Janet Radio

Janet Radio was a pirate radio station based at a caravan in the Derbyshire village of Codnor.

It formed a part of the Derbyshire Free Radio Union.

History
The station was launched in 1981 by a man named Kevin Atkinson who named it after his wife Janet Atkinson.

It broadcast on an AM frequency of 810 khz (announced as 370 metres), the station moved to 98.8 FM in 1985.

The station was raided 3 times between 1983 and 1985, it closed in 1986 to apply for a license, they failed to get the new Derby ILR license, which was instead awarded to Radio Trent. Due to this, Janet Radio returned to the air as a pirate station, before finally closing in 1991 after 10 years.

Licensed era
Janet Radio was awarded the Burton-upon-Trent license in 1993, and took the airwaves as Jane FM on 97.7 FM in 1994. They lost the license in 1997 after the Radio Authority announced that they will not be renewing it, the license was awarded to Commercial Radio 1.

They wouldn't give up though, as in 1998 they bid for and won the Cleethorpes license and began broadcasting as Janet 102, the station still broadcasts to this day.

Kevin Atkinson, the station's founder, passed away in 2013, after his death, Janet Atkinson spoke out the following message:

"Janet Radio should never have existed and it should never have attracted the talent it did. At least that was according to the radio experts of the time.  You need to start a radio station in city or major town not in a small town in rural East Derbyshire where most of your audience will be sheep."

The station's transmitter from it's era as a pirate still stands to this day and exists as a landmark in Codnor.

Branding
Like so many pirate stations at the time, Janet Radio used jingles from CPMG/PAMS International, mainly their Mainstream package.

Janet Radio switched to Alfasound Tapetrix in 1985.