Thanks to Twitter, I learned about a UK ‘zine recently scanned and uploaded to the Internet Archive: “Radio Is my Bomb: a DIY Manual for Pirates.”

Published in 1987, it’s a fascinating document of the 1970s and 80s free radio in the UK and elsewhere, though principally focused on western Europe. Amusingly, the entry on the USA briefly describes the (fully licensed) Pacifica Network, noting that the community radio movement here was then about 60 stations strong. But, then concludes, “we have no information on any pirate stations in the USA.”

Alongside reports on stations and activity in different regions, there is an extensive how-to section, including a primer on radio electronics, with transmitter and antenna schematics.

What stands out is the free radio ethos espoused throughout, but especially in the introduction. It sounds no less fresh today, despite being 34 years old.

“Of course there have been radio pirates since radio was discovered,” the authors observe, “Marconi himself became the 1st pirate, when the authorities prevented him fully using his own discovery.” They go on to decry commercial radio, as well as “traditional pirate radio DJs, who tend to be all the same white sexist macho morons, preening their egos and spewing forth inane chatter in the hope of getting a fat career in the legal media.” No doubt, they have the last generation pirates – broadcasting stations like Radio Caroline – in their sights, noting that many indeed went on to long careers at the BBC and commercial radio after first sticking it to the man.

But their shots at the dinosaurs of pirate radio have a purpose beyond mere mockery. They advocate a radically more inclusive approach.

“We’d like instead to put everyone on air! To reclaim the airwaves from the parasites who infest it. We’d like to see ethnic radio, women’s radio, tenants, unions, anarchists, community groups, old people, prisoners, pacifists, urban gorillas, local info, gays, straights and of course every possible variety of musical entertainment.”

Moreover, they advocate for what something pretty close to what would become known in the US as micropower radio in the 90s, calculating evidence for its feasibility.

“We’d prefer radio chaos to the ‘aural diahorrea’ we have right now! But in fact chaos has nothing to do with it. For a start there’s plenty of room, ‘Free The Airwaves’ have calculated there’s room for 471 one mile FM pirates in London alone without interfering with anyone… We’re talking about cooperation, not chaos and competition. About open access radio, where all kinds of people can share facilities and put out occasional shows or info as they wish. We’re talking about frequency sharing, about community defence, about each ethnic group having proqrammes in their own language, etc.”

If this description also reminds you of low-power FM, it’s not a coincidence. The explosion of “micropower” community-oriented pirate radio in the 1990s helped put pressure on the FCC to create an LPFM service designed to be accessible to small community organizations.

Covering then-recent history of the pirate scenes in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, West Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, El Salvador and Bolivia, “Radio Is My Bomb” is a near-encyclopedia of the movement in the 70s and 80s. While French, Italian and Dutch pirate radio are comparatively more well documented and widely cited, I was much less aware of scenes in, say, Belgium and Denmark.

I also appreciate the inclusion of Japan’s “mini TX boom,” briefly discussing the rise of “mini-FM,” as evangelized by theorist Tetsuo Kogawa. “Mini-FM” is similar to Part 15 in the US, using very low-powered transmitters that are officially legal for broadcasting without a license, due to their extremely small output and broadcast radius. However, in a dense city like Tokyo their tiny footprints still reach a sizable population, and can be used to stimulate community interaction, as with Kogawa’s “Radio Party.”

I’d love to have a print copy of “Radio Is My Bomb.” Still, thanks to a pseudonymous uploader and the Internet Archive, everyone can have a virtual copy that reminds us that the movement for freer airwaves filled with far more voices is not new, and does not end.

The post “Radio Is my Bomb” ‘Zine Is a Still-Relevant Snapshot of Free Radio in the 1980s appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We welcome new contributor Martin Butera, reporting from Brasilia DF, Brazil. In his first article, he examines the growing crackdown on free radio in that country. Readers should note the parallels between unlicensed radio there and in the US, where stations in dense urban areas are often employed by communities and populations not well served by the dominant public and commercial broadcasters. -Eds.

Search warrants by the Federal Police for the seizure of radio stations that operate outside the law in Brazil have been constant this year.

Through a statement, the national telecommunications regulator Anatel reported that, on average, it turned off about six unlicensed stations a day throughout the country in the year to date. The problem is mainly concentrated in large urban centers such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

In the last three years under the government of president Jair Bolsonaro more than 6,700 unlicensed stations have already been closed in Brazil, according to data from the country’s radio and television industry association, ABERT (Associação Brasileira de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão). This represents double the total number of authorizations granted by the Ministry of Communications for community radios in the last ten years.

The raids by Anatel are generally violent. Members of the Federal Police, together with members of the COE (Special Operations Command) of the Military Police, using armored vehicles, are in charge of dismantling the transmission of so-called “pirate” radios, which, according to the Brazilian telecommunications agency, make it difficult for aircraft pilots to communicate with control tower operators. 

(The aircraft radio band begins just above the FM band at 108 MHz, and interference with aircraft communications has long been an argument used to justify combating unlicensed radio in the US as well. -ed.)

(Federal Police disclosure): Agent of the Brazilian Federal Police, entering free radio to confiscate the equipment

According to Anatel, the most affected airport is Santos Dummont, which is located about 10 kilometers from the main favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the control tower of Guarulhos Airport in Greater São Paulo. According to an estimate by the agency, just  in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo there are around four thousand such stations.

Favela is the name given in Brazil to the precarious or informal settlements that grow around or within the country’s large cities.

According to the latest 2019 data and measurements from The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 22.03% of the 6.3 million inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro live in favelas. That is, 1.4 million people reside in these irregular settlements, making it the city with the most neighborhoods of this type in the country, even above that nation’s largest city, São Paulo, where 1.28 million reside in 1,020 favelas.

But the National Telecommunications Agency also says that by illegally occupying random frequencies, these stations not only interfere with communication between control towers and airplanes, they also interfere with frequencies of hospitals and ambulances, as well as security forces and their vehicles, putting thousands of people at risk every day or making it difficult for them to help.

When they are unable to prove the interference caused by this type of radio, the Federal Police and the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency end up claiming that the closures are justified in some other way, sometimes claiming the stations have some  connection with drug trafficking.

People found guilty of the crime of unlicensed telecommunications may serve up to four years in detention in Brazil. However, arrests are not common, especially if stations are unoccupied, or suspected operators destroy transmission equipment. 

The Federal Police claim that all the stations that do not have an operating license from the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) are considered “pirates,” even though many call themselves community radio stations.

(Federal Police disclosure): Pirate transmitter equipment, found by the Brazilian Federal Police Agents, camouflaged in a mountain

The persecution of free radio stations is so pervasive that now the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has joined in to fight them, ostensibly to fight interference with aircraft radios.

The FAB periodically scans the FM band, attempting to identify possible interference within a 10 km radius around Brazilian airports. After that, the approximate locations are passed on to the Special Operations Command teams of the Military Police, who are in charge of disabling the pirate transmitters.

Also the Regional Flight Protection Service of São Paulo (SRPV-SP), linked to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), decided to act more harshly against pirate radios that have interfered in the airspace and intends to change the form of communication between the pilot and the tower control to make the message clearer.

According to data from the SRPV-SP (São Paulo Regional Flight Protection Service), so far in  2021 there was an increase of 163% in instances of interference – from 65 in 2020 to 171 this year. The difference is partially explained by the change in how aircraft control personnel log these instances. To demonstrate the severity of the problem, all possible occurrences of interference are now counted, not just the most egregious. 

To continue with this report, it is necessary to understand the difference that exists in Brazil between “Pirate Radio” and Community Radio.

“Pirate Radio” in Brazil:

The term arose in the early 1960s in England to identify transmissions, whose transmitting station was on a ship off the British coast, but outside the control of nautical miles. These stations, considered illegal by the British government, were created by young people who did not accept the state monopoly and did not support the programming of official stations controlled by the government.

In Brazil, the term was adapted without worrying about its origin and began, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, to identify irregular radio stations. In São Paulo, the term was also used in the eighties and nineties by some radio stations, themselves, but soon after it was dropped.

In Rio de Janeiro, for example, all unauthorized stations were confused with clandestine broadcasts – which work hard to avoid being identified and tend to have political objectives – and more conventional unlicensed broadcasts.

As elsewhere in the world, in Brazil the term “pirate” came to be used as a catch-all pejorative term to describe all sorts of activity outside the law, especially by the owners of large radio and television networks and the cultural production industry, often when identifying unauthorized copies of their music, cinema and video products..

Community Radio in Brazil:

The Community Broadcasting Service was created in Brazil by Law 9612 of 1998, regulated by Decree 2615 of the same year. Stations operate on the FM band with low power (25 watts) and coverage restricted to a radius of 1 km from the transmitting antenna. Only non-profit community associations and foundations based in the place where the service is provided may operate a station.

Community radio stations must have pluralistic programming, without any type of censorship, and must be open to the expression of all the inhabitants of the region served. This is intended to provide a communication channel entirely dedicated to the community, opening the opportunity for the dissemination of its ideas, culture and traditions.

The Problem of Community and Free Radio

The history of community radio stations in Brazil begins in 1987, at the beginning of the discussions in the National Constituent Assembly. At that time, it was already understood that it was important to democratize the media through community broadcasting, with local and free stations aimed at the community.

A group led by professors from the Faculty of Communication and Arts of USP (University of São Paulo), managed to approve an article in the Federal Constitution of 1988 that guarantees freedom of expression in intellectual, artistic, scientific and communication activities, regardless of censorship or license. Almost 10 years passed until the Community Broadcasting Service was created. 

However, there are several community and free radio stations in Brazil that operate without recognizing the legitimacy of Anatel. These are still on the air, inspired by independent media movements, for the purpose of creating their own media without depending on the media linked to large corporations.

Nowadays, setting up a radio is relatively easy, with an approved FM transmitter, a laptop or desktop computer, a table and a microphone are enough. However, the operation of these radios are officially illegal, and called “pirate.” They broadcast without authorization, in part, because that license can be difficult to obtain.

An article published in the Brazilian Press Observer details research demonstrating a strong relationship between community radio licenses and political influence, characterizing it as “electronic colonialism.” Reviewing a study of stations on air from 1999 to 2004 – the first five years of the office Community Broadcasting Service – it shows that about half of authorized community radio stations are linked to local politicians, noting that the granting of licenses has value in “retail politics.”

It also draws attention to the determination of what is called the “political godfather” in obtaining the concession and authorization; without this it is almost impossible to obtain an official permit to operate a community or free radio station. 

Background and Research on Brazilian Community and “Pirate” Radio

There is very little bibliography on this subject, most of it is written in academic papers.

There is a book in Brazil called “Rádios Livres – a Reforma Agrária no Ar“, now out of print and totally out of date

The book ,written by journalists Arlindo Machado, Caio Magri and Marcelo Masagão, brings together various experiences of community and free radio stations in the history of the country. Between the years of the Civil-Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), he recounts how the Brazilian youth bravely resisted with several free radio stations throughout the national territory against repression.

The book, first published in 1986, also has transcripts of several manifestos of these experiences, most of which were self-managed and had a libertarian ideology (be it anarchist or communist).

In addition to being a historical document that records the main libertarian radio experiences in Brazil, the book also brings a deep and necessary discussion on the democratization of the media in the country.

Radio Favela

However, without much written literature on this subject, free radio reaches the cinema thanks to “Radio Favela“, a Brazilian film, directed by Helvécio Ratton and released in 2002.

Based on true events, this film tells the story of a radio station that was created by a group of boys from the favelas of Belo Horizonte in the 1980s. Despite being persecuted for more than twenty years, its audacious programming and its spontaneous language were the keys to his audience success.

The protagonist of the story is Jorge (Alexandre Moreno), a boy who lives between two worlds: that of the favela where he lives, and that of the middle-class school where he studies, since his mother works there as a cleaner to pay for his studies. He is the leader, creator and announcer of Radio Favela.

His companions in this free radio station are Zequiel (Adolfo Moura), who is in charge of the technical part; Roque (Babu Santana), an uprooted and ambitious drug dealer; and Brau (Benjamín Abras), the group’s poet, who finds his way out of favela life in rhythm, black music, and dance.

One day there is a big police raid in the alleys of the favelas. While the drug traffickers flee or camouflage their merchandise, the pirate radio warns the residents to protect themselves.

The objective of the police is not drug trafficking, but to locate the voice of pirate radio: they want to silence it. When Jorge is arrested, his collaborators and friends will make sure that the voice of the favela continues in the air.

Finally a very good report on free radios in the 1990s in Brazil can be found on YouTube.

In 1995, the Vitrine program, of TV Cultura de São Paulo, aired a report on the free radio movement that had a great explosion in the mid-nineties.

The reporter James Capelli visited three stations that operated in São Paulo, in different parts of the city: Conexão, Free and Onze.

The first sought to accommodate the problems of the neighborhood, in addition to accommodating people who had never had radio experience.

The second was a church-related station.

The third was an experience that mixed people linked to the Academic Center of the Faculty of Law of USP (University of São Paulo) and residents of the center of São Paulo.

At that time, the report announced that the government at the time would send a law to Congress to regulate these radios without licenses. After a long time and much discussion, the law for community and free radio came out, but little changed. 

Final Conclusion

It would be impossible in a single report to tell the complete story of community or free broadcasting in Brazil. However, this publication can serve as a starting point for potential researchers who want to know more about the subject.

People who set up a community or free radio, just want a space to work, community or free radio, they do not crash planes in the sky.

Although it seems obsolete to be talking about community radio or free-to-air radio by frequency modulated by the imminent advance of the internet, I must tell you that here still in Brazil, there are many people without internet access, even more so when we talk about favelas.

That is why it is very important that each neighborhood has its community and free radio and television, this will help the economy, culture, sports, public health and education of the neighborhood.

Due to political interests and institutional bureaucracy, these radios end up navigating the sea of ​​illegality and end up being classified as clandestine and criminal stations.

It is our duty to remain vigilant of the violations against freedom of expression, anywhere in the world.

I agree that radio frequencies are a public good that should be controlled and penalized by Anatel, but we must study case by case, so that acts of censorship are not discussed. 

About the Author

Martin Butera is a founding member of Radio Atomika, a station that is part of the second generation of radio alternatives, countercultural, alegal, free, self-managed, pirates born in the heat of Argentinazo 2001 (great Argentine economic crisis).

In 2013 to celebrate 10 years of the station (2003-2013), they edit a documentary called “Proudly Clandestinos”, a compilation with testimonies of the protagonists who worked at the station, can be seen on YouTube in Spanish

He left the project in 2017, when he went to live in Brasília DF, capital of Brazil, where he continues to work in alternative media.

Butera is also a radio amateur with more than 31 years of experience and has participated in DXpedition, throughout South America using the Argentine radio callsign LU9EFO and the Brazilian callsign PT2ZDX.

He has also contributed to some of the world’s leading international magazines and newsletters on broadcasting, and his articles have been published and translated into various languages such as Spanish, English, Portuguese, German, Italian, and even Japanese.

The post Brazilian Authorities Cracking Down on Free Radio in 2021 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The PIRATE Act was signed into law more than a year ago, but the rules governing increased fines for unlicensed broadcasting are about to go into effect on April 26. The Act is intended to give the FCC additional tools for tamping down pirate radio activity in hot beds like Boston and Brooklyn, NY, but there are reasons to be skeptical.

Brooklyn-based writer, post-production mixer and field recordist David Goren joins to help us tease out the real-world implications. Goren is also the creator of the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map and has been monitoring and recording unlicensed radio activity in the borough for decades.

Also joining the show is Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota. A professor of media law, he helps illuminate some of the legal and bureaucratic elements that complicate the Commission’s efforts. He also catches us up on the latest development in the battle over media ownership rules, with the Supreme Court issuing a narrow unanimous ruling in favor of the FCC’s most recent changes, but not quite addressing the decades-long gridlock in that policy area.

Show Notes:

• David Goren
• The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map
• The PIRATE Act
• Radio World: FCC Can Use New Pirate Radio Fines Starting April 26
• FCC: Enforcement Bureau Warns Property Managers That Tolerate Pirate Radio
• New York City’s Pirates of the Air
• Podcast #133: Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio
• Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force
• Radio Survivor’s most recent episode on Wave Farm, inluding numerous links.
• KCRW: Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD
• WVIP
• Podcast #168: A Time Machine for All The Radio Plus Shortwave
• Podcast #3: FCC Paper Tiger Teams vs Pirate Radio (episode with John Anderson)
• Listen to this BBC Documentary about 5 Community Radio Stations around the World
• Podcast #282 – New FCC, Who Dis?
• Podcast #277 – How Does the FCC Solve Anything?

The post Podcast #294 – Reading the PIRATE Act / FCC & the Supremes Pt. 2 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and internet stations.

Jennifer Waits takes us on an auditory tour of the farm, along with a visit to the station’s Hudson, NY studio, where station manager and managing news editor Lynn Sloneker lays out all these audio feeds. Then in the Wave Farm studio, artistic director Tom Roe details the organization’s history, which has its roots in the unlicensed micropower radio movement of the 1990s.

Every year Wave Farm hosts artists in residence, who create unique works and installations exploring the many aspects of electromagnetic transmission. One was the musical artist Quintron, who created the Weather Warlock, a weather-controlled synthesizer. Eric Klein gave him a call to learn more about this project and his work.

Show Notes:

• WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of Wave Farm
• Artist-in-residence Dan Tapper at Wave Farm
• Dan Tapper’s website
• Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond
• Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio
• Wave Farm Celebrates 20 Years of Transmission Art
• Quintron and Miss Pussycat
• Weather for the Blind
• Weather Warlock at Wave Farm

The post Podcast #278 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The PIRATE Act, recently passed by Congress, is intended to stem the tide of unlicensed radio broadcasting by providing the Federal Communications Commission with new tools. Chief amongst them are new maximum fines, and a shortcut to issuing them. But will this really work?

Author and radio scholar John Anderson says that a lot of the Act’s provisions amount to “unfunded mandates,” requiring the FCC to make semi-annual sweeps in pirate radio hotspots, but without any additional budget. John joins the show to details all of the PIRATE Act’s provisions, and assess what effect they may have.

We also analyze the role of unlicensed radio stations in their communities –recently recognized by even the Boston Globe – and what effect, if any, the Act might have on Part 15, legal unlicensed broadcasters.

Show Notes:

• Boston Globe: Give Radio Pirates a Chance to Go Legit
• The PIRATE Act text
• The PIRATE Act was sponsored by former New York Rep. Chris Collins who was just sentenced to prison for insider trading
• Part 15 Lab: A Look Back at KENC 1620 AM, Stayton, OR
• Internet Archive Wayback Machine: Allston-Brighton Free Radio
• Internet Archive Wayback Machine: Boston Globe article on Allston-Brighton Free Radio’s Part 15 network

The post Podcast #229 – Reading the PIRATE Act appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Here at the close of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 we’re celebrating the 31st anniversary of the end of one of the most fascinating periods in radio broadcast history, when pirate radio ruled the Irish airwaves. We enjoyed this interview – recorded at the beginning of 2019 – and we think you will, too.

For about a decade, ending in 1988, pirate stations dominated the Irish radio bands, exploiting a loophole in the law that made punishments for unlicensed broadcasting on par with a speeding ticket. Now the sounds and artifacts of this cultural movement are being preserved online in the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.

Archive co-founders Brian Greene and John Walsh tell us about this rich history, in which some of the biggest stations broadcast with multi kilowatts of power, with listeners as far away as London and Wales. Stations ran the gamut, from these high-powered “super pirates” which often emulated American commercial radio to hobbyist broadcasters and community radio. Some of the Irish pirate radio stations were extremely political, focusing on the Irish language, or political prisoners. One station was a feminist pirate where only women’s voices were broadcast. While the scene came to an official end when the Irish government passed a new law with more severe penalties, these pirate stations helped to force open the country’s airwaves to non-governmental radio, which had a monopoly for more than fifty years.

Little known outside of Ireland, this hidden history is a must-listen for radio historians, enthusiasts and nerds of all stripes.

We went down several pirate radio wormholes that we couldn’t fit into this episode. Supporters of Radio Survivor can hear that extra material in Bonus Episode #178.5 right now on Patreon.

Not a patron? Sign up now for as little as a $1 a month and you can get access to this episode and even more great bonus content.

Show Notes:

• Irish Pirate Radio Archive
• Flirt FM
• Wireless on Flirt FM
• Wireless of Flirt FM #26: Highlights of the Pirate Radio Archive to date
• Radio.ie
• Radio Station Field Trip 18 – Flirt FM in Galway, Ireland
• “The 1988 closedown: How a legal loophole led to an explosion in Irish pirate radio“

The post Podcast #226 – Irish Pirate Radio Encore appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Last week The Verge wrapped up a three-part series on pirate radio, examining a US-government-sanctioned form in Afghanistan, radio-like conference call services used by the Hmong diaspora and unlicensed Haitian stations in Brooklyn, NY. Recovering from the holiday weekend I finally had a chance to catch up, read the three articles and listen to their accompanying podcasts. They’re well-researched pieces that put the production and use of radio in social and political economic context, rather than relying on well-worn tropes of over-romanticized rebellion (not a single skull-and-crossbones image to be found!).

The value of radio communication to communities that are not well served by mainstream broadcasters is something we’ve emphasized here at Radio Survivor when discussing unlicensed or pirate radio. For the article on Brooklyn stations, reporters Bijan Stephen and Andrew Marino use the looming specter of the PIRATE Act as a frame for understanding why government prohibition, even escalated by the threat of multiplied fines, poses little disincentive for the unlicensed broadcaster serving their friends, families and neighbors.

Stephen and Marino profile a former news program host on an unlicensed station, Joan Martinez, who studied broadcasting in college. Now in graduate school, Martinez reflects a first-person insider’s view that is informed by her broader understanding of the tightly controlled radio industry, especially in New York City, where opportunities for new stations are few and far between.

In fact, only three low-power FM stations are licensed in the entire city: one in Brooklyn, one in Queens and one in Flushing. All were approved only in the last LPFM licensing window, and have been on the air only a few years. Just one LPFM seems hardly enough to serve the diverse needs of Brooklyn alone, home to 2.5 million people.

For the podcast the hosts talk with scholar John Anderson, who has been studying pirate radio for some two decades, and journalist David Goren, who created the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map. Both John and David discussed the Brooklyn scene on our podcast last year.

David’s comments on why he thinks the PIRATE Act will not do much to stem the tide of pirate radio were particularly incisive. He predicted, “it will be gentrification that takes the pirate stations off the air,” as new, high-rent residential high-rise buildings go up in the Flatbush neighborhood that is home to countless broadcasters.

That’s probably true, and it’s also likely that stations will spread out to new areas as people are pushed out or Brooklyn by a skyrocketing cost of living. At the same time, pirate radio is a pervasive phenomenon throughout the New York City area. I’m not sure other hotbeds, like Paterson, NJ, will gentrify at the same rate. Nevertheless, the point is well taken. Go to other cities with prominent ethnic and immigrant communities, but where they’re not so densely clustered as around NYC, and you’ll encounter far less pirate radio, too.

Calling the Radio

While comparisons of other media to pirate radio – like internet radio, in particular – often grates on me, I’m fine with reporter Mia Sato’s likening Hmong conference call services to it. These conferences are as similar to terrestrial radio as podcasts and internet radio. While not legally prohibited, like pirate radio, they serve a very similar communitarian function as the Haitian stations in Brooklyn, though obviously with the opportunity for more immediate dialog.

Moreover, telephone and radio have been intricately tied pretty much since the beginning, noting that radio was a two-way medium before one-to-many broadcasting came to predominate. And, of course, listener calls have long been a feature, making the one-way medium more two-way.

Outside of broadcast, amateur radio and citizens’ band radio are also two-way, where monopolizing a frequency to broadcast is actually prohibited. So I see these conference call “stations” as a sort of hybrid.

Back to the radio-telephone connection. There have long been stations that also simulcast on the telephone to reach listeners without access to their air signals. In the days before cell phone and unlimited minutes, this could be an expensive service for listeners outside of a station’s immediate area. But today that’s much less of a concern.

In fact, a couple of dozen stations around the world currently simulcast over the phone using a service called Audio Now, including BBC World Service and Voice of America service programs in Somali, as well as news radio WTOP in Washington, DC. If you’re low on smartphone data and don’t have access to a radio, then it’s not a bad alternative.

The Irony of the Radio in a Box in Afghanistan

The first article in the series tells the story of Afghan broadcasters who were given a “radio in the box” to broadcast on behalf of U.S. military PsyOps during the heat of the American invasion. These broadcasters created programming in opposition to the Taliban, including popular music, alongside news and propaganda. Unfortunately, they were also left high-and-dry when the U.S. military pulled out.

Radio has long been a tool of war, and of those opposing totalitarian rule, both from within and outside the borders of conflict zones. Of course, it’s hard to escape the irony that the American government is happy to promote pirate radio elsewhere, while simultaneously working to stamp it out at home. But any student of history should know such ironies are not that rare.

The post From Brooklyn to Afghanistan, The Verge Does Right by Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go.

Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone has a ton of radio nerd fun as he takes us back to the 1920s, when Canadian and U.S. regulators struck a treaty to split up the AM dial and limit maximum broadcast power, but left out Mexico. That opened up an opportunity for stations in that country to cover the continent with hundreds of kilowatts, attracting broadcasters from north of the border wanting to take advantage.

Many infamous and colorful personalities were amongst this group, from Dr. John Brinkley, who promoted goat glands to cure male potency problems, all the way to man named Bob Smith – later known as Wolfman Jack – who blasted rock and roll that most American stations wouldn’t touch.

Dr. Curran explains why stations along the Mexican border remained popular with U.S. broadcasters even after that country lowered maximum power levels, in treaty with its northern neighbor. He also explores the relationship of U.S. stations to Canadian markets, where stations are more highly regulated. If you’ve ever wondered why radio is different along the border, you’re curiosity will be satisfied.

Show Notes:

• Radio World: Goat Gland Man Has Enduring Appeal; Though His Remains Are Safely Entombed in Memphis, Dr. Brinkley’s Legend Lives on
• Wide Open Country: How Border Radio Helped Popularize Country Music
• Texas State Historical Association: Border Radio
• SpectacularOptical: Clap for the Wolfman
• The Classic CKLW Page
• Wolfman Jack biography
• Wikipedia: XEROK-AM

The post Podcast #212 – Border Radio in North America appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Most press coverage of low-power FM focuses on particular stations, or the flourishing of the medium in the last half-decade. Not unexpectedly, rarely do articles delve into the deep history, which goes all the way back to 1948, with mileposts in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, leading up the FCC’s eventual creation of the modern LPFM service in 2000.

That’s why I read with great pleasure journalist Glenn Daigon’s well-researched and reported piece for Who.What.Why, “In Big Media Era, Some Communities Turn to Alternative: Low Power Radio.” Daigon lays out the medium’s timeline clearly, beginning with the creation of its predecessor, Class D FM, in the post-war period, to the neglect the license class experienced in the 60s and 70s, on to the FCC killing the service in 1978, at the behest of public radio leaders.

This is a history I know well because I researched and wrote about it for a chapter in the 2001 anthology Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio. To the best of my knowledge, it was a story that was largely undocumented – at least not in a single narrative – prior to this publication.

Daigon also properly cites unlicensed pirate and micropower radio as an important source of pressure on the FCC in the 1990s, leading to the creation of the current LPFM service. Activists took direct action with their own low-powered unlicensed stations to protest both the rapid consolidation and homogenization of the radio dial brought on by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the fact that the Commission – with no technical argument to support it – refused to license any broadcaster under 100 watts.

(Hear more about this broadcast civil disobedience in podcast episode #34 – How the Telecom Act of ’96 Triggered Popular Resistance.)

Noting the successful launch of more than 1400 low-power FMs in the last two decades, Daigon briefly profiles the efforts of great stations like ArtxFM in Louisville, KY.

This is perhaps one of the best and most concise histories of low-power FM I’ve encountered, and a must-read for anyone who volunteers at or listens to a LPFM station.

The post This Concise History of LPFM in the U.S. Is a Must-Read appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act,” but does it actually have a chance at putting a dent in unlicensed broadcasting? We review the provisions of the the bill – called the PIRATE Act for short – and wonder if an uptick in the war on pirates can be any more successful than the war on drugs.

Then Eric and Paul note the major push into podcasting by the nation’s largest radio broadcaster, leading down a garden path that ends with Eric reminiscing about his days making an independent national community radio newscast.

As we discuss on this episode, the 20th anniversary of birth of Indymedia at the Battle of Seattle is coming this November.

Underlying this is a nearly forgotten history of independent media that connects unlicensed radio, pre-social media open publishing on the internet and the birth of LPFM. With your help we want to record and document this important history at Radio Survivor.

To do this we need to get to 100 Patreon supporters by this July. That will help give us the resources we need to begin this work in time for the N30 anniversary.

Show Notes:

• Radio World: Six Things Broadcasters Should Know About the PIRATE Act
• Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map
• Podcast #178 – Irish Pirate Radio Archive
• Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio
• Podcast #181 – Visiting Community Radio Stations Around the World
• Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina
• Free Speech Radio News
• Indymedia

Feature image credit: Wikimedia Commons

The post Podcast #183 – Can Congress Stop Pirate Radio? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We had so much fun talking with Irish Pirate Radio Archive founders Brian Greene and John Walsh on episode #178 that we went way past the 59 minutes we deliver for our radio affiliates. Since not everything could fit into our regular episode, we saved some of the nerdier bits for our Patreon supporters.

We get into the transmitter tech used by Irish pirates to reach as far away as Continental Europe, and learn more about the Summer School in Transnational Radio History that catalyzed the creation of the Archive.

Bonus Episode #178.5 is available now for supporters. And you can hear it when you sign up to support Radio Survivor starting at just $1 a month.

You’ll also get access to more bonus stuff, like our retro-style radio station tour postcards and more bonus podcast episodes. We have a more great things planned to share with our Patreon supporters this year. So now’s a good time to sign up, and help Radio Survivor survive, grow and thrive.

The post Bonus Episode #178.5 – More Irish Pirates for the Radio Anoraks appeared first on Radio Survivor.

For about a decade, ending in 1988, pirate stations dominated the Irish radio bands, exploiting a loophole in the law that made punishments for unlicensed broadcasting on par with a speeding ticket. Now the sounds and artifacts of this cultural movement are being preserved online in the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.

Archive co-founders Brian Greene and John Walsh tell us about this rich history, in which some of the biggest stations broadcast with multi kilowatts of power, with listeners as far away as London and Wales. Stations ran the gamut, from these high-powered “super pirates” which often emulated American commercial radio to hobbyist broadcasters and community radio. Some of the Irish pirate radio stations were extremely political, focusing on the Irish language, or political prisoners. One station was a feminist pirate where only women’s voices were broadcast. While the scene came to an official end when the Irish government passed a new law with more severe penalties, these pirate stations helped to force open the country’s airwaves to non-governmental radio, which had a monopoly for more than fifty years.

Little known outside of Ireland, this hidden history is a must-listen for radio historians, enthusiasts and nerds of all stripes.

We went down several pirate radio wormholes that we couldn’t fit into this episode. Supporters of Radio Survivor can hear that extra material in Bonus Episode #178.5 right now on Patreon.

Not a patron? Sign up now for as little as a $1 a month and you can get access to this episode and even more great bonus content.

Show Notes:

• Irish Pirate Radio Archive
• Flirt FM
• Wireless on Flirt FM
• Wireless of Flirt FM #26: Highlights of the Pirate Radio Archive to date
• Radio.ie
• Radio Station Field Trip 18 – Flirt FM in Galway, Ireland
• “The 1988 closedown: How a legal loophole led to an explosion in Irish pirate radio“

The post Podcast #178 – Irish Pirate Radio Archive appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and internet stations.

Jennifer Waits takes us on an auditory tour of the farm, along with a visit to the station’s Hudson, NY studio, where station manager and managing news editor Lynn Sloneker lays out all these audio feeds. Then in the Wave Farm studio, artistic director Tom Roe details the organization’s history, which has its roots in the unlicensed micropower radio movement of the 1990s.

Every year Wave Farm hosts artists in residence, who create unique works and installations exploring the many aspects of electromagnetic transmission. One was the musical artist Quintron, who created the Weather Warlock, a weather-controlled synthesizer. Eric Klein gave him a call to learn more about this project and his work.

Show Notes:

• WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of Wave Farm
• Artist-in-residence Dan Tapper at Wave Farm
• Dan Tapper’s website
• Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond
• Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio
• Wave Farm Celebrates 20 Years of Transmission Art
• Quintron and Miss Pussycat
• Weather for the Blind
• Weather Warlock at Wave Farm
• Radio Survivor Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio
• The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map is Now Online
• Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map
• Radio Survivor Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G
• Every Community Radio Programmer Must be a Publicist

The post Podcast #151 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Brooklyn, NY has one of the densest populations of unlicensed pirate radio stations in the U.S. As he explained on episode #133 of our radio show, journalist David Goren has been tracking and recording these stations for two decades. Now you can sample his archive of pirate airchecks with the interactive Brooklyn Pirate Radio Map, which just went online.

You can click on neighborhoods to get a list of stations you can hear, or you can use the tuner section to scan stations across the virtual dial. If you stumble across a station you like, you can dig into additional archives.

As Goren explained to us, he records these broadcasts because they represent cultural expressions that are otherwise ephemeral, created by communities that don’t have access to communicate through mainstream channels. They form an historical record of the diasporas settled in Brooklyn.

Nicolas Niarchos from The New Yorker recently visited Goren in his third-floor listening room for a short profile piece. I appreciate this little anecdote:

Goren counted thirty-three pirate stations in all, that day, including a new one, on 94.9. Two women were discussing International Women’s Day: “You know what, this is a day—it’s not bashing men. It’s not about you, actually. It’s about us.”

“I am surprised,” Goren said. “Stations are still finding ways to come on the air.”

The post The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map Is Now Online appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’ve joked about the common trope of “DJs in peril” in popular culture; with numerous films portraying radio hosts as the target of evil-doers. The tables are turned in the video game “Radio Hammer Station,” in which a crew of pirate radio DJs battle “a wide variety of villainous baddies,” including aliens, zombies and “horribly naughty perverts.”

The game’s website description calls to mind a cheery team of super hero DJs:

“A popular radio station spreading its love of groove with some of the best DJs in the world. Providing tunes to groove to throughout the day. Its true purpose is to serve as the radio station of justice, beating evil down with a ginormous hammer! To ensure peace and harmony, Radio Hammer continues to go live with style!”

Featuring nearly 100 songs, the game seems to try to mimic the flavor of an underground radio station with a mix of genres. Siliconera describes one character, DJ Numi, as “… a cool, expert DJ who’s part of Radio Hammer,” explaining that “she heads to the arcade to take out monsters who are rumored to be jumping out of arcade games.”

Although Radio Hammer Station has been around since 2015, I was only alerted to it this week when I heard news of a forthcoming release for additional platforms. Are there other video games featuring radio stations or DJs? Do reach out and let me know.

The post Radio Hammer DJs Fight Villainous Baddies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Kanye West and Common had an epic freestyle rap battle on WHPK. That’s just one reason why the University of Chicago’s station is interesting and historic. Jennifer Waits takes us on a virtual tour of the studios, located in an actual working bell tower.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul also discuss how college radio has played a formative and supporting role in the development of hip-hop, by providing an open, often uncensored platform for new and emerging artists. Then we dig into a recent New York Times story that proclaims YouTube as the new platform for pirate radio. Paul offers his cranky take on this proclamation.

Now you can catch this episode on YouTube, along with some of Jennifer’s tour photos:

Show Notes

• Radio Station Visit #143: College Radio Station WHPK at University of Chicago
• Podcast #141 – How Radio Isn’t Done, According to Negativland’s Don Joyce
• Kanye West vs. Common Freestyle Rap Battle at WHPK on YouTube: Part 1 | Part 2
• Podcast #136 – Storied College Stations WIIT & WKCR
• Radio Station Visit #142: College Radio Station WIIT at Illinois Institute of Technology
• Inside Paul’s Boutique: Interviews with The Dust Brothers
• Rock Radio’s War Against Disco
• Visiting University of Washington, Bothell’s College Radio Station UWave
• Is YouTube the Home of the New Radio Pirates?
• ______ is an Internet Radio series on Radio Survivor
• Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative
• Culture Jamming and Meme-Based Communication
• Artists’ Television Access
• Wet Gate: The All-16mm Projector Ensemble
• Superstar: Todd Haynes’s Banned Karen Carpenter Movie is Visionary

The post Podcast #142 – Touring WHPK’s Bell Tower & YouTube’s ‘Pirate Radio’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We recently had Brooklyn pirate radio watcher (and listener) David Goren on episode #133 of podcast and radio show, talking about his efforts to document this vibrant scene. He also told us about an earlier pirate pioneer from the borough, WBAD, which broadcast underground hip-hop to a loyal audience from 1995 to 1998.

He produced a radio documentary about WBAD which is now available in Lost Tapes series from public radio station KCRW, titled “Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD.” In it you’ll hear from the man who started the station, a UPS driver by day, DJ by night, as well as other principals of the station. You’ll also learn how publicity can be a dangerous double-edged sword for an unlicensed station. It’s a fascinating look back at the power of radio in the time just before consolidation and the internet would challenge the medium’s supremacy, and before inexpensive technology would make illicit broadcasting nearly as easy as installing a wi-fi router.

The post The Rise and Fall of Brooklyn Hip-Hop Pirate WBAD appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are more unlicensed pirate radio stations in New York City than licensed stations. The borough of Brooklyn is a particular hotspot. Producer and journalist David Goren has been researching and recording these stations so that their ephemeral nature isn’t lost to history. To help preserve this legacy and make it accessible to a wider audience he’s constructing an interactive map of Brooklyn pirates, due to be released later this year.

David joins us on this episode along with Prof. John Anderson of Brooklyn College, who has been tracking and researching unlicensed radio for two decades. We discuss the unique qualities of Brooklyn pirates, and how they fulfill the needs of communities that are underserved by other media, why it’s important to preserve their legacies, and why the expansion of low-power FM failed to provide sufficient opportunities in cities like New York.

Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast.

We dedicate hours of time and effort for each weekly episode.

Help us sustain and grow this show by contributing as little as $1 every month. With four episodes every month, that’s just 25 cents for each one.

Make your monthly contribution at https://www.patreon.com/RadioSurvivor.

Show Notes:

David Goren’s website

Shortwaveology

John Anderson’s website is DIYMedia.net

Radio Survivor Podcast #3: FCC Paper Tiger Teams vs Pirate Radio

Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting

The post Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station?

Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t reserve our replies to just individual interlocutors. So here we have our very first mailbag episode, responding to the most frequently asked questions we receive.

Maybe we tackle your most pressing questions about radio and community media. If not, drop us a line: podcast@radiosurvivor.com.

Be sure to subscribe to Radio Survivor in your favorite podcast app or platform so that you never miss an episode.

The show is available in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, Overcast, Radio Public, and any player that supports RSS.

Need help subscribing? Click here for more info.

Show Notes:

• Mailbag: We Get our First Transmitter Kit from a Fan
• The Education of a Radio Pirate
• Podcast #120: Have Your Own Tiny Radio Station
• Part 15 legal unlicensed broadcasting coverage on Radio Survivor
• Metro State University’s WCAS and its Part 15 Plans
• College Radio in the 1970s: Industry Notes Influence of Carrier Current Radio
  Hobby Broadcaster: Part 15 AM & FM transmitters

• Prometheus Radio Project: Q and A About Pirate Radio
• Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting
• About Low Power FM
• What about Low-Power AM (LPAM)?
• Podcast #125 – Radio Free America is an Online Hub for Noncomm Radio
• LPFM Database
• College Radio Watch: 1980s Syndicated Radio Show
• Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trips
• Spinning Indie 50 State Tour

The post Podcast #126 – We Answer Your Frequently Asked Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Norway’s FM radio won’t go away that easily.

Two years ago the world press reported, often breathlessly, on the Scandinavian country’s plans to end its national radio services on the FM dial, switching them over to digital broadcasting. Lost in most of the reportage was the fact 200 local FM stations would remain on the air, while 65% of Norwegians opposed the shutdown. But, who lets facts get in the way of a sensational triumphalist headline declaring the first nail in radio’s coffin?

Last week more staid articles reported that the national FM shutdown has completed, with the last national FM stations in the northern Arctic reaches going silent. But the public won’t necessarily tolerate the silence.

According to a variety of sources, unlicensed FM broadcasts have popped up in cities around the country, including Bergen, Tønsberg, Ålesund, Fredrikstad and Førde. In Oslo, Norway’s largest city, the CBC’s “As It Happens” talked with one FM broadcaster—the CEO of a radio company and the chairman of the Norwegian Local Radio Federation—who refused to turn off his transmitter. He says that his station enjoys “great support” from listeners and is facing fines of more than $10,000 a day.

He goes on to tell the CBC,

But the main question is, why do you switch off a system in Norway where we have 10 to 15 million radio receivers? And you just say to the public, you’re not going to use this anymore because you need to buy new ones.

What sort of logic is that for media companies to operate that way?

I mean, you operate on behalf of the listener. Here, the big players are saying to the listeners: “No. You need to go out and buy new radio receivers.”

Note that with a population of 5.25 million people, a count of 15 million FM radio receivers is quite significant.

Five days after that CBC interview published Radio Metro gave into government pressure and finally shut down. However, the company is still broadcasting in 10 other cities.

Even with the national FM switch-off complete, the digital transition still remains unpopular with the Norwegian public. A recent Dagbladet newspaper survey found 56% of Norwegians are “dissatisfied” with the conversion to DAB. Another national news survey says 50% of people who don’t have a DAB capable radio in the car have no plans to upgrade, in part because they’re willing to rely on the local broadcasters that remain on FM.

To me, this situation seems a lot like Network Neutrality here in the U.S. In Norway you have millions of people—a true majority—who were perfectly happy with FM radio and had no wish to trade it in for a digital model with difficult-to-perceive benefits, aside from being digital. In America, 52% of registered voters in a Morning Consult/Politico poll said they support Net Neutrality, while a record number of people submitted comments to the FCC in support of the policy.

But like FM supporters in Norway, open internet supporters in the U.S. were screaming at deaf ears in Washington.

That’s why in Norway unlicensed broadcasters are filling the enormous void left behind by the country’s national broadcast industry and regulator. Which begs the question: what is the pirate radio equivalent of internet that we can build when our formerly open internet tubes get closed down to a trickle?

The post Is FM Radio Norway’s Network Neutrality? Majority Still Opposes Shutdown appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’m delighted to keep stumbling upon video artifacts of pirate radio, like the 1970s Portland public access footage and 1990 shortwave pirate documentary I recently shared. Next up I’ve found a more contemporary documentary from 2014 looking at London’s pirate radio scene.

The city has long been a hotbed of unlicensed radio activity, such that the scene birthed and nurtured new music genres like jungle and grime in the 1990s and early 2000s. The film “Drowned City” (available for free on Vimeo) takes a survey of current and former pirate broadcasters in East London, featuring a remarkable degree of access that’s facilitated by hiding the identities of many players.

Towards the start of the film, a former pirate named Jay drives director Faith Millin and her crew around East London pointing out broadcast aerials mounted on top of residential tower blocks (similar to public housing complexes in the U.S.). He notes that many of them are affixed to legitimate antenna masts used for purposes like two-way taxi radio. Even with the density of unlicensed broadcasters in places like Brooklyn and South Florida, I doubt there’s anywhere in the States where such an “aerial tour” would be so easy.

We also follow current broadcasters who have metal parts fabricated for their own home-brew security devices to stop both the authorities and competing stations from tampering with or seizing their equipment. Due to the size of the scene, as well as the heated cat-and-mouse game with Ofcom, the UK radio regulator, and police, pirates keep their transmitters cited away from studios, linking them via internet streams. This helps protect DJs, though it also means transmission gear is left unattended and vulnerable.

Though more sophisticated and mature than in many other cities, the pirate radio scene in London is born from the same seeds as elsewhere: people and communities without access to their own media taking the means to broadcast into their own hands. The success of pirate stations playing hip-hop, R&B, soul and reggae music unheard elsewhere on the radio prompted the BBC to launch 1Xtra, which focuses on urban music and has DJs who are former pirates.

While this may have taken some wind out of the pirate sails, a broadcaster in “Drowned City” notes that stations serving immigrant diasporas from Turkey and Africa have filled in some of the gaps. Again, this is similar to unlicensed broadcasters in the U.S. serving cultural and language minorities otherwise unheard on the dial.

Some of the DJs in the film have been caught and fined, and others are less sanguine about the future of pirate radio in the face of the internet. Yet, others press on, despite the risks and competition for listeners’ ears. “Drowned City” is a fascinating hour-long journey into one of the most iconic broadcast communities in the world.

The post Tour East London’s Pirate Radio Scene in “Drowned City” appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As I continue to mine the deeply embedded treasures of YouTube, I’ve dug up another diamond in the rough, a 27 year-old documentary on unlicensed shortwave broadcasting radio. Titled “Inside Pirate Radio,” this hour-long video visits the studio of Radio Wolf International during one broadcast, interspersed with an interview with Andrew Yoder, one of the foremost authorities on shortwave pirates, and the author of several books on the topic, including Pirate Radio Stations: Tuning in to Underground Broadcasts and Pirate Radio Operations.

Credited to the Franklin Video Group of Franklin, Indiana, this low-budget DIY video is less a documentary than a slice-of-life document. What’s most fascinating is that it’s a snapshot of the scene from the pre-internet days, when communication between broadcasters and listeners was mediated through magazine columns, printed newsletters and mail correspondence.

The appeal of shortwave pirate broadcasting is that the signals travel long distances, across continents and oceans. To understand the power of this medium one has to recognize that in 1990 few people outside the military or research universities had internet access. Long distance or international communication via phone was very expensive, and via mail it was slow.

That’s why Yoder dispels the notion that pirate shortwave broadcasting is all that exciting, explaining that there’s “no immediate thrill” in hearing from your audience. Unlike a DJ in the studio of licensed station, shortwave pirates didn’t give out phone numbers for fear of leading the FCC to their doorstep.

Instead, shortwave pirates received reception reports from listeners through the mail. But this process could take weeks, because most stations got their letters via mail drops, third parties who would forward mail back-and-forth on behalf of broadcasters in order to keep their locations secret.

In exchange for sending a reception report, listeners could expect to receive a QSL card. It’s a postcard specifically designed by the station confirming that the listener heard an actual broadcast. Shortwave pirate listeners collect and covet these cards, and Yoder shows off his album of them in this film.

Mail drops and QSL cards still exist today, just as shortwave pirate broadcasters continue to seize the international airwaves. Message boards and social media help some broadcasters more quickly publicize their broadcasts, and some also accept email reception reports, accelerating the exchange.

Although I’ve been aware of pirate shortwave culture since the mid 1990s, watching this video I was reminded of how community and social exchange forms the backbone of the broadcasting and listening aspects of the hobby. I see parallels to cassette culture—as I wrote about a week ago—in which the exchange of home-recorded and reproduced tapes was facilitated by ads and reviews in ’zines and magazines, alongside shows on college and community radio stations. Listeners had to send away for tapes, for which they paid a small amount of money, or sent their own home recordings in trade.

As long-time DJ and musician Don Campau explained, through the exchange of letters and cassettes, “[t]ape culture also offered a way to create relationships with people, too.”

Andrew Yoder is still active as a shortwave pirate listener, documenting stations he finds at his Hobby Broadcasting Blog.

The post Glimpse Behind the Scenes at Shortwave Pirate Radio in 1990 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Journalism professor John Anderson has been tracking the FCC’s enforcement of unlicensed radio for 20 years, and has seen the agency have little success, despite the periodic uptick in policing the airwaves, such as we’re seeing now. He suggests there are common sense approaches to managing the FM broadcast spectrum that would address the underlying causes of pirate radio.

John also updates us on the elimination of the “main studio rule” for radio stations in the US, and what that means for community, college and public stations. And, finally, he reports back from the Wave Farm 20th Anniversary event held recently in Greenwich Village, NYC.

Show Notes:

• DIYMedia.net:
  • FCC Whacks Zombie Moles
  • Stations Without Studios
• Podcast #34 – How the Telecom Act of ’96 Triggered Popular Resistance
• New Zealand Has Legal Unlicensed Low-Power FM
• Wave Farm Celebrates 20 Years of Transmission Art

The post Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I just discovered this fascinating piece of video tape on YouTube, likely dating from the 1970s, documenting a pirate radio and television station operating in my neighborhood, Sunnyside, in Portland, OR. It’s part of an archive of tapes from an archive of The Video Access Project, digitized by the Oregon Historical Society.

It’s truly a wonderful slice of counter-cultural public access television that starts with a man demonstrating how to reconnect a house to the city water supply after it’s been cut off due to non-payment of bills. At the end of the demo, about 19 minutes in, it seamlessly segues to a man with a portable radio playing reggae, who starts explaining that he started putting together radio stations, “for the hell of it.” He goes on to claim that “apparently, half the neighborhood of Sunnyside is involved in the station right now.”

Then the interviewer and camera follows the man into a house, up into its attic where we see a radio studio occupied by several people. In addition to the record players and mixers, he also shows a television transmitter, though we don’t get a glimpse of the programming.

In the title of the video it’s apparently credited to someone named Wayne Waits, whom I found listed in the “Video Directory” section of the magazine Radical Software volume 1 number 5 from 1972, devoted to nascent the independent video production and video art community of the time. Waits was listed as someone with video equipment and expertise, though his street address is care-of community radio station KBOO, when it was located down the street from where I live now.

As an aside, imagine a time when the number of independent private owners of video recording equipment could be listed in in just 13 pages of a magazine. When I consider the fact that most people carry a device in their pocket capable of recording video with four to eight times the resolution, and then transmitting it around the world within seconds, it kind of blows my mind. I have to stop and take a second to awe in how far communications technology has come in my lifetime.

I’m particularly fascinated by the fact that this likely aired on public access TV, where the participants in these ostensibly illicit activities would have been easily identified by any interested authorities. That said, cable TV subscriptions and viewership was much lower at the time, and public access channel viewership probably very, very low. Plus, the show would have been much more ephemeral than today–it would take some 35 years for it to become on-demand and findable to anyone without access to the original reel of tape.

Here’s the whole show below, or you can forward to 18:45 to just catch the pirate radio portion.

The post Public Access TV Archive Documents 1970s Portland Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio stations hacked to play “F— Donald Trump” over and over. Concerns that Trump declaring himself a candidate for 2020 already might limit non-comms’ ability to criticize him. And with an Entercom / CBS Radio merger on the horizon, what does this all mean for community radio and podcasting? John Anderson, Assistant Professor of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College, joins to help sort it all out. Jennifer Waits is here, too, along with Paul Riismandel–unfortunately Eric Klein was out sick.

John explains how hackers seized control of all kinds of stations–not just LPFMs as some reports implied–to play the anti-Trump anthem, and gives simple advice about how to prevent that from happening. He also critically assesses how likely the FCC is to be a threat to community radio, and considers what the new Republican majority at the Commission might mean for pirate radio. Plus, he reveals details of a meeting nearly two years ago that he had with FCC staff about dealing with unlicensed broadcasters.

To wrap things up, we have a commentary from Ernesto Aguilar, Membership Program Director for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, who responds to our discussion about journalism and podcasting in last week’s show (#79).

Please help us our work in providing community radio and podcasting coverage seen nowhere else. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done.

Make a monthly contribution to our Patreon campaign or a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

• Another LPFM Hit By F*** Donald Trump Barix Hijacking
• CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom
• Podcast #79 – Community Radio & Podcasting: Are They Worth It?
• “12 Community Radio Podcasts to Hear in 2017” by Ernesto Aguilar

The post Podcast #80 – Radio & Resistance in the Time of Trump appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Brooklyn, NY has been a hotbed of pirate radio activity for quite some time. The borough is home to many ethnic and religious communities that are not well served by the region’s major broadcasters, leading some to take to the airwaves to serve local needs without a license.

As Prof. John Anderson of DIYmedia.net explained on episode #3 of our podcast, the Haitian community is particularly well represented by unlicensed broadcasters in Brooklyn, concentrated in the Flatbush neighborhood. The Afropop Closeups podcast recently investigated Haitian radio there, digging into its history, along with both legal and unlicensed forms. In this balanced and thorough report, producer Ian Coss tapped John for perspective on licensing, and how there’s more room on the airwaves than current regulations permit.

As broadcaster Ricot Dupuy explains in the piece, radio is a traditionally vital means of communication in Haiti, dating back to oppressive Duvalier regime, which ruled the nation from 1957 to 1986. Radio was a lifeline of information when dissent was silenced. “People had radios hidden, in the kitchen, in the bathroom. People would go under the bed and listen to radio programs, to listen to words of hope about one day ending this nightmare. Even though Haiti was poor, people were saving money to buy the little radio,” he says.

That tradition carries through to the Haitian community in Brooklyn, and elsewhere in the U.S., including Boston and South Florida.

The entire 15 minute segment is well worth your time:

The post The History and Context of Brooklyn’s Haitian Radio Stations appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Blackwater Estuary is in the English county of Essex. Despite its closeness to Colchester, England’s oldest town, it is a remote and lonely stretch of water, just down the coast from the busy seaside resort of Clacton on Sea. The small village of Bradwell is an ideal location for a nuclear power station, forlorn and unloved. On some weekends, teams of volunteers head for Bradwell with their tool boxes; in July 2014, the nuclear power station welcomed the return of a famous and iconic neighbour, the Ross Revenge, which is now moored in the estuary adjacent to the power station.

The Ross Revenge, commissioned in 1960 for the Ross fishing company, was an Icelandic trawler supplying the UK market with fish. The vessel was involved in the “Cod Wars” of 1975-6 when she regularly featured on the UK’s TV news. Then the Ross company put her up for sale. She was eventually acquired by…

Radio Caroline, which started in 1964 broadcasting music all day on 199 metres (about 1506 kHz) MW, and quickly established a large audience for her broadcasts from a converted passenger vessel, the Frederica, renamed the MV Caroline. Flying a flag of convenience, the vessel broadcast from international waters off the Suffolk/Essex coast. “Pirate radio” had arrived in the UK. More stations followed, broadcasting from other ships or from disused wartime structures in the Thames Estuary.

During 1964 Radio Caroline acquired a second vessel, the Mi Amigo—previously known as the Bon Jour, which had broadcast pirate radio to Scandinavia—by merging with another pirate radio station called Radio Atlanta. The original Caroline vessel then moved anchorage to the Irish Sea near the Isle of Man, broadcasting all the way, leaving the Mi Amigo off Essex. To ensure a good supply of fresh eggs for breakfast, the MV Caroline crew included a number of hens!

The stations on structures were found to be illegal under existing laws, and were closed down by the courts; after much huffing and puffing and pressure from Europe, the UK government passed the Marine Etc. Broadcasting Offences Act of 1967, and all the stations closed down—except Radio Caroline.

In March 1968 the money ran out, and the two vessels were boarded and towed to Holland. The MV Caroline was in a poor state and was broken up, while the smaller Mi Amigo was left in case a buyer could be found.

In the early 1970s, Radio Caroline recovered the Mi Amigo and re-anchored off the coast. To help pay the bills, the ship often broadcast programmes aimed at European countries where pirate radio had not yet been outlawed during daytime, and programmes aimed at the UK in the evenings. Unfortunately the Mi Amigo had deteriorated and was not on the air with any consistency. Then in a storm on the night of March 19-20, 1989, the Mi Amigo lost its anchor, ran aground and sank near Shoeburyness in the Thames Estuary, where the wreck remains to this day.

An enhanced Sonar Scan of the Mi Amigo wreck, including the remaining part of the transmitter mast | Port of London Authority/Mayor of London

Radio Caroline then acquired the Ross Revenge, anchored it in international waters, and resumed broadcasting. A sturdy vessel, she served the station well, and broadcasts were heard regularly from 1983 to 1990.

The period was very eventful, however, and the station had problems with supplies and other matters. On 19 August 1989, there was a raid on the vessel by Dutch authorities—fed up with illegal broadcasts aimed at Holland—which put the station off the air. The legality of the raid, on a ship in international waters, remains controversial.

Then on 19 November 1991 the Ross Revenge ran aground on the Goodwin Sands in the English Channel. Although the crew managed to get the vessel off the sand bank, the ship was abandoned and they were rescued; the ship was towed and impounded by the UK authorities, who detained it.

Despite this, Radio Caroline continued to broadcast – using satellite radio instead of the AM band. A radio studio was established in Maidstone, Kent, and Radio Caroline became a legal UK broadcaster.

The Ross Revenge at Bradwell | Steve Anthony/Maritime Journal

Volunteers from the listeners formed the Caroline Support Group to raise money and care for the vessel, which made limited public appearances in the 1990s but has spent most of the time hidden from view in the backwaters of Essex and Kent, and at Tilbury Docks, in compliance with its detention conditions.

The ship is used from time to time for special events, sometimes in conjunction with Manx Radio, the commercial local station on the Isle of Man, and over the years there have been attempts to secure a licence to transmit a full service on the AM band, without success.

Visitors to the Ross Revenge usually access through the Bridge, which on my last visit was acting as a shop, descend to the record library, mess and galley, descend further to the two radio studios-still equipped with their 1970s technology-and can view the engine room and hold, where the RCA transmitters were, below the studios. The living quarters are below.

Next year it will be 50 years since the Government first attempted to rid itself of Radio Caroline. The lady herself has no plans to leave just yet-and the support group are marking the 49th anniversary of the passing of the MEBO Act by having a party on Mersea Island-within sight of the Ross Revenge-on the 13th August.

The post The Lady Is Still Here – Radio Caroline’s Floating Legacy appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The first new low-power FM construction permit since January has been issued, to Wimberly Texan Radio, in Wimberly, TX. Also, in the last two weeks 18 new LPFMs have received their licenses.

There was one interesting dismissal from an applicant that the FCC determined was associated with an unlicensed station. As discovered and reported to the Commission by REC Networks, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau served to Radhames Severino a Notice of Unauthorized Operation on November 7, 2006, followed by a Notice of Apparent Liability on May 26, 2009 for broadcasting on 101.5 FM in Houston, TX without a license. Severino was a party to an application filed by Ministerios del Instituto Biblico Elohim in Cypress, TX.

Federal law prohibits any person formally associated with a pirate station from operating a LPFM. However, as we have learned, the FCC sets a high bar for evidence of unlicensed activity, having even dismissed press reports as insufficient. Effectively the Commission really only accepts evidence collected by its own field agents or law enforcement agencies–in the three states where unlicensed broadcasting is a state-level offense–as sufficient to substantiate dismissing an LPFM application.

In this case the FCC indeed had records of Severino’s alleged unlicensed activity, which the accused never formally contested. Yet, it is interesting that it was left up to a third party to turn up this fact, not the Commission itself.

REC also notes that this application was one associated with the infamous Cesar Guel, who has his fingerprints on 245 LPFM applications, a fact that REC and other groups say is in violation of FCC rules limiting most groups and persons to just one application. There are now 85 Guel-associated applications yet to be processed by the FCC, out of a total 118 LPFM applications still pending.

The post LPFM Watch: Another Radio Pirate Denied an LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Thousands of internet radio stations have gone silent in 2016, while thousands more may yet shut down, primarily because of new performance royalty fees that have skyrocketed for small and mid-sized internet radio stations. In this piece I explore how this challenge might encourage some webcasters to give up complying with the law and simply stop paying royalties altogether. Will this make them a new–perhaps reluctant–class of radio pirate?

The History of Pirate Radio Is as Long as Radio Itself

The impulse to be a broadcaster is not a new one. Technically speaking, the very first broadcasters were pirates, because there was no license at the time. Ever since, there have been those who qualify to broadcast under the law and prevailing practice, and those who don’t, whether it’s a matter of economics, identity, politics or proclivity. And since broadcasting really isn’t that hard, there have continued to be radio pirates, who transmit because they can, not because they’re allowed.

There is a multitude of rationales for unlicensed broadcasting. Some broadcasters protest the way licenses are granted, while others deny the authority of the government to regulate the airwaves. Still others don’t give a hoot about the FCC–or never stopped to consider legality–and are simply interested in being on the air, and consider the risk to be no greater than taking illegal drugs or driving over the speed limit.

And so it remained from about 1926, when the Federal Radio Commission first tried to impose order upon the once-anarchic American electromagnetic spectrum, until the dawn of the new millennium. By that time two things had changed. First, the FCC created low-power FM, which provided a more accessible legalized path to broadcasting for many people and groups otherwise shut out, thereby addressing at least one raison d’être of many unlicensed broadcasters.

The other was the emergence of internet radio. While the first pioneering live webcasts started in the mid–90s, it was around the turn of the century that the ability to both broadcast online and receive those streams became more accessible. The open source Shoutcast streaming platform was released in 1998 and Live365 first offered its webcast services to just about anyone with an internet connection in 1999.

The Internet Alternative

While pirate radio never went away, that was the beginning of when many critics of pirate radio could make a convincing argument–especially to middle class pirates–that internet radio was a suitable alternative to unlicensed broadcasting. All the would-be broadcaster needed was a computer, an internet connection, and maybe another $15 to $20 a month for the streaming service, and she could have her own station. Even factoring in the cost of the PC and ISP, the total cost was way below that of starting a commercial station, buying an existing station, or even starting an LPFM.

Starting an online station wasn’t necessarily less costly than starting a small pirate station. But, the reasoning went, the difficulty of obtaining decent equipment (in 2000) combined with the inherent risk of engaging in an illegal activity made internet broadcasting the better option.

Sixteen years ago, before the invention of the smartphone and mobile broadband, many fewer people could hear your internet station than today. Yet, that audience could be worldwide, rather than bounded by a five or ten mile radius from your transmitter. Although at the time you might not have served less affluent listeners without a home computer or internet service, you also didn’t risk a visit from an FCC field agent.

That extremely low bar to entry combined with the growth and proliferation of internet access really did make internet radio a viable path for new broadcasters, many with fresh voices and perspectives. While the inevitable imposition of music royalties onto internet radio provided occasional speed bumps along the way, these were smoothed out enough to permit most broadcasters–from small one-person outfits to sophisticated outfits with dozens of DJs–to keep their streams alive and thriving.

From NYC’s East Village Radio to San Francisco’s Mutiny Radio, today there exist dozens of online stations that have explicitly migrated from unlicensed FM to internet radio. On top of that, there are countless stations that dipped their toes into the unlicensed airwaves, or just considered doing so, before settling on a webcast instead.

Alternative Denied

Now this alternative is threatened, and may be coming to an end. In its place we may have a new form of pirate radio: internet pirate radio.

With the lapsing of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 and the passage of new, higher royalty rates for internet radio stations, many small to medium-sized webcasters are seeing their royalty payments go up by as much as ten times. Thousands of internet radio stations are facing the reality that they can no longer afford to keep streaming.

Actually, what I meant to write is that most small webcasters no longer can afford to keep streaming legally. There is nothing actually stopping them from keeping their stations going, and just not paying any royalties. You see, the collection of royalty rates is not so different from licensing terrestrial broadcasts. While there is a statutory obligation to get a license or pay royalties, there is no barrier in place that stops you from doing so without that license or payment. Just like a radio pirate can buy a transmitter and antenna and turn it on, the internet broadcaster can stream away and never send in a check.

Of course, every pirate has to keep looking over his shoulder. The terrestrial broadcaster has to worry about the FCC. Though, the FCC isn’t like a police force, roaming the streets and scanning the dials looking for unauthorized transmissions. So the threat to the terrestrial pirate comes from complaints to the FCC that eventually prompt an investigation–it’s not exactly a fast process.

On the internet there is no FCC or equivalent. No government agency is monitoring internet radio stations looking for those that haven’t paid their royalties. So, on the surface, pirate internet broadcasting seems even less risky than pirate radio.

However, the folks who collect royalties are on the lookout. In particular, the groups that collect songwriting royalties, like ASCAP and BMI, have been at this game long before internet radio came along, sniffing out bars, restaurants and radio stations that don’t pay royalties on the music they play. These groups are infamous for being pit bulls. And while they don’t have the authority of the federal government, they do have an army of lawyers who can make a violator’s life quite miserable. But, since these royalties haven’t changed, they should continue to be within reach of most existing webcasters.

SoundExchange is the new kid on the block, brought into existence to collect those performance royalties that went into effect in the digital age of the new millennium. Its ability to police non-payment is mostly untested, having only tangled in court with big broadcasters like SiriusXM. And it’s the performance royalties that are collected by SoundExchange that have gone through the roof–and that small and mid-sized webcasters now would love to avoid paying.

Birth of the Internet Radio Pirate

The question is: if an internet station simply quits sending checks to SoundExchange, what would happen? That station would probably start receiving sternly worded letters in the mail. But what if the station just ignored those letters? Then what?

Moreover, what about the new station, that’s never had a relationship with SoundExchange. How long until it gets found and the stern letters come in?

To be clear, this is a thought experiment. I really don’t know what would happen, and I’m not advising anyone to give this a try.

Still, let’s also consider that tactical evasion is also a time-honored technique of pirate radio. For the unlicensed terrestrial broadcaster this includes strategies like limiting publicity, keeping the studio and transmitter located separately, avoiding 24/7 broadcasts, or going mobile and changing broadcast locations.

For the internet broadcaster I’ve already heard talk of using a streaming host outside the US and then obscuring where the stream originates from. Or perhaps one could keep things on the down-low, and only publicize to a smallish circle of listeners. In many ways it’s probably easier to keep an internet station a secret than a terrestrial station, especially if one is savvy in the way the internet works.

The point behind this thought experiment is to show how American internet radio is built upon a kind of social contract. Internet broadcasters agree to pay royalties both because they understand the reasoning, and because those royalties are reasonable. But when one half of the bargain breaks, what’s left to keep the contract intact?

Will we have a new class of internet radio pirate that is actively avoiding payment of royalties rather than avoiding detection by the FCC? Is the American recording industry inadvertently encouraging a new breed of scofflaws, who will actively investigate and implement tactics for avoiding detection?

The problem with a cat and mouse game is that sometimes the cat wins. But at this very moment we don’t actually know what that looks like. Will SoundExchange start dragging mom-and-pop webcasters into court? Or will the Recording Industry Association of America decide to take up the mantle instead, effecting a repeat of the mid–2000s, when it chose to sue thousands of its own customers for file-sharing?

The big question: is it all worth it? Wouldn’t it be better for SoundExchange, recording artists and the recording industry to collect 2015-level royalties from thousands of small internet stations, rather than have to spend resources to chase down these new breed pirates, all while losing that revenue stream from the thousands of stations that chose to stay legal and shut down because they couldn’t afford to stay in business?

Furthermore, if the choice is between starting an internet station with the risk of being sued by the recording industry, or starting a terrestrial station and risk being detected and fined by the FCC, which is the better choice? With the internet alternative effectively denied, being an unlicensed broadcaster might look more attractive. I’m sure the FCC (and commercial broadcasters) would be happy about that.

Of course, one might argue that the best choice is just to give up hopes of being a broadcaster. That might be true, but is that the best for American culture and broadcasting?

What we see coming into effect is the law of unintended consequences. The final question is: who will suffer, and who will suffer most?

The post Will Performance Royalties Create a New Class of Radio Pirate? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

coldwarradios.blogspot.com

The United Kingdom’s broadcast regulator says Londoners could save “up to” £1 million by cracking down on that city’s remaining pirate radio stations. As we’ve noted earlier, Ofcom has pretty much gone medieval on unlicensed radio of late, smashing and grabbing at least 400 stations, mostly in two London boroughs.

“Pirate stations typically use high-rise buildings for their broadcasts, with illegal transmitters installed on rooftops or hidden in lift shafts,” Ofcom says. “This damages residential properties owned by local authorities, disrupting residents’ lives and putting people at risk from falling equipment.” Plus pirate radio signals interfere with emergency services.

I’m not seeing any mention of a transmitter falling on somebody’s head in the press release, but apparently Ofcom is working with a group called Homes for Haringey (a London borough). Homes charges that various pirate operations have delayed key construction projects.

To wit from a Homes 2013 Board of Directors document:

“The delays to the Decent Homes Programme are a result of the following: • late start to programme due to delays in decision making on the specification of some schemes and inclusion of additional programmes such as the scattered properties programme • Pirate radio aerials have affected the progress of the completion of external works on some schemes • Inclement weather.”

and

“Mechanical & Electrical Works (£315,000 underspend) – due to delays as a result of pirate radio activity preventing the start on site on the communal ventilation project, also slippage to the IRS retro fit project due to resource in preparing the tender documents and the award of contract.”

I’m also not clear how these delays add up to “up to” a million pounds, but I presume somebody is trying to crunch the numbers at Ofcom’s pirate radio summit, being held this week.

The post United Kingdom: London could save “up to” £1m by smashing pirate radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Broadcasting is a privilege. To have people listen to your voice and what you present from miles or oceans away is an amazing thing that deserves respect. Whether it’s over terrestrial broadcast, pirate radio, internet streams or podcast, having another human being choose to listen to you is an honor.

As a former program director I remember how both new and veteran DJs could get disappointed when the phone didn’t ring, or didn’t ring very much. At one community station one of our most popular hosts constantly asked listeners to give him a call between every song of his three-hour old-time Country music show. In fact, so many did that he needed an assistant just to answer them. He kept track every week, and inevitably would be disappointed when he had fifty instead of the ninety-five he had the previous show.

This is utterly understandable because broadcasting is communication, and what good is communicating to nobody? Most of us want listeners, and in our culture we equate having more listeners as being more successful, and having fewer listeners as less successful… or failure.

But I think this tendency must be deconstructed. Most importantly, this is because the desire to have more listeners threatens to obscure our ability to appreciate the listeners we have. This is something I brought up on episodes 14 and 15 of the podcast, but I wanted to expand on in writing.

Is a Small Crowd Less Deserving than a Big One?

For the sake of comparison, lets consider an indie rock band on a grassroots DIY tour. In some cities the band plays small clubs to capacity crowds of 500. In other towns the band is in Knights of Columbus halls playing to a hundred or fewer. Should the band rock out harder for the crowd of 500 or the crowd of 50? Is any person in that crowd of 50 any less of a fan, and deserve less of a show than a person in that sold-out crowd?

I think most people would answer, “no.” If you’ve ever been someone in a small crowd watching a band phone it in, you’ll probably agree. And if you had the fortune of being in a tiny crowd witnessing a band give it their all for each and every fan, then you probably agree even more. That’s because you experienced the magic of the band treating you, and everyone around you as special, even if the band members were hoping to have five times as many people in the crowd. Now imagine those fans in the KoC are your listeners, maybe small in numbers but mighty in energy and dedication.

Neither Live Nor Die by the Numbers

This tendency is probably more pronounced with podcasting, because on most platforms it’s easy to know exactly how many times your show was downloaded and listened to. Whereas many community stations don’t subscribe to ratings–saving DJs from knowing exactly just how small their audience is–podcasters have to work hard not to know. So when you see numbers like 50 downloads and you know shows like This American Life get more than a half-million downloads, it can be easy to feel discouraged.

But I want to assure you that 50 downloads is great, because behind that number are fifty living and breathing human beings who specifically decided to download your show. This didn’t happen by accident. Unlike broadcast, it’s almost impossible that they stumbled upon your podcast.

Even if you have a 1,000 downloads or 100,000 downloads, what’s most important is that even one person decided to download and listen. With so many choices to spend one’s media consumption time–from television to video games, radio to streaming music–it’s a true honor that each person in your audience decided to spend that time with you.

Turning the tables, how would you feel if the host of podcast you love did nothing but complain about how he wished his audience were bigger? After a while you’d probably feel like saying, “hey, what am I? Chopped liver?” It’s like the person who obsesses over the person who left her so much that she ignores her family and other friends, risking pushing even more people away.

Know Why You’re Doing It

This isn’t to say that building an audience isn’t great or even necessary. But it’s important to know why, and for what purpose.

The reality is if you want to sell ads on your podcast, you’ll need enough downloads to attract advertisers (which, in part, means having enough reach to justify the time and effort it takes to book a campaign). If you’re crowdfunding, then the amount of money coming in tends to scale with listenership, as well.

The realities of life and making a living may require your show to have more listeners or funders than it does. If that means you can’t keep doing the show, then there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not trying to argue anyone should go into poverty or debt just to keep broadcasting or podcasting. I’m also not arguing that you shouldn’t find something else to do with your time.

However, while many podcasters and community broadcasters may wish to make a living at broadcasting, most are doing it out of love for the medium and joy of communicating. It’s in this case that I think it’s most important not to get hung up on the numbers and to appreciate every single listener.

Every Listener Counts (in Large Amounts)

Moreover, even if you want to build a bigger audience, keep in mind that it’s built one listener at a time. You’ll need to hit 50 before you can hit 100; get to 1000 before 10,000. Sure, if This American Life decides to produce another show it’ll probably rocket past those milestones in the first hour–but for the vast 99.9% of broadcasters those steps come more slowly.

Also, if you can’t value, treasure, and yes, love every one of 50 listeners, are you really going to learn to love a 1000 or 1,000,000? Or will you just be sour because there aren’t 100,000,000?

That’s why I declare: Love Every Listener!

(Here on the website that means: Love Every Reader!)

It’s a lesson I keep reminding myself about because it also helps to refresh the reason why I do this every week. I wouldn’t do it without readers and listeners, and I am so grateful that you are reading this now. That makes it all worth while.

The post Love Every Listener appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Here at Radio Survivor we are committed to weekly coverage of low power FM radio, so we’re very pleased to feature an interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester for our Academic Series. Dr. Dunbar-Hester is an Assistant Professor in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and she recently published a fascinating book on media activism and low power radio. Her book, Low Power to the People: Pirates, Protest, and Politics in FM Radio Activism (MIT Press, 2014), makes a strong case for the relevance and importance of local, community radio in the digital age.

Below, Christina explains her research process and her motivation for studying low power, local radio. She also elaborates on the relationship between “free radio” advocates and LPFM broadcasting, and raises compelling questions about how democratic spaces online might be inspired by low power broadcasting.

Radio Survivor: Your recent book, Low Power to the People, traces the activist movement that helped establish a framework for licensed LPFM stations. How did you initially come to be interested in researching low power radio broadcasting?

Christina Dunbar-Hester: When I was considering going back to graduate school in the late 1990s, there were a lot of heady claims swirling around about access to media technology as a main plank of a democratizing project. This was an era of high Internet hype in general, but I was particularly interested in the set of claims made by activists such as those in early Indymedia days about “being the media” and using media technologies counterbalance corporate and state power.

I hadn’t heard of low power radio or microradio at that point, but I knew I wanted to do research that engaged these issues, and also engaged the topic of “the Internet,” but without losing historical or cultural sensitivity to the fact that issues of power, voice, and expertise have a long prehistory; they don’t newly arise with the Internet, nor are Internet-based technologies the main way to redress power imbalance, of course.

So in about 2002-2003 when I heard about people advocating for low power broadcasting, who were not Luddites but were resisting being told to just “go on the Internet for your communication needs,” I thought that might be an interesting research project. I didn’t have a background in media activism, let alone microradio; I just thought that was a useful point of entry for these issues.

Radio Survivor: What is the state of LPFM broadcasting today in relation to the larger American broadcasting environment?

Christina Dunbar-Hester: LPFM is expanding right now due to the passage of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010; new stations that got licenses during that window are going on the air right now, so a lot of cities and towns are seeing new radio stations go on the air. And broadcasting is still going pretty strong: the most recent numbers I’ve seen are from 2013 and they report that more than 90% of Americans over age 12 listen to broadcast radio weekly, for at least a couple of hours per day.

But I might suggest that we step back and consider what is meant by the “broadcasting environment.” Broadcasting both refers to a set of social practices, and a set of institutions, technologies, and laws — what “broadcasting” is at any given moment occurs in how those things come together. When we talk about the broadcasting environment, do we mean just FM and AM transmissions? What about streaming? Or podcasts? Now a lot of people use smart phones to “listen to the radio”—but you’re doing this over your phone’s data plan, which is partly because your phone service provider (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) prefers that you pay them for that bandwidth. (This is in spite of the fact that a lot of mobile phones have been designed with the capacity to receive FM. The commercial broadcast lobby argues that turning on the FM receiver capacity in phones would make it easier for would-be listeners to tune in, without burning through their data.)

There are lots and lots of issues like this at any given moment, some more and some less visible to the public. How these issues play out rests on public knowledge, alliances that get formed between various social groups, corporate power, and the law (which is often playing catch-up with newer technologies, and interpreting new technologies in terms of precedents established around earlier technologies). I think we want to take an expansive view of the public interest across telecommunications platforms and assess that, as opposed to isolating broadcasting.

Radio Survivor: Given that alternative and community media organizations are often working with limited resources, financial and otherwise, researching them can often come with a set of challenges in terms of accessing research materials, such as archival documents. In exploring the history of this LPFM movement, particularly its pirate radio roots, what sort of resources did you use to tell this story and did you face any challenges in doing so?

Christina Dunbar-Hester: This is a great question. I had access to a good deal of microradio ephemera at various field sites and in the Prometheus archive. But it would have been a lot more challenging to do a project where broadcast content was central.

My book is primarily ethnographic, combining fieldwork and interviews. My main interest was what people were doing that I could observe, so the book captures as much of that as I could achieve; it looks at how activists promoted radio technology. I was able to get at some of the recent past with interviews, which included people who had done unlicensed microradio and had advocated for legal microradio/LPFM in Washington. I also had access to policy conversations, a lot of which were archived online (comments to the FCC and the like).

Radio Survivor: I would love to hear about the relationship between pirate radio and LPFM broadcasting. How did pirate radio broadcasting influence the LPFM movement and what sort of similarities and differences are there between these two types of radio?

Christina Dunbar-Hester: Well, “pirate” is kind of an overarching term that doesn’t necessarily connote any particular stance or affinity. Pirates have existed throughout the history of broadcasting for various reasons. But more narrowly, unlicensed microbroadcasters, some of whom called their transmissions “free radio,” were hugely influential for LPFM. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was no way for a small-scale broadcaster to obtain a license from the government, so a lot of folks took to the streets, by which I mean the airwaves, launching all these little stations as explicit electronic civil disobedience.

It’s obviously impossible to know how many of them there were, but there may have been around 1000 microradio stations in the mid-1990s. Two people with memorable stories, who were inspirational to other microradio broadcasters, were Mbanna Kantako in Springfield, IL in the late 1980s, and Stephen Dunifer in Berkeley, CA, in the 1990s. Dunifer had a high-profile court battle with the FCC when he refused to stop broadcasting, and the 9^th Circuit upheld his right to continue for a time. The members of Prometheus Radio Project in Philadelphia, who are the subject of my book, were inspired by the microbroadcasters to fight for legal access to the airwaves.

Radio Survivor: How is radio well-suited for media advocacy or for dealing with questions raised by media activists? Or is it? Could the medium be used more effectively to advance media advocacy both within and outside the academy?

Christina Dunbar-Hester: Radio, both historically and in the present, is a great point of entry into many points of contention in our present and future media landscape. (Though we don’t want to get so narrowly focused on any particular medium that we lose sight of the fact that the interesting questions cross media and platforms: e.g. who owns platforms, who is empowered to listen and to speak on them, etc.)

Symbolically, radio has some really vital lessons for media activism. LPFM, for example, exists in space on the spectrum, owned by the people, for noncommercial use by the people. Lots of spaces we treat like commons online are platforms and sites owned by corporate owners who see users as sources of revenue. The contrast is huge, and very meaningful. What would it look like to have a space online that is the equivalent of LPFM? How would that get built in terms of social and regulatory infrastructure, and what would it look like technically?

These are questions I get into with my students, who often grasp the idea of community media more generally through what we learn about the history of radio (including hams and LPFM; we don’t do much about CB in class), and it’s then a natural realization for them that social media platforms, even when they can occasionally have the feel of community media, are fundamentally not built to support the uses and values of public or community media.

The post Low Power Radio and Media Activism: An Interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’ve been thinking a lot about reports that the United Kingdom’s broadcast regulator has shut down 400 pirate radio stations over the last two years, many of them situated in London. Well over a third of those Ofcom busts took place in two boroughs: Haringey in North London and Lambeth in South London. Why these specific areas? Radio Survivor reader Jerry Drawhorn asks some good questions in a response to my post:

“I’m wondering if these are ethnic neighborhoods where the broadcasters might be filling a gap in the regulated BBC and community radio programming? Are they predominantly music programmers? Religious? Foreign language? Kids with a knack for electronics? Why the desire for broadcast rather than an internet station?”

I pondered some of these queries in my contribution to our sixth podcast. To get at the situation I tapped into the London Poverty Profile, which has tons of data about that city’s nearly three dozen boroughs. Here’s what the profile says about Haringey:

• “Haringey is the most unequal borough in London, with over half of its wards being either very rich or very poor.”

• “[N]ow one of the more dense London suburbs,” although density tends to predominate on Haringey’s east side.

• The borough is “notable for its ethnic diversity,” with many residents of Caribbean, African, Pakistani, Chinese, Turkish, and Cypriot backgrounds.

Next comes Lambeth:

• “With about 112 persons per hectare, it also is one of the most densely populated boroughs in London, and with population growth exceeding projections; Lambeth could be the most populated Inner London borough by 2020.”

• Lambeth is noted for its ethnic diversity “with a particularly high proportion of and Black-Africans (12%) and Black Caribbeans (9.5%) While the borough has an extremely young profile, Lambeth is notable for its ethnically complex older population too, substantiating the historical narrative that Lambeth was an important focus and destination for post-World War Two immigrants from the Caribbean and from Africa.”

London, by the way, is already the most unequal part of the United Kingdom, according to the index. 16 percent of its residents are the poorest in the UK; 17 percent are the richest. Lambeth and Haringey have among the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the city, indicating the youthfulness of their respective populations. Lambeth’s Brixton district won notoriety in the early 1980s when many of its African-Caribbean residents took to the streets against police repression and high unemployment.

Here we have two dense, unequal, and very young urban areas. It sounds like these people have a lot to talk about. A comment from RK Henderson of the Net Radio Blog notes that radio pirates from these boroughs bear little resemblance to the Radio Caroline broadcasters of The Sixties:

“Today’s pirates are small, terrestrial, urban, and furtive. They broadcast mostly to the immediate neighbourhood from high buildings, generally from a hidden, shoebox-sized transmitter that is keyed remotely and feeds a camouflaged antenna on the roof. (Alternatively, some operate from vans.) These are low-power, intermittent operations that target a small listenership; basically what Americans call LPFM, except unlicensed.”

Indeed, there are apparently so many of them that they may be driving some listeners away from the FM band, noted radio futurologist James Cridland in a response:

“I have a suspicion that the pirate radio stations here are partially why radio listeners – in London at least – are now mostly using digital at home – DAB, internet, DTV – which is where we listen to radio most in the UK. I find my FM listening being badly interrupted by pirate radio on the way to the supermarket in the car. (I live in Enfield, just north of Haringay).”

Ofcom, the UK’s broadcast regulator, has an advisory page against pirate radio that urges its adherents to embrace community radio instead. But are any of London’s ten community radio stations specific to these two boroughs? I’m not sure. Here’s the list from this map:

Desi R– Southall
Hayes FM – Hayes
Bang – Stonebridge & Harlesden
NuSound R – Newham
Resonance FM – C London
Voice of Africa – Newham
Westside CR – Southall
Rinse FM – Inner London
Reprezent – S London
Insanity – Egham
Betar Bangla – Tower Hamlets

In any event, perhaps the most interesting comment we got from our initial post was a reaction to an Ofcom official telling The London Evening Standard that London’s pirate radio problem is unique. “From the enquiries we’ve carried out, this problem doesn’t exist in New York or Rome or Paris,” Clive Corrie told the Standard, “it’s a London phenomenon.”

“I don’t know what inquiries Mr. Corrie carried out, but he was not very well informed by his sources,” responded Brooklyn Pirate Watch:

“Interference caused by pirate radio is a HUGE problem in certain parts of New York City — but not in ritzy Manhattan or northern Brooklyn, so it doesn’t get much attention. There are up to 36 pirates at any given time choking the FM dial and crowding out legitimate broadcasters in central and southern Brooklyn, particularly in areas around Flatbush, the pirate nexus of Brooklyn. There are also many pirates in the Bronx and, to a lesser degree, Queens.”

There is a book titled London’s Pirate Radio Pioneers that appears to go as far as 1989. But that, of course, was a quarter of a century ago. I think it is time for an update.

The post Unpacking London’s pirate radio problem appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The United Kingdom is so famous for its pirate radio stations that Hollywood made a movie about one. But as always the government is quite dour about these unlicensed signals, and has shut 400 of them down recently, according to a newspaper report.

The London Evening Standard says that a quarter of the crackdowns over the last two years took place in and around Haringey, North London. 50 further raids focused on “suspected pirates” in Lambeth, South London. An official for Ofcom, the UK’s broadcast regulator, told the Standard there are still “about 70 active stations in the London area” and maybe 100 more around the rest of the country.

“From the enquiries we’ve carried out, this problem doesn’t exist in New York or Rome or Paris,” he added, “it’s a London phenomenon.”

The newspaper got these figures via a Freedom of Information request, presumably similar to our Freedom of Information Act protocols here in the United States. But the Standard hasn’t published the whole list. Ofcom provides some statistics about interference complaints on its Enforcement Page and, sure enough, most of the broadcast related gripes come from London.

Ofcom has an advisory web page against pirate radio. “There is a way you can take to the airwaves without breaking the law,” the document notes. “There are now over 200 community radio stations broadcasting in locations across the UK.”

According to this map, ten of them have licenses in Greater London, but it sounds like the city needs more. In any event, here’s a map of where the government thinks the unlicensed London broadcasters are operating from (aforementioned counties, [oops, boroughs, see comment below] circled in red):

The post Report: London is pirate radio heaven (or hell, depending on your viewpoint) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Art Bell. As a former overnight DJ and grad student who kept relatively nocturnal hours for a good portion of the 90s, I admired Bell’s unique ability to engage guests and callers in topics that ranged from scientifically plausible (the theory that there have been multiple Big Bangs) to hilariously absurd (blood-sucking Chupacabra) with equanimity.

While some critics pilloried him for uncritically harboring all manner of superstition and psuedoscience, I enjoyed his Coast to Coast AM as a sort of straight-faced performance art that provided an entertaining alternative to most late night commercial radio, offering stimulating company to night shift workers across North America. Heck, I remember tuning in for a show tackling pirate radio, in which he discussing the topic straightforwardly, neither treating it as enticingly taboo nor recklessly dangerous. (In fact, Bell was himself a radio pirate in the 1960s while serving in the Air Force at the Amarillo air base.)

Bell held court over nationwide nocturnal amplitude modulation for some fifteen years before going into semi-retirement in 2003, handing over the weeknight reins to current Coast to Coast host George Noory. Bell then took the mic for weekends until 2007, then doing occasional fill-in slots until 2010 when he retired. That first retirement only lasted until 2013, when he had a brief foray into satellite radio with Art Bell’s Dark Matter on SiriusXM for six weeks.

July 20 is when Bell will return to broadcasting once again, according to a FAQ posted to his own website. This time he’ll be on the internet station Dark Matter Radio with a live weeknight program called Midnight in the Desert, airing midnight to 3 AM Eastern Time. The show won’t be on terrestrial broadcast, with one exception. Apparently Tennessee-based Christian shortwave station WTWW will broadcast Bell live to the world.

As much as I like and use internet radio, I have to admit it’s a little disappointing that Bell won’t be back on AM. I have fond memories of road trips over the Midwest interstates where I listened to Coast to Coast, hitting the seek button when one station faded, knowing I’d soon encounter another transmitting the show. It’s unlikely I’ll go through the trouble of tuning my shortwave receiver just to recreate the experience.

Nevertheless, I will probably check out Midnight in the Desert, although at 9 PM Pacific Time it’s on a few hours too early here in Oregon. I’d go for the podcast to timeshift it after midnight, but on-demand episodes will be reserved for paid subscribers, and I’m not that much of a fan (though DAR.fm might do the trick). Anyway, on-demand isn’t really the proper Art Bell experience–he’s really meant to be stumbled upon, in the middle of a nearly inscrutable interview that you’re surprised comes slowly into focus.

I’m sure there are Radio Survivor readers who will scrunch their noses at my praise for Art Bell. I get it–his nutty melange of guests and strange blend of libertarian, conservative and occasionally progressive political stances (pro-gun and anti-abortion, but pro same-sex marriage) is admittedly out of step with much of the radio we normally highlight. But, again, it’s a mistake to take him a face value. He may never actually wink at us, but neither did Andy Kaufman.

Plus, c’mon, he did this commercial:

The post Art Bell Returns (Again) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler is at the National Association of Broadcasters NAB show in Las Vegas and just gave a talk at which he told the suits that although the FCC wants to streamline its field office system, that doesn’t mean the agency won’t crack down on unlicensed broadcasters when necessary. Indeed, “flying teams” are standing by to “descend” on the problem.

“I recognize your concern that we may somehow be signaling a decrease in our interference protection, pirate radio enforcement, or other activities important to broadcasters,” Wheeler explained. “Let me assure you that is not the case and we want to work with you to make sure that broadcasters are fully protected.”

Here’s the issue, Wheeler continued, a lot of the information FCC field officers (see Enforcement Bureau) collect is now done electronically. And keeping too many regional offices open costs too much money. “The agents from 24 offices go to where the problem is – just as the agents from eight offices will do.”

“I am used to people complaining about government inefficiencies,” the bemused Chair confided. “It is a new experience, however, to hear complaints to maintain the inefficiencies.”

But not to worry, Wheeler concluded:

“I want to emphasize that this is not a diminution of our pirate radio efforts. In fact, with more agents in Miami and New York City, as this plan provides, there will be more boots on the ground in the areas of greatest challenge. When concerns arise elsewhere, flying teams will descend on that market. And, by the way, under the new plan all FCC field staff will have electrical engineering backgrounds.”

The FCC’s Chair might have added that the agency is now licensing hundreds of Low Power FM radio stations across the country, offering many cities and regions a legal alternative to unlicensed operation. But given the NAB’s staunch opposition to LPFM, it’s probably best that he skipped the matter.

The post FCC’s Wheeler: “flying teams” still ready to “descend” on pirate radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Despite years of enforcement action and the establishment of low-power FM, unlicensed pirate radio has not gone away, though it hardly qualifies as a runaway problem or nationwide epidemic. True, there are some hotspots with a high density of communities underserved by local broadcasters–such as Brooklyn, NY and South Florida–where unlicensed broadcasting is arguably more rampant than during the height of the civil-disobedience oriented micropower radio movement in the late 1990s. But in most of the country unlicensed broadcasters are harder to encounter, and rarely more than a nuisance to licensed broadcasters.

Nevertheless, Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly recently published a blog post offering up “a new way to combat pirate radio stations.” His idea is to let licensed broadcasters sue pirates for any interference they might cause. O’Reilly’s inspiration is the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 which gives internet service providers some limited ability to take civil action against email spammers who clog their servers and networks.

At DIYmedia.net John Anderson very deftly exposes the absurdity of O’Reilly’s proposal, noting that CAN-SPAM hasn’t been particularly effective, since the average person needs the Federal Trade Commission or state Attorney General to act on their behalf. On top of that, the majority of suits against spammers have been lost.

O’Reilly says that his proposal “may require change in current law,” obviously requiring cooperation from Congress. I’m going to harp on his hedge here, since I would expect an FCC Commissioner to know, or at least have an informed opinion about, whether his proposal requires legislative action. I actually wonder if it does. Not that I want to encourage broadcasters to start hauling pirates into court, but if a broadcaster could demonstrate actual harm I don’t see why suit couldn’t be filed. Whether or not the suit proceeds would be up to a judge, of course. But I don’t know of any prior attempts to do so.

If a licensed broadcaster wanted to drag a suspected pirate into court now or under some supposed future statute it would probably be an uphill climb. On top of demonstrating economic harm attributable to the pirate, the broadcaster would have to gather enough proof to show that the person being sued is actually responsible for the unlicensed broadcast, and that the broadcast is actually illicit.

A real risk with this approach is that it could be used frivolously. Imagine a torqued off station owner with a personal beef going after someone running a legal low-power Part 15 transmitter on his own property, alleging a little bit of interference on car receivers driving by the guy’s house. Then imagine the broadcaster going at it with all sorts of trumped up engineering data with the hope that the court won’t have the expertise to cut through it. Even if the broadcaster isn’t able to prevail in court, having to mount a costly legal defense would be harassment enough for the person with the Part 15 transmitter.

That said, people drag each other into court for all sorts of frivolous reasons everyday. While I pose this potential with suspected pirates, the cost-benefit ratio likely would be weighed too far in favor of cost to be worth it for most broadcasters. Moreover, the most flagrant and easily-found pirates will probably be those least likely to respond to a civil lawsuit in the first place, and therefore the hardest to deter or collect a judgement from. The FCC’s own record on collecting on fines is pretty abysmal, so it’s hard to see how civil proceedings would be any more effective.

That’s why O’Reilly’s proposal is puzzling. What’s his true reason for offering it up, and why now? He hedges so much in his conclusion–saying he doesn’t want to be seen supporting more lawsuits, “and certainly not more class-action suits,” as well as opposing listeners having a right to sue–that it’s hard to even make a case that he’s making some kind of pseudo-libertarian free-market argument that broadcast license holders ought to have more property rights.

Realistically, radio pirates and legal low-power Part 15 broadcasters alike can rest just as easily as before this blog post was published. It barely qualifies as smoke, never mind fire. Really, it’s just a little thought experiment to give all us radioheads something to distract ourselves with for a few minutes.

The post Puzzling Anti-Pirate Radio Proposal from FCC Commissioner O’Reilly appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It was a slow week in LPFM approvals, with just five construction permits issued. There’s one time-sharing arrangement in the bunch, with two Catholic-associated organizations broadcasting on 106.5 FM in Raleigh, NC. The Corporation for Educational Advancement will be on from 2 PM to 2 AM seven days a week, while the Columbus Club of Raleigh will air 2 AM to 2 PM.

Another Christian station, Fairhope Radio, received a construction permit for 89.9 FM in Fairhope, AL. The Electron Benders of Tulsa, OK, a group dedicated to “further the amateur in electronics, (and) aid in communications in disaster,” will broadcast at 103.9 FM, and one school district, in Lafayette, LA, was approved for a station at 93.1 FM.

Florida Pirate Denied LPFM

A former pirate broadcaster was denied a low-power FM license in Pinellas Park, FL. According to REC Networks, a local broadcaster and an LPFM applicant sent the FCC new articles covering the arrest of Kervenson Joseph for unlicensed broadcasting. There is a state law in Florida prohibiting unlicensed broadcasting and Joseph was the principal contact for the applicant WKMJ Radio Live the People Station, Inc.

The Commission was then able to corroborate the arrest with a case report from the local police, which indicated that Joseph was arrested about a week after filing his LPFM application.

REC reports that this is the first application from this round of LPFM licensing that was dismissed due to unlicensed operation. While allegations of unlicensed activity have been raised in informal objections and petitions to deny, the targeted applications have been dismissed for other causes.

Apparently, the burden of proof of pirate activity is pretty high. REC notes that the Commission said that news reports were insufficient evidence. Since unlicensed operation is only illegal in three states, building a case against an accused pirate is going to be difficult unless the FCC itself has taken action against the unlicensed broadcast.

While the unlicensed micro-power radio movement of the 1990s was one catalyst for the creation of LPFM in 2000, Congress twice has acted to deny licenses to persons known to have engaged in unlicensed broadcasting. This first happened in 2001, as a provision–later overturned by the courts–of the same bill that forced LPFM stations to obey the same spacing as full-power stations. The prohibition was reinstated with the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, which also restored the Commission’s original spacing requirements, paving the way to the current expansion of low-power radio.

Events of Interest to LPFM

There are two upcoming events of interest to low-power broadcasters and supporters.

The Alliance for Community Media Northwest is holding a summit Friday March 27 and Saturday March 28 in Seattle. The summit brings together broadcasters and media makers from Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Panel topics include important policy issues, regional collaboration and fundraising, along with medium-specific breakouts.

This year the annual Version Festival in Chicago is dedicated to LPFM with the theme of “100 Watts.” The Public Media Institute, the non-profit that organizes Version Fest, received its own LPFM construction permit, and so is making the festival “an on-air laboratory and campaign to create the kind of radio station we believe our city needs.” The festival happens April 23 to May 3.

The post LPFM News: FL Pirate Denied LPFM; Upcoming Events appeared first on Radio Survivor.

While internet radio is sometimes thought of as the wild and untamed cousin of terrestrial broadcast, it’s not entirely unshackled. While web broadcasters don’t require an FCC license, and are unrestricted with regard to using four letter words, stations still have to have to pay up for the right to play recorded music. Even if you find a way to host your station’s stream for free, eventually you’ll have to pay royalties if you play any tunes.

SoundExchange is the non-profit organization responsible for collecting one set of royalties–so-called “mechanical” royalties for recorded music–with that money going to the labels and artists that own the copyrights in the actual recordings. The group just reached a settlement with National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on the rates that affiliated public and community stations will owe from 2016 to 2020.

SoundExchange reached a similar settlement with College Broadcasters Inc. last October, covering member college stations. It’s important to note that these royalty payments are only required for stations’ internet streams. In the US terrestrial broadcasts are exempted.

Non-commercial radio has had tense relationship with SoundExchange over the course of its twelve-year existence. That tension stems from the fact that unlike Pandora, Spotify, SiriusXM or commercial internet radio, non-commercial stations aren’t generating profit from their broadcasts, and revenue is often variable. This means SoundExchange payments often seem like just one more drain on resource, which is why college and public stations have pushed back to negotiate rates that are consistent with their non-profit model.

The details of the NPR/CPB deal haven’t been released, and the settlement must still be approved by the Copyright Royalty Board.

It also should be noted that non-commercial stations have been obligated to pay songwriter royalties to groups like ASCAP and BMI for decades; royalty obligations are not necessarily anything new. It’s just that paying performance royalties was ushered in with the internet era, in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1995, to be exact.

Back to my opening musing, about how these royalty obligations make internet radio a little less free than might otherwise be assumed. This was on my mind because this week I talked to a reporter about a pirate station she’s covering. The reporter said that the station had actually received notice from ASCAP and BMI demanding that the station pay up. That’s the first time I’d ever heard of an unlicensed station being hounded by these groups, and I guessed that it was probably the station’s popular internet stream that caught their attention, not the relatively obscure FM signal.

Because of freedom from the FCC, internet radio has often been suggested as a strong alternative to unlicensed broadcasting. But hearing about ASCAP and BMI chasing down a pirate’s ostensibly more legit internet broadcast reminded me that the internet alternative may be free as in speech, but is not free as in beer.

The popular and influential internet station East Village Radio actually started out as an unlicensed FM in 2003 before moving to the supposedly safer environs of internet broadcasting. Yet, EVR closed down last May after an eleven-year run, saying “licensing fees and internet costs” were too large for the station to cover. And, because it wasn’t a non-commercial broadcast station, EVR couldn’t take advantage of the lower rates negotiated by the likes of NPR and CBI.

Although in the past I’ve resisted the equation between pirate radio and internet radio, perhaps the internet station that resists paying royalties is just a little more pirate than one that does. That broadcaster isn’t likely to have the FCC or federal marshals knocking at their door. However, still possible is a visit from a process server with a subpoena for an appearance in civil court when you get sued for back royalties.

Now, I’m not advocating that US internet stations try to dodge paying songwriter and performer royalties, though there is a case to be made that independent stations that generate little in the way of revenue or profit are at the greatest disadvantage. Rather, I think it’s useful to recognize the constraints of both internet and terrestrial radio. Would-be broadcasters are well advised to take these royalty obligations into account ahead of time.

The post Digital Watch: Even Online There’s No Such Thing as ‘Free Radio’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

FCC actions against unlicensed broadcasters hit their lowest point since 2005 last year. That’s according to John Anderson at DIYMedia.net. He’s been tracking enforcement actions against pirate radio since 1997.

FCC Actions include station visits by Enforcement Bureau field agents, as well as more mundane things, like Notices of Unauthorized Operation, which are essentially letters informing a broadcaster that the Commission is pretty sure you’re a pirate. In 2014 there were fewer than 200 of these actions in total.

Since hotspots of unlicensed activity like South Florida, Boston and Brooklyn haven’t appeared to cool, John attributes the decline to some downsizing and a shift in the political winds. He notes that more time is being devoted to enforcements in other bands, like those allocated to public-safety or Citizens’ Band.

A couple of weeks ago John proposed that a better way to deal with those local dials choked with unlicensed broadcasters who interfere with each other and licensed broadcasters would be to engage in some harm reduction. For instance, he recognizes that many pirates heard in his Brooklyn neighborhood operate transmitters with poor technical oversight, while others are more careful, running “clean” operations. John suggests pirates could be approached and encouraged to improve their transmissions to remedy distortion and interference. Reviving a true 10-watt class of LPFM might also provide an accessible and licensed alternative in densely populated urban areas where few 100-watt LPFM opportunities exist.

Paul Thrust at Engineering Radio responded positively, but cautiously, to John’s proposal, saying “some good might come from helping pirate broadcasters clean up their act.” However, he observes that “for most engineers this will be a non-starter,” because they tend to view the world in black and white terms, and would be unwilling to assist with an unauthorized broadcast, even if it would result in some shared improvements.

It appears that the current proliferation of unlicensed broadcasters is due to two major factors. First is the easy availability of cheap FM transmitters. Second is the need that some communities have to communicate using radio because they are left out of dominant electronic media and have less access to internet.

Compared to the late 1990s and early 2000s when the the micro power radio movement first spurred the FCC to ramp up enforcement efforts, I’m simply amazed at how cheap and obtainable transmitters are on eBay. Not to get all “kids these days,” but fifteen years ago a wannabe pirate had to either build his own transmitter, or jump through many hoops and drop hundreds of dollars to source one that would work at all reliably. I reckon that bar to entry also helped raise overall technical standards, but by accident, not by design.

Also, many unlicensed broadcasters who identified as part of the micro power movement saw their actions as civil disobedience, which tended to hew to an ethos of behaving as if they were licensed. Maintaining high technical standards was also a defensive maneuver, intended to mitigate negative attention or pissing off local radio engineers who might otherwise be sympathetic, or at least agnostic.

It’s a pity that so many unlicensed operators are running “dirty” rigs, and tend to agree that it would be sensible to organize a welcoming party to help these broadcasters clean up their act. How many competent engineers would participate is hard to guess; Paul Thrust is probably correct in his assessment. But it is also clear that FCC enforcement actions are mostly symbolic and ineffective at stemming the tide.

Is it time for an “Adopt a Pirate” program? Let us know in the comments.

The post FCC Enforcement Against Pirate Radio Lowest Since 2005 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I love movies about radio. Here are some classics to give to your friends for the holidays.

Pirate Radio (2009). The fictionalized story of Radio Caroline, “the boat that rocked” the British Isles from offshore in the 1960s. Fabulous performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy. My favorite Nighy line from the film: “Carl? – Yes. My favourite godson. – Have we met before? – I don’t think so. No. There was a lost decade, so I always have to check.”

Pump Up the Volume. The 1999 film about a teenage unlicensed operator (Christian Slater) who pretty much takes over Arizona with his wild and crazy monologues.

Do the Right Thing (1989). Spike Lee’s classic about a black Brooklyn neighborhood facing gentrification. Radio plays a crucial role in this very relevant movie, with stellar performances by Samuel L. Jackson as community radio deejay “Mr. Senor Love Daddy” and Bill Nunn as “Radio Raheem.”

The Fisher King (1991). Jeff Bridges plays a down on his luck talk radio host who rescues himself by helping a homeless man (Robin Williams).

Good Morning Vietnam (1987). Robin William plays an outrageous host for US Armed Services Radio: “Hello, campers,” he declares. “Remember, Monday is malaria day. That’s right. Time to take that big orange pill and get ready for the Ho Chi Minh two-step.”

Talk Radio (1988). Based on “Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg,” a talk radio host discovers that his nasty, abrasive tone is very contagious.

Born in Flames (1983). Radio plays a crucial role in this lively futuristic movie about two feminist insurgencies who present their grievances on pirate radio stations.

Private Parts (1997). The life and works of that great, great man: Howard Stern.

Dead Air (2009). Talk radio host meets The Zombies.

Talk to Me (2007). The career of legendary Washington, D.C. radio host Ralph Waldo (“Petey”) Greene, whose on air summary of Berry Gordy is worth the price of admission: “Mr. Gordy’s a very important man, and he’s done a great deal. And I love the way he takes the little brothers and sisters, broke-down runaways, the downtrodden from the projects, and he gets them off the streets. Then he puts a few dollars in their pockets, teaches them how to talk and how to walk, then sends them right back out there to bring him a whole lot of money. So I’m sorry if in any way I made him out to be a pimp.”

I’m sure I’ve left lots of movies out. Please put your faves in the comments section.

The post Ten essential radio movies for the holidays appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On the heels of the FCC and US Attorney shutting down unlicensed Rika FM in New York City, on Thursday three stations in the Boston area were taken off the air, as well. The most prominent of these stations is Touch 106.1 FM, which was a fixture in Dorchester’s African-American community. Like the Rika FM shutdown, Touch was raided by U.S. Marshals, under an order from the US Attorney.

Public TV station WGBH had the only reporter on the scene, capturing some rare news footage of an FCC raid. In the short segment that aired Thursday night reporter Adam Reilly and the anchor have a brief and surprisingly empathetic exchange about the station, wondering out loud, “why now?” since the station had been operating in the open for years.

Addressing the “why now” question: it seems pretty clear that the FCC is making a coordinated effort to shut down unlicensed stations that are operating out in the open, especially those that otherwise look more like licensed stations. It’s also clear that somebody at the US Attorney’s Office has been convinced to take this on, something that otherwise happens rarely.

Perhaps this sweep is timed with the ongoing approval of LPFMs in order to demonstrate to the broadcast industry that the Commission isn’t going light on enforcement, and that it isn’t deaf to the industry’s concerns.

An operator of Touch, “Brother Charles” Clemons, was fined by the FCC in 2008, and a US District Court judge issued a summary judgement against him in 2012 for non-payment. Even seeking such a judgement is a relatively unusual occurrence in unlicensed radio. This is likely related to the fact that Touch remained on air, whereas most stations that are contacted or fined tend to shut down, relocate or otherwise assume new station identities.

The unfortunate aspect of the Rika FM and Touch 106.1 situations is that both are stations that serve minority communities that are not otherwise well served by licensed stations in their areas. Of course, one might note that LPFM stations could have been opportunities for these stations. Although, strictly speaking, the principals behind Rika or Touch are ineligible to be formally tied to an LPFM license as a direct result of being involved in unlicensed broadcasting. That said, an LPFM could serve their audiences if operated under different auspices.

However, the practicalities are not so simple. Radio dials in top urban markets, like New York and Boston, are crowded. Even with the second-adjacent waivers made available in the Local Community Radio Act, there still are no LPFM frequencies open in too many inner-city neighborhoods where they are most needed.

As REC Networks’ Michi Bradley points out in a blog post, Touch’s 106.1 FM frequency would not be eligible for LPFM under current rules, as a result of being too close to stations in Hyannis, MA, Woonsocket, RI and Nashua, NH. Yet, she points out that it could operate at lower power and not cause interference. In fact, she says that if Touch were a translator repeater station rather than a LPFM, then it could be eligible to exist at that frequency under FCC rules. The catch is that translators may only repeat programming, not originate it.

Bradley concludes,

What this all boils down to is that even with the window we just recently had for new LPFM stations, some places on the dial where LPFM stations could have been placed were denied because of an arcane rule that was codified in statute as a result of overall unfounded fear by the NAB, NPR and the state broadcast associations that LPFM would cause interference. This is why we need to repeal that portion of the LCRA and leave LPFM engineering to the engineers and don’t try to dumb down the service.

Indeed, the consequences of this artificial limiting of LPFM are real. The Dorchester community lost a vital station yesterday that might have had an opportunity to be licensed if the FCC simply treated LPFMs under the same rules as a repeater for a commercial or non-commercial station.

The post FCC & US Marshals Raid Another Pirate, Looks Like a Coordinated Campaign appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On Monday the FCC announced [PDF] the unsealing of two complaints against unlicensed broadcasters operating in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The Commission and US Attorney’s Office also said that “on April 2, 2014, FCC agents and Deputy U.S. Marshals, pursuant to warrants, seized the radio transmission and production equipment identified in the two complaints.”

The station, identified as “Rika FM,” was allegedly operating out of a commercial space in The Bronx on 94.5 and 94.9 FM. Another location in Manhattan was apparently broadcasting on 95.3 and 100.1 FM.

It’s a rare occurrence that the US Attorney is willing to get involved with an unlicensed station. Using Federal Marshals is usually reserved for very high profile cases and/or those with prolonged activity despite multiple notices or fines from the FCC.

There are few hints in the press release as to why this case required this escalation. All we have is a quote from FCC Acting Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc, who said, “As alleged, these pirate radio stations were for-profit businesses that broke the law to line their own pockets while disrupting legitimate broadcasters. They should be out of business and off the air.”

A quick internet search for “Rika FM” turned up a Spanish language site for what looks pretty much like a typical commercial station. There is a live internet player, but nothing was playing on Monday night. The most recent “news” posts seem to be from January.

Banner ad from Rika FM website.

Rika FM also proclaims in a banner at the top of the page, in English, “FCC part 15 radio station.” If true, that means the station or stations are operating at a low enough power that no license is necessary. If this is the same Rika FM that just got busted, it would appear that the Commission does not agree with this designation.

I found a number of YouTube videos that seem like they were recorded in the the Rika FM 94.5 studios. Several were posted as recently as last year. The studios seen in these videos certainly look like professional operations. If they indeed were operating as commercial stations above part 15 limits and also causing interference, as alleged, then it’s clearer why the Commission was able to get the States Attorney’s cooperation to shut them down.

I have found no previous notices or citations for the station in the FCC’s enforcement actions for the last few years. However I did find one report on a Spanish language news site called Diario Horizonte dated April 14. That report says the station was operated by Dominicans and was first contacted by the FCC in December, 2011, with follow-ups in March, 2012 and February, 2013.

The post FCC and Federal Marshals Seized Pirate Radio Stations in New York City appeared first on Radio Survivor.

March 27 is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Radio Caroline, the infamous pirate radio ship that brought rock n’ roll to the UK airwaves and sparked many a pirate radio fantasy thereafter. On that day in 1964 Radio Caroline began broadcasting with a test transmission.

Broadcasts Aboard a ship

In Liverpool the Mersey Bar Lightship, berthed at Canning Dock, will celebrate with a month of broadcasts from aboard the ship. This time around the transmissions will be authorized, using a special temporary license. This incarnation of Radio Caroline will broadcast continuously from March 31 to April 28, on 87.8FM, or online at www.carolinenorth.com.

Offshore Celebrations

In Walton-on-the-Naze the celebrations will go offshore on Friday,  March 28, the 50th anniversary day of Radio Caroline’s first full day of actual broadcasting. There will be boat launches by the marine police and Royal Navy, along with a Sea King rescue helicopter, and fireworks. In the pubs taps will flow with a commemorative beer. 

Radio Day Commemorations in Amsterdam

Saturday, March 22, is the 34th annual Radio Day in the Netherlands celebrating the history of offshore pirate radio. Conference events will be held all day at the Hotel Casa 400 in Amsterdam. Organizers say this will be an even bigger event this year because of Caroline’s 50th, along with the 40th anniversary of the shutdown of the other prominent offshore pirates Radio Veronica and Radio Nordsee International. Awards will be given out in six categories, including “Outstanding Contribution to Offshore Radio,” “Top Technical Support of Offshore Radio,” and one for “Offshore Radio Writers and Historians.”

Stateside Tribute On the Air

Finally, tune in to KOWS-FM tonight, Friday, from 7 to 9 PM Pacific Time for an on-air celebration. On his program Tommy’s Holiday Camp Host Arnolodo will start with the first song played on Caroline, the Rolling Stones’ “Not Fade Away.” Also on deck is an interview with Caroline DJ Emperor Rosko, who was featured in a fictionalized portrayal by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film “Pirate Radio.” KOWS can be heard at 107.3 FM in Occidental, CA, or anywhere online at KOWS.fm.

The post 50th Anniversary Celebrations for Radio Caroline, the UK’s 1st Pirate Rock N Roll Ship appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Every week in our Radio Survivor Bulletin email newsletter we count down the top 5 stories of the week, along with alerting readers to other important radio stories. Now, here are our top 10 stories for February, as ranked by unique hits:

1. My Chromecast Is an Internet Radio
2. Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman in Pirate Radio
3. Veteran Shock Jock Tom Leykis Bets on Internet Radio for a Third Year
4. Soundcloud’s Progress: Explore, Messaging and Visual
5. What Is Pandora? A Narrow Majority Call It Radio
6. Welcome to Night Vale: The 8Tracks Playlists
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10. FCC Upholds Fine for Pirate Cat Founder as Station Re-emerges in Berlin

The post Chromecast as Radio, PSH & Pirate Cat – Our Top 10 Most Popular Stories in February appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There’s been quite a bit about unlicensed radio in the news lately. So it’s time for a pirate radio round-up: NY Times reports on Syrian opposition stations; Protest grow in Ireland over jailed peace and radio activist; FCC’s 2013 enforcement tallied up; When pirate radio ruled an English seaside town.

NY Times Reports on Syrian Opposition Stations

Last week the New York Times covered the Instanbul-based Radio Watan which is broadcast by “pirate transmitters in pockets across Syria,” along with “more than dozen opposition radio stations that have sprung up since the revolt against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.” The article notes that some of the stations, most of which produce programming in Turkey, have received support from the US government.

We have been following reports on opposition radio stations in Syria, including a station that was raided by an al Qaeda group in October of last year and earlier reports from last fall of “at least a dozen FM radio stations” operating in Syria since the war began.

Irish Peace and Radio Activist Margaretta D’Arcy Jailed

Protests are growing in Ireland over the imprisonment of writer, filmmaker, peace activist and radio activist Margaretta D’Arcy. She was given a three-month jail sentence for participating in a peace protest at Shannon Airport which the Irish government allows the US to use in the transit of military forces to Iraq and Afghanistan. D’Arcy was offered a suspended sentence if she agreed to sign a pledge not to repeat the protest. The 79 year-old, who is also suffering from cancer, refused.

Beginning in the late 1980s D’Arcy has operated regular broadcasts of unlicensed station in Galway, called Radio Pirate Woman. She is also considered one of the foremost radical feminist filmmakers in Ireland.

There have been daily solidarity protests in Dublin, and a national demonstration in solidarity with D’Arcy is scheduled for February 22, happening in the capital and other cities. A Facebook group has formed to advocate for D’Arcy’s release, and her own page is also a source of information and discussion.

Tallying FCC Enforcement in 2013

At DIYmedia.net John Anderson has posted his annual review of FCC enforcement against unlicensed broadcasters and declares the past year to be “no Great Crusade.” 2013 saw a slight decline in enforcement actions over 2012, with activity in 24 states and the District of Columbia. He notes that most of the action is administrative, with it taking years to from the initial notice to when a fine is issued. Read John’s post for the rest of his analysis.

When Pirate Radio Ruled an English Seaside Town

A former radio pirate from the small English seaside town of Whitby recollects his time on the air in the late 1970s for the Whitby Gazette. While the BBC established its first Rock N Roll station, Radio One, in 1967 partly in response to offshore pirates, former DJ David Hesleton explained that even in 1979 “local radio hadn’t developed enough and there were a lot of communities and towns that felt they were missing out.”

So Hesleton and two friends used a VHF transmitter to fill the void with music and even prank calls. When government officials got wind, they slowed broadcasts and went mobile for a while.

For someone who grew up in the US it’s fascinating to learn that just thirty-some years ago the FM dial in many parts of the UK was still “only white noise, unless it was Saturday night.” Certainly understandable, then, how tempting it was for a young radio pirate.

FCC Upholds Pirate Cat Fine, Their Attorney Responds

Don’t miss our coverage of the FCC’s recent action against the shuttered Pirate Cat Radio and its former figurehead, Daniel “Monkey Man” Roberts. The Commission rejected Roberts’ petition for reconsideration, upholding a $10,000 fine against him. His attorney spoke with us, calling one of the FCC’s justifications “ridiculous and frightening.”

The post Pirate Radio Round-Up: Syrian opposition stations; Protests grow over jailed Irish radio activist; FCC enforcement in 2013; more appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I talked with attorney Michael Couzens about the case of Pirate Cat Radio and his client, Daniel Roberts. This week the FCC released an order rejecting Roberts’ petition for reconsideration of a $10,000 fine the Commission levied against him for unlicensed broadcasting.

Couzens brought to my attention a footnote (32) in the Commission’s order (PDF) that causes him concern. The footnote pertains to the FCC’s key assertion that, per quoted precedent in Campbell v U.S., the agency doesn’t have to consider only if Roberts had direct control over the transmitter broadcasting Pirate Cat’s web stream, which Roberts maintains he did not have. Much more broadly the Commission says it can consider if Roberts had “any means of actual working control over the operation of the [station] in whatever manner exercised.”

The FCC is saying that even if Roberts didn’t control the transmitter, because he appeared to operate the studio and internet stream, and because the station’s frequency was clearly advertised in places like the station’s cafe, then that’s enough to find him liable.

Couzens objects to that interpretation, noting that the precedent cited is pretty much the only case out there providing cover for that kind of broad definition for the “operation” of a station.

But there’s additional language in the footnote that Couzens calls “ridiculous and frightening.” It reads: “While Mr. Roberts may disagree with this longstanding Commission precedent, he provides no evidence that he did not exercise working control over the operation of PCR without a license.” (emphasis added).

Couzens observed, “That is standing the burden of proof on its head.” Concluding, “It’s wrong.”

Anyone with even an cursory understanding of American jurisprudence should be familiar with the phrase “innocent until proven guilty.” That means someone charged with a crime, or accused of a civil infraction, only has to defend herself against the charges. The state, or plaintiff, has the burden of proof to demonstrate that the defendant is guilty or liable. The defendant does not have the burden of proving her innocence.

Therefore it should not be the case that Roberts has to prove that he did not “exercise working control over the operation of PCR without a license.” Rather, it’s the FCC’s burden to prove that he did exercise that control.

Nevertheless, Couzens acknowledged that Roberts made things more difficult for himself. “With Pirate Cat the distinguishing factor is the whole operation was deliberately thumbing its nose at the Commission, with is press releases and svn the signage at their cafe.”

He added, “One individual was highly visible as a figurehead. As a lawyer I don’t like guilt by association. But he ascribed it to himself, even though he stated under oath that he never operated a transmitter or STL (studio-to-transmitter link).”

He stressed that he does not condone unlicensed broadcasting in any fashion. However, Couzens said, “If, against my advice, you do this, don’t poke a stick into the lair of the bear.”

I contacted Pirate Cat Radio via Facebook. The person who responded did not identify him/herself and refused to comment on the record.

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Today the FCC released an order upholding a $10,000 fine against Dan Roberts, former manager of Pirate Cat Radio, for unlicensed broadcasting. The fine was originally issued in 2011.

Pirate Cat Radio began as an audacious and prominent unlicensed station operating out of a San Francisco cafe, headed up by charismatic leader Dan Roberts who went by the monikers “Monkey” or “Monkey Man.” As the heat from the FCC turned up, Pirate Cat ended actual FM transmission from its cafe studio, becoming an online-only station. However, a third party picked up the Pirate Cat stream and rebroadcast it on the station’s old FM frequency. It was this disassociation between Pirate Cat and the unlicensed FM broadcast that formed the basis for Roberts’ petition for reconsideration of the fine to the FCC.

In upholding the fine, the Commission rejected Roberts’ argument, along with his argument that there was no proof linking him to these broadcasts. The FCC’s reasoning for rejecting them, however, brings forward a novel argument that could threaten a common pirate broadcast strategy.

The Commission ruled that since Roberts presented himself as the manager of Pirate Cat, publicly acknowledged the unlicensed broadcast, and even solicited donations for the broadcasts on the Pirate Cat website, then he is responsible for them. The FCC relies on a 1948 ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Campbell v. US, which states, “the word ‘operate’ has been interpreted to mean ‘the general conduct or management of a station as a whole, as distinct from the specific technical work involved in the actual transmission of signals.”

I contacted both Roberts, via the Pirate Cat facebook page (an email to the site’s contact address bounced), and his attorney Michael Couzens today to ask for comment about the FCC’s order, and to ask if Roberts plans to mount further legal challenges. I did not hear back from them prior to publication, but will certainly post updates as we learn more.

Impact on Other Pirates

The broader impact of the Commission’s reasoning comes from the fact that that disassociating an unlicensed transmitter from a studio location is a tactic that has been used by some stations. The logic has been that the FCC can locate or seize transmitters without imperiling DJs and other station staff. There have also been cases where online community stations have been rebroadcast by third parties without public association, specifically in order to buffer the station from the possible consequences of unlicensed operation.

The FCC’s ruling against Pirate Cat would appear to erode the value of this tactic. While it does indicate that the Commission will not go for the defense in the case of stations that once hosted their own transmitters, the ruling’s interpretation is narrow enough to provide guidance to would be pirates considering this method.

One of the things that made Pirate Cat and Daniel Roberts unique was their willingness to be out in the open, seeking publicity, rather than running a more clandestine operation. Unsurprisingly, that also provided the FCC with plenty of ammunition to go after Roberts, who was the very public face of Pirate Cat Radio.

Moreover, the station’s apparent embrace of the third party broadcast damaged Roberts’ plausible deniability. Though one might argue that the Commission’s interpretation of Campbell v. US is overly broad considering that there was no material evidence, it is likely it’s one that FCC staff believe has a decent chance of standing up in court, should Roberts wish mount a legal challenge.

For other unlicensed stations the advice is simple: you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. That is, if a station is going to separate its studio and transmitter, relying on an unassociated third party to operate the broadcast of an internet station, then it’s important to keep the two truly unassociated. Acknowledging the unlicensed signal, or fundraising for it on the internet station and its website might be used against it should the FCC come looking.

Pirate Cat Redux?

The Daniel Roberts led Pirate Cat Radio folded in 2011 when he took the station off-line leading to contention between him and the station’s staff and volunteers. The staff then launched the online-only Mutiny Radio in its place in June of that year.

All indications are that Roberts left the country after shutting down Pirate Cat. He had also taken over management of a LPFM community station in Pescadero, CA that had to reorganize after his abrupt departure.

Recently, it appears Pirate Cat has resurfaced online. A new Facebook page appeared last week, describing the station as, “Secret studios in San Franscisco, Los Angeles and Berlin featuring music, live bands, news and interviews.” The page mostly advertises concerts happening in Berlin.

A new website advertises “new DJs and shows” and broadcasts in Berlin “on random FM frequencies.” It appears that Roberts is still involved, since the site prominently features a picture of him. It also seems like he has learned from his FCC experience, since the site advises “We won’t tell you when and where,” the FM broadcast will be, “you’ll have to find us.”

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Like many folks, I’m still shocked and saddened about the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman yesterday. He left us too soon.

Writers across the web have been paying tribute by taking a look at some of his most iconic film roles. But as a long-time observer of the clandestine art of unlicensed radio, I cannot forget Hoffman’s turn as “The Count,” an American DJ aboard a 1960s British pirate radio ship in “Pirate Radio” (known as “The Boat that Rocked” outside the US).

To me the character represents both the romantic place the Rock N Roll DJ once held in our culture, as well as the less-romantic reality of a personality whose off-mic qualities don’t quite measure up to the world he creates on air. Hoffman believably captured both The Count’s bravado-filled showmanship in the broadcast booth and more reclusive–though still randy–side in his cabin.

As he discussed in this interview clip, Hoffman observes how The Count, who saw himself as the world’s greatest DJ delivering Rock N Roll “medicine,” was good at showing up to a happening at just the right time, even though he tended otherwise to keep to himself in the pirate ship’s close quarters.

In this clip Hoffman, as The Count, threatens to challenge the time-honored broadcast ban on the “f-word,” casually comparing its lack of effect to the more devastating consequences of shooting a bullet or dropping a bomb (the language is, obviously, NSFW, unless you work on a pirate radio ship).

Hoffman leaves behind one of the greatest acting legacies of his generation, and an absence that cannot be filled.

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It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed what’s news in pirate radio. Here’s what’s up, including: 22 year-old N. London pirate stays true to drum & bass; Welsh nationalists were pirate radio pioneers in 1959; protest broadcasts in Minnesota, and more.

• Quietus writer John Doran pays a visit to long-running North London pirate station Rude FM which focuses on classic UK pirate music like hardcore rave, jungle and drum & bass. He discovers the station’s 22-year run is due to careful stealth, going on the move when necessary and going on-line only to fill in the gaps when regulators seize equipment.

• A TV show recently revealed that a group of Welsh nationalists were pirate radio pioneers, according to Wales Online. beginning broadcasts of Radio Cockerel (Radio Ceiliog in Welsh) as early as 1959. This was years ahead of the more well-known UK pirate Radio Caroline.

• For those keeping score at home, John Anderson notes that the FCC has developed its own online database of enforcement actions against unlicensed broadcasters. The database includes a map of enforcement actions across the country. John has been maintaining his own database since 1997, which is also more granular, tracking data like how many visits FCC field agents made to a given station.

• Taking a page from the anti-globalization movement’s playbook, in December environmental protesters used an unlicensed transmitter to broadcast to employees of 3M in Maplewood, MN. Activists from Forest Ethics were alerting employees to charges that 3M is using old-growth forest and illegal methods in its paper production.

• The SF Weekly’s Sherilyn Connelly profiled several of San Francisco’s formerly unlicensed broadcasters who went internet-only along with several newer born-digital community-minded stations. She catches up with the folks running Mutiny Radio, Radio Valencia, and San Francisco Liberation Radio, the latter of which was raided by the FCC in 2003 and now appears to be just a one-man online operation.

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Every so often I like to do a round-up of events in unlicensed broadcasting. In this update we have a review of FCC actions against unlicensed broadcasters, including one on the shortwave band and another on the CB band, good buddy. Plus, there’s an investigation into one of the country’s most notorious TV pirates.

Sniffing Out Pirates Like Scooby Doo
FCC offices on the coasts seem to be following up on quite a few complaints of unlicensed FM broadcasters this fall. There’s been a fair amount of activity in Southern Califonia. At the end of October one man in the town of Taft was issued notices for allegedly broadcasting on three different frequencies from one location. Additional accused FM pirates in Pacoima, La Crescenta and Newhall received notices, while a shortwave broadcast in Chula Vista was scouted on November 7 at 6133 MHz, an area of the band that is popular with shortwave pirates.

Agents in the FCC’s New York office traveled across the Hudson to New Jersey, tracking down three station in Passaic and five in Paterson during September. They also sniffed out one Brooklyn-based broadcaster that month. A station allegedly operating in Avon, Massachussetts was found by the Boston office. But in none of these cases did an FCC agent enter the station, question the broadcaster or seize any equipment.

Fines in NY and FL
Indeed, as should be just too obvious, a pirate broadcaster’s best defense is to not open the door when the FCC comes a-knockin’. At least on the first visit. Not heeding this advice landed a Spring Valley, NY man a forfeiture order for $10,000. Back in October 2012 FCC agents tracked down a station located inside a taxi business.

The accused broadcaster, Vicot Chery, contested the initial notice of liability saying that he “was not aware of what was going on” at the station and that the fine would pose an “absolute hardship.” More interestingly, Chery attempted to argue that he was improperly questioned by FCC agents because his attorney had not be contacted and was not present.

However, FCC agents aren’t cops and they aren’t bringing criminal charges, so the right to an attorney defense doesn’t quite fit. The Commission also explains that it has the “authority to inspect all radio installations associated with stations required to be licensed by any Act,” and, “The radio station at issue in this case was required to be licensed by the Commission” in the first place. Plus, he let them in.

In Florida the cops lend a big hand to the FCC, since unlicensed broadcasting is a felony in that state. The Commission recently touted a $10,000 forfeiture made against a man in Oakland Park who was arrested for unlicensed broadcasting in August 2012. In that case police found the station, but not the operator, who later surrendered. Police in Pinellas Park also arrested a man for allegedly operating a station for which he was listed as “CEO,” according to a press report.

It’s Freeband, Dude
Lest you think the FCC enforcement agents only concern themselves with the broadcast band, know that they’re kept quite busy policing all bands of the airwaves. A man in Lewiston, NY was recently issued notice of unlicensed operation for allegedly running an overpowered CB rig. Agents from the Philadelphia office inspected the man’s CB station on October 23 and found “four radio transmitters which were transmitting with more than 4 watts carrier power or were not certificated CB transmitters. The agents also found that you owned and operated linear amplifiers that you use with your radio transmitters.”

Although the Commission doesn’t say what frequencies the man was using, the fact that they issued a notice of unlicensed operation indicates that he was operating outside the CB band. While it is still prohibited to exceed certain power levels on the CB band, no license is required to transmit on these frequencies.

Transmissions just outside CB frequencies are not allocated to any particular service, or bump into the amateur radio bands, all of which ostensibly require a license to use. This is a practice known as “freebanding,” which also ticks off many licensed hams who are known to report frequent freebanders. While the FCC doesn’t say explicitly that the Lewiston man was freebanding, there’s a good chance that was the case, perhaps even unintentionally.

Unsolved: Chicago’s Max Headroom Mystery
Finally, one of the great unsolved mysteries in pirate broadcasting happened 16 years ago, on November 22, 1987. That night an unknown Max Headroom-masked man briefly hijacked the broadcasts of Chicago TV stations WGN and WTTW. While there were several other prominent cases of TV hijackings in the mid–80–all on satellite– those perpetrators were caught.

The identity of Chicago’s pirate Max Headroom is still unknown, but reporter Chris Knittel did try very hard to track him down. Writing for Vice’s Motherboard, Knittel recounts how he followed breadcrumbs deep into Chicago’s pre-internet BBS nerd culture to find a man–who was a teenager at the time–who claims to have met the likely broadcasters. He also talked with the former bureau chief in the FCC’s Field Operations Bureau at the time who laments the unwillingness of the Chicago-based agent to be more like a detective and beat the pavement to track down the TV hijackers.

It’s a fascinating read, and also helps to explain why we haven’t seen any TV signal hijackings since.

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• A Radio Survivor reader tipped us off to this story about a pirate radio operator in the hotbed of South Florida who died installing his antenna. The aerial accidentally hit a power line and he was electrocuted. His death is certainly unfortunate, but the Sun-Sentinel’s framing of this story is also unfortunate, with the headline declaring that it “shows perils of clandestine operations.” The same sort of accident could have happened while installing a TV antenna, or just about anything metal on or near a building’s roof, whether a rain gutter, flagpole or awning. It was probably unwise for the poor guy to do this in the dark at night, and without someone to help. But this is hardly an example of the “perils” of operating an unlicensed station any more than the perils of installing something on any roof.
• A UK-based radio engineer in Brighton built his own experimental, low-cost and unlicensed digital radio transmitter to demonstrate that broadcasts using the DAB standard could be done much more cheaply than using commercially available transmitters. Although not exactly pirate–he had the blessing of British regulators–it was still a private enterprise, using just an old PC running a software defined radio program to generate the digital signal. The Register reports that the very low-cost computer platform Raspberry Pi could also be used, projecting that such a system could be employed by community or pirate broadcasters.
• In a meeting that was nearly 50 years in the making, on Tuesday infamous UK pirate radio broadcaster Johnnie Walker conducted an interview with the MP and regulator who made Radio Caroline an outlaw outfit. The interview occurred at Walker’s month-long show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where former Labour MP Tony Benn was unapologetic, claiming that had pirate radio not been made illegal, then there would hade been no impetus to create BBC Radio 1, which was the first legal broadcast of rock n roll in the UK.
• A piece in Under the Radar describes how pirate radio transmitters helped the indie rock band Akron/Family shoot its new video. The transmission was used to broadcast the song, “Sand Talk,” to dozens of cars on a mountain in Glendale, California where volunteers flickered their headlights synchronized with the music.

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