Published
Fri, Jan 6, 2023, 12:10
- During their final broadcast, Eastman and Susie G said "youthfulness and energy" is key to the station's evolution.
Former pirate radio station Kool FM, known since 2010 as Kool London Radio, is switching owners next month.
The new owners will take over from Eastman and Susie G, who are stepping down after 31 years. The historic station went off-air after Eastman, now 64, delivered his final show on New Year's Eve, which ended with "Cowabunga" by Massive New Krew.
While the new owners have yet to be announced, Eastman told listeners during an emotionally charged broadcast that fresh energy was instrumental to the station's evolution.
"To progress and make the platform bigger it needs youthfulness and energy, which I ain't got no more," he said. "And it needs money pumped in so our DJs are proud to walk into a studio, not worried about looking over their shoulder." Ultimately, he said it means "the station's still here in 20 years time."
Eastman said he and Susie G will remain behind the scenes, "guiding and advising." He added: "We done the best we could. It wasn't only music; it was people of all different races, creeds and classes along the way. We was a movement man, and we believed in it. We fought for each other, looked after each other."
Kool FM was launched in 1991 by Eastman and Smurf, who later left in 1998. The station broadcast the latest hardcore, jungle and drum & bass from the rooftops of Hackney council estates, boosting the careers of Kenny Ken, The Ragga Twins, Kemistry & Storm, Brockie, Shy FX, Mampi Swift, DJ Ron, Skibadee, Shabba and Navigator, among many other DJs and MCs.
On his final broadcast, Eastman recalled having to avoid the police while crew members climbed rooftops to rig aerials. Susie G would wait in the car with a walkie-talkie "keeping a look out."
"[We] were coming up against other stations or people and having to let them know, this is our block," he said. "We had to face firearms, knives, police, whatever, for years and years."
Drum & bass author and documentarian Brian Belle-Fortune—who is currently writing a new edition of his seminal book All Crews–said he understood Eastman and Susie G's decision to leave but felt emotional about it.
"If it wasn't for Kool FM, so many things wouldn't have happened," he told Resident Advisor. "At one point, I was crying about this. I wouldn't be the person I am or have met the people I did without Kool. I guess it's time for the guys to have a rest now. Huge thanks to Eastman and Susie G for their amazing contribution to British culture and our jungle and drum & bass scene."
Kool FM inspired numerous other pirate stations, such as Upfront FM in 1994. Speaking to RA, founder DJ Extremeleem said "we used to wonder about in boiler suits as undercover lift repair guys." He said Eastman and Susie G will be missed, "but the change will inspire the new generation to carry drum & bass into the future."
According to photographer and music producer Inzajeano Latif, pirate radio gave young people something to believe in, especially in a climate of poverty and crime. He got a slot on Kool FM after forming drum & bass outfit Social Security with his brother Moses.
"Mandem on the radio sounded like us," he told RA. "This gave us something to aspire to. We immersed ourselves in jungle and spawned a new subculture."
Eastman and Susie G's names "will go down in history for starting a scene and a culture that's created so many other sounds and stars who have gone on to do great things," Latif added. "Hopefully the new ownership will keep it street. Many things trend in the mainstream, but we should remember they mostly come from the underground."
Listen to the end of Eastman and Susie G's final broadcast.
Photos: Inzajeano Latif
Photos: Inzajeano Latif