Short Film about the roots of London’s Pirate Radio scene

Vice Magazine and VBS.TV collaborate with Palladium Boots to launch new urban exploration series, Uneven Terrain. Uneven Terrain uncovers the hidden, underground and forgotten corners of the world’s leading metropolises. The series makes its UK debut with a film investigating the roots of London’s enigmatic Pirate Radio scene. The series comes to the UK with an exploration into the world of Pirate Radio, a phenomenon born out of British sea forts in the '60s. This episode follows the team as they sail to the mouth of the Thames to find the forts to see where it all began; meeting the pioneers of pirate radio who defined an era by playing the music London wanted to hear.

When the authorities shut them down, pirate sounds went underground. Pirate stations are now an established scene in London, broadcasting music and the sounds of youth culture, from secret tower block studios. In constant contact with listeners via text messaging and chat forums, today's pirates are the essence of mobile. Today you can find it in urban centres around the UK, pushing youth culture forward one neighbourhood at a time.

During the making of Uneven Terrain, VBS.TV climbed to the tops of urban tower blocks to find homemade pirate antennas and were blindfolded and driven to the secret London studios where pirate culture thrives today. Host of the show Matt Mason, a former pirate radio broadcaster and author of best selling book The Pirate’s Dilemma, meet with DJs and station managers, rappers and MCs, and interviewed DJ Scratcha from RINSE FM, MC Flirt from old-school KOOL FM, J2K, Jammer and KISS FM's Logan Sama.

Uneven Terrain also explores how pirate broadcasters today reach people not just locally but online to audiences across the world. From open waters, to urban centres, to your PC, the state of pirate radio is constantly evolving.