In November, 2014 there was a fascinating exhibit at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) that was part of the week-long Haunted Reflections: Walter Benjamin in San Francisco event. In the course of researching the exhibit, I ran across some information about the unknown-to-me radio station at the San Francisco Art Institute known as The […]
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 […]
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? […]
Shake108fm has posted details of an interesting problem and his tentative solution on our forums pages. “I have pirate stations in my area on same frequency,” he writes. “One temporary idea is to overpower them until they realize I am not going away and I am fully legitimate station.” So he proposes to “crank [his] […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
This past Sunday the New York Times profiled the Los Angeles cooperative arts-focused station KCHUNG. It isn’t a typical community station, nor is it an LPFM. The station also doesn’t have a license, but it’s not a pirate station. Instead it operates according to what are generally known as the Part 15 rules, which cover […]
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: My Chromecast Is an Internet Radio Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman in Pirate Radio […]
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 […]
