A HAMPSHIRE pirate radio station, has been dramatically banned from the airwaves after a raid by police and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Officers burst into a house in Southampton after tracking Wispa FM broadcasts to a roof-space transmitter.

The dance music station, which broadcast on 99.2FM, was shut down after complaints to the DTI.

DTI officials confiscated turntables, a transmitter and other equipment valued at around £3,000, along with a hoard of vinyl.

The station was broadcasting between 6pm and 12am each day from a house in MacArthur Crescent, Bitterne, with the motto ''bringing unity to the south coast community''.

It had a volunteer staff of more than 40 and had been running for approximately eight months before officers intervened.

Wispa FM's DJ Risky, also known as Jamie Radcliffe, 21, the station's joint spokesman with DJ Sub-Lo, or Richard Bulley, 27, said he was "gutted" at the raid.

Together with their colleagues, the pair now face a

criminal prosecution with up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine if found guilty.

DJ Risky described the scene: "They banged on the door and we turned off the broadcast and then we saw a metal bar being shoved through the door. We said 'no, don't pop the door' and let them in. They went upstairs and took the aerial and were looking for a ringleader, but we didn't want anyone to get the blame for it.

"They told us they'd been recording us for weeks."

DJ Risky said the station had huge community support.

"We had text messages from people saying that we were doing a wicked job of keeping kids off the streets. Our business plan was to go on for two years and then go for a licence once we had drummed up enough community support - it's a community project. It started as a charity thing to get kids off the streets.

"Even the DTI said that it was only that we didn't have a licence. They had monitored us and there was no racism, no violence and no abuse - nothing."

He vowed that the raid would not be the last of Wispa FM and appealed for supporters to text support messages to 07951 766192.

"We will be coming back on the air," he said. "With the right community support and backing, it may well be before Christmas."

The station had already gained support with a 500-strong mailing list, and t-shirts and mobile phones bearing the Wispa logo were common on the city streets.

A DTI spokesman said: "Pirate radio causes a lot of interference. A lot of people don't realise how serious it is. It has been known to interfere with the landing systems of aircraft. Also, they gain advertising revenue without paying taxes and performance rights."