About Me
FORGET THE IMITATORS AND THE COPYATORS This is the original Dread Broadcasting Corp aka DBC Rebel Radio...here is Our Story...it all started in Neasden, north west London, October/November 1980Lepke: Are you tuned in? Are you listening?Miss P: I'm tuned in. Are you sure its on? I cant hear it!Despite its low key inauguration DJ Lepke's Rebel Radio eventually blossomed into the now legendary Dread Broadcasting Corporation; a cultural phenomenon whose far reaching vision and influence continues to be felt a quarter of a century after it first hit the airwaves. The D.B.C. was the only station that cared in and about the community, the prophets not the profits of the aiwaves, with a supporting cast that was always wider than its broadcasting range. Replete with a roll call of deejays who only ever wanted to share their overwhelming love of music, not their overweening love of themselves, DBC came complete with a visual style and character that meant the station could be seen as well as heard. It was the first black owned & controlled radio station in the U.K. and its eclectic mix of music turned on an entire generation who had been ranking enough to tune in.Lepke: I used to live in New York with my Mum and Dad in 1973 to 1974 and most of the time when I came in from work I spent listening to radio. They had Spanish stations, Italian stations, black stations, all nationalities and the seed was sown from then. In 1976 I met up with Rae Cheddie in the original Honest Jons record shop in Goldborne Road, (Notting Hill London), a few years later, Honest Jons opened Maroons Tunes - specialising in reggae in the West End of London,Rae and I ran the shop. I had a badge made saying "Play Some Bullwackies Bwoy"! which was aimed directly at David Rodigan, he didn't respond but I thought...f you won't play our records then I'll start my own radio station as I had come back from New York with thousands of tunes produced by Lloyd 'Bullwackie' Barnes; in fact, they filled up the entire basement of the shop but without radio play and promotion we couldnt sell them!
It is difficult now toimagine the power exerted on the U.K's capital by the Reggae Rockers show on Radio London hosted then on alternate weeks by Tony Williams and David Rodigan in the late 70's and early 80's. Reggae was hugely popular but was allotted only an hour a week radio play on Sunday lunchtime, so unless you went to the right clubs or frequented the right record shops, it was almost impossible to hear the music.Lepke: I was in Better Badges picking up some of our badges and selling some old records to Joly who ran it. There was an old medium wave transmitter dumped under his table,he told me it didn't work but if I checked Luke The Duke he'd fix it up for me. So I checked Luke The Duke and he fixed it up for me.I started broadcasting at the end of 1979 from Aboyne Road in Neasden (north west London). I used to ring round everyone to see if they were tuned in. I wanted to transfer the feel of the Sound System to the radio, to play for the people who'd come to this country in the40's 50's and 60's. I wanted a radio station for that generation. Initially it was Lepke alone and he used to record the shows in his little studio that hed had since Honest Jons days and put them on a C60 cassette for broadcast; the crew soon expanded; and as Reggae Rockers signed off on a Sunday afternoon, D.B.C. would sign on and continue for a further two hours. Lepke had named the station Rebel Radio but Mike (who was working for Better Badges at the time) suggested calling it the Dread Broadcasting Corporation or the D.B.C. as a pun on the B.B.C. and Mike became a fellow conspirator. Lepke next asked his sister to come along and sing some jingles.Miss P: It was never my ambition to work on the radio but Lepke insisted that I join. I loved music and owned a lot of records but that was about it. The name came from a friend of mine who called me Miss T, it evolved into Miss P and Lepke put the Ranking on it. One of the main motivations of the station had been to get more reggae music on air but its weak medium wave signal unfortunately limited its scope:
Lepke: Neasden and Harlesden had it strong but the hill on the North Circular blocked the signal down to Ladbroke Grove... but if the clouds were in the right position it could reach as far as France! Thankfully the people who were unable to get the shows on air they could get them on cassette tapes.Mike: People used to ask me all the time Where can I pick it up? I used to duplicate the tapes at this place down Marylebone Road and flog them, make enough money to get more blank tapes, duplicate them, flog them... The Dread Broadcasting Corporation was not slow to realise just how powerful advertising could be both on the station and for thhe station. DBC's impact was not only audible but also highly visible as soon their unique dreadhead logo started to be seen all over North West and West London, this visual presence rapidly expanded as the station widened its listener base.
Mike: Nuff Respect to Megan Green, a great friend of ours who designed the masterpiece DBC logo, we told her what we had in mind, she just seemed to instinctively know what we wanted.Lepke: This is where Fifth Column came in. They had an outlet on Portobello Road; from there, they marketed the T shirts for us. It was an instant success - a best seller - generating interest from around the globe, the response was amazing, we sold a lot of T shirts and various other DBC lines including our 12" record 'Striving To Be Free', jumpers, track suits, clocks,pilowcases, jackets and handkerchiefs (Skankies). The D.B.C. was always about music and culture. It was never about money but what they were doing was totally illegal and the threat of the Department Of Trade & Industry, who had the power to shut down the station, arrest the deejays and confiscate their equipment and records, was always very real. The first raid came after nine months of broadcasting.
Lepke: One Sunday I was sitting down eating my rice and peas with the family and there was a knock on the door. It was two guys from the D.T.I.. I invited them in for a cup of tea; they waited till I finished my dinner and they asked me: Is that your transmitter? I said yes! And did you set it up? I said yes! But they had set me up! If Id have said no then they couldnt have nicked me. I told them Im doing it for my people and they respected that... but they still nicked me. I went to court and we started campaigning- advertised it on the air and put leaflets around the community. We started an appeal to help pay for the fine. we collected donations in around Portobello Road. Many people came to the court with petitions too. The appeal fund met the cost of the fine but then we didn't have a transmitter so we were off air for a while... It was not too long before the D.B.C. was able to purchase another F.M. transmitter and they started regular Friday night transmissions with six one hour formatted slots. Instead of closing the station down the actions of the D.T.I. had unwittingly pushed the station still further ahead. A new site was found at a tower block on the Edward Woods Estate in Latimer Road. It was timed to a t - as one tape finished the next tape went in so the listeners could not hear the join.Mike: Sometimes the lifts broke down and you had to leg it up twenty two floors to where the rig was so there would be no gaps between the shows
selector. All climaxed with Lepkes show and if available, sound system sessions way into the small hours of Saturday morning.
Miss P: DBC was a phenomenon but the Rebel Radio method of broadcasting was also extremely dangerous, with the DJs often risking life and limb for their Friday night transmissions.
Lepke: Sometimes youd get stuck in the lift with the cassette decks, aluminium poles and the transmitter with people staring at us, wondering what was going on. One time the lift got stuck between two floors... It was freezing at the top of the tower block and we had to watch the rig not only for the D.T.I. but also in case other outfits (because many others had sprung up in the wake of the D.B.C.) tried to steal it. The council then started locking up the roof space so we had to climb out with all the equipment. Twenty two floors up with the pouring rain and the wind blowing. Get on top of the water tank. Pass the equipment over. It was serious. It wasnt easy. Towards the end of 1982 Lepke had to pass the responsibility of running the D.B.C. over to Miss P who then took over as front person while Mike remained a silent partner.
Miss P: Mike would deal with the transmitter and all the technical things while I was doing the running around; finding the records, getting show tapes from the deejays and collecting money for ads/slots. I was also studying to be a teacher and raising my two young children so it was really tough. I told them at college what I was doing, they sympathized but asked me to choose between the station and my studies. I chose the station so had to leave college
Mike: We were all living literally from hand to mouth, it took time and money to drive around and collect the records, to sort out the tapes and see to the transmitter. We were not money motivated like some of the later stations so it was difficult.
Roy Chapman, producer of BBC TV's black magazine programme "Ebony", told us that he wanted to do a show for BBC television about community radio, he also commissioned Miss P to write/sing visual trails and the theme song for Ebony, from there she progressed to being the first black woman presenter on Radio One. And so it was straight from the D.B.C. to the B.B.C. for Miss P.Rita Marley - sister to Lepke and Miss P always kept them tuned into the Jamaican reggae scene and when Lepke told Bob Marley that he was going to start a black radio station,Bob loved the idea and vowed to support him all the way. Many other stations had appropriated DBC's approach but none had taken on board their altruism as well and the musical motivation that had given birth to Rebel Radio soon disappeared in a crass cacophony of commercialised consumerism.Lepke: They used to hold a Fun Day once a year in Stonebridge Park with two or three local Sounds and about a thousand or so people would turn up. When we advertised it on D.B.C over five thousand people came! Coach loads were coming in from Luton, Watford and surrounding areas. That was the power of radio.Miss P: we were all about promoting in peace, love, harmony and equalityBut it wasnt all plain sailing, as well as being highly illegal, the Rebel Radio method of broadcasting was also extremely dangerous, with the DJs often risking life and limb for their Friday night transmissions.Lepke: Sometimes we'd get stuck in the lift with the cassette decks, aluminium poles and the transmitter with people staring at us wondering what was going on. One time the lift got stuck between two floors... It was freezing at the top of the tower block and we had to watch the rig not only for the D.T.I. but also in case other outfits (and many had sprung up in the wake of the D.B.C.) tried to steal it. The council then started locking up the roof space so we had to climb out with all the equipment. Twenty two floors up with the pouring rain and the wind blowing. Towards the end of 1982 Lepke passed the responsibility of running the D.B.C. over to Miss P who then took over as front person while Mike continued to work alongdise her as a silent partner, carrying out out much of the technical work.Miss P: Mike would deal with the transmitter and all the technical things, I was doing the running around getting the records, getting the show tapes from the deejays and collecting money for ads/slots. I was also studying to be a teacher and raising my two young children so it was really tough. I told them at college what I was doing; they sympathized but asked me to choose between the station and my studies. I chose the station so had to leave college.
Mike: We were all living literally from hand to mouth, it took time and money to drive around and collect the records, sort out the tapes and see to the transmitter. We were not money motivated like some of the later stations so it was difficult.Rita Marley, sister to Lepke and Miss P always kept them tuned into the Jamaican reggae scene and when Lepke told Bob Marley that he was going to open a black radio station Bob loved the idea: he thought it was a truly revolutionary idea and vowed to support Lepke all the way.Miss P: Were just glad we could show that it could be done. Nuff respect and thank you to everyone who helped us create history andliving proof that specialist radio really could work.Heartical respect to all DBCs loyal listeners for without their continued support none of it could ever have happened. Last but not least, maximum respect to the many specialist radio stations all over the world that provide much needed services to their communities.
The historic Reggae label Trojan approached DBC with a view to releasing a compilation that would somehow reflect the ethos of Rebel Radio. This culminated in the creation of the double CD album DBC: Rebel Radio - a Various Artists compilation, released to mark the 25th anniversary of the stations first broadcast in 1979.Biog adapted from an interview with Lepke, Miss P and Mike conducted in London by Noel Hawkes in Nov 2003
