Thameside Radio was an
unlicensed radio station based in London. It launched in the winter of 1977, offering "very slick pop rock with competitions", according to ''
Time Out''. According to the ''
Richmond and Twickenham Times
The ''Richmond and Twickenham Times'' is a weekly local newspaper that was established in 1873 and is published on Fridays. It covers the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London and surrounding areas.
It is delivered free to ...
'', it broadcast from "a certain
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...
tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdicti ...
" –
a reference to
Trellick Tower
Trellick Tower is a Grade II* listed tower block on the Cheltenham Estate in North Kensington, London. Opened in 1972, it had been commissioned by the Greater London Council and designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger. ...
.
The station received 30-40 letters each week and had an estimated
listenership
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Someti ...
of around 20,000.
It pioneered new music, and is noted by the ''
New Musical Express'' for giving airplay to "Win a Night Out with a Well-Known Paranoiac" by
Barry Andrews, which was subsequently picked up by
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
.
Increasing numbers of raids resulted in the station losing five
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...
s in six months
and the station ceased live transmission, instead taping its shows shortly before broadcast.
Recordings of a number of Thameside Radio shows are held by the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. Many shows are available for download fro
fmthen.com
In late 1984, Thameside set up the first London
unlicensed TV station for a one-off event.
References
See also
Thameside Radio Revisiteda downloadable archive of over 200 recordings of Thameside Radio shows
Thameside Radio Homean archive of studio recordings
The Thameside Radio Storyfor more information about the station
The Intrepid Birdman's archiveswhich include a section on Thameside Radio 90.2
for more info on Thameside Radio and a clip from New Year 1979/1980
Sample of the station's output*The Intrepid Birdman on Mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/intrepidbirdman/
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Pirate radio stations in the United Kingdom
Radio stations in London
Radio stations established in 1977
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom