This Autumn, London’s leading (former) pirate station Rinse FM turns 18. 

As well as celebratory raves in both London and Manchester, the station are hosting a series of video interviews with people involved in the station’s rise – one for each year of the station’s lifespan. We’ve already seen station owner Geeneus cover 1994: now, the Rinse website has interviews up with Dizzee Rascal and Wiley’s former DJ (and, as FACT will tell you any time you even come close to asking, the absolute greatest to ever do it) Slimzee (1995), Lady ST (1996), A Plus (1997), Jamie Banks (1998), Plague (1999) and Ms Dynamite (2000).

For music fans interested in not just Rinse FM, but British radio pirate culture in general, these interviews are beyond essential: it’s worth remembering that Rinse wasn’t always the established institution and label that it is now, and this is as good an introduction to its history as you could hope for. You can watch all of the video interviews to date on Rinse’s YouTube channel (we’ve embedded Slimzee’s above).