Radio Fax RADIOFAX Radio Fax
Britain's Number Two Short Wave Station
1988-1992
Broadcasting to the people who really listen to short wave
radiofax.org
RADIOFAX
HOME PAGE
Homepage.
Incredible UK government claims, from the first licence application in 1986, onwards: "No frequencies are available...", "...would demolish the UK's credibility in international fora."
Lord Thomson, IBA, 1988: "...unfortunately we cannot help under present legislation - lack of interest at the Home Office - sorry cannot help - wish you luck with exciting project."
Meanwhile, in the Republic of Ireland, the Minister had stated that radio stations could operate until licence formalities were introduced...
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Radiofax Programme Index and Audio Archive
Radiofax, the ground breaking short-wave radio station launched in 1988, was the forerunner of web-based science and technical newsfeeds of today.
Listen again to broadcasts which are a time capsule of the era.
We have some 300 hours of recordings transcribed and indexed but seek any more of the thousands broadcast you might have.
To hear one programme to get a taste, try Sparks M33.
1988 Programmes April-December 
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1991 Sparks Technical and Media News: M1-M28
| 1992 Sparks Technical and Media News: M30-M63-Final
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Radiofax audio and print miscellany
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As sent to Members of Parliament and the government - TRANSCRIPT
MP3 - 16 minutes, 9.3MB
Radiofax and Radio Caroline Memories by Andy Burnham.
Our Radio Caroline Into The 90s documentary.
Charts of the three frequencies received in Surrey, England.
Radiofax At September 1992 - audio and text.
The fantastic response from listeners, the way they cared about the speech based output and the touching devotion of housebound, disabled and blind listeners in particular, led founder and sponsor Trevor Brook to feel the project to have been one of the most worthwhile things he has ever done.
Just a few of the 5000 letters the station received each year |
Some of the legal submissions which ensued |
TREVOR BROOK -v- THE UNITED KINGDOM
After eleven years of promises and prevarication, when challenged in the High Court in London, and subsequently the European Court Of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
the government went to immense lengths to concoct a strangely paranoid and archaic 'cold war' type of defence - rather than offer a licence.
The ECHR ruled there was an insufficient infringement of Human Rights for the Court to act because the UK did have independent radio on AM and FM.
One can only hope that the officials who implemented such obstructionist policies feel a tad ashamed of themselves nowadays.
They did at least tell the Court: "The United Kingdom makes no admission that there has been maladministration in this case; but, on any view, the handling of the matter and what has occurred are to be regretted."
A complaint in 2000 to the Office Of Fair Trading revealed that the Radiocommunications Agency was not even covered by the Competition Act.
- - Britain's short wave broadcast monopoly (BBC Transmission > Merlin Communications > Merlin VT > Babcock > presently Encompass) still survives to this day. - -
Amongst those who broadcast on Radiofax are:
Mike Allen -
Paul Bentley/Barnett (1952 - 2023) -
Andy Bradgate -
Trevor Brook -
Andy Burnham -
Eddie Caffrey -
Krissi Carpenter -
Steve Conway -
Martin Deeley -
Henry Dulat -
Jodie -
Dave Johns -
Ricky Jones -
Paul Maclaren -
Juliet Masters -
Bob Mathews -
Peter Moore -
Jill Moss -
Peter Moss (no relation) -
Tommy Murphy -
Ruth Phillips -
Johnny Reece -
Holly Robson -
Nick Salaman -
Red Sands/Bob Le Roi -
Andy Sherwood -
Helen Songest (died 1989) -
Gary Stevens -
Maggie Stephenson -
Kevin Thorne -
Bob Tomalski (1953 - 2001: funeral eulogies) -
Andy Walker -
Colin Ward -
Chris Watford
Radiofax - The best thing to happen to radio for 20 years - Radio Listener's Guide 1992
Contact: t.b@tbrook.com