The glorious days of radio and the pirates seem to come and go all too quickly, but what a memorable time it was for all of us that had the opportunity to experience those rebels at sea doing what they passionately believed in, giving us the chance to hear great music. All day every day.
Sadly the Marine Offences Act became law at midnight on August 14th 1968, and battle as they did, the pirates slowly, one by one sank. In 1968 the UK’s national ‘official’ station Radio One launched off the back of the demise of the pirates. After crushing any competition it wasn’t going to be hard for them, the public had been left with nothing. They were owned by the BBC and they were funded by license payer’s money. Everyone who had a TV license was contributing to radio, whether they liked it or not.
Then the independent radio stations started to spring up. Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, BRMB in Birmingham, Radio Clyde in Glasgow, and Capital Radio in London were four of the first ones. Radio One poached some of the pirate DJ’s, guys like John Peel and Tony Blackburn, and Johnny Walker, a pirate through and through and one who stayed loyal even when they were banned. I often find it hard trying to explain to people just what pirate radio sounded like back then but it’s so very hard. All I know is that there never has and never will be anything quite like it ever again. Even as they were sinking they still sounded as new and as fresh as the day they were born. It was revolutionary then and it’s still revolutionary now.
