It all started way back in 1982, our town had no local radio station commercial or BBC and the future looked bleak.
There was only one thing to do, give the town a kick up the butt, Four or five like minded friends decided to go it alone and start their own radio station. A nice idea but as most of them were unemployed and had little money to spare, one problem stood in the way WHERE WAS THE EQUIPMENT COMING FROM?
With a little thought and searching through loft spaces, the basics were found. Two old BSR record decks, and two cassette recorders. Now all that was needed was a mixer and a transmitter system, The first problem was resolved by the purchasing of a small cheap mono 4 channel mixer.
There was now a studio basic but it worked, Still there was the problem of a transmitter. With the help of a friend, of a friend, Some one with the know how to make such a sought after piece of vital equipment was found. The little silver coloured box was not cheap, but who gives a damn it was needed. The transmitter was ordered and delivered 3 weeks later, Set to a frequency of 94.2 Mhz FM.
Meetings were held at the local meeting house (a pub with good beer) to think up a name for the new station, After much drinking, I mean thinking and discussing the station ID was decided. WCR was to be the new station to listen to in the town (well at the weekends).
As with most pirate (have no licence) stations, a suitable transmission site in the middle of no where had to be found (so that the good guys had a hard job of finding them). John Turner, Paul Kay and Dave England (pictured here) found such a site, Nice and high and surrounded by trees. Great site! One problem, the station team would have to blend in with the herds of Sunday afternoon walkers that would ramble past a transmitter beaming programs into the town. Yes the site was ideal but also a favorite place for people who wanted to walk off their Sunday lunch. Still it all added to the excitement, Are these people just out for a walk or tracking down a naughty little radio station?
As you would guess, after walking up a hill through trees, nettles and bushes the station packed away in plastic bags and cardboard boxes needed to be unpacked and set up. Fortunately the same spot and even the same tree was used each time (thinking about it I'm sure even the same damn branch in that horrible little tree was used), which made it easy to leave things alone whilst it was up and running as all those involved knew exactly were to go if help was needed in a hurry.
It was decided that all output would be on cassette with two thoughts in mind.
1. With all programs on tape it was less for the DTI to confiscate if the station was tracked down.
2. It was almost impossible to find a good enough site to transmit from live and still cover a large area of the town.
The programs were recorded on to cassettes during the week at the home of station owner Dave England. This meant that all that was needed on site was the transmitter, the aerial, a cassette player, program cassettes and the car battery to power the transmitter. In the early days the station was to transmit for 4 hours every other week and soon had a fairly good following. The letters starting arriving soon after WCR's first transmission which was Easter Sunday 1982, also the 18th birthday of the Grand mother of radio, Radio Caroline.
As the station was controlled by Dave England it was decided that as the transmitter was his, and so was the aerial, he had better be in charge of tree climbing and placing the aerial in it's position (well he needed the exercise). It was felt that he would have a sense of guilt if he made some one else do the erecting and also the fact that no one wanted to climb that rather thin looking tree, Putting the pressure on poor old Dave (boy he was brave, the hero of the station).
So after the tree climbing it was time to switch on and adjust the frequency. It was always checked on site to make sure that we were spot on frequency. After all we thought that we were great, And to mention a frequency of 94.2 and be transmitting on 94.3 would be a real let down to our street cred.
The transmitter worked well and was not often off channel, but still we liked to make sure. Once this was done all was ready for the first program, and we were ready for a stewed cup of tea out of a flask.
Once the programs started the equipment was kept unattended although always in sight.
WR International is now into it's 15th year of broadcasting without a break of more than 1 month, A thing to be proud of I think.
You have just read a small brief history of the beginning of the station we now call WRI. Not only was there a change in ownership of the station but there was also the change from FM to shortwave and the addition of professional jingles all this and more is to come as the story of WR International unfolds.
Please visit again soon and let us know what you think.