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The creation of a pirate English radio station network during the 1960s came about due to the limited variety of musical programs broadcast by the country’s national broadcaster. Pirate and off-shore illegal radio stations played the music which young people in Britain were more eager to hear but could not find played anywhere else on the radio dial. In many ways pirate radio was a protest against the monopoly held by government backed broadcasting.

A pirate radio station is any radio station which operate without a legal permit or license to transmit programs. Due to a loophole in British laws, many of the pirate or offshore radio stations were not illegal as they were mostly transmitting from international waters. Once the national British broadcaster saw the increasing popularity of radio pirates, the laws were altered in order to declare radio transmission without a licence illegal.

Early pirate radio had its beginning as a form of publicity devised by a British newspaper. A ship broadcast light music from along the coast in an attempt to gain readership for a daily newspaper. Later some religious leaders also attempted to use pirate radio stations as a way to transmit their message to Britons.

The post-war baby boom generation was coming of age during the early nineteen-sixties and the growing youth culture and consumerism had very little outlet in Britain. The growing taste in rock and roll and other American styles of music were hard to come by or hear outside of record stores and black-markets. Young musicians who had been influenced by rock and roll and were writing about their place and time had few outlets for having their music played to radio audiences.

The pirate radio stations were, by the middle of the sixties, broadcasting regularly in neutral waters a safe distance from the British coastline. Many of the offshore stations were funded by young entrepreneurs who understood what the emerging youth market wanted to listen to. Many pirate DJs were music enthusiasts and collectors who were prepared to step outside the norm of programming and provide listeners with the variety they were seeking. Pirate stations became so popular by the end of the sixties that the national broadcasting network reformulated its content to suit the new youth demographic.

In 1967 the loophole which had made offshore radio legally acceptable was changed by the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act coming into place. Despite laws, pirate broadcasters resisted any move to stop transmission and even continued from dry land. In fact, during the 1980s there were greater numbers of pirate stations than legally licenced radio stations.

During the 1970s and 1980s radio piracy continued to thrive in urban areas, particularly as the equipment needed to broadcast became less expensive. Urban areas with their high rise buildings created the perfect environment for transmission and urban zones also held some of the target audiences for illegal radio. As in the 1960s, those which played the styles of music which were ignored by the mainstream as well as community, local and ethnic radio stations became popular.

The penalties for illegal radio broadcasters have increased from the nineties right up to the Wireless and Telegraphy Act of 2006. Despite this, pirate radio broadcasts remain a popular and vital part of British urban life. Niche audiences and ethnic communities disenfranchised by mainstream media, alternative and independently produced music styles are all given air space by the many local and community based pirate DJs.

Learn more about the history and development of the Pirate English Radio Station now in our super guide to english radio .