Rinse FM
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".[1] It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres popular in the United Kingdom.
Broadcast area
100.3/100.4 FM (pirate)
106.8 FM/9A DAB (legal)
Music radio, UK-centric urban dance music
- September 1994 (pirate station)
- 7 February 2011 (community radio licence)
The station was founded in 1994 and operated as a pirate radio station until it was awarded a broadcast licence in June 2010. Rinse FM has been described as London's biggest pirate radio station.[2][3] It provided first exposure to grime artists Dizzee Rascal and Wiley[4] and later provided a home for dubstep DJs such as Skream, Kode9, and DJ Oneman.[5] DJ Geeneus is the station's head.[5][6]
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
Founded by DJ Geeneus and DJ Slimzee, Rinse FM's first broadcast was in September 1994.[7] For a three-year period in the early days of the station the Rinse studio was hosted in DJ Slimzee's house.[2][8] In its early years the station mainly played jungle with a particular focus on MCs, a direction which set Rinse apart from competing stations.[5] At the time the station broadcast from secret, makeshift locations such as kitchens and bedrooms belonging to friends and DJs, constantly moving between these locations to avoid getting shut down by authorities. Its first broadcast was made from Ingram House in Tower Hamlets, London.[9] This continued to a lesser extent throughout the 16 years during which Rinse was a pirate radio station.[3]
Kool FM was the leading pirate radio station within the jungle scene, and it wasn't until Rinse changed its focus to the emerging garage scene around 1998–1999 that it gained a substantial following, thanks to the darker sound that it brought from its jungle days.[5] Into the early 2000s, the station became critical for emergence and development of the genres grime and dubstep.,[3] and was managed during this time by DJ Uncle Dugs.[10] Rinse broadcast on the frequency of 100.3/100.4FM for the majority of its unlicensed years on air.
Radio 1 DJ John Peel recommended the station in 2004, stating that:
Internet radio[edit]
Rinse began streaming its shows online in 2006. All shows are available both on the website[21] and SoundCloud.
Kool FM[edit]
In January 2023, Rinse announced that it was taking over management of London drum and bass station Kool FM.[23]
Legacy[edit]
The station has been described as London's biggest pirate radio station[5][14] and "without doubt the world's leading grime station."[4] Writing for FACT magazine in 2007, Simon Hampson stated: "Without Rinse, Grime and Dubstep would be very different: indeed, it’s fair to say that they might not even exist at all."[5]
Rinse celebrated its 20th birthday in 2014.[24]