Radio Netherlands Worldwide today announced that it will be expanding its Arabic broadcasts to cover the protests across the Arab world, including Libya. The broadcasts will primarily be on satellite in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq where receiving TV and radio broadcasts by satellite is very common. The broadcasts will […]
Author Archive | Paul Riismandel
Free Radio Benghazi broadcasts Libyan protesters to the world
Much of the news today from Libya is sad, with reports that as many as 200 protesters have been killed by government forces who are using live ammunition–some large caliber–on civilians trying to exercise their human rights to free speech and peaceful protest. However there are also signs that protestors are finding ways to break […]
New York state bill aims to criminalize pirate radio
Apparently looking to follow the example set by New Jersey and Florida, New York state senate bill S2737-2011 is intended to create “the crime of unauthorized radio transmission, a class D felony, punishable by imprisonment and a fine in the amount of not less than $10,000.00.” Thanks go to John Anderson at DIYmedia.net and Paul […]
Egyptian radio DJ returns to work after Mubarak steps down
The New York Times features a short video piece on an Egyptian Top 40 DJ, Mohamed Safi, who is now returning to work after being away to join the protests in Tahrih Square. On his playlist for the first show back? “Break on Through,” “Winds of Change,” and “RESPECT.”
Old News — Lawmaker wants Oklahoma to be a haven for unlicensed radio
My apologies to Radio Survivor readers for my massive oversight on this story. Apparently I’m unable to either know what year it is now, or read the dates on the sources I’m using. The bill I cited in this post–AND the Oklahoma Watchdog article about it–is a year old, from January 2010, not January 2011. […]
What is the role of radio in the Egyptian uprising?
When the Egyptian government shut down internet access over a week ago in order to compromise the opposition movement’s ability to communicate there were several press reports that ham radio operators were stepping in to fill the information void. On the surface it seems a very credible story. Amateur radio operators have stepped in to […]
Mary Payne clarifies UK pirate radio history
Reader Mary Payne, webmaster of the Radio London website, took a moment to correct and expand upon my surface gloss of UK pirate radio history in my post about a documentary on 90s pirates told through cassette airchecks. In particular, Ms. Payne notes that the BBC didn’t ban rock music in the 60s. Rather, the […]
Pacifica’s KPFK to try unlicensed radio
On the heels of my post about FCC enforcement of “legal” low-power AM broadcasting, I learn that Pacifica plans to jump into the LPAM arena. The plan is for Pacifica’s Los Angeles station KPFK to serve its Spanish-speaking audience with a network of Part 15 LPAM stations deployed strategically in Latino neighborhoods. According to a […]
Unlicensed AM broadcasting a little safer than FM
Last fall I wrote a post on unlicensed broadcasting on the AM band in the US. The impetus was reading an article on a rare FCC action against a station in Portland, Oregon, which caused me to track down the few other Commission actions against AM pirates in 2010. The so-called Part 15 rules that […]
The history of British underground music through cassettes of pirate stations
While pirate radio has existed in the US since the very invention of the medium, it’s had a far more significant impact in the UK. The movie Pirate Radio dramatized how pirates forged cracks in the dam that the staid BBC built against R&B and rock n’ roll in the 60s. But British pirates retained […]