So somebody that hasn't invested a lot of money in equipment and the single processing to make it sound richer you could tell if you have an ear to it, our agents can do that. Having that exposure helped boost the careers of scores of British bands whose music eventually made it to America. So it's not the -- In terms of size wise for mileage it's the smallest region, but it's the most populated. It will also help to have some sort of adjustable bandwidth filter (wide/narrow). Airchecks from unauthorized broadcast radio stations throughout the years. Jason Scott Archivist. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Well that's what I went up with. VIEWS. One of the first pirate radio operators we know of was Ronan O'Rahilly. They just twist the dial. The BBC played catch-up launching Radio One and recruiting the same pirates for their roster. Evan is joined by David Dombrowski, Regional Director for Region One in the FCC Enforcement Bureau. In addition to this 2019 BBC documentary, Goren also has created the Pirate Radio Map, which documents pirate radio stations in Brooklyn and even includes brief samples from their broadcasts. Enter ZIP code or city, state as well. Oh, it happens a lot, especially in these urban areas like New York. Some pirates have even shown in in the SWBC bands, including 49, 31 and 25 meters. They are not advertising. There were helicopters flying over and taking videos, so we got on a little TV, and that helps to go a long way when we get a little media coverage. * Explains how to buy and use equipment to listen to pirate stations. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And obviously as a good citizen I have never to my knowledge listened to a pirate radio station. The U.S. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. MR. DOMBROWSKI: There is a variety of pirate radio stations out there. If we can't get in touch with the property owner we try to use a locksmith and if we can't get the locksmith then the door comes breaking down and then we try to secure it before we leave. If you've been binge-watching movies lately, you may have come across "Pirate Radio." MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And it's important to clarify that FCC enforcement agents are not law enforcement agents, but I was struck by how some of the work that goes into identifying and shutting down a station is like good old-fashioned police work, like knocking on doors saying, hey, have you seen anything weird, have you seen people carrying around transmitters or antennas. He got the craft back and kept at pirate radio for nearly another quarter century. It is portable, but can also be used as a permanent FM radio station. To the contrary, though, more than a half-century later, pirate radio is still a thing. Carl McIntire, a fundamentalist preacher who briefly broadcast fire-and-brimstone sermons from a converted minesweeper off the coast of New Jersey, as this 2014 NJ.com article details. "These transmissions can interfere with licensed radio signals including broadcasters' sharing of vital public safety information with their communities," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. It was a three bay antenna for any of the those tech-y's out there, so it was a high efficient antenna and a very high powered transmitter. These pirate stations pose a host of problems for public safety, including interference with emergency alerts and air traffic control. Note: This podcast was recorded on June 21st. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, to lease some air time off these legitimate stations. Friday March 17, 1989 5:00 am. "Private radio was prohibited and only the British Broadcasting Corporation, which was part of the political establishment, sent radio to the British people with the remit to be morally uplifting, informative and educational," Moore says. After that when we don't get compliance from somebody he gets a warning letter and comes back on the air and then we do get the warrant with the U.S. marshals. Thanks to e-commerce, it's also easier than ever for a would-be pirate to find the necessary equipment and have it delivered to his or her door, as FCC enforcement official David Dombrowski described in this 2019 podcast. One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates, and, no, not the Pirates of the Caribbean or the Pirates of East Africa, we're talking about pirate radio. In 1967, Parliament enacted the Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, which made offshore broadcasts from ships illegal, on the pretext that their broadcast interfered with marine weather radio and distress signals, as this contemporaneous New York Times account notes. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Just because it's easy to buy it doesn't mean it's legal. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Well at least you are recycling. Pirate radio operators usually have day jobslike most of usthus only transmit while home from work. And they also would be able to contact us and find out where the complaint is in the queue and, you know, what's going on with the complaint and have we investigated it yet. We also would be required to file a report to Congress annually on our enforcement activities in pirate radio. And did I mention the cool QSL cards? MR. DOMBROWSKI: And let them know. The Moody Blues are one example of this." A lot of stations conceal their antennas, they hide behind things, they take the antennas down during they day, so they try avoid detection. They can be just talk radio stations, they could be religious broadcasters, or they could be full-fledged stations that have a staffing of 20 people that make commercials, that create the jingles for their station ID, and the ones that have more money and the money advertisers are the ones that are very hard to distinguish. While debunking myths about pirates, I can say that in my years of pirate radio listening Ive never heard a pirate intentionally jam a legal broadcaster. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So what is the current state of pirate radio? I will put in the show notes a link to the FCC complaint page and the phone number if you would like to get involved. Fortunately for the beginning pirate-hunter, there are now online message boards, free radio logs, and even publications (like Yoders excellent treatise on the subject) to help guide your tuning (see resource links below). Hobby Broadcasting Blog: http://hobbybroadcasting.blogspot.com/. Whether youre a QSL collector, a content DXer, or the casual SWLer, I find theres something in pirate radio listening for everyone. You have somebody that puts a station on the air and then what that person does is he leases air time for his station for other DJs and they come in and so he is getting a kickback from the DJs and he is getting advertising revenue. In fact, it's possibly more widespread than it was in the 1960s, even in an age when streaming internet services such as Spotify and Pandora put the equivalent of a jukebox in the pocket of everyone with a smartphone. The original converted ferry sank in 1980, but the five DJs on board and the ship's canary, Wilson, named after British Prime Minister Harold Wilson all were rescued, according to O'Rahilly's New York Times obituary. Radio GDay came on from Australia occasionally, but no one else. MR. DOMBROWSKI: You know, that's hard to say. In 1971 I was ordered to Cease and Desist by our friends at the FCC. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So when it comes to local law enforcement are they generally uninterested in taking this on or, you know, because you mentioned federal agents are often involved, it's federal courts, U.S. ( Disclaimer) Transcript: MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Welcome to "More Than 7 Dirty Words," the official FCC podcast. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Okay. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. Wolves are looking to climb up the table (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) This will be the fourth time this year the two . MR. DOMBROWSKI: Raise it all the way up 100 feet and our director at the time rode up there and got the antenna down. And that's it, we will catch you next time. Again, they are not law enforcement, so we don't have weapons. Additionally, we always try to include links to other retail options if they are available, as we support and freely advertise independent ham radio retailers. Pirate radio broadcasting on shortwave radio in North America is mostly done in a frequency range just below the 40 meter amateur radio band, from about 6815 kHz to 6970 kHz. 14 July 2020. Radio Caroline because so influential that, pretty soon, other ships were broadcasting rock off the coast as well. Right now it is $10,000 per day per occurrence. The important thing here is that you invest in a receiver with a respectable degree of sensitivity and selectivity. My most recent logging of a Euro pirate from North America was Radio Borderhunter on 15,500 kHz; his signal was quite amazing. So for that period of time they lose communications and they have to try to find another available channel to keep that communication line open. Director Richard Curtis' 2009 comedy-drama stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Count, a disc jockey for an unlicensed rock radio station that broadcast from a rusty, decrepit ship off the British coast in the mid-1960s, defying government authorities to spin the rock records that weren't allowed on the BBC at the time. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. So that's been great because now we can work with the local authorities, such as the police or the district attorney's office, and get them involved in the investigation, and they have the power to arrest and fine people. Collection Info. Do you hear it on the weekends or is only a station that operates during the weekends? MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So everyone can now breathe a deep a sigh of relief, you are not going to have to go out and get a license for your security camera and you garage door opener. In the late 1980s, unlicensed operators tried broadcasting from a Honduran-flag freighter in the waters off Long Island, according to The New York Times. Marshal Service and seize all of the equipment that is associated with the operation of a radio station, really anything physically connected to the transmitter. Finding Shortwave Stations and Broadcasts. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, it may not start to cause interference as soon as you open up and out of the box and operate it, but over time with the heating up of the electronics inside it starts to malfunction and cause what we call spurius emissions where signals are operating outside your intended band and cause interference to other radio services. Not all the illegal stations are pirate stations! MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And we talked a little bit about why this is a problem. We do a field strength measurement to see if their power exceeds that threshold and if they meet the Part 15 requirements or not. Dont believe me? And then they said to me well here is ten jobs that you potentially could have which one is your top choice? MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, well just in the FM band particularly, if we just let everybody operate where they want it just creates chaos, and that's always been our argument that it creates chaos it the spectrum. It's something we have been doing as long as the equipment has been available we've always had pirate radio operators. I know out on the West Coast in California we have more significant numbers than other areas, so that probably would be one of the five markets identified, maybe the L.A. area would probably be another market that we would look at. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. So what is the state of pirate radio in the U.S. and how is the FCC taking it on? "Pirate Radio" is a period piece, set in a time when the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the Who's "My Generation" were still scandalous and controversial rather than nostalgic anthems for today's aging baby boomers. "One reason I've found as to why people are still using pirate radio is that these communities have very strong cultural and historic connections to radio," Goren explains. "Caroline now has two stations, one playing album music and one playing the original pop music for which the station is remembered," Moore explains. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Well they had their antenna up really high. . Like if a pirate, you know, gets his station up and running, he finds that no one is in a channel, and he says, oh, I guess I'll set myself here, other than the law, which is obviously important to some people, most people it should be, but why should we care that they are using vacant spectrum? MR. DOMBROWSKI: A lot of these stations are streaming at the same time so it really boggles my mind why an FM station that's unlicensed, you know, has its stream content and then also it's broadcasting over the airwaves. MR. DOMBROWSKI: And so they said well because we were here before it was colonized our federal laws don't apply to us. Let's say you don't get cooperation from a building owner, you don't get cooperation from the eventual studio, maybe it's in their apartment and they're not opening the door, obviously, because they don't want to get caught. If you click on "radio" you'll come to a page where you can input your address and your phone number and email and a description of like what, you know, what you are experiencing. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, it's -- Pirate radio has been around for decades. Many of you have suggested in the past that the SWLing Post join an affiliate links program. So we get complaints from the FAA quite often, more than a few times a month in New York, and that the pilots are flying over the city and they are trying to communicate with air traffic control and all of a sudden they pick up a radio station. This means that by clicking on these links, a small percentage of the purchase price for goods you purchase from these sellers will help support our sites running costs. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: All right. MR. DOMBROWSKI: We do make them aware that they are contributing to this illegal activity. They inventory it all and then they sign it over to the FCC to hold and then we finally get the courts to order that it's released to the federal government and it's our property. It's eminently cheaper to purchase or build an unlicensed radio station than it is to set up a robust streaming channel online, especially if you're looking to cover a local area. It takes a lot of time to process just one complaint and so it is distracting our agents of getting into the database and populating all the fields and calling the complainant. And as a bonus, Radio Caroline still exists though, ironically, it's gone legal. Collection Info. Not just Aussie and NZ pirates, but stations in places like The Phillipinesmaybe Japan, South Korea, or Thailand. Do we have a right under the first amendment to speak via a radio station even if it is unlicensed by the FCC and is there potentially a case that can kind of exemplify why pirate radio is not protected under the First Amendment? They also cover your wireless routers in your house. MR. DOMBROWSKI: No, not the public face, but he's all the behind the scenes guy. But what hast made the problem really expand is the equipment is readily available with the internet now. What's more, pirate radio stations gave us access to some of the most pivotal figures in UK music . MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, everyone's dream job. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Thank you. Set up your Raspberry Pi You'll need to get Raspbian, the Linux-based operating system for the Raspberry Pi. Most are run by hobbyists purely for fun, although some have political or other agendas. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Right. We try to interview them. Now, of course, my favorite thing that I want to ask you is what are some fun examples, maybe not fun, but interesting examples of cases that you have closed where maybe the circumstances were a bit bizarre or interesting that might help a listener understand just how weird some of this stuff can get and just how interesting some of these operations can be. Tribute to Pirate Radio, KQLZ 100.3 FM Los Angeles. To prove my point, here are some MP3 recordings of some of my favorite recent pirate radio stations/broadcasts: Though pirates can be located anywhere on the planet, and therefore can broadcast, hypothetically, anywhere on the radio dial, patterns are actually fairly predictable in order to draw a listening audience. "The government decided that radio was too influential as a means of mass communication to be in private hands," Peter Moore explains in an email. Unlicensed radio broadcasters have been around practically since governments started trying to control and regulate the airwaves. And so it ranges from Maine down to Virginia and all the States east of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. 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. Ragnar Daneskjold hosts an occasional podcast serving the shortwave pirate community; it includes pirate radio news, off-air recordings, and more. To have a radio station here helps to establish the station's operator as an important source of information and influence in the community.". They can call their State Broadcast Association to get our contact information. We have had meetings with broadcast associations where we went a room with other broadcasters and that's a very big concern of them, the financial end of it. The bulk of the pirate radio broadcasters I log transmit just below the 40-meter amateur radio band: anywhere from 6,850 kHz to 6,970 kHz and typically on a frequency spaced at 5 kHz. Across the country FCC officials are working to identify and take action against illegal unlicensed radio operators using frequencies allocated for legitimate radio operators that are causing interference and other issues. Bruce will host a new daily show for Bauer's station Greatest Hits Radio, taking his iconic PopMaster game with him. The most popular frequency used by U.S. and Canadian pirate radio stations is 6925 kHz, transmitting in the AM or upper sideband (USB) modes. The library's newest additions include deep historical resources and contemporary reporting about the world of radio. Now many listeners as you know have the experience of tuning their dial and there appear to be vacant channels you have said that one of the reasons for that is to guard against interference, but someone listening might say well why do we care, right. Where the "modern" history of pirate radio seems to begin, though, is in the 1960s when pirate radio operators would get on the air to spread their music to a wider audience. I am a Philadelphia native, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I graduated Temple University and my first job was the FCC right out of college and interestingly --. In the United States, the term pirate radio implies the unlicensed broadcasting use of any part of the radio spectrum that is reserved for use by governmental, public or commercial licensees by the Federal Communications Commission. Find this podcast in the iTunes store or Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, just 20. So that is quite a large area. Even as many legacy international broadcasters are abandoning the shortwave bands, shortwave remains active and vibrant in another quadrant: namely, on shortwave pirate radio. Our agency was delegated by Congress to allocate frequencies and allocate it in the public interest and it's a resource. So we would rather take one single complaint from a broadcast licensee saying, hey, I've gotten 50 listener complaints in this area, here is where we are hearing it, do a little leg work yourself and verify that it's an unlicensed station, and then we can work with them in getting the station off the air. He's the station manager for today's legal, land-based version of Radio Caroline, which obtained a license to broadcast at 648 Khz on the AM band in 2017, but still strives to preserve the rebellious spirit of the original operation. Enter a location to find a nearby pirate radio stations. The Offshore Radio Museum website commemorates many of those pirates. Unlike major broadcasters, many pirates dont stick to AM as a preferred mode. So what is pirate radio? Very old school, and cheap enough for anyone's budget. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Hometown. HowStuffWorks may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Launched just five months ago, Internet Archive's Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications has expanded to more than 61,000 items related to amateur radio, shortwave listening, and related communications. 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 --. So those are some of the challenges that you all have to tackle in taking on this important enforcement function. "In Haiti during the Duvalier regime, people depended on radio to get news from independent sources off the island. 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. I am Evan Swarztrauber. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Welcome to "More Than 7 Dirty Words," the official FCC podcast. Recycling is good. Radio Caroline founder Ronan O'Rahilly had another claim to fame, in that he influenced actor George Lazenby to give up the role of James Bond after playing in just one film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," in 1969. 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