Pirate radio
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The term pirate radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio broadcasting. More specifically, it refers to broadcasting an unlicensed signal that has enough power to reach potential listeners. Rules and regulations vary largely from country to country. In countries such as the USA and many countries in Europe, many types of radio licenses exist, and often the term pirate radio generally describes the unlicensed broadcasting of FM radio, AM radio, or shortwave signals over a significant coverage area that could be picked up by listeners.
Sometimes radio stations are deemed legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal and considered "pirate stations" where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross a country's border. In other cases, a broadcast may be considered "pirate" due to the nature of its content, its transmission format, or the transmit power (wattage) of the station, even if the broadcast is not technically illegal (such as a webcast or a ham radio broadcast). Therefore pirate radio can sometimes mean different things to different people. Pirate radio stations are sometimes called bootleg stations or (in Europe) Free Radio stations.
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[edit] Pirate radio history and examples
In the 1960s in the UK, the term referred to not only a perceived theft of the state-run airwaves by the unlicensed broadcasters, but also the risk-taking nature of offshore radio stations that actually operated on anchored ships or marine platforms.
A prime example of this kind of activity was Radio Luxembourg located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The English language evening broadcasts from Radio Luxembourg were intentionally beamed toward the British Isles by Luxembourg licensed transmitters, while the intended audience in the United Kingdom originally listened to their radio sets by permission of a Wireless License issued by the British General Post Office (GPO). However, under terms of that Wireless License, it was an offense under the Wireless Telegraphy Act to listen to unauthorized broadcasts which possibly included those transmitted by Radio Luxembourg. Therefore as far as the British authorities were concerned, Radio Luxembourg was a "pirate radio station" and British listeners to the station were possibly breaking the law (although as the term unauthorised was never properly defined it was somewhat of a legal grey area). This did not stop British newspapers from printing programme schedules for the station, or a British weekly magazine aimed at teenage girls, "Fab 208" from promoting the deejays and their lifestyle (Radio Luxembourg's wavelength was 208 metres). Another well known pirate station received in the UK, in probable violation of the license in that period, was Radio Caroline, in this case actually broadcast from a ship in international waters.
Where actual sea faring vessels are not involved, the term pirate radio is a political term of convenience as the word "pirate" suggests an illegal venture, regardless of the broadcast's actual legal status. The radio station XERF located at Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, USA, is an example.
While Mexico issued radio station XERF with a license to broadcast, the power of its 250,000 watts transmitter was far greater than the maximum of 50,000 watts authorized for commercial use by the government of the United States of America. Consequently, XERF and many other radio stations in Mexico which sold their broadcasting time to sponsors of English-language commercial and religious programs, were labeled as "border blasters", but not "pirate radio stations", even though the content of many of their programs were in violation of US law. Predecessors to XERF, for instance, had originally broadcast in Kansas, advocating "goat-gland surgery" for improved masculinity, but moved to Mexico to evade US laws about advertising medical treatments, particularly unproven ones.
In 1924, New York City station WHN was accused of being an "outlaw" station by AT&T (then American Telephone and Telegraph Company) for violating trade licenses which permitted only AT&T stations to sell airtime on their transmitters. As a result of the AT&T interpretation a landmark case was heard in court, which even prompted comments from Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover when he took a public stand in the station's defense. Although AT&T won its case, the furor created was such that those restrictive provisions of the transmitter license were never enforced.
[edit] Free radio
Another variation on the term pirate radio came about during the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco during the hippie days when many things were named "free". Examples include "free store", "free love" and even "free radio", which usually referred to clandestine and unlicensed land-based transmissions. These were also tagged as being pirate radio transmissions.
The term free radio crossed the Atlantic Ocean, where it was adopted by the Free Radio Association of listeners who defended the rights of the "pirate radio stations" broadcasting from ships and marine structures off the coastline of the United Kingdom. However, the term free radio also has another meaning, because it differentiates between that form of licensed broadcasting supported by the sale of commercial airtime which anyone can hear free of charge, from that form of licensed commercial broadcasting (especially television) that listeners and especially viewers have to subscribe to and which is usually known as Pay TV.
In Europe, in addition to adopting the term free radio, supportive listeners of what had been called pirate radio adopted the term offshore radio, which was usually the term used by the owners of the marine broadcasting stations.
Freebooter was yet another variation of the term pirate radio and it was sometimes used by the business press in the USA when describing marine broadcasting in Europe.
While pirate radio began as a defamatory term in Britain, it later became accepted as having a secondary meaning to describe adventurous forms of licensed broadcasting that had roots in true offshore unlicensed broadcasting. To this end the British licensing authorities have allowed both independent stations and to date even one local BBC station to use this name, while the government retained use of the term pirate radio to describe any stations on land or at sea which are broadcasting without a license and contrary to law.
[edit] Pirate radio by geographical area
Since this subject covers both national territories, international waters and international airspace, the only effective way to treat this subject is on a country by country, international waters and international airspace basis. Because the laws vary, the interpretation of the term pirate radio also varies considerably.
Questions have been raised about various types of broadcasting conducted by national governments against the interests of other national governments which have in turn created jamming stations transmitting noises on the same frequency so as to destroy the receivability of the incoming signal.
While the USA transmitted its programs towards the USSR which attempted to jam them, in 1970 the government of the United Kingdom decided to employ a jamming transmitter to drown out the incoming transmissions from the commercial station Radio Northsea International, which was based aboard the Motor Vessel (MV) Mebo II anchored off Southeast England in the North Sea.
Other examples of this type of unusual broadcasting include the Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Courier which both originated and relayed broadcasts of the Voice of America from an anchorage at the island of Rhodes, Greece to Soviet bloc countries. Balloons have been flown above Key West, Florida to support the TV transmissions of TV Martí which are directed at Cuba. Military broadcasting aircraft have been flown over Vietnam, Iraq and many other nations by the United States Air Force. The European Union financially supported a radio station broadcasting news and information into the former Yugoslavia from a ship anchored in international waters.
[edit] Pirate radio in Asia
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
China (From International Waters)
Taiwan (The history of Underground Radio)
[edit] Pirate radio in Australasia
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
New Zealand (From International Waters)
[edit] Pirate radio in Central America and Caribbean Sea
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
Swan Island (History of Radio Swan / Radio Americas)
[edit] Pirate radio in Europe
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
- Belgium (From International Waters)
- Denmark (From International Waters)
- France (History of Pirate Radio from 1970 to 1990)
- Greece
- Ireland (History of Pirate Radio)
- Kieran Murray personal web siteOn working in Irish pirate radio through the 80's & 90's
- Kieran Murray Homepage This is a mirror of Kieran Murray's personal web site above]
- [http://193.63.162.100/ A site dedicated to the history of the development of pirate radio stations in the Irish Republic
- http://uk.geocities.com/db142002
- Pirate radio in Kerry
County Kerry has had a long history of pirate radio. One of the first pirate radio stations was set up by the late Michael Donovan in the early 1970s and it was called Radio Tralee. It first broadcast on AM. It was reestablished as Kerry Local Radio (KLR) and broadcast on FM. Many other pirate stations have broadcast in Kerry over the years. The following is a non exhaustive list of some of the pirate stations that broadcast in Kerry at some stage. Radio Tralee (Tralee) ??AM (1970s) Kerry Local Radio (Tralee) ??FM (various frequencies in the 1980s) (104FM temporarily in 1993) Radio Phoenix (Tralee) ??FM (mid 1980s) WRKY Rocky 103 (Killarney in 1983 to 1986) Listowel (1987 to 1988) 99FM 103FM 104FM [Big L remnants] Horizion Radio (Kilorglin in 1986) (Banna in 1987) 97FM 99FM 104FM [Big L remnants] Southwest Radio (Killarney) 97.7FM 99.7FM 103.3FM 104FM 105FM (all 20 watts effective radiated power {ERP} each) (according to their engineer Basil Hendrix) Kingdom 102 (Killarney) 102FM (3000 watts ERP) (1987 to 1988) Sunshine 106 (Tralee) 106.5FM (shortlived) (1992) Shannonside Local Radio (Causeway) 104FM (shortlived) (1988) Ballinaskellings Radio 105FM (late 1980s) Coast 103 (Tralee) 106.5FM 103FM (shortlived) (1993) UCB Europe (Tralee) 106.5FM (relay service) (1999 to 2006) UCB Europe (Killarney) 105.0FM (relay service) (? to 2006) (was 97.8FM for a while in late 1990s) Dance Radio (Tralee) 104.2FM (late 1990s) Tralees (Beat-Fm 104.7FM) Feb 2000 to March 2006 WCR (Abbeyfeale) 96.2FM-Tralee (30 W) 96FM-Mallow (50 W) 98FM 101.3FM-Abbeyfeale (1000 W) (late 1980s) ERI (Cork) 1305 kHz AM (5,000 W) (FM signal not received in Kerry) (1982 to 1988) South Coast Radio (Cork) 1557 kHz AM (10,000W) (FM signal not received in Kerry) (mid to late 1980s) Radio Vera (Limerick) 97FM (5000 W ERP) [Big L remnants] (1988)
?? means information not available
- Italy (Radio Alice)
- Luxembourg (History of "Radio Luxembourg")
- Netherlands (From International Waters)
- http://freeteam.nl/patapoe/ Radio Patapoe
- Russia (Former USSR)
- Scotland (From International Waters)
- Spain (from Infousurpa)
- Sweden (From International Waters)
- United Kingdom (History of Pirate Radio: Pre-World War II; Land based)
- Yugoslavia (From International Waters)
- Greece
[edit] Pirate radio in the Middle East
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
Israel (From Territorial Waters)
[edit] Pirate radio in North America
For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
Mexico (History of the "Border blasters")
United States of America (History of Pirate Radio; From International Waters)
[edit] Pirate radio in South America
[edit] See also
AMATEUR PIRATE RADIO: Pirate amateur radio operators in the United States are rare, but they do exist. Since they would be shunned by their fellow hams, they don't publicize their illegal status. Amateur radio operators use the term bootleg to describe illegal equipment or operators. In the early days of Citizens Band Radio a license was required and many operators simply didn't bother to get one. Many bootleg CB operators also used transmitters that radiated more than the four watts allowed or operated on frequencies that were not authorized for CB operation.
Instances of unlicensed operators stealing the callsign of a legitimate ham have occurred. Also, the amateur frequencies have occasionally been bootleged by fishing boats, private aircraft, or taxi companies. Such operations have been subject to significant fines by the Federal Communications Commission.
- (In the UK different laws and regulations apply.)
COMMUNITY RADIO: In the USA Community radio is often used to describe licensed low power stations serving particular communities. It is also used by unlicensed pirate radio stations using very low power to describe their activities and by other stations seeking to obtain licenses for such operations. See also Micropower radio.
- (In the UK the term "Community Radio" had a particular point of reference to a plan proposed in the 1980s to licence previously unlicensed land based pirate radio stations, but that plan was aborted prior to being implemented. Today the term "Community Radio" is often used in the UK in conjunction with RSL for legally licensed low-power stations. A Restricted Service Licence "RSL", is granted by governmental regulators for low power and short duration transmissions serving a local community or special interest attraction.)
WYBS: An example of a North American pirate radio station.
[edit] External links
- [1] London's legendary album rock station; Alice's Restaurant Rock Radio
- Origin of term theory on possible origin of term
- Pirate Radio StationsPirate Radio Stations on the Internet
- Radio Pirates Forum A community for Pirate Radio enthusiasts to discuss this hobby and to meet other people interested in Pirate Radio
- Kieran Murray's personal web site On working in Irish pirate radio through the 80's & 90's
- DIYMEDIA For the latest in Pirate Free Radio & Free Media news
- Top Pirate Radio Sites A list of the top pirate radio site you can add your site vote on other sites & have your site voted on
- The movie Pump Up The Volume came out in 1990 and featured Christian Slater as a high school student who runs a pirate radio station.
- Click on "History" at RadioJackie.com to read how one English urban pirate station struggled from 1969 until 2003 to reach the status of legality with a scheduled daily output. Their story and level of community support are not typical of land-based pirate radio.
- London-based Thameside Radio 90.2 had a substantial influence on the style of future legal and pirate radio by interacting with listeners rather than simply broadcasting to them. Link to Thameside Radio Wikipedia entry
- Les pionniers des radios libres French free radio (French)
- Discussion board about pirate and legitimate radio in Ireland
- Des radios pirates aux radios libres (French)
- How to be a Community Radio Station (formerly known as "How to be a Radio Pirate")
- To promote neighbourhood, community and open-access radio stations;
- To demystify the art of broadcast electronics;
- To be a source of high quality technical information;
- To review equipment and information available elsewhere.
- Pirate Radio
- Pirate Radio Stations Directory of underground dance music pirate radio stations.
- Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
- When Don Pierson of Eastland, Texas created the most successful offshore stations of the 1960s: "Wonderful Radio London", "Swinging Radio England" and "Britain Radio - 'Hallmark of Quality'", he had no idea that the legacy of his creation would outlive his death in 1996. However, he did attempt one comeback of one his stations as "Wonderful Radio London International" in 1984. The station did not manage to come back on the air as a full time ship based radio station, but the company did produce its own new "Wonderful Radio London" programs which were heard nightly over 250,000 watts XERF-AM (Ciudad Acuña, Mexico across the Rio Grande river from Del Rio, Texas) and a handful of US domestic stations, which included Don Pierson's own radio station: KVMX-FM in Eastland, Texas. Since his death there have been other revivals and even other claims to the name. See The Wonderful Radio London Story
- For more information about Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Radio of 1997, see: Sir James Goldsmith web site and the story of the ship Kowloon Moon
- For a listeners perspective on Offshore Pirate Radio mainly in the 60s and 70s look at the offshore radio chunk at http://www.wirelesswaffle.co.uk
- Irish pirate radio of the 1980's.
- London's FM Pirate Radio Stations List of FM pirate radio stations currently operating in London.
- London Pirate Radio Listings
- London Pirates - Radio Archive of underground music stations 1989-2000
- The Official Pirate Radio Kit Site Technical information on FM Transmitter Kits, Great Links page
- Outlaw Radio GuyThe lyrics and audio sample of a song about a radio pirate
