In August 1989, Mystery Man launched London's second rave station, Fantasy FM.
Fantasy FM London Playlist: [ Ссылка ]

Fantasy FM started broadcasting from North London in August 1989 on 98.6 FM. They played Acid, Rave & Hardcore music, all of which was massive at the time, and was also dominating the mainstream music charts too, during the time Fantasy was on air.

Centreforce FM Playlist: [ Ссылка ]

Kenny Ken | Centreforce 88.3 FM | 1989
[ Ссылка ]

When they first came on air, Fantasy were broadcasting on 98.6 FM from East-End tower blocks. Early in 1990 they moved to 98.1, where they remained until the station closed. More consistent in sound across its output than earlier dance stations, DJs played house, techno, acid house and the growing number of UK house releases that can now be seen as the first roots of hardcore and jungle. An early recruit was DJ Hype, who had both fantastic deck skills and an impeccable ear for the tunes that were going to be big. Others included DJ Rap, DJ Spice, The Rhythm Doctor, DJ Krome, Evil O, Shadowfax, DJ Tek, DJ Vibes, DJ Massive and DJ Tricks. There were guest shows from Baby Ford, Mr C of The Shamen and Aphex Twin under the name DJ Ace.

Easy D & MC Rush | Fantasy 101.9 FM, Sheffield | February 1992
[ Ссылка ]

Fantasy-FM closed down in 1991. The station had plans to broadcast legally via cable or satellite radio (where later pirate Green Apple Radio became the first legal rave station) but these seem to have come to nothing.

During the early part of 1990, Fantasy changed frequency to 98.1 FM, which would remain their spot on the FM dial until they closed down in 1991. The reason for them closing down was so they could start broadcasting on Cable TV, which was new here in the UK at the time and was also carrying radio stations, although this plan never materialised in the end. They were also planning to apply for some new incremental FM licenses that the government at the time were due to advertise.

Fantasy had many DJ’s such as Hype, Krone, Rap, Spice, Tek and The Mystery Man. All the presenters had their own styles, some preferred to mix live on air with very little speech, others you’re more standard type of presenter, reading out requests/shout-outs etc, most of which came in via pager at the time.

Fantasy also used to hold rave nights at the Astoria nightclub in Charing Cross, London WC2. Some of the DJ’s who played at these events were Fabio & Grooverider, Colin Favor & Randall, as well as Fantasy DJ’s. These Rave nights carried on after the station had closed down in 1991.

Read more about Fantasy FM in the new book London's Pirate Pioneers.

#pirateradio #ukravers #ravemusic

свернуть