mediageek

Category: pirate/free radio

  • Show notes for Feb. 16 radioshow: FCC makes LPFM exceptions; SFLR has its day in court

    John Anderson from DIYmedia.net was my guest for the Feb. 16 edition of the mediageek radioshow [listen now]. We talked about a couple of exceptions the FCC has made with regard to issuing low-power FM licenses. First, the FCC has given “special temporary authority” to a former FM pirate in Goldfield, Nevada — read articles…

  • San Francisco Liberation Radio To Deliver a Valentine to the FCC (in Court)

    Unlicensed San Francisco Liberation Radio, which was shut down by the FCC in October, 2003, will be challenging the Commission face-to-face in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this Wednesday, Valentine’s Day. This is the same court that heard the famous Free Radio Berkeley case that ended nearly nine years ago. In the…

  • The Pirate Max Headroom

    Nearly ten years ago, on Nov. 22, 1987, Chicago television viewers experienced the strange visage of a DIY Max Headroom interrupting the WGN evening news and Doctor Who. This wasn’t the first time a pirate TV operator had taken over a licensed signal in the US, but it was the last time, and the pirate…

  • Taiwan Pirates Protest for Communications Freedom

    The Taiwan radio pirates certainly know how the value of banding together to fight against the selling off of the public airwaves. According to the Taipei Times, last week pirate broadcasters held protests in front of the National Communications Commission, their version of the FCC. Held back by rows of police in riot gear, angry…

  • Radio and Revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico

    Although it has fallen out of the US mainstream news, a people’s uprising is still going strong in Oaxaca, Mexico, spurred on by the June 14 attacks by Mexican government forces on the striking teachers’ tent city in Oaxaca City. One main reasons for the attack was to destroy the teachers’ free radio station Radio…

  • Quad Cities Pirates Fined Up the Ying-Yang. Is that the Price of Publicity?

    John at DIYmedia.net has the dirt on the pirates behind Power 103.3 in Bettendorf, Iowa: Matthew Britcher, self-proclaimed “promotions director” of the commercial-format station, is being asked to pay $17,000 for running the station and refusing an FCC agent’s request to inspect it. Jason Duncan, quoted in local media as a “co-owner,” received a $10,000…

  • Making Waves at Chicago Underground Film Fest

    Michael Lahey’s documentary Making Waves is unflinching look at the politics and personalities behind the pirate radio scene of Tuscon Arizona. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, the film will be making an appearance at the Chicago Underground Film Festival at 1 PM on Aug. 19 and 6 PM on Aug. 21.…

  • Making Waves on Free Speech TV

    Micheal Lahey’s well-done documentary about pirate radio in Tuscon, AZ, Making Waves, is airing this month on Free Speech TV. It airs tonight at 9 PM EDT, and seems to be in regular rotation in the schedule right now. Free Speech TV is on all Dish Network satellite TV packages, and some of its programming…

  • DJ Johnny Silver Scheduled for Friday’s Radioshow

    After a few weeks of hard policy analysis on the radioshow, it’s time to get back to pirate radio. I’m scheduled tomorrow night to talk to DJ Johnny Silver from Nyack’s Iron Action Radio for broadcast on Friday. It looks like Johnny plans to broadcast the interview live on Iron Action, which also has a…

  • Don’t Forget the Shortwave Pirates

    Ragnar Daneskjol, producer of the Pirates’ Week podcast, has gone live with his Shortwave Pirate website. Like the more widely known FM pirates, shortwave pirates are unlicensed broadcasters who use the shortwave bands to reach a good portion of the continent, and sometimes the globe. Because the shortwave bands have variable propagation patterns, shortwave pirates…