My brother was a pirate radio DJ in the golden years of early grime and UKG the genres I grew up on and hold very close to my heart , here he talks about his experiences with pirate radio.
What was pirate radio to you and your friends growing up in the late 90’s & 2000’s?
Bro: It was like when your at school with all your friends and your all into music, it gave us a platform to showcase your skills, an opportunity to show your character, also a mad vibe cos the night before your picking your records and preparing your bars. A lot of social gratification and meeting new people, meeting people that you wouldn’t necessarily run into.
Do u remember the first time you encountered pirate radio:
Bro: My friend had a set on resist FM, in an abandoned dentist, it was a bit edgy there was a fear from radio owners that people would try and come to steal their rig. Always an air of tension, which added to the experience and vibe.
Do you think the medium of Pirate Radio brings something that todays mainstream platforms can’t bring?
Bro: Yeh, it brings that authenticity, it’s like the streets talking hearing voices that wouldn’t necessarily be heard. No A&R’s just raw voices and talent. The interaction with the public just isn’t the same now, how people would phone in for shout outs and requests. It would get people working day jobs get through their day We had tilers, builders locked in all day. It was also the start of peoples weekends you’d lock in to see where the next rave was. People would call in to even just chat about life and any problems they had or anything they was going thru.
Do you think the music scene would be the same if it wasn’t for pirate radio.
Bro: No way. It wouldn’t be the same you wouldn’t have any of the crews or the advancements of music from garage to grime etc. It made pop stars, its where it all started. So Solid are important in this as well, as a south Londoner they took that street culture started spitting on pirate and here we are today with the music that kids are listening to today.
Big up D double E tho: