 | |
| Broadcast area | London |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 101.4FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | House, drum & bass, dubstep, UK garage, old skool hardcore, reggae, soul |
| History | |
First air date |
|
| Links | |
| Webcast | www |
| Website | www |
Flex FM is a London-based community radio station, which originally started life as a pirate radio station. Flex broadcasts house, drum and bass, dubstep, UK garage, old skool hardcore, reggae and soul to London and surrounding areas on 101.4FM.
Flex was first established in 1992 as a breakaway station from Don FM and began broadcasting from Merton, South West London, on the frequency of 103.6FM. During that time, it followed the path of a number of other pirates in the capital of playing breakbeat hardcore, through jungle and drum and bass, onto UK garage, until it left the airwaves in 2003. [1] During this first period on-air, DJs, MCs and artists to have played on the station have included DJ Deekline (who scored a number 11 UK chart hit with "I Don't Smoke" in the summer of 2000), [2] MC Hyperactive, the Genius Cru (who had a top 20 UK chart hit with "Boom Selection" in early 2001), Billy Whizz, Lady Sovereign, Ed Rush, DJ Gunshot, Optical, Funky T, Donna Dee, LS, DJ Wise, and Paul Strobe.
After a hiatus, Flex returned in 2009 on 99.7FM, playing dubstep, UK funky, house as well as across its staple music genres. [3] DJs, MCs and artists to have appeared on this return have included MC Sparks, [4] Outlaw, DJ Carloss, Tempo, Nicky D, Truez, DJ Sollie, DJ Twiz, Hands Free, Al-B, Heny G, G Double, Jay 5ive (Antisocial), Selecta Primetime, Oliver Little, Smokey Bubblin B, and Andy Mills. [5]
In its latter days as a pirate station, Flex would feature in a special report on the BBC Newsnight programme, Inside the World of Pirate Radio, broadcast in August 2015. [6]
In October 2016, Flex applied for one of the forthcoming community licenses being advertised in London, [7] which would prove to be successful in its bid in May 2017. [8] In late 2017, it commenced fundraising for the building of new studios. [9]
Flex started broadcasting legally as a community station as of 1 July 2018, [10] with a roster of both original and new DJs and presenters. [11]
Drum and bass is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre grew out of the UK's jungle scene in the 1990s.
Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network.
Pirate radio in the United Kingdom has been a popular and enduring radio medium since the 1960s, despite expansions in licensed broadcasting, and the advent of both digital radio and internet radio. Although it peaked throughout the 1960s and again during the 1980s/1990s, it remains in existence today. Having moved from transmitting from ships in the sea to tower blocks across UK towns and cities, in 2009 the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom estimated more than 150 pirate radio stations were still operating.
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass. In the United Kingdom, the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s.
Drum and bass is an electronic music genre that originated in the UK rave scene having developed from breakbeat hardcore. The genre would go on to become one of the most popular genres of electronic dance music, becoming international and spawning multiple different derivatives and subgenres.
2-step garage, or simply 2-step, is a genre of electronic music and a subgenre of UK garage. One of the primary characteristics of the 2-step sound – the term being coined to describe "a general rubric for all kinds of jittery, irregular rhythms that don't conform to garage's traditional four-on-the-floor pulse" – is that the rhythm lacks the kick drum pattern found in many other styles of electronic music with a regular four-on-the-floor beat.
Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres popular in the United Kingdom.
Don FM was a 1990s London pirate radio station, influential in the development of breakbeat hardcore, jungle and drum and bass music. It was the first jungle pirate station granted a temporary legal license.
Radio Record is a Russian radio station that broadcasts on 106.3 FM from Saint Petersburg. It airs an electronic dance music format with primarily trance and house offerings now expanded to variety of different genres including Rock, Deep House, Future House, Dubstep.
Kane 103.7 FM, also known as Kane FM, is a UK local community radio station, broadcasting on FM and online across Guildford in Surrey and in the surrounding areas.
Deekline is a British producer and DJ of breakbeat, breakstep, drum and bass and garage music. He is the innovator of breakstep music which is bass-heavy, breakbeat-infused 2-step, first characterised in his 1999 hit "I Don't Smoke", which reached No. 11 on the UK charts. He is the owner of Rat Records, which has released material of such artists as DJ Fresh, Jack Beats, Stanton Warriors, Wiley, Skinny Man, Rennie Pilgrem, House Breakers and Freq Nasty. Deekline has also had notable collaborations with British electronic music producers Ed Solo and Wizard. In 2011, he opened up his online clothing store, Bass Boutique.
Dean Fullman, 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 early noughties and its influential role in the development of grime music.
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by jungle, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop and R&B. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM.
Funky Essex also known as Funky SX is an Essex-based community radio station, licensed for The Real Sound of Young Essex. It originated as an internet radio station in 2009, and was awarded a legal community license in 2015. The station commenced broadcasting on 1 April 2016 on 103.7 FM and online, playing urban dance music including house, garage, grime, dance, drum & bass.
Centreforce also known as 88.3 Centreforce and Centreforce Radio is a former pirate radio station, now legally broadcasting to London, North West England and North Wales on DAB radio. It was instrumental during the Second Summer of Love period of acid house and rave music culture in the UK.
London Underground FM was a mid-1990s to early-2000s pirate radio station in London.
Y2K FM was a Pirate Radio Station based in London.
LDC Radio is a community radio station based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, with a dance and urban music format. Its studios are based in Leeds city centre. Its name is an abbreviation of Leeds Dance Community Radio.
Select Radio is a London-based radio station, broadcasting on 94.4 FM to London and online, playing primarily house music. The station first broadcast as a pirate radio station in 2003, for many years on 99.3 FM before moving online. It applied for a legal license in May 2019 which it was awarded with a community radio license by Ofcom in May 2020, and commenced broadcasting in November 2021. Select Radio extended its broadcast area to include Norwich on DAB+ in April 2022 and Brighton on DAB+ in August 2022.
Eruption Radio is a London-based radio station that broadcasts online and on DAB playing house, breakbeat and happy hardcore, and drum and bass as well as other genres. Eruption Radio originally started life in February 1993 as Eruption FM, a pirate radio station broadcasting from Waltham Forest, East London, broadcasting until February 2012.