I grew up in children’s homes, and radio became my escape.
Stations like Buzz 88 Manchester and Love 100 in Huddersfield weren’t just music to me — they kept me focused and gave me something positive to hold onto when my life was going in the wrong direction. I was starting to get into trouble, but radio pulled me back and gave me a sense of purpose.
I became obsessed with it.
I started taking apart walkie-talkies and turning them into little transmitters. They barely reached a few houses, but in my head I was already broadcasting to the world. That’s how I started running my own tiny stations before I was even an adult.
Later on I moved into proper pirate radio, running real transmitters, and I eventually launched my own station — Lick88FM. I also DJ’d on stations like Passion Radio and Citybeats. Radio wasn’t just something I did — it was who I was.
When everything moved online and FM became harder to run, I followed radio into the digital world. I needed servers to keep my station going, so I started hosting other people’s stations too, just to cover the costs.
What started as a way to pay for servers slowly turned into a real business.
That business became Shoutstream and later RadioPlug — platforms built by someone who knows first-hand what radio can mean when you’re trying to find your way.
Radio didn’t just shape my life.
It helped save it.