Network 21 (television station)

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Although there were (and are) many pirate radio stations in London, Network 21 in 1986-1987 was one of the few pirate television stations to operate in Britain. Despite only broadcasting for half an hour on a Friday nights in a part of the UHF waveband near the frequency occupied by ITV in the London area, it showcased what was happening in the then vibrant avant-garde arts scene at that time. Among others, artists like Genesis P Orridge of Psychic TV appeared in programmes documenting their work.

Pirate radio illegal or unregulated radio transmission

Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom (UK), officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

Avant-garde works that are experimental or innovative

The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. It may be characterized by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability, and it may offer a critique of the relationship between producer and consumer.

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Vision

While the UK television industry was dominated by three companies (BBC, ITV franchise holders, Channel 4), Network 21 was an attempt to break the triopoly of the UK broadcasting industry. In an article in Broadcast Magazine , Network 21's aim was to "See a similar approach to TV as has been afforded to radio, for the BBC and ITV to release their monopoly on frequencies and make some available to the community", [1] in the manner of low-power TV in the US. A press report by the London Evening Standard even claimed that the station had 100,000 viewers [2] and that although it was very much in keeping with the post-punk DIY ethic, it was "definitely professional". The DIY element was that programming was shot on 8mm camcorders and transmitted on a domestic VCR connected to a UHF transmitter, but it was staffed by freelance journalists and artists.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.

ITV (TV network) TV network in the United Kingdom

ITV is a British free-to-air television network with its headquarters in London, it was launched in 1955 as Independent Television under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to BBC Television, that was established in 1932. ITV is also the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, its legal name has been Channel 3, to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, namely BBC 1, BBC 2 and Channel 4. In part, the number 3 was assigned because television sets would usually be tuned so that the regional ITV station would be on the third button, with the other stations being allocated to the number within their name.

Channel 4 British free-to-air television channel

Channel 4 is a British public-service free-to-air television network that began transmission on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially-self-funded, it is ultimately publicly-owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital terrestrial broadcasting on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became a UK-wide TV channel for the first time.

There was also a pirate radio spin-off, which broadcast from 8 PM Friday night to early Saturday morning. The radio station generally played music from independent labels and artists (e.g. Coldcut appeared on the show) and discussion programmes.

Coldcut band

Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop, soul, funk, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin, "in '87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for 'DJ records'".

While it received press attention, it was rarely raided. However, one raid occurred shy of its first birthday. [3] Although Network 21 only lasted a few months, it had a small but significant impact.[ citation needed ]

An advertisement for Network 21 was one of several notable paid advertisements included between the tracks and in the liner notes for the debut album Flaunt It (1986) by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. [4]

<i>Flaunt It</i> (album) 1986 studio album by Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Flaunt It is the debut album by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. The album featured a remix of their #3 UK hit single "Love Missile F1-11", as well as "21st Century Boy". Flaunt It was unique in that the band sold spots between songs for advertisements. Ultimately, ads for L'Oréal, i-D magazine, the short-lived London pirate television station NeTWork 21, and London's Kensington Market clothing shop Pure Sex were complemented by fictitious ads for the Sputnik Corporation and the (unreleased) Sigue Sigue Sputnik Computer Game; a spoken word advertisement for EMI closes the album. All original CD versions and the version released in Germany also include an ad for Tempo, a lifestyle magazine. The liner notes include small print ads for the various advertisers, as well.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik band that plays new wave music

Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band had three UK top 40 hit singles, including the songs "Love Missile F1-11" and "21st Century Boy".

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Broadcast magazine article, 26 Feb 1987".
  2. ↑ "London Evening Standard article, 15 Jan 1987".
  3. ↑ "Network 21 Press archive".
  4. ↑ "Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Flaunt It (CD, Album) at Discogs" . Retrieved 2013-01-15.
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