Back to Anthony's Radio Pages Starforce FM -
the history
Starforce FM rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Phase 42,
which was burgled in early February 1997. In that burglary about
£2500 worth of equipment was taken, including about 1000 CDs,
from the studio shed. The transmitting gear, and some of the less
saleable items were left behind. This and other factors later led
Anthony to form a paranoid conspiracy theory regarding the raid which
ended Starforce FM's life - but facts and other "circumstantial
evidence" have led Anthony to doubt that the original suspect "grass"
was the actual grass.
Anthony first discovered the
burglary at 5am, as he was setting off to work. He immediately reported
it to the Police. Although he had second thoughts at the time, he
decided that - with the station off-air - no actual offence was being
committed at the time.
The Police arrived that morning, and took fingerprints etc. More
evidence was to come to light when discarded CDs - belonging to Anthony
- were discovered by friends near Bumpmill Pond. Soon afterwards, a bag
full of CDs and Vibealite tapes was fished out of Bumpmill Pond.
About a month later, the Police caught one of the burglars - who
had been bragging about the burglary and, apparently, making fun of
Anthony’s speech disability. Several CDs were discovered at
his house.
Some good news was soon to come for Anthony. His
insurance company paid out £2000 for the stolen gear - some
of which went on massively improving security for the studio, the rest
went on new studio gear and CDs.
But before Phase 42 could return, another
"hurricane" was to hit this radio station. Several of the DJs who were
on Anthony’s yard (where the studio was situated) had been making
a noise, annoying some of the neighbours. The neighbours in question
(who will remain nameless) over-reacted to what was nothing more than a
bit of noise, in the afternoon, and threatened to phone the Police
– whose attention we did not want to attract!
So a change of plan took place. Anthony decided to run the station on his own, and started live broadcasts under the name of Starforce FM. The first test broadcast took place on a Tuesday evening, and was followed by regular Friday night broadcasts. It seemed to become quite popular, with people phoning in - allegedly asking for requests - from as far away as Chesterfield. Sadly, this was sometimes a cruel act - one of the people who acted very friendly while phoning in, is believed to have betrayed Starforce FM to the DTI. On a more positive note, however, the mix of hardcore rave (such as Vibealite), not often heard on the radio, made it popular with kids - as did music for younger listeners such as Smurfs Go Pop.
News from Socialist Worker
was broadcast at 5 minutes past the hour, with Paul Hardcastle "King
Tut" as a ‘news bed’. Political broadcasts against issues
such as curfews on kids (a Saturday night special broadcast was
dedicated to this issue) also became a popular alternative to the
mainstream radio news. Throughout the broadcasts, especially after
midnight, there was on-air rivalry between Anthony (DJ Comrade) and his
brother (nWo). It was good fun while it lasted ...
On Friday 14th November, Starforce FM
started broadcasting at 19:50 with the song Ecuador. Half way into the
song, a knock was heard on the door. Anthony opened the door, expecting
it to be his brother, Neil. It wasn’t his brother. The DTI had
arrived.
He saw a police officer, dressed in a fluorescent
yellow jacket. His first reaction was to stick his hands up, but the
copper told him not to panic. (‘Easy for him to say’,
thought Anthony). Another copper plus 2 Leeds DTI men - one of whom was
called Mr. Wain - entered the studio as Anthony left. All the equipment
- a Realistic mixer, 2 CD players, 2 tape ddecks, 2 disco record decks,
an amplifier, 500+ CDs, 200+ records, several tapes were all bundled
into plastic bags and carried away to the DTI van. Curiously enough,
the coppers did not seem too hostile, and one even passed Anthony his
fags - which he needed by now! One of the coppers suggested that
Anthony change his DJ name from Comrade to "Chucker", as he had
chucked a lot of expensive gear away.
They then went to the transmitter shed, a converted
outdoor bog on the same yard. (This is a throwback to when Anthony used
to work for BBC Transmission, who had the transmitter and studio in
different locations!) Anthony gave the keys, rather than have the
door forcibly opened. There they took the Veronica FM 12W TX, power
supply, stereo encoder, small mixer and auto-reverse cassette deck.
They left behind the antenna (from Veronica FM), RF power / SWR meter,
and various audio leads with RF chokes.
Meanwhile Anthony was interviewed in the shed by Mr
Wain. He admitted to running, installing and operating the station - to
keep his brother out of trouble, and avoid them raiding his house. He
was asked if the station took any advertising, and replied that no paid
adverts took place. But unpaid, unsolicited adverts took place for
events of interest to listeners, notably the Vibealite Teens raves.
During the interview, one of the other DTI / Police removed the plug
supplying electricity to the studio shed, where Anthony was being
interviewed ! (although this was soon restored). After the interview,
Anthony was warned that he may be prosecuted under the Wireless
Telegraphy Act.
The DTI and Police then left - left the shed in a mess, to be
exact. And Anthony went to a local pub, and had rather a lot to drink.
This, along with sarcastic comments from some of the people there about
him deserving to be raided, led him to his next stupid mistake. On his
way home, he became like an irate Klingon (sorry, wrong sci-fi TV
series ...) and banged on the door of the house of someone who he had
suspected - very wrongly - of being the "grass". The Police arrived
soon after, and Anthony went home rather than risk spending a night in
the "Jack Straw youth club", sorry, jail.
The next day, after selling Socialist Worker
in Chesterfield town centre, some fellow SWP comrades (James and
Jeannie - real names) passed Anthony onto a solicitor in Mansfield.
Danny was a fellow comrade, and had successfully (legally) defended
striking miners during the 1984 miners’ strike. He was very
sympathetic, although he admitted that he had not come across many
radio-law related cases, and promised to do what he could.
Things did slowly improve thereafter. First, Anthony
got a letter from Derbyshire Police saying that Gamma and an accomplice
in the burglary, who we will call Brownkegs, had been convicted and
sentenced to 16 hours community service.
Anthony then got a letter from his solicitor saying
that the DTI had decided not to press charges, and that Anthony would
instead be formally cautioned. So in early February, Anthony was
cautioned by Leeds DTI chief Mr Spitalhouse. Mr Spitalhouse told
Anthony that he was very lucky to have been cautioned, for two reasons
(everything seems to have two reasons nowadays ...). The first was that
pirate radio is considered to be a serious offence, with very few
cautions. Mr Spitalhouse described how one station in Sheffield run by
students (he didn’t mention the name) caused interference on the
aircraft band. This is very serious, and can spread for miles because
of the very long ‘line of sight’ in the sky. The second was
that, as Anthony had previously worked for BBC Transmission, he should
have known the risks associated with illegal broadcasting.
Apparently, the DTI had received a complaint of interference from "very close" to the Starforce FM transmitter.
Strange considering that none of Anthony’s immediate neighbours
suffered interference, nor was any item of equipment in the house
affected by interference. At the time there was also interference to
Bolsover Hospital - although that was, according to Mr Spitalhouse, not
caused by Starforce FM.
Anthony then asked about the possibility of having
some of his gear returned, especially the CDs and records. Mr
Spitalhouse replied that it is DTI policy to confiscate all equipment
involved in the running of a pirate radio station. CDs, records and
other audio sources are classed as part of the station because, unless
the DJ was "a very good talker", nobody would listen to the station if
it didn’t play music. If Anthony was to oppose the confiscation,
the DTI would seek a court order to get the items confiscated. This
would probably mean legal bills for Anthony, whether or not he won the
case and got the gear returned. So he decided, instead, to sign a form
allowing the DTI to confiscate the equipment.
Epilogue
Despite Starforce and Anthony having been off the air since 1997, it was only in 2005 that the grass was "more or less confirmed" following a bitter and protracted on-line flame war. To set the record straight, Anthony would like to make clear that the (now virtually confirmed) grass does not come from Clowne, and he would like to apologise to two people from Clowne who he has - in the immediate period following the raid - wrongly blamed for grassing Starforce to the DTI.
The grass is understood to live in Chesterfield, and to have lived in Chesterfield at the time of Starforce broadcasting and at the time of the raid. He is understood to have been an adult at the time. His motives are believed to have been a mixture of career advancement and disability prejudice.
The grass has since had his come-uppance, in a round-about way ;-)
On a more positive note, Anthony has since returned to broadcasting occasionally, using the Pirate Radio Network and associated software.