Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Oh, that's probably why they are complaining, right? Jason Scott Archivist. VIEWS. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So, David, you are uniquely qualified to talk about this topic and to help listeners to understand just how qualified you are how did you get to this current position at the FCC. "I spoke with a pastor of a church in the community which had a station and the antenna was taken down by the FCC," Goren says. Collection Info. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. MR. DOMBROWSKI: So we have two ways to file a complaint. Pirate radio stations are a crucial part of British music culture. It could be harmful if we let a pirate radio station operate because sometimes they cause interference to other services, like aeronautical communications. Meanwhile, the Ross Revenge was repaired and converted into a floating museum for tourists. Addeddate 2022-03-13 23:21:58 . Listening to pirate radio is perfectly legaland frequently an ear-opening experience. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes. North American Pirate Radio Frequencies By far the most active ranges in North America are 43 meters (6800-7000 kHz), 46 meters (6200-6400 kHz) and 73 meters (4000-4200 kHz), with some activity in the 60 meter band (4700-5300 kHz) as well. Back in the 1980s, before the Internet and its online bulletin boards, I thought finding pirates was truly a huntrandom and altogether unpredictable. Why? That would be not a good practice. Ive also been encouraged by pirates to hone my weak-signal DXing using exalted carrier reception (ECR)zero-beating an AM signal in SSBin an attempt to hear weak AM pirate stations. "While Radio Caroline is no longer 'illegal' the philosophy is unchanged," Moore says, noting that the station's staff has the motto "New Technology, Same Ideology.". Among the most popular queries made by readers is, How can I find and hear pirate radio stations? To help answer this question, Im writing this primer. We want them to be as descriptive as possible. It had a 20-mile range. Bruce will host a new daily show for Bauer's station Greatest Hits Radio, taking his iconic PopMaster game with him. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: That's some great local cooperation right there. Open up the transmitter Locate the seam on the transmitter's case and pry it open with a putty knife (if your transmitter is screwed shut, you'll need a screwdriver to open it). And then they said to me well here is ten jobs that you potentially could have which one is your top choice? Has it evolved over the years? That would be inappropriate, particularly given my employer, but is it hard for the average listener, particularly in a dense metro area, you're dialing your car radio or your home radio to even know the difference? The BBC played catch-up launching Radio One and recruiting the same pirates for their roster. With that said (and for reasons I dont fully understand) depending on where you live in the world, you will either find it very easy to locate piratesor extremely difficult. "Pirate radio continues to exist in the internet age for a variety of reasons," John Nathan Anderson, a broadcasting scholar and author who is working on a book about pirate radio, explains via email. What can the average person do? But by the 1960s, the postwar baby boom filled the U.K. with millions of teenagers who were eager to hear the rock 'n' roll records that the BBC declined to play. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes, and it's also I assume illegal for these advertisers to be advertising on pirate stations, they just might not know that they are pirates. For consistencys sake, I will use the term pirate radio in this article. As Yoder goes on to explain in his introduction of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, pirates are often confused with radio bootleggers (who conduct unlicensed two-way conversations), clandestine stations (usually political stations), and jammers (who intentionally try to block broadcasts). A new, raw, grassroots kind of pirate radio exploded from 1992 onwards. On Easter Sunday in 1964, the station went on the air, playing the Rolling Stones' single "It's All Over Now" as its first song. It helps to show that -- That's a deterrent in itself right there when you get media coverage. Answer (1 of 14): Why I am qualified to answer this question. I was glad to be here, it was a great opportunity. So we have a lot of those stations operating, so it's big revenue for them. But sometimes it is very difficult with those stations that have put more investment into the equipment. It eventually regrouped and resurfaced as an internet station, which gave it a global reach. He anchored the ship in international waters in the North Sea, just off Frinton, Essex, and hired a crew of DJs to play music around the clock at the time, a revolutionary concept. So just keep in mind next time you read some nice hipster article about how great pirate radio is in your community, that there are serious issues at play and what the FCC is doing is really important and that's why it's so great to have you on here to share your perspective and some of your history working on this and we really just want to thank you for your service. Pirate cards are among the most unusual of QSL cards, that often incorporate obscure or vintage imageryhumor, horror, or other graphic oddityor cast the pirate in a unique character representation. Find this podcast in the iTunes store or Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So let's say that either a broadcaster or a listener files a complaint, what happens then, what tools do you, your colleagues in the FCC, have to go about finding a station, shutting it down, bringing people to justice? And so he brought this argument up when we tried to get his station off the air by using the court proceedings and he fought that we were violating his First Amendment rights. Give us a sense of the universe of this problem given that it is such a priority for this FCC to crack down on it. Goren, who's been monitoring the airwaves since the law was passed, notes that on a typical day, he picks up about 26 pirate stations in Brooklyn alone. And you have tools to escalate the situation. Loggings are in real time and there are very fewif anyoff-topic posts. Additionally, pirate broadcasters don't have to deal with all the legal complexities of setting up and running a streaming internet service, such as writing terms of service or meeting contractual obligations, he notes. MR. DOMBROWSKI: So all that good equipment just gets recycled. Moreover, summer conditions in the North American 43 meter band are often much noisier, thus pirates know theyll be fighting static crashes to be heard during the summer months. This station was operated in Pennsauken, New Jersey, which is right across the river from Philadelphia, and it covered the entire Philadelphia area. It lasted three years there and then I had an opportunity to get to the Philadelphia Office Enforcement Bureau with the field work and that's been -- I was there for 20 years. But they also encroach on those legitimate stations that made significant investments and secured the necessary regulatory approvals to obtain a license. The FCC argued that we were here to regulate the airwaves. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, everyone's dream job. ( Disclaimer) Transcript: MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Welcome to "More Than 7 Dirty Words," the official FCC podcast. Airchecks from unauthorized broadcast radio stations throughout the years. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, we don't have a rule in the books that prohibits that from happening. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes, in those dense urban areas because the FM band is already pretty clogged up with legitimate stations that might be one of the reasons that people throw up their hands and say, well, I guess I'm just do an illegal station because I am frustrated by the legal process for getting a station, but that is not a justification in any sense of the word. To have a radio station here helps to establish the station's operator as an important source of information and influence in the community.". MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So there are no doubt some good samaritans listening to this show that want nothing more than to help with the scourge of pirate radio. And he had some good backing, financial backing, by the ACLU who were fighting for him, and he was a microbroadcaster and he tried to encourage others to follow in his footsteps and protect our First Amendment rights, so he was --. Given other responsibilities and obligations, however, the Commission's resources are stretched, and it seems that stopping pirate radio is not at the top of the priority list. If you just use an internet browser and search FCC complaint you will come to the link for filing a complaint. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, the legitimate one, the licensed station. They are very low power and the range of them are very small. But the easiest way to file a complaint is go online. Even as many legacy international broadcasters are abandoning the shortwave bands, shortwave remains active and vibrant in another quadrant: namely, on shortwave pirate radio. The plot is based loosely on the saga of an actual former pirate station, Radio Caroline, that was founded by an offbeat Irish entrepreneur named Ronan O'Rahilly, the inspiration for the character portrayed by Bill Nighy. And as a bonus, Radio Caroline still exists though, ironically, it's gone legal. We also recommend that the complainant contact the station that they are getting interference to --. Now that maybe gets us down to the building, you know, where it might be operating. We call them Notices of Apparent Liability where we will fine the operator. The history of pirate radio stations is inextricably linked with the development of countless genres, including hip-hop, garage, punk, and grime. So those are some of the challenges that you all have to tackle in taking on this important enforcement function. Ive hunted pirates with a range of such radios, among them the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, the Grundig G3, the Grundig G5, the Tecsun PL-600 and PL-660, and even the new Tecsun PL-880. Our agency was delegated by Congress to allocate frequencies and allocate it in the public interest and it's a resource. Thank you, too, for your support of these sites. David, thanks so much for joining. It's something we have been doing as long as the equipment has been available we've always had pirate radio operators. Want to buy me a cup of coffee? Ive noticed increased pirate radio activity during the winter months, as well. Back when KIWI was on the air regularly in the 90s, I assumed that pirate radio would explode in Oceania and Asia. Great opportunity show that -- that 's probably why they are getting to. For consistencys sake, I assumed that pirate radio stations on this important enforcement function:. Regrouped and resurfaced as an internet station, which gave it a global reach if you use! Contact the station that they are very fewif anyoff-topic posts important enforcement function 's a deterrent in itself right.... 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