On the Wire was first broadcast on 16th September 1984 on BBC Radio Lancashire in the North West of England. Since then many famous reggae artists have been guests: Lee “Scratch” Perry, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, Mikey Dread, Bim Sherman, Lincoln Thompson, Prince Hammer, Devon Russell, Clive Hunt, Roy Cousins, Freddie McGregor and many more.
On the Wire’s time at the BBC ended in May 2023, following exclusion from the studios due to COVID in March 2021 after which management looked for every opportunity to ditch the show only succeeding after the tragic demolishing of regional and local radio. Slack City Radio offered the show a slot and that is where we live today, in addition to totallyradio.com, Mixcloud and Leyland Community Radio. Recently we celebrated 25 continuous years of the show on the internet, before BBC Sounds a full five years, pre- podcast and YouTube domination.
Steve Barker – St. Annes-on-the-Sea, April 2025
