KFM was an unlicenced radio station

Pirate radio

Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...

 based in Stockport

Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

History

KFM originally broadcast on 94.2 MHz FM

FM broadcasting

FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...

 from a studio on Middle Hillgate, with the transmitter and aerial at Goyt Mill in Marple

Marple, Greater Manchester

Marple is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Goyt southeast of Stockport.Historically part of Cheshire, Marple has a population of 23,480 .-Toponymy:...

 from November 1983 to February 1985 while it was unlicensed. Its name on the business board was Mersey Valley Electronics. KFM was functional by 1984 with a day-time line-up including DJ's

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 'Jumpin' Johnny Owen, Dave Starr, Simon Richards, Pete Smith, Big Al Rockwell, dodgy Kevin Webb, Rob Charles and Stevie 'Megamix

Megamix

A megamix is a medley remix containing multiple songs in rapid succession. There may be only one verse or even just a brief chorus of each song used, sometimes in addition to samples of the same or other songs. There may also be some elements of bastard pop in some, though not as much as a mashup...

' King (with Wilf the Weatherman) and Captain Flint to name but a few. The station got raided on quite a few occasions but soon was back on air.

KFM was unusual in that even though it originally launched as a pirate radio station, it broadcast test transmissions for a number of weeks prior to going live and was featured more than once on Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

's "Granada Reports

Granada Reports

Granada Reports is the flagship regional news programme of ITV franchisee Granada, presented by Tony Morris and Lucy Meacock, and serving the North West of England and the Isle of Man....

" news programme. The original transmissions were in mono only but they rapidly moved to stereo

STEREO

STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...

 output.

The station was created by Alastair Bates and Charles Turner who both also presented weekend shows. Other members of the pioneer team were Steve Ridgway and Phil Platt http://www.phil-platt.com from the band 'The Ride' who had a recording studio called RMS (Ride Music Studios). The whole concept was created by Charles Turner, who built the first KFM transmitter. This was unusual for a pirate station as the transmitter was a frequency synthesiser design. Phil Platt was involved in the early musical production and wrote, recorded, played and sang all the early KFM jingles which were done at The Ride Bands RMS Studios in Hazel Grove.

The first broadcasts were test transmissions from pub car parks and the tops of local hills such as Werneth Low and Lantern Wood near Bowstonegate Farm in Higher Disley not done from Higher Hillgate nor were they transmitted from Goyt Mill as stated above, Transmissions from Middle Hillgate and Goyt Mill came much later and the earliest broadcasts preceded 1983, the first broadcasts were actually tranmitted from a radio mast at Bowstonegate Farm in Lyme Park, they were initially 2 hours and were pre recorded at Ride Music Studio's and other secret locations on to a Revox B77 reel to reel then transferred to the boot of a car which was then parked up at a pub car park near Disley, The broadcast of only two hours at a time made it difficult for government departments to track down, much of the above facts were buried by the passage of time.

Some have believed that Charles Turner did a deal with the DTI that if he took the pirate KFM off the air the DTI would give him a licence to run legally once they were handed out, in other words all the other applicants for these new licences to run new local radio stations were dead in the water as Turner already had it all sown up. In reality licences were awarded by the then Independent Broadcasting Authority, not the enforcement arm of the DTI and full reasons for the decision were made public at the time. Arguably though, because of his previous experience, Turner was in a better position than others to demonstrate interest shown in the area for a radio station.

Its following grew rapidly and the station changed its studio location to Goyt Mill with a state-of-the-art studio. It was reputed to be one of the early pioneers of "Community Radio" and was the only station who played local bands. They were eventually raided off the air by the Department of Trade and Industry who enforced the Wireless Telegraphy Act

Wireless Telegraphy Act

Wireless Telegraphy Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the Republic of Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom relating to wireless telegraphy....

 which made it illegal to broadcast without a licence.

One of its early DJs and initial programme controller was Steve Toon, who also used to present live music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 under the KFM aegis at the Brookfield Hotel. After becoming licenced it was an indie music station of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and featured Terry Christian

Terry Christian

Terry Christian is a British television and radio presenter whose credits include Channel 4's late night Youth Entertainment show The Word and ITV1 moral issues talk show It's My Life...

, Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine...

, Caroline Aherne

Caroline Aherne

Caroline Mary Aherne is an English comedian and BAFTA winning writer and actress, best known for Mrs Merton and The Royle Family.- Background :...

, Neil Cossar, Joe Patricks , Spence MacDonnald and Craig Cash

Craig Cash

Craig Cash is an English comedy actor, BAFTA award-winning writer and also a director.-Biography:Cash is best known for playing slightly dull and dopey working-class northern men, particularly Dave Best in the hugely successful BBC sitcom The Royle Family, which he co-wrote with Caroline Aherne...

 in its line up (although, with the exception of Joe Patricks and Craig Cash, none of these were actually at the station in its halcyon days).

Despite critical acclaim in its legal days it failed commercially and Charles Turner sold the licence to Signal Radio. It became Signal Cheshire, ownership was again transferred to UTV Radio

UTV Radio

UTV Radio is a UK media company, and owner of several radio stations in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is a growing branch of UTV Media....

 and now broadcasts as Imagine FM

Imagine FM

Imagine FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Stockport broadcasting to South Manchester and Cheshire in the North West of England.-History:...

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External links

• http://www.northwestradio.info/memories/kfm.htm
• http://www.robcharles.com

http://www.phil-platt.com