Back in the 1960’s several entrepreneurs set up unlicienced AM radio stations, on WWII-era flak towers in the Thames Estuary (presumably in international waters). I happened to see an old episode of Patrick McGoohan’s “SECRET AGENT”, which featured one of these. How long did these pirate stations operate for? Do some still exist?
Radio Caroline was the best-known, not least because many DJs moved on to legitimate mainstream radio. Radio London was another more legitimate setup, with John Peel among its broadcasters.
No, they don’t still exist, but pirate FM stations certainly do, especially in London, oriented around rap music. And again there’s a progression from pirate radio to commercial success, for people such as Dizzee Rascal.
Yes, pirate AM stations died off mostly when BBC started Radio 1 in 1968. This copied the format of the pirate stations and in fact employed many of the DJs who had worked for them.
Before the pirate stations started up in the UK, as a teenager your only resource for pop music was Radio Luxembourg , which had a studio in London and broadcast in English, using British DJs.
If you’re interested, Richard Curtis (Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, etc) has written – and is just about to start directing – a film on the subject, named The Boat That Rocked and starring Bill Nighy and Philip Seymour Hoffman.