Starpoint Radio was founded over twenty years ago in 1985 as an alternative music station for London and the Home Counties.
Originally broadcasting once a week on Sundays, demand quickly prompted the addition of an entire weekend broadcast and Starpoint Radio soon earned the reputation of being a quality radio station with presenters whose musical knowledge and presentation skills were second to none!
Starpoint therefore became known as THE REAL ALTERNATIVE. Over the next three years Starpoint Radio attempted to broadcast seven days a week, but as an unlicensed station this proved difficult within the rules and regulations of the DTI. In December 1988 it was decided to pursue alternative avenues of broadcasting and Starpoint's final show as an unlicensed station was from infamous Crazy Larry's on the Kings Road in Chelsea.
In June 1991, Starpoint applied for and received one of the first restricted broadcast licences for a period of twenty-one days and the first show came from the unlikely venue of Windsor Safari Park, covering Windsor, Slough, Maidenhead, and most of Surrey and South London! The following three weeks were a rip-roaring success with the station being able to adhere to its long held principles of quality music and quality presenters without bowing to the pressures of commercialism. The success of the Windsor broadcasts led to Starpoint Radio being approached by Alex Lowes of the Southport Weekenders to broadcast from the legendary event.
This resulted in Starpoint's management joining forces with another former unlicensed London radio station and the two merged into a satellite-based radio station. With Starpoint's connections, this radio station became the official broadcaster for the Southport weekenders until the BBC's 1- Xtra took over in - now here's a problem, the old mind's gone blank. Does anybody out there remember when 1 Xtra took over? Perhaps you could let us know so we can put this archive right.
In February 2005, management decided to part ways and Starpoint Radio was reborn.
As "The Real Alternative" Starpoint Radio is now 'the' station for quality music and quality presenting! Now broadcasting on SKY DIGITAL and 24 hours on the internet, Starpoint Radio continues to grow each month proving that it is possible to run a quality soul based music station.
Two of the original dj's from the old London pirate days are still with the station, these being Eddy James and Sammy Sam. Both of these seasoned veterans of the airwaves have regular shows here on the 'Real Alternative'. We will at some future date get Eddy and Sammy to share a few of of their reminiscences from the early days of Starpoint to add to this page, it will make for fascinating reading, that's for sure.
Along with this you can also visit Starpoints other locations:
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