Classic soul and jazz-funk, spun by London's old guard.
Tony Monson, later of Kiss FM, started Solar as a pirate in October 1984, the name short for Sound of London's Alternative Radio, and filled it with club and radio soul DJs who had learned the trade on the city's soul pirates. It went quiet in October 1988, came back by satellite in June 1999, sat on the Sky platform from 2000 to 2019, and went onto the trial DAB multiplexes in London and Norwich in 2015. Some of the voices from the pirate years stayed with it, Clive Richardson among them.
Soul fills nearly every slot, old and new, with jazz-funk and disco alongside, soulful house in the early mornings and late at night, northern soul from Richard Searling, smooth jazz and a Sunday gospel show. It runs its own Sweet Rhythms and Soul Energy charts, and DJs such as Gary Spence, Marc Collins and Kid Batchelor bring decades of London club and radio work to their shows.
Soul for people who were there.
