Landbased London 1978

Mark Dezzani gives a a round up of land-based pirate activity towards the end of 1978

Short Wave; A new station called Kountryside Radio (Voice of Britain) was heard for the first time on 19/11/78 on 6270kHz from 12.00hrs approx with 20watts. On this occasion it was being relayed via another transmitter although they will have their own transmitter soon and plan to be on every week on another frequency; Programmes consist of Top 40 pop and much interesting radio information. Their address is;c/o 13, The Chase, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 6HW England. DJs are Rob Roy, Terry St.James and Simon Jay. Another new station called Radio Amy was heard on 19/11/78 on 6270kHz after the above station had closed down at 13.00hrs GMT, a short test of music and ID was given out.

ABC Europe has closed down for good, this follows inevitable hounding by the Home Office because of the very high power that was used by the station. The ABC Europe team are currently trying to get a legal transmitting station sorted out, possibly situated in Northern Italy. Radio Sunshine International will be off the air for 6-8 weeks whilst they undertake the construction of a new studio, they lost the use of their last studio. Meanwhile, DJ Victor Hartman who did the "Chainsaw" programme has been asked to leave the station due to his use of bad language on the air. Radio Zodiac 49 will make it's first 41m transmission on 26/11/78 on or near 7340kHz, this channel will carry a different special test programme than the usual programmes which will be going out on 6275kHz. The schedule for their 2nd and 4th Sunday transmissions have been confirmed and are as follows:

2nd Sundays-10.00 John Dawson Oldies show 11.00 Roger Vosene with "ZO-DX" (Listeners letters, free radio news and music)

12.00 German Show

12.3O French Show

13.00 Roger Anderson

14.00 Close

4th Sundays- 10.00 Dave Hunt with Top 10 albums and free radio news

11.00 Stuart Clark with the Punk Show

11.45 Mark Anthony with the Disco Show

12.30 Steve Anderson's Oldie Show:

15.00 "ZO-DX" with Roger Vosene and Dave Hunt:

14.00 Close New QSL cards and stickers are now available from Radio Zodiac 49

Medium Wave and VHF;

Since the last edition of Free Radio Focus land-based activity in the London area has increased enormously. Radio Jackie of course is still plugging away every Sunday on 1332kHz from 09.00-17.00 with a Top 40 format despite a recent court case in which four alleged Jackie staff were fined £1,200 between them. On 23/11/78, (the day all the BBC Radio network changed wavelengths) Radio Jackie broadcast from 06.00 until midnight with 200 Watts and no Home Office harassment! On the same day a Radio 5 was heard in North West London on 222m from 10.00-13.00 hrs with 40 Watts. Programming was of a satirical nature with DJs Paul Lambourghini, Tony Whitefreeze and their answer to the hairy monster, "TNT". A station logged regularly from North London since July is Celebration Radio on 235m 1286kHz from 11.00-16.00 hrs. Station format is based on album tracks which is proving a popular alternative to the many top 40 land-based stations audible in North London. Celebration's transmitter power is 20w and their mailing address is 14, Hermitage Way, Stanmore, Middlesex.

Other North London stations heard recently are North London Radio on 221m with a pop format and Radio AMY (which stands for Alternative Music for You) on 222m, this station was a breakaway group from NLR and features a lot of local news and top 40 music. A Rock and Roll station Radio City is heard regularly on 239m with very good programming every Sunday afternoon. The heavy rock station Telstar 1 on 1277kHz is now only on the air sporadically after much activity early in the year. A South London station which opened in August, Radio 2.20 seems to have closed down. They put out very good programmes every Sunday from 15.30-16.30. They used an address in Crawley Down. Radio Elaine made their final transmission on 29/10/78 on 186m although reception was limited to a local audience. The transmission was from 18.00-22.00 hrs. Radio Jackie now has a Saturday service on 227m 1332kHz which is based on an album format, this service will probably move to FM in the near future.

Moving to the FM band, activity in the London area has been equally as exciting as Medium Wave. Thameside Radio has been heard with excellent signals every week on 90.2MHz from 19.00-20.00hrs. On 5/11/78 they were raided 20 minutes into the broadcast, although it is not thought that the Home Office were the culprits as they usually stay on the site afterwards, but when the Thameside crew got there no one was around. It is thought that an unknown group of people stole the equipment. Thameside's address is 1, Grosvenor Parade,London W.5. DJs are Bob Edwards and Tony Lloyd.

Radio Telstar South broadcast every Sunday from 19.00-22.00hrs on 92.8MHz with an entirely oldies type format. Transmitter power is 200 Watts fed into a circular aerial, mailing address is in West Wickham, Kent. London's soul station Radio Invicta is still going strong every Sunday from 12.00-15.00 on 92.4MHz the station has built up a large following and hosts special nights in local discos most nights of the week. Mailing address is 30,Marius Road, London SW17. Radio Free London broadcasts every Sunday from 16.00-18.00hrs on 92.4 MHz, their mailing address is 148, George Lane, Lewisham London. Other FM stations logged in London recently include Uptown Radio and West London Radio on 94.4MHz. Southcoast Radio is a new station from the Sussex coast. The first transmission was heard in October on 222m with good signals and an album format. Mailing address is Kent Place, Norwell, Newark, Notts. England. Free Island Radio from the Isle of Wight or Hampshire coast, has been heard fairly regularly in that area on Sundays on 222m and has received some attention in the local press. Free Radio Focus No.18 1978