Episodes

  • Arnold Levine - Radio Concord, Dynamite 235
    Jul 2 2023

    In this new episode I’m talking to Arnold Lavine from 1970’s station Radio Concord. We chat about how Concord started, and,
    how it went on to be the radical voice of the 1970’s counterculture in London. We also talk about his excellent book, “Banned by the BBC”,
    and finally what he has been doing since the end of Radio Concord.

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • 1984 Offshore Documentary with Lawrie Hallett
    Jun 14 2023

    This time we have been given permission by Lawrie Hallett to play out his other pirate documentary. You may remember episode 21 where he talked to some of the London Land Based Pirates of the early 80’s. Well, this time he covers the offshore pirates up to 1984 and includes exclusive interviews with Ronan O’Rahilly, Tony Blackburn and John Peel about their time with the ships.

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    30 mins
  • Ian Harling - Radio Cavendish (SW), South Coast Radio (MW & FM)
    May 10 2023

    This week we are again outside London. We're off to the south coast with Ian Harling from Radio Cavendish and South Coast Radio among others. Here how they smuggled a FM transmitter from the Netherlands and another transmitter across to France for a one off broadcast back to the UK. Tales of cat and mouse antics with the authorities and once again Nick Catford pops up in the story. Great stuff from Ian.

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    46 mins
  • Chris Cooper - Empire Radio (SW), EST (Birmingham), Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline
    Apr 20 2023

    This time I chat to Chris Cooper from Birmingham. He was one of the people behind Empire Radio, the short wave pirate, then went on to found the Birmingham FM pirate EST before going on to The Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline. He can now be heard regularly on Radio Seagull. He is a great story teller with a great memory of his pirate days.

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • 1984 Land Based Pirate Documentary with Lawrie Hallett
    Apr 5 2023

    Something a little different this week. Lawrie Hallett has given us a documentary he made for LBC in 1984. It was never broadcast by them because of the lawyers, but you can hear it now as part of our podcast series.

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    32 mins
  • Martin Spencer, Mark Dezzani plus others. Radio Zodiac, Phoenix Radio, Alice's Restaurant Pt.2
    Mar 22 2023

    So, here we have the second part of my chat with Mark Dezzani, Martin Spencer and Lawrie Hallett. We get through plenty, including talking about the contribution of some well known (and some not so well known) pirates, where, when, why and how some broadcasts took place and plenty of stories about some near misses with the authorities.

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Martin Spencer, Mark Dezzani plus others. Radio Zodiac, Phoenix Radio, Alice's Restaurant Pt.1
    Mar 8 2023

    In the first part of this two part special, I get four old pirates in a studio and light the anorak touch paper and stand well back! In this four way conversation between Lawrie Hallett (Brian Marshall), Martin Spencer (Dave Lane), Mark Dezzani (Rodger Vosene) and me, Mark Wakely (Steve Justin). We talk about how we got into pirate radio and the first tentative steps into broadcasting and why we got involved in this illegal activity. There's plenty of radio talk and some insights into the beginnings of Radio Zodiac, Phoenix Radio and Alice's Restaurant. The second part of this epic will be out in two weeks.
    If you like the podcast and would like to support it then please buy me a coffee to help cover the recording and hosting costs, just follow the link, Thanks. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/markwakelyW

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Bob Lawrence Part 2 - London Music Radio (70's), Radio Caroline and various ILR stations
    Feb 22 2023

    This is the second part of my chat with Bob Lawrence. We talk about regulation in radio, the future of medium wave, Caroline's 648 licence, the end of LMR, his time on the Mi Amigo and plenty of other anorak stuff.

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    1 hr and 2 mins