Give radio pirates safe haven says DJ who inspired Dizzee

Pirate radio has come of age and should be decriminalised, according to the founder of Rinse FM.

Sixteen years after it started broadcasting from the 18th floor of an east London tower block, Rinse FM has gone legitimate.

DJ Geeneus 32, founded Rinse as a teenager since when he has transmitted from every tower block in east London and his grandmother's house.

He has had radio equipment confiscated hundreds of times and stolen cables from his mother's iron and vacuum cleaner to stay on air. He said: "It's taken a long time for people to realise pirate radio's important, but the penny's dropped."

He added: "This has given me purpose and fulfilment. It gives people an opportunity, a chance to do something they want, instead of falling straight into something they don't want to do. When you listen to new, good pirate stations like Heights FM, you know it's a big deal: you can't be thinking of any other crap in your life when you've got the radio."

Geeneus gave Dizzee Rascal and Wiley their first break and the station has been a major catalyst for London music. Former DJ Dizzee Rascal said the station was "inspirational and influential". He said: "It helped give me a drive, focus and subsequently an outlet for my music when otherwise there would have been none."

Rinse FM, which is currently online, will be found on a new frequency "imminently". The station received a community FM broadcast licence in June and is now waiting for its official frequency.

Sarah Lockhart, 35, who has worked with Geeneus for six years, said going straight had been "a long time coming". She said: "Now we can legitimately help people with talent that would otherwise go to waste." They ran a radio course this summer and hope to found a music academy linked to Rinse.

Lockhart said: "In future, we hope the academy will be open every day. We want people running local youth projects and pupil referral units to recommend people who they see as being talented."

But they want "rigid" radio licensing laws to be relaxed in a rapidly changing media world. They think that radio licences should be given back after use, not sold on, and believe pirate radio should be "filtered", so new stations are given guidance, not seen as law breakers.