SSRadio didn't start as a business plan. It started in 2005 with, in the station's own words, "a few like-minded individuals with a passion for good quality House music," pulling inspiration from Britain's pirate radio tradition to build an internet station around deep and soulful house.
Built on a Pirate Radio Foundation
That origin story matters more in London than almost anywhere else. UK garage and its house-adjacent offshoots grew directly out of the city's pirate radio scene in the mid-1990s, with stations like London Underground FM giving the genre its earliest platform before it broke into the mainstream, according to a history of that station. SSRadio arrived a decade later as internet streaming replaced illegal transmitters as the way underground dance scenes got heard, carrying forward the same spirit of DJ-led, community-built radio without needing a rooftop aerial to do it.
From a Handful of DJs to a Respected Global Station
The growth was fast by underground radio standards. By 2010, just five years after launch, SSRadio had become, in its own account, "one of the most respected online dance music stations on the planet," according to the station's own five-year retrospective. The station marked that milestone with a genuine celebration rather than a quiet blog post, throwing a Thames river boat party on July 10, 2010, in Reading, followed by an outdoor garden session and a night at Mango nightclub featuring DJs Grant Nelson and Andy Ward alongside the contributors who had shaped the station since 2005.
A Genre List Built for House Purists
SSRadio's programming reflects just how many corners of house music share a family tree. Alongside its core deep and soulful sound, the station's schedule spans gospel house, disco house, Chicago house, jackin' house, Afro house, Latin house, funky house, and even niche strains like handbag house and traxx house. Rather than picking one lane, SSRadio treats house as a broad tradition worth exploring in full, with dedicated shows like the Citrus Sound Show, Soul Kandi Radio Show, and the Sunday Lunchtime Session giving each strand its own regular slot.
Tune In
For a station that grew out of London's pirate radio roots into a global home for deep and soulful house, SSRadio is worth a stream on Radio Shuffle.