Pirates: This is a new mod-type 20th century version … This is a 20th century pirate ship and this is their ammunition – pop music. For the past six weeks a pirate ship has been transmitting pop music for 12 hours each day to the south-east of England. World in Action: Radio Pirates, ITV 1964
That of course includes Radio Luxembourg which is a strictly commercial organisation. ibid.
Programme making was precarious and frought with risk. How the BBC Began I: Accident and Opportunity, BBC 2022
Even the man at the top had to start from scratch. ibid.
The British Broadcasting Company began five years before there were talkies in the cinema. ibid.
The radio pioneers were fired up by a mission to educate and inform as well as entertain. ibid.
John Reith: his influence still guides the BBC today. ibid.
The more expensive wireless receivers were less risky than the crystal sets. ibid.
The BBC felt its wartime role was to stregthen civilian morale. ibid.
If you were driving around London in the 90s there was a very good chance that if you would turn your radio dial just a few millimetres too much you would open a portal to an underground illegal world of pirate radio. JimmytheGiant podcast: Britain’s Evil War Against Pirate Radio, Youtube 2024
‘The pirates are a menace, and I don’t believe at all that the public wouldn’t support action to enforce the law.’ ibid. Tony Benn
There was a loophole: international waters. ibid.
A lot of the fear of radio simply comes down to infuence. ibid.
The mid-1980s and you’ll find something strange going on: the rooftops were bustling with a new kind of criminal activity. ibid.