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The Thameside Radio Story A radio revolution. When I was a teenager in the late 1970's the only national FM pop/rock station closed down at 7pm on Sundays. After BBC Radio 1 had played the Top 30 between 5pm and 7pm they would hand over to Radio 2 who played the Mike Samms signers - easy listening aimed at the over 60s. Ghastly. 7pm symbolised the end of the weekend; no more music, time for a meal, school tomorrow, Saturday's party already becoming a faint memory. It was with a feeling of disbelief that when I nudged the tuning dial - just next to Radio 1 was someone still playing proper music. Thameside Radio quickly caught my imagination and that of many other Londoners. We tuned to 90.2 just before 7pm every Sunday to catch the warm up music, the theme tune, the "Do you ever have difficulty finding a radio station playing music" jingle and then Thameside Radio who palayed our music. In addition there were listeners' letters, quizzes and events. It's true that Thameside was a pirate radio station, but they never behaved like one. They would always be on air at the right time, the technical quality was excellent and the DJs always had a friendly but professional approach. This is the story of Thameside Radio 90.2, the best radio station in London. The early days
This was no mean feat from the logistical, technical and risk viewpoint. The few other pirate stations were still using valve technology with each transmitter built by using whatever components were to hand and often constructed inside old biscuit tins. Thameside in contrast had its own high power solid state transmitters designed by Richard Courtenay using printed circuit boards for reliability in purpose built cases. Careful choice of the transmission sites also helped reception. The use of radio links for live broadcasts was also a first. Most other stations relied on pre-recording their shows and running the transmitters from a time switch.
During this year the London pirate movement had started to grow. However most of the stations had poorly constructed transmitters which caused interference. They would often goad the authorities on air. The people running the stations sometimes caused damage to the locations they transmitted from. As a result most London pirates were raided on a regular basis. All this time the regulatory authorities left Thameside alone. By not acting like pirate Thameside weren't treated like one. Years of success
The station's personality grew and matured. The Birdman's jingles added a sense of humour. Listeners could buy t-shirts and sweatshirts as well as car stickers, pens and badges. The music policy became more up to date. Slowly there were fewer Beatles tracks and more by bands in the new wave movement like Squeeze and Ultravox. Again in contrast to the other stations now filling the weekend airwaves Thameside was unashamedly populist. Most London pirates had an agenda to promote a particular type of music, usually soul, Thameside simply aimed to give it's listeners a good time. Alongside the improved content came an improvement in transmission power. Thameside now reached most of London and many areas to the south and west. In addition to the broadcasts Thameside ran a growing number of special events. For example there was a weekly "fast food survey" where listeners would meet at a fast food restaurant to review the quality of the food - the highlights were broadcast on air. They would promote bands and concerts. The news slot had an increasing number of personality interviews in addition to the light hearted news features presented by Sarah and Alex.
As Thameside became a more accepted part of the FM band they started to receive more attention from the DTI who were responsible for patrolling the airwaves. Every so often broadcasts would finish early because a transmitter had been "raided". Because the station used radio links to connect the studio to the transmitters, and could even change transmitters mid way through the broadcast they generally managed to avoid personal attention but simply lost equipment. However transmitters aren't cheap or quick to build - this was beginning to have an effect on the economics of the station. There were a number of new people such as Piers and Ian the engineer who were becoming involved in the technical side of the station. A high point was the fifth birthday party. Pervious parties had been broadcast live from the open air or from halls. This one was held on a boat cruising up and down the Thames. Not only was the atmosphere wonderful but the sheer technical achievement of linking from a moving boat to a fixed site was incredible. Even the BBC had problems broadcasting the Boat Race live on the Thames, but Thameside managed to pull it off.
DeclineHowever the growth in quantity was not matched by a growth in quality. The DJs began to sound less enthusiastic. After a while listener input began to drop off - there were fewer letters and special events. There was a growth in competition. Some of it came from the original members of Thameside who set up Hilltop Radio which pioneered the (now more common) "zoo" format in contrast to the personality DJ driven approach. Finally the BBC realised that there was a need for rock/pop shows on Sunday evenings and launched the Annie Nightingale Show on Radio 1 in direct competition to Thameside. Annie had exactly the same format as Thameside: strong listener involvement - especially through letters, an identical music policy and even used the same competitions and quizzes. Increasing numbers of raids meant that Thameside's legendary 100% reliability was no longer there. The presenters became less innovative and enthusiastic and the station gradually wound down. In one final blaze of glory Thameside pulled off another technical first - they set up the first pirate TV station. Broadcasting to north and west London Bob and Sarah ran a Christmas special and showed the Beatles Yellow Submarine. While this was a major technical feat, and received coverage in the national press it was a one-off. After that Thameside was no more. Where are they now?Given the professional approach that Thameside took it's no surprise that many of the people involved went on to work in the media. Last heard of:
This page has been based on talking with listeners and those involved, borrowing their tapes. (I'm amazed how many of us recorded the shows to share with our friends - just check out Radio Eric), RealAudio and mp3 files, digging out press cuttings, extensive Google searches and my own memories as a listener. However there is still a lot that I don't know; so if you have any memories, recordings, links or know where any of the people involved are now please e-mail me so I can update the site. Special thanks to (amongst others) , Carol H, Olaf S, Jessica D, Pyers E, Warren S Stephen S, Mike E, itrilby for Radio Eric and Dave "The Birdman". I didn't ask if you were happy to have your full names put up on the site so have stuck to forenames. I know that a lot of listeners and friends would like to get in touch with each other again. If you are happy to have e-mail forwarded do write in. Even if you don't have any new information it would be great to hear from you. Thanks (c) 2006 Links to other sites with Thameside and pirate memorabilia: There are more photos, jingles, clips etc. on the memorabilia page Radio Eric is brilliant - They play recordings of old London pirates which change every week - most weeks there is a Thameside recording. http://www.rockradio.freeserve.co.uk/ has the designs for the Thameside transmitters http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4915/index.html Howards Land Based Pirate Radio page (good stuff here!) Welcome to the ANORAK CORNER the home of PIRATE RADIO memories A Potted History of the London Pirates Bob Tomalski's old web site with lots of stuff about pirates of that era
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After
a number of daytime test transmissions Thameside began full time broadcasting
in the Winter of 1977. Initially these shows were just one hour long.
They were presented by Bob Edwards who had a dry, matter-of-fact style.
He played MOR pop with a Beatles record in every show. He also had listener
competitions (typical prizes - a 
One
of the early hints that there was more to Thameside than just the music
was their first outside broadcast. To celebrate their birthday they invited
listeners to a "birthday party" in Hyde Park. A large group
of listeners turned up at Lancaster Gate tube station. This was exciting enough - generally priates were fiercly anonymous. But instead of the
just the chance to simply meet fellow listeners and perhaps a DJ they
were surprised to discover that Bob had a microphone with him and was
presenting live, on-air, with the records being mixed in back in the studio.
Even
when not running outside broadcasts Thameside's technical facilities were
excellent. Their early 
After
the first year the shows grew to three hours. The final hour was called
The Intrepid Birdman Show. Dave (
The
Birdman attracted a number of new listeners who formed a fan club. Characters
like Mazzie, Margaret. Neil and the Latymer gang became regular contributors.
They supported not only The Birdman but also Bob and the station as a
whole. (Photo left shows Sarah, Bob and Alex with some
listeners letters large and small) Listeners would contribute
material including, notably, a complete set of professional theme tunes.
The special broadcasts became more common - some from public venues, some
from listeners' homes. 
Extended
hours also became a more common feature. The Birdman - always a maverick
- would tease listeners by announcing the end of his show and then carrying
on just before the end of the one minute silence that preceded the transmitter
automatically closing down. (photo: The Birdman using
the mobile studio)
After
the birthday the shows became longer. Instead of just running from 7-10pm
they would go past midnight. There were some technical firsts such as the memorable live linkup with Uptown Radio, another pirate. A number of new presenters such as Paul James, Terry Anderson
and The Curly Man appeared - and some old ones disappeared. The station
began to broadcast in stereo. (photo: Paul James and
Bob Edwards setting up a link aerial) 
