Rinse FM is a

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 ...

-based

community radio station Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcas ...

, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep,

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

, UK funky and other

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

genres popular in the United Kingdom. The station was founded in 1994 and operated as a pirate radio station until it was awarded a broadcast licence in June 2010. Rinse FM has been described as London's biggest pirate radio station. It provided first exposure to grime artists

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...

and Wiley and later provided a home for dubstep DJs such as Skream, Kode9, and

DJ Oneman Steven Bishop (born 1986), known professionally as Oneman, is a DJ and producer from Streatham, London. His background is in pirate radio and he is a regular DJ on Rinse FM. Oneman's DJ sets typically blend dubstep, hip hop, grime, UK funky and ...

. DJ Geeneus is the station's head.

History

Early years

Founded by DJ Geeneus and

DJ Slimzee Dean Fullman (born 20 June 1978), best known by his stage name DJ Slimzee, is an English DJ who currently hosts a show on Rinse FM, returning from his previous show on NTS. He is best known for his show on pirate radio station Rinse FM in the e ...

, Rinse FM's first broadcast was in September 1994. For a three-year period in the early days of the station the Rinse studio was hosted in DJ Slimzee's house. In its early years the station mainly played

with a particular focus on MCs, a direction which set Rinse apart from competing stations. At the time the station broadcast from secret, makeshift locations such as kitchens and bedrooms belonging to friends and DJs, constantly moving between these locations to avoid getting shut down by authorities. Its first broadcast was made from Ingram House in Tower Hamlets, London. This continued to a lesser extent throughout the 16 years during which Rinse was a pirate radio station. Kool FM was the leading pirate radio station within the jungle scene, and it wasn't until Rinse changed its focus to the emerging garage scene around 1998–1999 that it gained a substantial following, thanks to the darker sound that it brought from its jungle days. Into the early 2000s, the station became critical for emergence and development of the genres grime and dubstep., and was managed during this time by DJ Uncle Dugs. Rinse broadcast on the frequency of 100.3/100.4FM for the majority of its unlicensed years on air. Radio 1 DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

recommended the station in 2004, stating that: :When I'm in London I listen to the pirates as much as I can. There's a station I like called Rinse FM, which is somewhere in the area banded by .e. between the frequencies of Kiss FM and Classic FM. In April 2005

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

disconnected a Rinse FM radio transmitter and Dean Fullman, known on air as

, received an ASBO, believed to be the first of its kind, banning him from every rooftop in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

FM licence

As of August 2007 the station was seeking a legal FM licence. Rinse FM created a petition which received hundreds of supporters within less than a week, including some from countries other than the UK. At the time, the station's owner DJ Geeneus said: "We don't want to be legal to play stupid adverts and make loads of money from advertising. We want to be legal to say: look at our scene, look at what we're doing. We're a business, we're not criminals. We're supplying something that no one else is supplying, and we're professional." Rinse FM was awarded a community FM broadcast licence by Ofcom in June 2010 for frequency 106.8 FM. It commenced broadcasting legally on 7 February 2011. The station is presently managed by Sarah Lockhart. As part of its community broadcasting remit, Rinse FM is engaged in training young people in broadcasting skills who are considered marginalised, even working with children who are in

Pupil Referral Unit In the UK, a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) (previously known as Pupil Re-integration Unit by some Local Education Authorities) is an alternative education provision which is specifically organised to provide education for children who are not able to a ...

s. These are units for persistent truants and people with

special educational needs Special educational needs (SEN), also known as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the United Kingdom refers to the education of children who require different education provision to the mainstream system. Definition The definiti ...

DJs and presenters

DJs and presenters to have appeared on Rinse include: * Alexander Nut * Anti Social (Jay 5ive, Silkie, Kromestar) *

Artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

* Benga * Ben UFO * Boy Better Know * Caspa * dBridge *

DJ Chef DJ Chef, also known as Chefal, is a dubstep DJ from South London. XLR8R has called him "One of U.K. pirate radio’s biggest dubstep DJs". He is an employee of Transition Mastering Studio, which XLR8R called "dubstep’s most renowned acetate-cu ...

* DJ Distance * Fabio &

Grooverider Raymond Bingham (born 16 April 1967 in Streatham, London, England), better known as Grooverider, is a British drum and bass DJ. He and DJ partner Fabio are regarded as "originators" of the scene.

* DJ Flight * DJ Geeneus *

DJ Hatcha Terry Leonard, better known as DJ Hatcha or simply Hatcha, is a South London producer and DJ notable for his seminal work in the musical genre dubstep. He is divorced from defected DJ Sam Divine. He had a regular show on the prominent pirate rad ...

DJ Ron A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

* DJ Spoony *

DJ Shax A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

DJ Zinc Benjamin Pettit (born 12 March 1972), better known as DJ Zinc, is a British DJ and record producer. Zinc first became known for 1995's "Super Sharp Shooter", a hip hop/jungle fusion, notably one of the pioneering jump-up anthems of its time. ...

* Elijah And Skilliam (Butterz) * Funk Butcher * Hessle Audio * Icicle * Jyoty * Josey Rebelle * Kismet * Kode9 *

Loefah Peter Livingston (born 8 September 1980), known professionally as Loefah, is one of the pioneering founders of dubstep most notable for his releases on one of the genre's founding labels, DMZ. Loefah started off collaborating with the Digital Mysti ...

Logan Sama Logan Sama is an English Grime DJ from Brentwood, Essex. He has appeared regularly throughout his career on radio stations Rinse, Kiss 100 and BBC Radio 1. He also currently runs the record labels Adamantium Music, Earth616 and KeepinItGrim ...

* Marcus Nasty * Mark Radford *

Newham Generals Newham Generals are a grime duo from East London, currently consisting of MCs D Double E and Footsie. They are best known for their singles "Frontline", "Hard" and "Like It Or Not" as well as their live performances. The group was founded in ...

* N Type * Norwood Soul Patrol * Oneman * Paleface * Pangaea * Pay As U Go * Pearson Sound *

Plastician Chris Reed (born 30 October 1982), also known as Plastician (formerly Plasticman), is an electronic musician from Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon. History Plastician, real name Chris Reed is a DJ from Croydon in South London. H ...

* P Money * Roska *

Royal-T Mark Taylor, professionally known as Royal-T, is a British UK garage, bassline and grime DJ and music producer from Southampton. He is signed to Butterz and Rinse Recordings. Taylor was spotted in 2010 by Butterz label founders Elijah and Skil ...

Scratcha DVA Scratcha DVA also known as DJ Scratcha, DVA i; Emotions'', Scratchclart and DVA is a British electronic musician, producer and DJ often associated with DVA Music, Hyperdub and Rinse FM. His debut album, '' Pretty Ugly'' (2012) and second album, ...

Skepta Chief Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British-Nigerian grime MC, rapper and record producer. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became foundin ...

* Skream * SK Vibemaker * Supa D * Spyro * The Clairvoyants * Stamina MC * Uncle Dugs * Wiley * Youngsta

Rinse Recordings

The station first released music under the Rinse Recordings imprint in 2003. Currently, the label releases albums and singles from a roster of signed artists as well as mix CDs from DJs associated with the station. The label first saw chart success when

Katy B Kathleen Anne Brien (born 8 May 1989), better known as Katy B, is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut studio album, '' On a Mission'', in 2011, which spawned two top five hits, "Katy on a Mission" and " Lights On". In 2014 ...

released "

Katy on a Mission "Katy on a Mission" is a song performed by British recording artist Katy B. It was released by Rinse accompanied by a B-side titled "Louder" as her debut single and lead single from her debut album, '' On a Mission'', on 22 August 2010. The son ...

" on the label in 2010. Currently signed acts include P Money, Katy B,

Novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

, Roska and

. DJs who have released mix albums for Rinse Recordings include Skream,

, Kode9 and Elijah and Skilliam. With the release of the 23rd mix CD (mixed by Richy Ahmed), Rinse has stated that it broadens the concept to include non-residents of the station. The label went on to release Katy B's chart-topping album '' Little Red'' and Route 94's chart-topping single " My Love" in 2014.

Discography

Mix/compilation albums

* Rinse 01 - Geeneus (2007) * Rinse 02 - Skream (2007) * Rinse 03 - Supa D (2008) * Rinse 04 -

(2008) * Rinse 05 - Paleface (2008) * Rinse 06 -

(2008) * Rinse 07 - Spyro (2009) * Rinse 08 - Alexander Nut (2009) * Rinse 09 - N Type (2009) * Rinse 10 - Marcus Nasty (2009) * Rinse 11 - Oneman (2010) * Rinse 12 - Kismet (2010) * Rinse 13 - ''no release'' * Rinse 14 - Youngsta (2011) * Rinse 15 - Roska (2011) * Rinse 16 - Ben UFO (2011) * Rinse 17 - Elijah And Skilliam (2011) * Rinse 18 - Mark Radford (2012) * Rinse 19 - Icicle (2012) * Rinse 20 - Uncle Dugs (2012) * Rinse 21 - T.Williams (2012) * Rinse 22 - Kode9 (2013) * Rinse 23 - Richy Ahmed (2013) * Various - "Dubstep Drama - OST" (2007) * Various - "I Love Dubstep" (2008) * Various - "I Love Funky" (2010) * Various - "I Love Grime" (2012)

Artists singles/albums

* Geeneus - "Volumes 1" (2008) * Roska - "Roska" (2010) / "Roska 2" (2012) *

- "On A Mission" / "Lights On" (2010) *

- "Presents Royal-T" (2012) * Faze Miyake - Faze Miyake (2015)

Internet radio

Rinse began streaming its shows online in 2006. All shows are available both on the website and

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. Rinse has maintained a station on Dash Radio since 2016.

Rinse France

In February 2014, Rinse launched Rinse France based in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Legacy

The station has been described as London's biggest pirate radio station and "without doubt the world's leading grime station." Writing for ''

FACT A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scie ...

'' magazine in 2007, Simon Hampson stated: "Without Rinse, Grime and Dubstep would be very different: indeed, it’s fair to say that they might not even exist at all." Rinse celebrated its 20th birthday in 2014.

References

External links

*
Rinse FranceRinse
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinse Fm Dance radio stations Former pirate radio stations Radio stations in London Radio stations established in 1994 Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Pirate radio stations in the United Kingdom Grime music UK garage