BUY NOW

Book retailers and libraries can purchase copies via IngramSpark.
To get from your local bookstore or library, request they order:
ISBN# 978-1735807485.

$2 of every book ($1/ebook) purchase will be donated to:
KOWS Community Radio
, Sonoma County, California

He scrambles over icy London rooftops in the dead of night, a still-warm illegal transmitter under his arm, and with the police in hot pursuit. What else would you expect from someone who loves Dr. Who, Monty Python, and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, (although he’s more Arthur Dent than Ford Prefect). Delve into the world of “El Supremo,” a shy kid who found his voice and passion in the shadowy world of Pirate Radio…

BUY NOW

$2 of every book ($1/ebook) purchase will be donated to: KOWS Community Radio, Sonoma County California

He scrambles over icy London rooftops in the dead of night, a still-warm illegal transmitter under his arm, and with the police in hot pursuit. What else would you expect from someone who loves Dr. Who, Monty Python, and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, (although he’s more Arthur Dent than Ford Prefect). Delve into the world of “El Supremo,” a shy kid who found his voice and passion in the shadowy world of Pirate Radio…

Pirate Radio - 1970s London

When the famed pirate-radio ships were banned by the British government in 1967, their legacy was continued by clandestine land-based pirates, risking capture at every broadcast to break the BBC’s radio monopoly.

Melody Maker Radio Concord

Written by the co-founder of notorious pirate station Radio Concord (1971-77), this personal memoir spans the never-before-told inside story of pirate radio, squatting, punk music, social issues, and revolutionary politics roiling in the demi-monde of 1960s and 1970s London.

Why was my phone tapped? What made the police, Special Branch, crime reporters, and even the post office pursue me? Free speech and privacy rights come at a steep price in any age, as we now know in this post-Manning, -Assange and -Snowden world.

Highlights include: squatting the Queen’s Windsor Castle Great Park; scaling Mick Jagger’s house; befriending Joe Strummer; and dancing naked at a Stonehenge Free Festival. Mingle with hippies, judges, intellectuals, politicians, techies, artists and rock stars! Experience Jimi Hendrix’s disastrous last concert; crashing a Rolling Stones private rehearsal; and survive a motorbike ride with Bison in the Badlands. All that and more for the reading in Banned BY The BBC!

Pirate Radio - 1970s London

When the famed pirate-radio ships were banned by the British government in 1967, their legacy was continued by clandestine land-based pirates, risking capture at every broadcast to break the BBC’s radio monopoly.

Written by the co-founder of notorious pirate station Radio Concord (1971-77), this personal memoir spans the never-before-told inside story of pirate radio, squatting, punk music, social issues, and revolutionary politics roiling in the demi-monde of 1960s and 1970s London.

Melody Maker Radio Concord

Why was my phone tapped? What made the police, Special Branch, crime reporters, and even the post office pursue me? Free speech and privacy rights come at a steep price in any age, as we now know in this post-Manning, -Assange and -Snowden world.

Highlights include: squatting the Queen’s Windsor Castle Great Park; scaling Mick Jagger’s house; befriending Joe Strummer; and dancing naked at a Stonehenge Free Festival. Mingle with hippies, judges, intellectuals, politicians, techies, artists and rock stars! Experience Jimi Hendrix’s disastrous last concert; crashing a Rolling Stones private rehearsal; and survive a motorbike ride with Bison in the Badlands. All that and more for the reading in Banned By The BBC!

REVIEWS

"There's something special about a book that makes us feel like we should have been there. By its very nature it can never happen again. Arnold makes it personal, which brings the tale alive with humility, grace, and his distinctive light touch."
Don Campau
Veteran radio and Cassette Culture DJ and musician
"What fun the new pirates had! Dancing naked at Stonehenge is just one story that must be told. Yet Arnold reveals a darker side to their antics, of a forceful, unrelenting campaign to thwart their perfectly reasonable desire to establish an alternative 'community radio' service. All power to its microphones."
Chris Welch
British music writer and editor, discovered the Rolling Stones
"Set sail with these land pirates on the radio waves of 70's Londonon the run, across urban rooftops to the fields at Stonehenge, broadcasting forbidden rock, the politics of squatters, and the seeds of punkchallenging the mighty BBC, and the law. Levine brings us into the Radio Concord adventure with remarkable detail from first transmission to a spiritual successor in America."
Stephen Rathe
Peabody award-winning NPR producer & host
"From the rooftops of nuns and rock stars, dodging Bobbies, neo-Nazis, Jimi Hendrix in Germany, and the early days of the Clash, Arnold recounts his exploits with disarming wit, and deep insider knowledge. It's one helluva romp for anyone into 20th century counter-culture memoirs."
Roger Steffens
Pioneering KCRW DJ, books on Bob Marley and Reggae

REVIEWS

"There's something special about a book that makes us feel like we should have been there. By its very nature it can never happen again. Arnold makes it personal, which brings the tale alive with humility, grace, and his distinctive light touch."
Don Campau
Veteran Radio and Cassette Culture DJ and musician
"What fun the new pirates had! Dancing naked at Stonehenge in just one story that must be told. Yet Arnold reveals a darker side to their antics, of a forceful, unrelenting campaign to thwart their perfectly reasonable desire to establish an alternative 'community radio' service. All power to its microphones."
Chris Welch
British music writer and editor, discovered the Rolling Stones
"Set sail with these land pirates on the radio waves of 70's Londonon the run, across urban rooftops to the fields at Stonehenge, broadcasting forbidden rock, the politics of squatters, and the seeds of punkchallenging the mighty BBC, and the law. Levine brings us into the Radio Concord adventure with remarkable detail from first transmission to a spiritual successor in America."
Stephen Rathe
Peabody award-winning NPR producer & host
"From the rooftops of nuns and rock stars, dodging Bobbies, neo-Nazis, Jimi Hendrix in Germany, and the early days of the Clash, Arnold recounts his exploits with disarming wit, and deep insider knowledge. It's one helluva romp for anyone into 20th century counter-culture memoirs."
Roger Steffens
Pioneering KCRW DJ, books on Bob Marley and Reggae

Arnold M.D. Levine

Arnold Levine at 22 years old, LondonBorn and raised in a London council house from 1950, Arnold grew up during the war-rebuilding England of the 50s and 60s, and experienced that exhilarating, creative yet culturally challenging era that still echoes so much in today’s realities. His three older siblings introduced him to a wide range of music at a young age.

State schools, an apprenticeship, work, and college in mechanical engineering in the 60s, then more engineering work, pirate radio and the squatting movement in the 70s kept him occupied.

Arnold Levine, author, radio DJLiving and working in San Francisco for thirty years, he was a construction consultant and had an energy conservation business. He helped raise a daughter and was involved with civic activism for playgrounds, parks, native gardens, Treasure Island redevelopment, and saving and refurbishing historic buildings.

Since moving to Sonoma County he is now retired, and has had a weekly show called Tommy’s Holiday Camp on KOWS Community Radio for over twelve years, and helps local community groups.

Arnold M.D. Levine

Arnold Levine at 22 years old, LondonBorn and raised in a London council house from 1950, Arnold grew up during the war-rebuilding England of the 50s and 60s, and experienced that exhilarating, creative yet culturally challenging era that still echoes so much in today’s realities. His three older siblings introduced him to a wide range of music at a young age.

State schools, an apprenticeship, work, and college in mechanical engineering in the 60s, then more engineering work, pirate radio and the squatting movement in the 70s kept him occupied.

Arnold Levine, author, radio DJ

Living and working in San Francisco for thirty years, he was a construction consultant and had an energy conservation business. He helped raise a daughter and was involved with civic activism for playgrounds, parks, native gardens, Treasure Island redevelopment, and saving and refurbishing historic buildings.

Since moving to Sonoma County he is now retired, and has had a weekly show called Tommy’s Holiday Camp on KOWS Community Radio for over twelve years, and helps local community groups.

 
 

Contact Arnold

Contact Arnold