Pirates of the Airwaves

Jul 02 2023 25 ep. 50 mins 33

Pirates of the Airwaves Podcast artwork

Mark Wakely chats to some of the people involved in the land based pirate radio world of the 1970's and 1980's in the UK.

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Arnold Levine - Radio Concord, Dynamite 235

Jul 02 2023 60 mins

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.

1984 Offshore Documentary with Lawrie Hallett

Jun 14 2023 30 mins

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.

Ian Harling - Radio Cavendish (SW), South Coast Radio (MW & FM)

May 10 2023 46 mins

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.

Chris Cooper - Empire Radio (SW), EST (Birmingham), Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline

Apr 20 2023 69 mins

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.

1984 Land Based Pirate Documentary with Lawrie Hallett

Apr 05 2023 32 mins

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.

Martin Spencer, Mark Dezzani plus others. Radio Zodiac, Phoenix Radio, Alice's Restaurant Pt.2

Mar 21 2023 69 mins

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.

Martin Spencer, Mark Dezzani plus others. Radio Zodiac, Phoenix Radio, Alice's Restaurant Pt.1

Mar 07 2023 69 mins

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 broadcast

Bob Lawrence Part 2 - London Music Radio (70's), Radio Caroline and various ILR stations

Feb 21 2023 62 mins

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.

Bob Lawrence - Part 1 - London Music Radio (70's), Radio Caroline and various ILR

Feb 09 2023 44 mins

In this episode you can hear the first half of my conversation with Bob Lawrence (Richard Thompson). We talk about his start in radio and his time as part of the original London Music Radio. We look at the trials and tribulations of being a LBP operator in the 1970's and the camaraderie between stations of the time.

Lawrie Hallett - The Poacher turned Gamekeeper Episode, Phoenix Radio, Alice's Restaurant, Ofcom

Jan 24 2023 56 mins

For this episode I talk to Lawrie Hallett, the poacher turned gamekeeper. He went from pirate radio operator to ofcom official via a whole load of radio related projects and played a major role in helping Radio Caroline gain their 648 AM licence. He is now spending much of his time helping train the next generation of radio broadcasters.