Artwork by Take Me Back Pirate Radio Archives. Recorded on Sat 3rd Apr 1994. In the early 90s, Unity FM began broadcasting from Romford, in East London, as a Hardcore rave pirate radio station. Big Up the all the original Unity FM 88.4 crew: DJ BarnOwl, DJ Scoobie (Mark Ruff Ryder (Strictly Underground Records)), DJ Paranoia, DJ A-Sides, DJ Steph, DJ Ivan, DJ Danny B, DJ Technician, DJ M.G., DJ Taz, DJ Jappa, DJ Infinity, DJ Mania, DJ Stream, DJ Do "E", DJ Paul Kelly, DJ Warlock, DJ Simon Hanson, DJ Big Byte, DJ The Industrialist, DJ Dave Lambert, DJ Steve Barnett, DJ Steve Johnson, DJ Dave Anthony, DJ Chris Woods, DJ Trixter, DJ KP, DJ Surreal, DJ Subliminal, DJ Dale Roberts, DJ GTR (DJ George The Raver), MC Swifty, MC Paranoia...
The 88.4FM dial would later be occupied by the Jungle pirate radio station, Conflict FM where many of former Unity FM DJs featured on it. Unity FM was based around the Romford East London area and they were known for running events like: Unity @Charmers, and, Hardcore Hellraiser @Charmers, which were broadcast on air live. They worked with Mark Ryder's Strictly Underground Records, promoting the releases of: Strictly Hardcore Illegal Rave! (The Compilation 1991 - 1992), Strictly Underground II - The Second Compilation, Illegal Pirate Radio, Illegal Pirate Radio II, Hardcore Junglistic Fever Vol. 1, Hardcore Junglistic Fever Vol. 2, and many other tape pack and CD compilations.
The legendary Mark "Ruff" Ryder was also known as DJ Scoobie and DJ Dubz. In 1988, he began his career as Acid House DJ and producer making his mark producing under the names Raven Maze, Masters of The Universe, Shy boys and more notably as part of collective M-D-Emm, teaming up with Dave Lee (Z Records) and Emmanuel Cheal. The letter M was short for Mark, the letter D was short for Dave and Emm was abbreviation of Emmanuel. Together they produced some epic Acid House anthems like: "Fanning The Flames", "Get Acidic", "Playin' With Fire", "Get Busy" (It's Party Time), "Get Hip To This!" featuring Nasih and many other classic tracks of the warehouse rave era. By the early 90s Mark Ryder played an instrumental role in the production Hardcore breakbeat music and Jungle music on his record label Strictly Underground Records. He played sets on Unity FM 88.4, Conflict FM 88.4, Quest FM 107.9, Force FM 106.4 and several other pirate radio stations in the London's Eastend and Essex. Also starting his own successful promotions company "Double Dipped" which saw the coming together of the mega rave event "Ravealation" in the early 90s which took London by storm, filling venues with white glove ravers Ravedome (Houslow), The Power House (Stratford), and, Wembley Entertainment Centre. Ravealation also teamed up with another successful event called "Elevation".
In the late 90s, Ryder crossed over to the UK Garage scene producing several tracks on his label Strictly Underground. In 1999, releasing the hit track "Joy" featuring Special MC. In 2000, "Joy" was signed by Relentless Records (part of Sony Music Entertainment) and commercially released in the UK Dance Singles Charts reaching No.1 and also the Pop Charts reaching no.34, on 31st March 2001.
Also releasing a successful live recording CD called "101% Speed Garage Anthems". Ryder helped support the career of MC Vapour recording a track with him, in 2000 called, "Move Your Body" which helped excel and get recognition.
Out to all the London FM pirates of the past. Although they aren’t about now their contribution to the British music industry and to the London music scene has been immense. Here's a list of some of our most loved pirate radio stations in frequency order from 1989-2006:
Flava FM 87.6 / Shine FM 87.9 / Rude FM 88.2 / Impact FM 88.2 / Centreforce FM 88.3 / Unity FM 88.4 / Conflict FM 88.4 / Ice FM 88.4 / London Underground FM 89.4 / Defection FM 89.4 / Raw FM 90.0 / Raw Mission 90.0 / Raw Blaze FM 90.0 / Pure Magic FM 90.2 / Pulse FM 90.6 / Chicago FM 90.6 / Mission FM 90.6 / Y2K FM 90.6 / Rinse FM 91.8 / Passion FM 91.8 / Weekend Rush FM 92.3 / Kik FM 92.3 / Deja Vu FM 92.3 / Weekend Rush FM 92.5 / Taste FM 92.5 / Mac FM 92.7 / Freeze FM 92.7 / Format FM 93.2 / Touchdown FM 94.1 / Stompin’ FM 94.2 / Kool FM 94.5 / Origin FM 95.2 / Entice FM 95.5 / Heat FM 96.6 / Rinse FM 97.6 / Flashback FM 97.6 / Cyndicut FM 97.8 / Shake FM 98.0 / Fantasy FM 98.1 / Fantasy FM 98.6 / Future FM 99.1 / Upfront FM 99.3 / Rinse FM 100.3 / Pressure FM 100.4 / Don FM 100.5 / Eruption FM 101.3 / Erotic FM 101.3 / Industry FM 101.3 / Freek FM 101.8 / Temptation FM 102.4 / Chillin’ FM 102.9 / Delight FM 103.0 / Flex FM 103.6 / Smoove FM 104.0 / Rude FM 104.3 / Ruud Awakening FM 104.3 / Don FM 105.7 / Shadow FM 106.5 / Force FM 106.5 / Girls FM 106.8 / Dream FM 107.0 / Risk FM 107.1 / Freedom FM 107.3 / Dream FM 107.6 / Don FM 107.9.
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