Pirate radio in the past

According to ex-Laser 558 DJ Charlie Wolf, PCRL DJ Mickey Nold and BBC Essex presenter Tim Gillett, pirate radio stations of previous generations had their similarities with today's stations as well as their differences.

Tim Gillett, of BBC Essex, was responsible for bringing the idea of marking the 40th anniversary of ship based pirate stations to life. He believes that these stations were purely for the masses and broke all rules for the sake of music.

Although these stations were thought to be 'risky' they were in fact legal in the full sense of the word. During the early 1960s, the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act had not yet come into place, which meant that broadcasting from international waters was legal. It was, however, the land-based pirate stations which were operating illegally. Talk Radio DJ Charlie Wolf, highlights this issue.

Whilst the 1960s pirate stations surfaced out of a need to cater to the younger generations, 1980s radio appeared for alterior motives. Mickey Nold, DJ for 13 years at Birmingham's PCRL pirate station of the 80s expressed his views.