted by a hardcore station or chav radio channel whistling twittering and fading over the top of what you try to listen to. If they are on frequencies not occupied by anything thats fine but when they move to frequencies occupied by established stations or to nearby frequencies next to established broadcasters and interference results then action is necessary to control curb ban and/or close them down.
on Jun 8th, 2010 at 16:38
Pirate radio issues also arise in the capital of Germany. Here is the Press Release issued by the Berlin Pirate Radio, concerning the attempt of the police to close them, last Saturday, by invading a housing project. It appeared during the weekend at the website of the German Independent Media Center :
Pirate Radio Press Release
The police raid in the housing project at Boediker Str. 9 in Berlin, because of the Pirate Radio, during the Action Day “Enter Media Spree” at 5th June, ended with about 25 arrests, unreasonable accusations and their inability to find the broadcasting equipment.
At around 17.00, the police invaded the building of Boediker Str. 9, in order to confiscate the broadcasting equipment of the action radio. Despite having searched for hours, supported by two employees of the Public Networks Agency from Mainz, who were also there with their vehicle, the police couldn\’t find the broadcasting equipment. Instead, they destroyed rooms of the building and broke several doors.
13 people were indiscriminately arrested, as they happened to be at this very moment at the stairs, in front of, or in the Action Infopoint at Bodiker str. 9. After the chief of the police force was informed by lawyers that the use of a frequency without a license by the District Media Authority is just a minor offence and not a crime, as he had initially claimed, he came up with a couple of absurd accusations, such as “causing serious physical injury due to the exposure to electromagnetic radiation” and “theft of electricity”, in order to legitimize the operation of the police in the building.
Later this evening, during the spontaneous solidarity assembly that took place in front of the building, 10 more people where arrested without reason. The police (of the 23rd and 24th squad) were extremely brutal, beating indiscriminately people and causing a serious head injury to at least one person, who had to be transferred with an ambulance.
This brutal tactic fits in the picture of the whole day, during which the police tried to prevent the protests against the Media Spree project. The same afternoon, the police attacked the van with the loudspeakers, after the end of the demonstration, as the action concept was supposed to be announced by the loudspeakers.
Nevertheless, the protests will go on and the people, despite the repression, hasn\’t surrendered to the terrorization. The estate on Cuvry Str. (by IVG Real Estate) was successfully occupied and more than a thousand people took place in a creative “Enter Media Spree” day.
We will continue to support the contradictory opinion that the city needs.
In order to reach new coasts – for a free radio in Berlin
against the gentrification, the neoliberal restructuring of the city and the magnification of the flat rents
Berlin, 6th of June
your pirate radio