The concept of ‘Pirate Radio’ may be steeped in nostalgia for Radio Caroline but
the country’s telecoms regulator has kicked off a clampdown of modern-day pirate
DJs that it says put lives at risk.
Modern day pirate radio stations are
not stationed on ships off the coast as they were in the 1960s but in tower
blocks and high rises where they use lift shafts and rooftops to install illegal
transmitters. Ofcom, the telecoms and media regulator, has a specialist team
that hunts down those stations by monitoring frequencies and identifying illegal
stations.
There are 100 pirate stations operating in Britain with three
quarters of those in London. New data from Ofcom reveals it made 154 raids
against illegal transmitter sites – often the same radio station – last year.
It claims to have “eradicated” pirate radio stations in the borough of
Haringey where there were 19 stations in operation in 2014. It has worked with
Homes for Haringey, the public housing body, to find equipment and to regularly
patrol and secure rooftops to stop stations reappearing.
Last year, the
country’s air traffic control service reported 55 cases of interference from
illegal pirate radio stations. Ofcom added that it receives reports from
emergency services that have encountered interference as result of illegal
stations. Transmissions can also knock out car alarms and cause interference for
legitimate stations.
Clive Corrie, the head of Ofcom’s “spectrum
enforcement team”, said: “Illegal broadcasting harms local communities and risks
lives by interfering with vital communications used by the emergency services
and air traffic control.”
That may seem heavy handed but Ofcom argues
that the equipment can damage buildings and put residents in danger of falling
equipment because it is often not professionally installed. More serious is that
pirate radio stations cause interference and can cause havoc with the airwaves.
The housing body calculates that it has saved £90,000 in enforcement and
maintenance costs cleaning up after pirate stations. Ofcom estimates that a
London-wide crackdown on pirate radio could save £1 million a year in costs.
Astrid Kjellberg-Obst, the executive director of operations at Homes for
Haringey, said: “Pirate radio stations damage people’s homes and can be
extremely distressing to our residents.”
Ofcom could stand accused of
cracking down on a vital musical community serving music fans that are not
served by mainstream stations. The regulator called on pirate radio stations to
go legitimate by applying for a licence to operate as a community radio station.
Many community stations are tiny operations running out of churches or
in very rural areas but some former pirate stations have flourished after going
legitimate. Rinse FM started as a jungle station operating out of DJ Slimzee’s
house in Tower Hamlets before it gained notoriety as a launch pad for the
emerging grime and dubstep scenes last decade.
The station was
disconnected in 2005 by Ofcom for operating illegally. It gained community
support for a community radio licence which was granted in 2010 and it has gone
from strength-to-strength since.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/media/article4602069.ece