How much longer will Pirate Radio last?

[OldskoolPirate]

We’ve seen the decline of pirate radio for some time now since the early 2000s, but it is still alive with a good 50+ stations on in the UK, most of them in London, but how many years will it continue?

[yellowbeard]

I reckon as long as there are radios on sale there will always be kids who want to show off, act the bollocks and shin up masts at midnight. Used to be the cool kids, but it may turn to being the oddball nerd kids. It's a form of urban adventure - and it's up to us auld lads to make sure they have the know-how and bits of gear to do it. Thats how to keep it going - and this is why we need Alberts £28 15 Watt...
There is no buzz quite like heading off to a radio station with a bag of music and a bag of weed, the youth will want it if they try it.

[tvtv]

Ah, alberts 15 watt , when did he promise that? Hope its this cmas

I agree with you, be anoraks tuning as long as fm is alive (and you cant really shut it fown, you could repurpose the band for data or military use that would stop pirates - wont happen, hope not, some other countries ditched fm for dab, which sound thin and then its played out through a bluetooth speaker that sounds like a childs beaker filled with juice. Fm when done right its the mutz nuts.

[mixfm]

its gettng worse pirates are getting few & far beyond london will allways have the true stations i.e devine station playback ontop lsr origin wknd rude etc birmingham only have 4 stations on & off all the time manchester is the same prob 1 or 2 stations on weekends, shame,,,

[XXL]

There’s been 2 switch on in my area just recently.

[Nige from Brum]

I think radio in general is in decline, not just the pirate stations.

The popularity of connecting your phone to another device to listen to an on line service, or your own music, has taken a lot of people away from a traditional radio.

Here in Birmingham its barely worth tuning around FM any more. Dream UK has its moments, but since Distinct FM closed there hasn't been anything of any real note here.

There's more fun to be had on MW and SW. The dutch pirates really do play more than "Barrel Organ" music, with a good mixture of Rock, Pop & dance music, but I admit, it is a bit of an acquired taste.

Its good to see a few of the Dutch Pirates coming back in band, instead of between 1611 & 1700 Khz.
7.4 to 7.50 and around seems popular lately too.

[Polecat]

Looking at other trends, FM will have its day again, both for the allure of a retro alternative and for the sound quality.

If cassette tapes can do it, FM radio can.

[eiradioguy]

Two things work around pirate radio (1) Car radios are mostly preset focused so most folks these days simply don't bother to tune around the band. RDS AF keeps the preset locked on. (2) Society consumes media 'on demand' where viewers and listeners consume what they want, whenever they want, the days of waiting until a specific time/date for a show are on the wane. Podcasts, niche channels and box sets are the preferred delivery mechanisms it seems now.

[OldskoolPirate]

If you think about it, check the population of the area you’re broadcasting in. In my area there’s a good 500,000 people within my signal range and thousands travelling in and out everyday. How can there be no one listening. Of course their listening, but only a small percentage text in now days.

[radium98]

Agree.

[shuffy]

Of course their listening, but only a small percentage text in now days.

That's because it's usually just your mates (an increasingly disappointing turnout in my experience) and a dwindling band of anoraks. I don't know anyone younger than myself, and without an interest in some station or other, who tunes around FM out of curiosity. There's no "mainstream" audience for a pirate these days due to the way receivers work, and all the "niche" content is available online. I can't see the way the FM band is used changing any time soon, either - it's all about the money. Really it's only suitable for broadcast, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it once the likes of Global and the BBC no longer consider it viable. But like I said, I think that's a way off. Personally, I think there's a bigger audience for a pirate on shortwave than FM!

[eiradioguy]

In Dublin there is one FM pirate (Retro FM) playing 60s, 70s, 80s on Sunday mornings/afternoons. One medium wave station (Energy) on Saturdays/Sundays. Around Ireland there are a handful of FM stations (all weekenders) and a couple Medium Wave, probably 2 or 3 shortwave stations. That's it...
There isn't any public outcry, the anoraks are increasingly historians, the anorak boards have no new info. and have dried up. Meanwhile the legal radio scene is embracing networking and voice tracking. The regulator continually allocates additional frequencies to existing stations, blocking the FM band.

[eiradioguy]

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant but true nonetheless.....

[Albert H]

Not a rant at all!

You're right. The UK (and a lot of northern Europe) has a lot of voice-tracked repetitive nonsense these days. The rot really started about 30 years ago with the start of all the automated "Gold" stations, and it's got just as bad as the USA. There are about five genres of music radio and a few talk stations throughout the countries. The few that are outside the generic boxes - like Caroline - are generally dreadful.

Incidentally, Caroline has become a parody of itself. Back in the 70s it was a real alternative radio station, with reasonably widespread coverage (despite the limitations of MW broadcasting) and it was well worth a listen. These days it's about the level of hospital radio. I'm sure they mean well, but they're wasting their time with that poor audio quality and abysmal content.

The spread of "Heart" and "Gold" and all the other dross has driven listeners away. There are more people listening to web streams than are listening to free radiating radio these days. It's sad, but that's the way it is. Most of the play-listed, voice-tracked apologies for National radio stations have a music repertoire of as few as 150 tracks, repeated over and over again in various combinations.

Local commercial radio has largely died out - it's just too much hassle to get right these days, and the OFCOM rules mean that they can never be profitable.

The few remaining pirates have little talent and few ideas. They're just playing their favourite records for their friends - the days of mass listenership have gone.

[BriansBrain]

The UK (and a lot of northern Europe) has a lot of voice-tracked repetitive nonsense these days.

Well in Gran Canaria my voice-tracked Radio Brian is a little different

https://archive.org/details/20230923-96 ... AN-96k.mp3

[Nige from Brum]

Of course their listening, but only a small percentage text in now days.

That's because it's usually just your mates (an increasingly disappointing turnout in my experience) and a dwindling band of anoraks. I don't know anyone younger than myself, and without an interest in some station or other, who tunes around FM out of curiosity. There's no "mainstream" audience for a pirate these days due to the way receivers work, and all the "niche" content is available online. I can't see the way the FM band is used changing any time soon, either - it's all about the money. Really it's only suitable for broadcast, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it once the likes of Global and the BBC no longer consider it viable. But like I said, I think that's a way off. Personally, I think there's a bigger audience for a pirate on shortwave than FM!

I can genuinely see LW/MW & Band 2 being given over to the hams, just like the 500 khz chunk of spectrum that was once used for emergency maritime communication.

[OldskoolPirate]

Yeh but once the bbc and global switch off it’s game over coz they will only switch off if the listeners aren’t there anymore.

[fmuser877]

My tx just runs so can play music to my radios still goes quite well for being low down about 2 mile.
can have the aerial top of the pole but prob not worth it.

[eiradioguy]

Putting my Nostradamus hat on a moment, I predict the market demands for mobile telecommunications/internet will swallow up the juicy VHF spectrum of 87.5 - 108 MHz at some point in time. With excellent building penetration and propagation this 20 MHz block will simply be too valuable not to harvest.

Of course, this will be somewhere far in the future but any sector accessing sub-1 GHz should be adopting a use it or lose it attitude, and anyone using +- 75 khz per single-channel transmission protocol is just too juicy.

They'll come for unused and underused spectrum first (such as amateur bands?) but the market will always demand more and more spectrum 'efficiency'. Plus all that lovely spectrum auction money of course.

[shuffy]

I can genuinely see LW/MW & Band 2 being given over to the hams, just like the 500 khz chunk of spectrum that was once used for emergency maritime communication.

Only once there's no money to be made, and no example to be set to these unruly broadcast rebels who just won't be told! Longwave has some special properties so might just become an extension of the LF stuff that goes on below there. Fair comment about MW and Band 2 though, but these days I always just follow the money, and politicians' egos.