Pirate radio station Kiss launches

In the 1960s illegal pop broadcasts by Radio Caroline DJs eventually led to the BBC starting Radio 1. Pirate radio stations like Kiss sprang up in the 1980s, filling the airwaves with the kind of house, soul and hip-hop records that R1 was ignoring at the time. With an early roster of DJs that included future R1 regulars Danny Rampling, Norman Jay, Judge Jules, Tim Westwood, Gilles Peterson and Trevor Nelson, Kiss was eventually granted an official FM licence in 1990.