Every month Ghent based restaurant-cum-dancefloor Amigo invites some of their extended family members to curate a series of mixtapes, dedicated to make you feel just that little bit more hungry. And willing.

June’s mixtape was made by Kuryakin & Nicky B from Radio Ruit and it’s all about sunny vibes and will certainly brighten your day. Ilja & Nick are the founders of Radio Ruit and together with a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers they’ve created a fresh online radio for Ghent’s versatile music scene broadcasting every Sunday afternoon from Vooruit and providing tunes every Friday at Vooruit’s lovely terrace this summer. 

Furthermore, they have a lot in store for us as they’ll move shop and from July on will start broadcasting from an old monastery (Theresia) where they will organise events and where the Monterey crew will host a very cosy summer bar.

For this month’s blog they decided to shine a light on some of the online radio stations and key figures that inspired them to start their own. 

1. The Last Pirates - Britain's Rebel DJs

In the 80s a new generation of pirate radio stations exploded onto Britain’s airwaves. Unlike their seafaring swinging 60s forerunners, these pirates broadcast from London’s estates and tower blocks to create a platform for black music in an era when it was shut out by legal radio and ignored by the mainstream music industry. 

Radio Invicta, Kiss.fm, LGR, Kool.fm, Rinse FM and various other pirate stations formed the basis of a lot of underground scenes and were a platform for genres not being played on mainstream radio like soul, reggae and later jungle, garage,  dubstep and grime.

The movement spawned a whole scene and was the precursor of a lot of online community radio’s we know today. NTS and Worldwide.fm would probably not exist without these heroes.

Want to know more? Check out this great documentary shining a light on the whole scene in the 1980’s.

2. NTS Radio

Most definitely one of our favorite online radio stations, broadcasting from London, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Manchester with amazing shows by Charlie Bones, Erol Alkan, Four Tet and our very own Nosedrip.

NTS Radio

3. Stroom.tv

Stroom.tv was an online multimedia platform founded by Ziggy Devriendt aka Nosedrip. The platform influenced us a lot as an online radio due to its focus on visual elements, which is paramount in what we do these days, because at Radio Ruit we always challenge the young creatives we invite to do more than just dj-sets and many do that by incorporating visuals by young creatives. 

Nowadays, Stroom is one of our favorite Belgian labels, regularly releasing underground electronics and general weird stuff.

Stroom.tv bandcamp

4. The Lot Radio

Let’s not forget about The Lot Radio, which was founded by Belgian Francois Vaxelaire. The Lot spawned a new movement of online radio stations.

The Lot Radio

5. Kiosk Radio, We Are Various and The Word Radio

Since we’re big fans of our very own Belgian online platforms, we decided to shine a light on three favorites. There’s no denying the influence of Kiosk Radio which was formed by local heroes Mickey, Nico and Jim Becker. We Are Various and The Word Radio are equally important in today’s scene, shining a light on what Antwerp and Brussels have to offer.

Kiosk, WAV & The Word

6. Radio Alhara

Radio Alhara is a radio station that was formed to keep Arabs connected during quarantine and has been connecting dj’s and music lovers across the Middle East and all over the world during a time that’s hit global creative, cultural and music industries in an unparallelled way. Check out Sonic Liberation Front, their latest project in support of Palestine.

Radio Alhara 

7. East Side Radio

As you might have noticed in the mix, we’re big fans of Portugal. Everyone’s familiar with the beautiful capital, the great food and the long stretches of beach. However, the country, and Lisbon in particular, has a very vibrant music scene with local initiatives like Arroz Estudios, great festivals like Waking Life and of course East Side Radio.

ESR is a wonderful community radio station based in Lisbon founded by André and Tiago, also known as Funkamente. If you’re in Lisbon, make sure to give them a visit.

East Side Radio

8. H0R

A recent player in Berlin broadcasting from an apartment that looks like a swimming pool shower. Great stuff for lovers of techno and house.

HÖR

9. Future Intel

Another recently funded platform in today’s scene. Broadcasting from The Hague, Future Intel is a connector of the Dutch scene and merges underground electronics and art.

Future Intel

10. Red Light Radio, Berlin Community Radio and the other fallen angels of community radio

Red Light Radio was an online radio station and international music platform based in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Berlin Community Radio did something similar for Berlin’s scene. However, due to insufficient funding, both platforms ceased to exist. 

R.I.P 🙁

if you haven’t already, enjoy the grooves and support your local music scene!

Ilja & Nick