UK Pirates Walking The Plank

A new clampdown by licensed radio stations in the UK could see pirate radio becoming extinct, according to a report in this week's Standard.

The Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) has started taking civil actions against individuals involved in pirate stations, the paper said, which will see DJs and broadcasters facing 'hefty prison sentences' if they continue operating, suggesting the entire grassroots music scene could disappear.

The destruction of Britain's pirate radio underground could have profound implications for the country's music scene, with virtually every genuinely new grassroots musical movement of the last 20 years, emerging via the illicit airwaves.

"Everybody respects pirates because they're on the edge, but the greatest aspect of it is the fact that anyone can do it," So Solid discoverer/ industry big cheese Shabbs said in a Muzik interview in 1996.

"Everybody wants to be a DJ and doing pirate radio is one of the first steps on the ladder to becoming a club DJ, or like me, working in another area of the business."
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