Pirate Radio: Britain’s AM rebels of the ’60s

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1960s, the BBC had a vise grip on British radio, and rarely played the pop and rock music that was all the rage. So a group of rebellious radio DJs decided to give the people what they wanted, and started broadcasting popular music from boats stationed in international waters. Soon enough, these young DJs became national superstars… until the British government decided it was time to sink these pirates once and for all. This story comes from the History This Week podcast. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Become a monthly contributor at 20k.org/donate. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at mystery.20k.org. Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp at betterhelp.com/20k. Get 83% off Surfshark VPN plus an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/20k, or use promo code 20K. Get your free business banking account at banknovo.com/hertz. Listen to Songs That Shook the Planet at audible.com/songs Subscribe to History This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/pirateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm the God who favors me.
0:03.0	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:13.0	When I was a kid, the main way that I listened to music was on the radio.
0:17.0	This was back in the 90s, way before anything like Spotify, iTunes, or even Napster.
0:22.3	Heck, even the internet barely existed.
0:24.8	Sure, there were CDs and cassette tapes, but they were expensive, and there was no way a poor kid
0:30.4	like me could afford much of a music collection.
0:33.4	Back then, it felt like the radio had so much power.
0:36.6	There was no skip button and only a handful of stations.
0:40.6	By today's standards, it might sound really constrictive,
0:44.0	but there was actually something kind of nice about it.
0:46.8	Once I tuned in, I was just along for the ride.
0:49.9	I remember sitting in my bedroom listening to the radio on a little boombox.
0:56.8	And once I was old enough to drive, I would turn on the radio on my 45-minute commute to and from school.
1:07.3	On these long drives, the radio felt like my connection to the outside world.
1:12.3	It was how I got into the grunge scene that was exploding in Seattle.
1:18.9	On the hip-hop station, I'd hear local Memphis rappers who were just starting to get big.
1:26.4	And in the mornings, I'd hear shock-joc DJs who would say stuff that you could never get away with on television.
1:36.6	But years before, I even existed, in the late 60s, the radio was a totally different place. And that was especially
1:46.6	true over in England. If you turned on a radio in England back then, chances are you wouldn't
1:52.0	hear any rock and roll and you definitely wouldn't hear any DJs saying shocking things.
1:57.2	The radio was a very clean and sanitized place, and it was tightly controlled by the BBC.
	...

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