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Pirate radio

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The term pirate radio lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting that is unwelcomed by the licensing authorities within the territory where its signals are received, especially when the country of transmission is the same as the country of reception. When the area of transmission is not a country, or when it is a country and the transmissions are not illegal, those same broadcast signals may deemed illegal in the country of reception. Therefore the term pirate radio can mean many things to many people.

Possible Origins of the term Pirate Radio

The term pirate radio lacks a universal definition and its usage, with variations, seems to go back to the birth of broadcasting itself. The term pirate radio is a political term of convenience since the word "pirate" suggests a venture not sanctioned by any sovereign power. However, this is not a true definition with regards to the term pirate radio. While country (a) may license the use of a transmitter within its own sovereign jurisdiction, the output of that transmitter may be audible in country (b) which would never grant a license for the operation of the station from within its own borders.

Prime examples of this kind of activity have been Radio Luxembourg located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and radio station XERF located at Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, USA.

The English language evening broadcasts from Radio Luxembourg were intentionally beamed toward the British Isles by Luxembourg licensed transmitters, while the intended audience in the United Kingdom originally listened to their radio sets by permission of a Wireless License issued by the British General Post Office (GPO). However, under terms of that Wireless License, it was an offense under the Wireless Telegraphy Act to listen to unauthorized broadcasts such as those transmitted by Radio Luxembourg. Therefore as far as the British authorities were concerned, Radio Luxembourg was a "pirate radio station" and British listeners to the station were breaking the law.

The relationship between Mexico and the USA was a little different. While Mexico issued radio station XERF with a license to broadcast, the power of its 250,000 watts transmitter was far greater than the maximum of 50,000 watts authorized for commercial use by the government of the United States of America. Consequently, XERF and many other radio stations in Mexico which sold their broadcasting time to sponsors of English-language commercial and religious programs, were labeled as "border blasters", but not "pirate radio stations", even though the content of many of their programs were in violation of US law. Predecessors to XERF, for instance, had originally broadcast in Kansas, advocating "goat-gland surgery" for improved masculinity, but moved to Mexico to evade US laws about advertising medical treatments, particularly unproven ones.

The difference between these two examples is that in the UK, the government licensed both the use of transmitters and receivers, but in the USA only the use of transmitters was licensed. The basis of this fundemental difference is found in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America which until very recently was interpreted to allow the unrestricted right of any person within the USA to listen to any ordinary broadcast from whatever the source. However, this interpretation initially opened the door to commercial companies who attempted to enforce their own licensing authority, with respect to the sale and use of their transmitters.

In 1924, New York City station WHN was accused of being an "outlaw" station by AT&T (then American Telephone and Telegraph Company) for violating trade licenses which only permitted AT&T stations to sell airtime on their transmitters. As a result of the AT&T interpretation a landmark case was heard in court, which even prompted comments from Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover when he took a public stand in the station's defense. Although AT&T won its case, the furor created was such that those restrictive provisions of the transmitter license were never enforced.

Another variation on the term pirate radio came about during the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco during the hippie days when many things were named "free". Examples include "free store", "free love" and even "free radio", which usually referred to clandestine and unlicensed land-based transmissions. These were also tagged as being "pirate radio" transmissions.

The term free radio crossed the Atlantic Ocean, where it was adopted by the Free Radio Association of listeners who defended the rights of the "pirate radio stations" broadcasting from ships and marine structures off the coastline of the United Kingdom. However, the term free radio also has another meaning, because it differentiates between that form of licensed broadcasting supported by the sale of commercial airtime which anyone can hear free of charge, from that form of licensed commercial broadcasting (especially television) that listeners and especially viewers have to subscribe to and which is usually known as Pay TV.

In Europe, in addition to adopting the term free radio, supportive listeners of what had been called "pirate radio" adopted the term offshore radio, which was usually the term used by the owners of the marine broadcasting stations.

Freebooter was yet another variation of the term pirate radio and it was sometimes used by the business press in the USA when describing marine broadcasting in Europe.

While pirate radio began as a defamatory term in Britain, it later became accepted as having a secondary meaning to describe adventurous forms of licensed broadcasting that had roots in true offshore unlicensed broadcasting. To this end the British licensing authorities have allowed both independent stations and to date even one local BBC station to use this name, while the government retained use of the term pirate radio to describe any stations on land or at sea which are broadcasting without a license and contrary to law.

Alphabetical Listing of Pirate Radio by Geographical Area

Since this subject covers both national territories, international waters and international airspace; the only effective way to treat this subject is on a country by country, international waters and international airspace basis. Because the laws vary, the interpretation of the term pirate radio also varies considerably.

Questions have been raised about various types of broadcasting conducted by national governments against the interests of other national governments which have in turn created jamming stations transmitting noises on the same frequency so as to destroy the receivability of the incoming signal.

While the USA transmitted its programs towards the USSR which attempted to jam them, in 1970 the government of the UK decided to employ a jamming transmitter to drown out the incoming transmissions from the commercial station Radio Northsea International, which was based aboard the Motor Vessel ("MV") Mebo II anchored off Southeast England in the North Sea.

Other examples of this type of unusual broadcasting include the Coast Guard Cutter USCG Courier which both originated and relayed broadcasts of the Voice of America from an anchorage at the island of Rhodes, Greece to Soviet bloc countries. Balloons have been flown above Key West, Florida to support the TV transmissions of TV Marti which are directed at Cuba. Military broadcasting aircraft have been flown over Vietnam, Iraq and other many nations by the USAF. The European Union financially supported a radio station broadcasting news and information into the former Yugoslavia from a ship anchored in international waters.

For individual listings under this heading please click the link above.
China (From International Waters)
Taiwan (The history of Underground Radio)

1966: Radio Hauraki broadcast from the MV Tiri II, and in 1968 from the MV Tiri II. This was the only ship-based pirate station to ever to broadcast in the Southern Hemisphere.

1962: Radio Antwerpen broadcast from the concrete vessel Uilenspiegel. 1974: Radio Mi Amigo broadcast from the MV Martina (Aegir II). 1978: Radio Delmare broadcast from aboard the MV Aegir.

1961: DCR (Danmarks Commercielle Radio) and later Radio Mercur aboard the MV Lucky Star.

1960: CNBC - (Commercial Neutral Broadcasting Company) made test broadcasts in English from the MV Borkum Riff anchored off the Netherlands and also the home of the Dutch station Radio Veronica. The target audience was in Southeast England, but due to the low power and distance the programs were not successful and they were terminated after a short period of time. However, the experiment gave rise to two other ventures which were planned for vessels anchored off the coast of Southeast England.

The first was GBLN which was also known as the Voice of Slough and the primary geographical target area of the transmissions. This vessel was to be based aboard the MV Ellen. What made this station notable was the fact that U.S. evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong, who financed by his daily paid broadcasts many of the successful offshore stations which followed, believed in the project to the extent that his broadcast called The World Tomorrow was listed in the radio log of his worldwide magazine (The Plain Truth), as being heard at 8 PM daily at 306 metres in the medium wave: (AM).

Almost at the same time a spin-off venture from GBLN was created by GBOK which intended to broadcast from a former lightship known as the Lady Dixon. Althought the mainstream press reported on both stations at the time, neither venture came on the air. 1964: Radio Caroline began broadcasting on March 28 from aboard the MV Caroline anchored off Southeast [England]], later moved to anchorage off [[Isle of Man].

1964: Radio Atlanta began broadcasting on May 12 from aboard the MV Mi Amigo from an anchorage close to Radio Caroline. The Mi Amigo had been previously used by Radio Nord to broadcast to Sweden. On July 2, 1964, Radio Caroline and Radio Atlanta agreed upon forming the Caroline Network while retaining independent owners of each station. As a result of this agreement Radio Caroline on board the MV Caroline sailed north, while the MV Mi Amigo remained at her original anchorage off Southeast England. 1964: Radio Caroline South broadcasting from the MV Mi Amigo to the south of England.

1964: Radio Caroline North broadcasting from the MV Caroline to the north of England, the Isle of Man, Ireland and Scotland.

1964: Wonderful Radio London broadcasting from a former US minesweeper renamed MV Galaxy anchored off Southeast England. This station was the most successful UK offshore commercial radio between late 1964 and August of 1967.

The station gained its unique name from a series of PAMS jingles made in Dallas, Texas where they had been used by Wonderful KBOX. The jingles and part of the format were later copied by the BBC to create Wonderful Radio One and The Who incorporated these jingles on their album The Who Sell Out.

Big L as the station was fondly called, followed a similar format to KLIF in Dallas where the station had been financed by car dealers and oil men who were friends and business associates of Don Pierson of Eastland, Texas.

1964: Radio Invicta broadcasting from Red Sands, a sandbar which was the location of a massive complex of towers off Southeast England, which had been a WWII British Army Fort left unstaffed after the War. The station did not last and it was revamped as KING Radio, which in turn gave way to Radio 390 and a major revamp of the broadcasting site.

Radio 390 was unique in that it had a superb signal and transmitted a wide variety of programs from easy music to serials, children's programs, business programs and religious programs, news and weather bulletins.

1964: Radio Sutch broadcasting from Shivering Sands, a sandbar which was the location of another massive complex of towers off Southeast England, which had also been a WWII British Army Fort left unstaffed after the War. Radio Sutch was named after its founder, the British rock artist Screaming Lord Sutch who took his style and a part of his name from the American artist Screaming Jay Hawkins.

Radio Sutch did not last and soon gave way to Radio City which called itself "The tower of power" due to the height of its antenna. This station was financed in part under a joint venture with investors in the original Radio Atlanta project.

In 1966 it was due to this ill-fated arrangement that Reg Calver, the manager of Screaming Lord Sutch and the owner of Radio City, was shot dead in his English country home following a boarding of his station by his former business associates. They had removed the transmitter crystals and knocked the station off the air. Due in part to the sensational death of Reg Calvert and lurid tales depicting real swashbuckling piracy, the British government were finally able to bring in legislation to make offshore broadcasting a part of British Criminal Law in the United Kingdom.

1965: Radio Essex broadcasting from a WWII British Royal Navy barge which had been originally fitted with a sea fort and then towed to and sunk upon Knock John sandbar. This station was created by Roy Bates, who later made claims that he had created the Principality of Sealand on yet another disused Royal Navy sunken barge. Radio Essex discovered that its location was within British territorial waters and following a court summons the station attemped to reinvent itself in 1966 as BBMS - Britain's Better Music Station. This low-power station mainly covered parts of the counties of Essex, Kent and East Anglia.

1966: SRE - Swinging Radio England aboard the MV Laissez Faire anchored off Southeast England. This station was also created and financed by Don Pierson and his business associates in Texas.

SRE followed a fast-paced "All American" top 40 format similar to KBOX in Dallas, Texas, but the American disc jockeys had also grafted on a hybrid Boss Jocks formula which had been employed by RKO stations in the USA, although the hybrid was far more forceful and pounding than the original. The PAMS jingles used by SRE were the resung versions of those first used by WABC in New York. SRE arrived around the time of the death of Reg Calvert, owner of Radio City and the political drive to bring in legislation to shut the offshore stations down. These and other unfortunate development brought about the rapid demise of SRE.

At first the Texas owners wanted to rename the station Radio Holland and broadcast in Dutch to the Netherlands. Their plans went ahead after the name Radio Dolfijn had been selected instead. However, it was not long before the station changed its name yet again to Radio 227 as a hybrid of a hybrid SRE in Dutch. This station closed in 1967 just prior to the Marine Offences Act becoming law.

1966: Britain Radio which called itself the Hallmark of Quality, was a beautiful music format station. Its jingles also came from PAMS in Dallas and it shared something in common with SRE. Both stations were located in studios built in a container which had been lowered into the hold of the MV Laissez Faire. This station was also created and originally financed by friends and associates of Don Pierson.

However, Britain Radio did not last and it was replaced by Radio 355 managed by Ted Allbuery who had successfully created Radio 390. 1966: Radio Tower and TV Tower attempted broadcasting from another WWII British Royal Navy barge which had also been fitted with a sea fort and then towed to and sunk upon Sunk Head sandbar. Only the the radio station made test broadcasts and the TV station is alleged to have made a single, but unconfirmed test transmission.

1966: Radio 270 aboard the MV Oceaan VII anchored off the Yorkshire coast of Northeast England.

1967: Following the introduction of the Marine Offences Act (Marine & Etc. Broadcasting Offences Act) on August 14, 1967 at midnight, the only two offshore radio stations left on the British airwaves were broadcasting from the two Caroline Network stations which had enjoyed a semi-legal status with offices located in London and Liverpool. After the passage of the MOA the two stations soon began announcing themselves individually as Radio Caroline International.

1983: In 1980, the MV Mi Amigo sank in a storm. The MV Caroline had been previously scrapped. In 1983 Radio Caroline returned to the airwaves from a larger ship called the MV Ross Revenge which had been previously used by Ross Fisheries as a fishing vessel in the Cod Wars with Iceland.

The radio ship anchored off Southeast England and became home to: Radio Caroline in English with part time services known as Caroline Overdrive playing album music programs and Caroline Viewpoint airing sponsored religious programs. Also on board was a Dutch service on another AM frequency programmed by various groups and known variously as Radio Monique, Radio 558 and Radio 819.

On shortwave a third station operated a sponsored religious broadcasting station under the name of WMR - World Mission Radio with an over the air mailing address in California, USA. Because of its American address, this station triggered international complaints to the US FCC during 1988 and 1989. The FCC was at that time engaged in legal casework over Radio Newyork International, whose founder had previously been aboard the MV Ross Revenge helping to set up an earlier shortwave radio channel. In defense of its case for Radio Newyork International lawyers had submitted briefs to the US District Court citing the examples of Radio Caroline and the Voice of Peace as offshore broadcasting stations that had been left alone unchallenged by governmental interference. On August 19, 1989, Dutch authorities with British assistance, raided the MV Ross Revenge and shut down all transmissions.

On November 5, 1990, the last broadcast was made from the MV Ross Revenge in international waters as a pirate radio ship. Finally, after remaining silent for many months, the MV Ross Revenge was towed into port at Dover, England on November 22, 1991. Since that time all broadcasts in the name of Radio Caroline have been licensed by the British government authorities, usually as low power special events broadcasts for limited time periods. 1984: Laser 558 broadcast from the MV Communicator and within a matter of months it gained an audience of millions. Lack of advertising due to UK laws starved the station off the air. However, it did return briefly in 1986 as Laser Hot Hits but the station did not last for the same reasons as before. The legacy of the original Laser 558 was in its impact upon British broadcasting at the time, because it forced licensed stations to take note of the success of this short lived offshore station and to attempt to incorporate its ideas and some of its personnel into their own programming.

History of pirate radio in U.K.

The most famous of these pirate radio stations is Radio Caroline that broadcast to great areas of the U.K., with many famous disc jockeys working because of their great love of the music of the era. John Peel is one such D.J. from Radio Caroline who has gone on to have a profound effect on modern, cutting-edge music on BBC Radio 1. Another famous pirate radio broadcaster is Paddy Roy Bates, who went on to found the self-proclaimed nation of Sealand.

The 1970s saw illegal pirate radio come ashore in cities like London, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester. Usually set up in high-rise tower blocks the stations would increase their transmission capabilities by erecting the Di-pole antenna as high up as possible.

Some of the pirate stations are now legal and successful outfits, including Radio Jackie and Kiss FM in London, and the rather more rural Sunshine Radio in Ludlow, Shropshire, which was run from studios at the end of a farm drive in its unlicensed days.

Modern day pirate-radio stations often cater for local communities and underground music fans that are not necessarily catered for by larger corporate radio stations. Unfortunately, some of these illegal stations refuse to respect other legal radio stations and the emergency services by allowing their transmissions to drift across other important airwaves. This gives other more conscientious pirate stations an unwanted disrespectful image that leads to many raids by the DTI who confiscate and prosecute persistent offenders. It is also thought that a small percentage of pirate stations use the station as a base for drug running and other criminal activities though this is in the minority. Most pirate stations are there simply out of an absolute love for the music style they play.

Pirate radio stations can apply for a broadcasting licence but they will usually need to go off air for a time to present a legal case.

Overall if a pirate radio station is run within the boundaries of the law it can be a valuable asset to a community and ultimately the wider city area.

A good example of modern day pirate radio can be found at P.C.R.L.

On August 14, 1967 - In the United Kingdom a Marine Offences Act came into force prompting many offshore radio stations to close, most prominently Radio London off Frinton in Essex at 3pm local time on this day. The Act boosted a campaign for onshore commercial radio to be legalised, which would enable listeners to choose a non-BBC English-language station and cause the establishment style of BBC radio to be relaxed and refreshed. See BBC Radio 1

In 1997, it is alleged that Sir James Goldsmith who had created a Referendum Party intended to promote its message during the UK national election via a Referendum Radio station broadcasting from a ship anchored off the coast of Southern England.

History of pirate radio in France

In France, a strong pirate radio movement emerged in the late seventies and early eighties, in two waves.

The first wave was a political movement based mainly within French territory. Most of these stations were short lived. The first wave included

  • Radio Verte
  • Radio Ivre
  • Radio Active in Lyon 1976,
  • Radio Lorraine Coeur d'Acier in Nancy 1978,

This led to the creation of Radio Riposte by the PS in 1979 and the arrest of François Mitterrand and Laurent Fabius. Some of these stations persisted until 1981 when they became legal Radios Libres.

The second wave was a more commercial movement largely coming out of the French Riviera following the legalization by a Supreme Court decision of private radio stations in Italy. Several stations began emitting in French from Italy. While these stations were legal in Italy, the French considered them illegal. These stations include:

  • Azur 102 (1977-1984),
  • Radio Continental (1977-1979) broadcasting from Bordighiera,
  • Radio Vintimille Internationale (1977-1981) broadcasting from Ventimiglia,

And the late and more political Radio K (1981-1982) broadcasting from Bussana di San Remo,. All these stations went bankrupt after the election of François Mitterrand and the legalization of private radio stations in France.


Cultural references

The movie Pump Up the Volume has as its hero a high-schooler who does pirate radio broadcasts. The Clash recorded a tribute called "Capital Radio One". The album, The Who Sell Out presents itself as a pirate station playing nothing but music by The Who.

See also

  • Click on "History" at RadioJackie.com to read how one English urban pirate station struggled from 1969 until 2003 to reach the status of legality with a scheduled daily output. Their story and level of community support are not typical of land-based pirate radio.
  • Les pionniers des radios libres French free radio (French)
  • Des radios pirates aux radios libres (French)
  • How to be a Community Radio Station
  • Pirate Radio
  • Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
  • When Don Pierson of Eastland, Texas created the most successful offshore stations of the 1960s: "Wonderful Radio London", "Swinging Radio England" and "Britain Radio - 'Hallmark of Quality'", he had no idea that the legacy of his creation would outlive his death in 1996. However, he did attempt one comeback of one his stations as "Wonderful Radio London International" in 1984. The station did not manage to come back on the air as a full time ship based radio station, but the company did produce its own new "Wonderful Radio London" programs which were heard nightly over 250,000 watts XERF-AM (Ciudad Acuña, Mexico across the Rio Grande river from Del Rio, Texas) and a handful of US domestic stations, which included Don Pierson's own radio station: KVMX-FM in Eastland, Texas. Since his death there have been other revivals and even other claims to the name. See The Wonderful Radio London Story
  • For more information about Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Radio of 1997, see: Sir James Goldsmith web site and the story of the ship Kowloon Moon

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