Thank you for sharing this. Touches the heart in two different aspects. Recording radio shows on tapes and listening them with players and shitty earphones before CDs/mp3 players were a thing. Still thankful to my young self for the amount of weird and awesome music.. And then obviously junglist massive. Big up!
The acquisition by Rinse was a real shock. I'd spent years listening to a proper pirate station over the internet (I was too far from the actual transmitters in London) and being part of a chatroom…and it was all taken away without warning. From memory, it really upset me. This station and its ethos was such a part of my life for so long, and it just…went away.
As I understand it, Rinse cherry-picked the Kool London DJs they wanted to continue, and a notable number of the remaining talent went on to form / join Underground Bass[1], get a stream online[2], and get on with things. A lot of the behind-the-scenes folks also went to UB, and the DIY spirit lives on.
I recognise around 10 of the current Rinse Kool roster from the Kool London era, and around 20 of the current Underground Bass roster are from the Kool London era.
Thank you for sharing this. Touches the heart in two different aspects. Recording radio shows on tapes and listening them with players and shitty earphones before CDs/mp3 players were a thing. Still thankful to my young self for the amount of weird and awesome music.. And then obviously junglist massive. Big up!
Long-time Kool London listener here.
The acquisition by Rinse was a real shock. I'd spent years listening to a proper pirate station over the internet (I was too far from the actual transmitters in London) and being part of a chatroom…and it was all taken away without warning. From memory, it really upset me. This station and its ethos was such a part of my life for so long, and it just…went away.
As I understand it, Rinse cherry-picked the Kool London DJs they wanted to continue, and a notable number of the remaining talent went on to form / join Underground Bass[1], get a stream online[2], and get on with things. A lot of the behind-the-scenes folks also went to UB, and the DIY spirit lives on.
I recognise around 10 of the current Rinse Kool roster from the Kool London era, and around 20 of the current Underground Bass roster are from the Kool London era.
[1] https://www.undergroundbass.uk
[2] https://listen.undergroundbass.com:8804/stream