Started January 2010 [by Jack Thurgar]

This is a scrapbook dedicated to the study of London's weeds and the wild places where they grow. Wildcornerz also looks at the languages, cultures and mythologies that develop in these cracks.


What is a Wildcorner?

A Wildcorner is a term referring to a piece of land that has been left to grow wild in a man made landscape. To be a true Wildcorner, the land has to be restricted from public access. Many are hidden from public view altogether. A common type of wildcorner is referred to by govements and local authorities as a 'brownfield site'.

Wildcorners and corridors* are dotted all over the capital and vary in content, depending on their location and history. In this blog we focus particularly on the Wildcorners of south east London.

* Wildcorridors are networks of pathways that run through the city and facilitate the propagation and growth of weeds. Many are restricted from public access such as railway embankments and urban rivers. In the suburbs, footpaths such as the Green Chain connect public green areas by a network of alleyways and passages that skirt between houses and private land. It could be argued that these are also wild corridors.



Urban and Suburban Weeds

By the term 'weeds' we are of course referring to the cities wild plants and flowers. But their are also two other weeds that grow in the city.

'Graf' like its botanical relation, has many families and strains. Both of these weeds can often be found together, sharing many qualities including their adaptive nature and unregulated status. Both in many cases, originally entered and populated the city using the railway network.

Another 'weed' that historically flourishes in London is invisible and uses the tops of tower blocks to propagate. Pirate radio like its weed relatives, grows away from the public eye and is constantly adapting to exploit these same gaps across the cities FM radio spectrum, fighting and flourishing in-between the commercial stations.

© Copyright of Wildcornerz. All rights reserved. For enquiries please contact: wildcornerz1@yahoo.co.uk

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Kool Fm - BBC Doc from '96

 Why i have i never found this 3 parter before?
 Kool Fm from Hackney are The undisputed king of London Pirates.
 Also contains interviews with Battersea's Dream Fm  and Tottenham's Rare Groove record shop.

Thursday, 18 October 2012

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

London Pirate Folklore


  This is a link to Uncle Dugs's show 'Run Come Follow Friday'. This one is a pirate radio special to mark the 18th Birthday of East London's Rinse FM and tell the stations story.
It's an extra long show with interviews with some of the big names in London pirate radio history, such as Eastman and DJ Brockie from Kool Fm.
This is a great piece of aural folklore, with plenty of interesting and funny stories from the day.
Rinse is now a legal station, winning a community radio licence last year on the FM frequency.
 I cant stop playing this at the moment. So if you want to download it, copy and paste the link below and right click uncle dugs show. .. that rhymed.  .. and then Save link As.

 http://rinse.fm/2012/10/28th-29th-september/

Friday, 5 October 2012

A List of London's Radio Weeds


87.6 Playback UK (garage/dubstep/house)
88.0 Shine FM (house)
88.2 Rude FM (d'n'b)
88.4 Vision Radio (garage)
88.6 Back 2 Back (soul/jazz/funk)
89.4 Unknown FM (house/disco)
80.6 Klick Radio (r'n'b/soul/reggae)
89.8 Station FM (talk/reggae/ragga/r'n'b)
90.0 Hot 90 (talk/african)
90.2 Point Blank FM (house/garage/d'n'b/soul)
90.4 Woah! (r'n'b/ragga/hip-hop)
90.8 Lightning Radio (reggae/ragga/r'n'b/hip-hop)
91.6 Genesis Radio (talk/reggae/ragga/r'n'b)
92.0 Scream London (d'n'b/garage/house)
92.2 Metrolove Radio (r'n'b/soul/ragga/hip-hop)
92.4 Deja Vu (grime/garage/funky/d'n'b/hip-hop)
92.7 Energy Radio (reggae)
93.0 Breeze (reggae/soca/r'n'b)
93.8 Vibes FM (talk/reggae/ragga)
94.0 Voice of Africa (talk/african)
94.4 Street FM (reggae/soca/ragga/r'n'b)
94.6 Kool FM (d'n'b/jungle/hardcore)
95.1 Origin FM (d'n'b/jungle/hardcore)
95.5 On Top (grime/hip-hop/r'n'b)
96.1 Supreme Dance (house/techno)
96.4 Surprise Radio (talk/african)
97.5 Blazing Radio (r'n'b/hip-hop/garage/ragga)
97.9 Passion FM (house)
98.3 RJR (reggae)
99.1 Hav It (reggae/ragga/r'n'b)
99.3 Select UK (house/techno)
99.5 Galaxy Radio (talk/reggae/soul/ragga)
99.7 Flex FM (garage/d'n'b/house/funky)
99.8 Supreme FM (reggae/ragga/r'n'b)
100.3 House FM (house)
101.5 Live FM (garage/house/funky)
101.2 Unique FM (reggae/r'n'b)
101.8 Bizim (talk/turkish)
101.9 The Beat (talk/reggae/ragga)
102.0 Concious (reggae/dub)
102.5 Inna City Radio (r'n'b/hip-hop/garage/funky)
103.0 Image (garage/house/d'n'b/funky)
104.0 Muzik Radio (reggae/soul)
104.2 Dem Radyo (talk/turkish)
106.0 SLR (reggae/r'n'b)
106.8 Rinse FM *legal* (funky/grime/dubstep/d'n'b)
108.0 Pulse London (d'n'b/garage/funky/house)

 This list was updated in March 2012.
 Long Live the Pirates!!!