Radio Jackie is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

, England broadcasting news, popular hits, and local information to South-West

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and North Surrey from its studios in

Tolworth Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Long Ditton, New Malden, Kingston, Surbiton, Berrylands, Hinchley Wood, ...

History

Radio Jackie began as a pirate station first broadcasting in March 1969. Jackie broadcast on the 1525 kHz frequency and soon became one of the most popular pirate stations in the country. It changed frequency several times, settling on 1332 kHz in 1978 when the new European frequency guidelines were implemented. From February 1971, it also broadcast on FM on 94.4 MHz every Saturday evening. By the early 1980s, Radio Jackie had become a 24-hour-a-day local station with studios in

Worcester Park Worcester Park is a suburban town in South West London, England. It lies in the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Epsom and Ewell. The area is southwest of Charing Cross. The suburb's population was ...

and a shop in

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester ...

. It employed full-time staff, was VAT-registered and had an entry in the phone directory—a very public operation for an illegal broadcaster. The station had huge public support with local borough councils and MPs supporting its wish to gain a licence. In 1972, a recording of the station was even played in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at the committee stage of the Sound Broadcasting Bill, as an example of what local radio could sound like. In the mid-1980s, however, new laws meant that the days of pirate stations were numbered, and as one of the highest-profile stations Radio Jackie was an early target. Despite huge local protests the station ceased broadcasting on 4 February 1985. At the time it was south west London's second most popular station.

Licence

Ten years after their pirate radio closedown, in 1996, Tony Collis made efforts to bring the station back as a legal broadcaster when the South-West London licence was advertised. A detailed set of plans were produced with a lot of community content, but the Radio Authority (now Ofcom) awarded Thames the licence on 107.8 FM. Over the years Thames Radio, as it was later renamed, fell into financial difficulty, and in 2003, the Radio Authority gave the original chairman Tony Collis permission to make a bid for the station. He purchased Thames Radio and Radio Jackie was relaunched on 107.8 MHz on Sunday 19 October 2003. The first song played was The Cars - 'Heartbeat City' because the chorus contains the lyrics 'Oh Jacki what took you so long'. The first on air presenter was ex-Radio Atlantis presenter Dave Owen, who was the last presenter on Radio Jackie when the station closed down in 1985, with BBC Radio 2 DJ David Jacobs installed as chairperson. Radio Jackie, Putney, London, 2016 03

Radio Jackie transmits from the top of Tolworth Tower.

Legacy

Radio Jackie celebrated 50 years since first broadcasting in March 2019.

References

External links

Official Site

Radio Jackie Photo Archive: The first three pages also have a chronology of the half-century it took for legal independent radio
{{London radio Radio stations in London Radio stations in Surrey Radio stations established in 1969 Former pirate radio stations Pirate radio stations in the United Kingdom