Talkback

Christopher England with your letters

Bad points

I would just like to reply to the anonymous fool from London who slagged off the soul music pirates in London. Whoever this person was, from their letter I gathered they liked crappy old rock music because this is the boring stuff Caroline and RFM (Rubbish FM) play.

In London you can tune in to legit stations to hear that music. For soul you must rely on the pirates. As far as I can see it, there is no need for RFM because the service they provide is catered for. After saying all this I will say that soul music radio has its bad points — like Ice FM and all the others that broadcast just for people to do. Leave it to the people who know their music like LWR, Kiss, Time and Passion.

You, anonymous from London, are the uninformed one!

Tony M, Wimbledon.

Hmmmm....can't hear any of this rock music you love to hate so much, on Radio Caroline. Been listening for over half an hour, and all I've heard is pop. Mind you, Tony, I was listening to Kiss FM a year or so ago when it was playing heavy rock music, only I think they called it Rap. Since you hate ``rock'' music so much, I trust you don't listen to any Rap. But, I do take your point about RFM being rubbishy, and shall immediately resign. Thanks for pointing this out to me. Erm,...anyone want a disc jockey, going cheap?

Favouritism

Why is LWR being busted once or twice a week compared with other reggae stations who seem to have been on 24 hours a day for 6 months or more and haven't been touched. Are the DTI scared of raiding them? A lot of people would like to know.

DJ S, Brixton Hill.

The most usual reason for pirates being busted is because of the interference they cause. Not necessarily interference to other things on the same FM band, but to things like Ambulances and the Fire Brigade that operate on a band not too far away from the one you are tuned to. They can also damage computers located nearby, and Television reception. Pirates, of course, will deny causing interference, but the truth is that most of them don't have the equipment to test to see how many problems they are causing other users. Sometimes the pirate transmitters are just too close to buildings with sensitive receivers in them, and just swamp over them. Once again, the DTI must clear these transmitters away.

The moral of the story is to buy transmitters from trustworthy dealers, and be very aware of the frequency you decide to broadcast on, and things within a mile of your transmitter's site. If you are causing problems, and the DTI come and take the equipment away, putting duplicate equipment back on will just invite them back again and again.

Distortion

Maybe the reason a lot of people in London are dissatisfied with their legal radio is because they can't actually listen to it on account of the fact they're all jammed by the pirates! There are clear frequencies on the VHF band and even more on the medium wave band. Will somebody please use them and will somebody please make sure that when they build transmitters for all the pirates they can actually build them properly so they don't take up the entire band with distortion.

John Marshall, NW2

I know what you mean....listening to Radio One FM round at my gaff means constantly having to fight with my telescopic aerial to get rid of the Greek thing next to them! However, John, it is genuinely getting harder to find empty frequencies upon which to squat nowadays....too many pirates on them already!! Since the majority of them all sound the same, and are highly financed by sponsored plays and club-contra deals, it means the new and innovative up and coming stations can't find anywhere to broadcast at all. Sad really how the big bullies spoil it for everyone, isn't it?

Disappointment

I think it is a tremendous shame that after all the effort everyone has put in the Government has decided once again to delay the licensing of new stations. I was involved in one of the original Community Radio Experiment applications and now 3 years on we're still not any nearer getting on the air. Much of the original group I was involved with has now fallen apart, disenchanted with our lack of success. Those of us that are left won't go on the air illegally, but we would like to feel we could get a license eventually. How many more years are we going to be kicked around by the Government?

Jez Moreland, Islington.

Don't worry, only another 3 years to go... That's all for this time. Get writing!