Pirate/Free radio.....dirty criminals or champions of the airwaves?

Unlicenced equipment interferes with just about everything else on the dial.This is not true,most of the rigs used by modern pirates are built using tried and tested circuits,components and test gear.I personally have built numerous transmitters in the past,ranging from 1 watt to over 400 watts output power.All checked and tuned on HP spectrum analyser.True,there are a tiny fraction of pikeys who choose to go with crap kit,but this sort of stuff usually packs up or catches fire within a few hours.

We steal listeners from 'proper' stations who spend vast amounts of money on their broadcasting licences,etc.In my view,having a broadcast licence means only one thing...you have pots of cash.It doesn't make you a good station,only the right kind of output can acheive that.We don't steal listeners from the legals,if they bothered to diversify a little and actually play what people wanted to hear,pirates would have a much harder time getting anyone to listen.

The DJ's/presenters are all criminals/jobless low-lives/drug dealers.I think someone was watching too many BBC documentaries,where all pirates are portrayed as spliff-smoking,Burberry-capped chavvers(see www.chavscum.co.uk).As the BBC would do of course,as they hate pirates the most.I wouldn't have that type of person in one of my studios,only totally reliable and trustworty people are allowed to know where the studio is,it HAS to be that way,for obvious reasons.

There were many other facets to this argument,but I never have met someone with such an absolute dislike for my 'hobby'.I even have good friends in legal radio who are quite happy to admit they listen to the pirates to see what the new music coming out is like!All those household names like John Peel,Tony Blackburn,Jonnie Walker....old hands who all started out on the 'Dark Side'!And more up to date,Judge Jules,Tim Westwood,Stu Allen....all former pirates.And where did Radio One come from.Born out of the need to rival Radio Caroline(hats off to the legendary offshore broadcasters,we are not worthy!).Surely it's like a Yin-Yang thing,one side needs the other to survive?

I know if a pirate station was playing my kind of thing and no one else was I wouldn't think twice about tuning in.

I devote many volunteer hours a week to a community radio station (aside from merely doing my own show), and we put a lot of effort and resources into meeting our licensing requirements. So it would probably kinda piss me off if someone started a pirate station in this area. I'd probably kick him in the nutsack.

But to get down to brass tacks, I don't think pirate broadcasters should get jailtime. A small fine, sure, but come on. Still, they're hardly the bold champions of myth they purport themselves to be.

You are not making any sense. The airwaves are being increasingly privatized. But let me take you down one step at a time:

"some dude goes on the air illegally and starts spreading untruths or even truths, but truths that are really nobody's business." Are you Rumsfeld's younger brother?
"to take recourse against someone who's hiding in obscurity"
I am going to argue this statement on First Amendment rights, because the dude who is hiding in your obscurity is exercising such. Yup. Free Speech. The airwaves are under FCC control, but are still protected by that pesky amendment.They are, still, sometimes, free.
My truth is mine - but I'm willing to share. That's what I love about democracy. I would like to hear more from you.

And where would you kick a woman? Just wondering!

I could be very wrong here, but we dont have pirate radio as much here (as far as I can tell) because legit community radio is thriving in this country in many cities and towns. We're not as strangled by Clear Channel type stations as the US, or govt chans like the UK. We have community radio like PBS, RRR, ZZZ, 2XXX and the like that play a very diverse mix of stuff. Even the national govt radio is bearable (JJJ), though its dregs compared to what it used to be like...

Talk hard!

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/17.html

On the subject of paying royalties to the music producers,most of what we play is pre-release dance,and stuff which was never intended to break into the charts or make huge amounts for the dude who made it.Many of my own records are white labels,how am I supposed to pay royalties to a musician if there is nothing on the label?Also,a lot of the vinyl I buy has 'Promo copy-not for resale' on it.These are sent out to DJ's and clubs,etc,just to get them played in the public domain.We used to get about 20-25 vinyls a week sent to our PO Box when we were broadcasting,that says something about how the record distributors and musicians see pirate radio,I think.

The whole thing of Pirate radio is it is a rebellion against the way that radio has become. A protest march against establishment on the airwaves. Trying to change the way things are as they aren't good enough.

Digital may change this even more.

Classic.

this reminds me of what I don't like about pirate radio in the uk. It is basically all dance music.

xpost

OK - I managed to get the link. (Applause, please). I am not very savvy about these things - but I always learn .From you Huk-L indeed. plus, I am going to cut my arm off and become a true pirate - Captain Hanger - and I will drive around interrupting ground signals. AAARGH! The pirates life is the life for me!

E-mail me as I'd love to discuss some stuff with you that we have used to good effect here.I have lots of good stuff I could share with you that may help you get the clean signal you need to keep the feds off your back,and some trick link systems that can protect your studio from raids.I have not had the pleasure of chatting about pirating in the US,I look forward to hearing from you!

Pashmina,you are right,it is all mainly dance music.But there are now so many offshoots of dance music that there is diversity galore just within that 'Dance' label that is put on our type of music.I wish there were more stations trying to cater for more audiences,there must be a market for them out there.But we have had a few rock/real music stations crop up,they try very hard but don't get very far.I think it must have something to do with the massive availability of dance music on vinyl,and the standard pirate essentials,the Technics SL1200 turntable.It's the whole DJ mixing thing that seems to be the mainstay of UK pirates,the rock stations didn't quite know how to present their shows and keep the audience entertained.And to be honest,I don't think I could have done any better if I had been in their shoes!

Oh yeah, and as someone who actually appreciates the fact that we've been getting decent acts to tour our city over the past ten years or so, I do have to say that I kinda feel like I should always try to be protective of Clear Channel, even if it's only because of selfish locally-based interests. I mean, if this place wasn't Clear Channel headquarters, do you think half of the artists who come through here would have thought to do so? I seriously do not think so. Clear Channel seems to me to be most of the reason why we're not roundly ignored, why we seem to do pretty well in terms of entertainment locally, and this company pumps a lot of money into the local economy, which I'm grateful for.

But yeah, pirate radio, yay, rah rah rah, etc. (BTW, we have about five or so local stations that are owned by just one person, so it is possible to have that sort of thing happen. Yes, even in the U.S. of A.)

I'm not a big fan of media consolidation, but neither am a big fan of government-funded/controlled media. The BBC does it right, but it's very easy to get it wrong.