RADIO regulators are threatening prison for businesses which get involved with pirate radio stations.

The Christmas crackdown from the Department of Trade and Industry comes just days after the Daily Echo revealed Southampton's only pirate radio station, Wispa FM, had been shut down in a night-time raid.

Now clubs which hold events in aid of pirate stations are being warned they could face prosecution, as can advertisers and anyone else getting involved financially. A DTI statement reads: "By holding these events, clubs could be acting as illegally as the pirates themselves and be liable for an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison."

The DTI has carried out 1,001 raids against 196 pirate radio stations this year. Of these raids, 181 were based in London and the south-east, resulting in 24 prosecutions in the region.

The move comes despite a groundswell of support for the city's Wispa FM, which spokes-man DJ Risky, also known as Jamie Radcliffe, described as a "community project".

Broadcasting for eight months, the dance music station had a host of local volunteers as staff and hundreds of people on its mailing list. The venture was brought to an abrupt halt when DTI officials and uniform police officers forced open the door at a home in MacArthur Crescent, Bitterne, which the station was using as a broadcast base.

The station had about £3,000 of equipment confiscated and a hoard of vinyl.

Wispa FM has since said it plans to return on the Internet.

Stephen Timms, radio and telecoms minister, said: "Pirate broadcasters can cause problems for everybody. They put lives at risk through interfering with essential emergency radio services like air traffic control, ambulances, fire services and the police. Pirate radio stations cause interference to legal broadcasters and damage property and annoy local residents."

Laws soon to be introduced will make pirate radio broadcast an arrestable offence.