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They
drew many listeners from areas like Handsworth, which is heavily
populated with blacks and Asians, but boast that their one million
plus audience stretches to Wolverhampton and Droitwich.
They say
they refuse to quit because they fill a gap in the radio network and
have become an important and indispensable voice for the minorities
since setting up in 1980.
Oganisers
warned that listeners, many of them unemployed, view a clamp down on
PCRL as a restriction on their freedom.
Their phones are
jammed with irate listeners whenever are forced off the air, many of
them viewing the action as a personal attack.
"There
is always a danger of some of them demonstration their anger on the
streets," said a leading spokesman. "We always try to get
back on the air as quickly as possible to calm them down before
trouble adares.
"A lot
of unemployed youngsters stay at home to listen to us instead of
going on the streets where they risk running into trouble."
He said he feared
the authorities |
by CLAIRE
WOLF
would only
appreciate their role as peace-keepers if they were forced off the
air for more than a fortnight.
The
station's musical content is indisputably unique to the area. They
also provide the biggest outfit for new up and coming Midlands musicians.
Tapes flood
in from undiscovered bands and some record companies even patronise
the station by sending in albums of artists in need of air play.
Revenue
It would
seem logical that PCRL is also thriving financially.
There's big
money to be had in tax-free advertising revenue.
Evading the legal network also enables them to duck out of many
statutory fees like leasing a transmitter and paying royalties to
musicians for each record |
played.
The city's
independent station, BRMB, puts their own costs at just under
£1 million a year.
With the
help of new technology, PCRL manages to get away with a fraction of
this with a total outlay around £4,000. About £400 is
needed to replace equipment after each raid.
But PCRL's
organisers told me: "If advertising kept us on the air, we
wouldn't be her." The finances are somewhat
bizarre.
Local businessmen just starting out get a plug on the station in
exchange for a donation.
Donations
also pour in from listeners who dig deeper into their pockets
whenever equipment is seized.
While I was
there, the daily post produced a pile of cheques, letters of support
and free albums sent by the reputable record companies.
The phones
were still buzzing with anxious listeners who had just experienced a
radio black-out caused by the latest raid.
Several
budding bands also rang in to be assured their taped music had
arrived and would be listened to with a view to putting it out. |
Many of
the callers are also after free help, either in broadcasting a
birthday message or in appealing for the return of stolen goods.
In return,
the station has a long list of possible studio bases offered by
listeners in the event of another raid.
They also
get offers to guard the studios, a move they they have so far resisted.
The
presenters are mainly jobless and clearly enjoy the unpaid work.
They are
quite happy to see the small profits being spend on free social
events like discos and Christmas parties for children and the elderly
in the community.
The sports
day announcement is the latest venture.
Several
hundred pounds has also gone to charity including sickle cell anaemia
research, which affects blacks.
Gospel music
presenter George Franklin said: "The station is a part of us.
We feel
close to the community and do it joyfully. I use my own record
collection and from the feedback I get to know it's in tune with what
listeners want."
The pirate
station gets no sympathy from BRMB or the Home Office.
And they risk a maximum penalty of a £2,000 fine and three
months in jail.
A BRMB
spokesman said: "This is probably the most insistent pirate
station we've come across in the Midlands.
We want
action taken to stop them. "PCRL is escaping all payment
to official bodies.
We pay an
enormous amount to people like Performing Rights Society for
playing records and the Independent Broadcasting Association for the
use of their transmitter.
"We
spent not much short of £1 million a year to operate before we
pay staff or rent buildings".
As far a
BRMB was concerned, they were already providing a lot of music for
ethnic minorities an 1984 won an award for their output from the
Asian Listeners and Viewers Association.
"We
pay a significant amount of black music in the day and we've a lot of
West Indian and Afro-Caribbean origin listeners," he said.
"We have a two-hour slot for Asian music on Friday and an
Afro-Caribbean programme of about one and half hours. "Part of
our application put to IBA when we set up 12 years ago was a pledge
to run an Asian |
programme and we
stuck to it."
A Home
Office spokesman said pirate stations created anarchy and often
muscled in on air space which had been allocated elsewhere.
"They break the law by not having a licence, they are liable to
cause interference and they undermine legitimate stations by stealing
copyright and snatching advertising." her said.
A spokesman
for the Department of Trade and Industry said they had received
complaints that PCRL broke into car radio airways used by the
emergency services.
"We
will find then wherever they are and prosecute. Anyone involved in
the station faces a penalty," she said.
PCRL
organisers say they will gladly abide by all the regulations if they
are given a licence.
Franchise
But They
feel they were dealt a bitter blow in 1980 when the new community
radio franchise went to Solihull, preventing them from applying for it.
The
campaign for a local station to focus more on the culture and music
of the city's ethnic minorities began ten years ago.
A PCRL
spokesman said a group negotiated for better coverage with the BBC
and BRMB but failed to achieve as much as they had hoped.
He said
frustrations were building up and black community leaders felt
tension would be erased by setting up a separate station which they
could identify with. "It reached the stage where the Government,
The BBC and TBM were blind to what was going on,"" he said.
To plug the gap, two pirate radio stations sprang up - Sounds
Alternative and later Radio Star, which broadcast at weekends.
Attempts
were made to legitimise Radio Star and there were hopes that it would
be successful in vying for a community radio franchise.
It was
expected that at least two of the 21 stations being offered by the
Government would go to Birmingham. Instead it got none. But extra
ones are being planned for London. |
