‭RD
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 Pirates in the news this week include An FM pirate bust in Cosby TN with a 10k NAL. A Fl pirate evades jail time. A couple quick items from Glen Hauser’s World of Radio.

Select postings from the Free Radio Network, HF Underground and note stations logged per the Free Radio Weekly

Off Air Recordings include the stations of: Radio Vixen International, Rave on Radio, Captain Morgan Shortwave, Wolverine Radio.

We listen to the SWL Winterfest wrap up from the International Radio Report and note the passing of Jay Smilkstein with WBCQ.

Background music from the Podsafe Music Network by the artists; Alain Galarneau and Torn Down Units

Thanks for listening

 RD

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Somewhat new format, same pirate radio goodness!

-RD

This week we highlight WCPR/WFAT/WHOT all stations helmed by he same scurvy crew Hank Hayes and Jim Nazium.

It all began with WCPR on the upper end of the AM broadcast band in the mid 70s. Which was visited by the FCC and subsequently taken off the air. It wouldn’t bee the last time Hank and Jim crossed paths with the FCC. They wer’nt off the airwaves for long, they soon returned with the soon to be legendary WFAT.

WFAT signed on April 14th, 1979 to say goodbye – at least until things calmed down a little. As they were preparing to wrap up the show. Jim noticed the courtyard below filling up with official-looking vehicles, out of which FCC agents began running into the building. “Hal” and “Larry” announced that the FCC was on the way up, and immediately pulled the plug on the show, dismantling the transmitter and cutting the long wire antenna. The FCC agents were not fooled.   It wasn’t long before they were back on the air via FM as WILD, a low power outlet at 91.5 under the new names of Hank Hayes and Jim Nazuim.

By 1980, the guys were in a new location, doing semi-regular broadcasts at 91.5 FM (or “91 and a half” as it was being called) as the newly-christened WHOT-FM, sporting a new sounding Top-40/Oldies format that relied on the time-honored radio traditions of high-personality on-air DJs, jingles, and (of course) reverb!

By 1985, WHOT’s listenership was growing in leaps and bounds, thanks in no small part to a power boost  and an increase in broadcast hours. Then, during the early-morning hours of November 26th when suddenly there was a pounding on the door. Jim looked through the peephole to see two FCC agents demanding entry to the building. WHOT  signed off abruptly, and refused to answer the door. After an hour or so of knocking, the FCC agents gave up. After spending some time off the air, WHOT relocated temporarily to a different address, thanks to a listener who himself would run a pirate later – none other than Johnny Lightning of WJPL fame. WHOT got through the New Year’s Show of ‘85, and as impossible as it sounds, the FCC showed up AGAIN at the “new” location early in 1986! Again, having no warrant, their entry was refused. WHOT had now been “busted” twice in two different locations within the last three months – without any actual “bust”.

There is a lot of history and information to these guys and I cant do them justice. Everything from their stint on RNI to the return of WHOT in 1987 to its bust in July of 89. Then the Radio free New York crew on WWCR shortwave, then finally broadcasting on WBCQ.
The hank and Jim radio team have a huge amount of pirate radio history and deservedly placed in the  pirateradiohalloffame.com from there you can follow the links to the many pages dedicated to their radio history, with air checks and video from the busts and a lot of really interesting material.

Find the entire 1983 Independence Day aircheck HERE  And the entire history pages HERE.

The Voice of Bob made its inaugural broadcast on pirate shortwave in July 1984 on 7415khz. The Voice of Bob had become legendary by the mid-90′s and typically only came on once or twice a year. As the Church of the Sub-Genius made a bigger splash on college and commercial radio, the pirate station, slowly faded into obscurity.

The Voice of Bob is centered around J.R. Bob Dobbs, a cartoon faced man with a pipe who looks oddly like Ward Cleaver from the “leave it to Beaver” tv show. He is the charismatic guru leader of the Church of the Sub-Genius, which for many years was based out of Dallas, Texas. Voice of Bob programming is fast paced, and is in fact taken from shows that are usually performed before a large live audience. Bob’s virtues are extolled through hard rock music, sketches, and testimonials. Pirate DX’ers are told they can be “healed” by Bob if they put their hands on the radio!

Check out The voice of Bob and the Ivan Stang interview at their page on pirateradiohalloffame.com

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WKND was founded in 1988 after Radio Animal wanted to start a shortwave station and was trying to think of a name and saw a Pittsburgh hotel advertising “WKND Rates!” for the weekend. Since the station would run mostly on the weekends, Animal decided to use ‘WKND, Weekend Radio’ as a slogan. After some confusion with a Scottish pirate station called Weekend Music Radio, Eddie Egghead Johnson from Voice of Stench came up with ‘We’re Kanine Dog’, and that became the station’s forever slogan.

WKND had its inaugural broadcast on November 1st 1988 with a 4 hour show that included the musical version of War of the Worlds with Richard Burton, spooky music and IDs, all in a Halloween theme. This was on 1621 KHz, above the mediumwave broadcast band at the time, and reached listeners in the Northeastern US with 60 watts of power from a home made transmitter.

In 1989 the station added a shortwave frequency, 6240 to reach more listeners, and this ran 25 watts from a modified Heathkit transmitter. There was a pretty heavy broadcast schedule of several nights a week, and agents from the FCC lucked out and busted the station when they were in town, early 1990.

Check out the WKND Page!

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This week we have another great example of North American Free Radio. Broadcasting out of the Rocky Mountain State of Montana, Bill O Rights began airing Radio Free Speech in 1993
The Inaugural broadcast of Radio Free Speech was in 1993 on 6240khz, and the voice of Radio Free Speech was Bill O. Rights, an extremely pro sounding announcer with what Author, Andy Yoder called, “The perfect voice”.  The format of Radio Free Speech revolved entirely around the subject of Free Speech.  The focus of the programming was on editorials and mailbag programs with Bill. Bill O. Rights would take on an almost professorial role, and lecture on the meaning of the 1st Amendment and why it was so important.  But he didn’t just limit his focus on “free speech”, he’d lecture on all the Amendments in the Bill of Rights and why they were still important to people today. Often he would encourage listeners with “calls to action” to let elected officials know how unhappy they were with the job they were doing.   During his “Mailbag” segments, Rights would read letters from listeners and give prizes and special QSLs’ for the best letters.

The signal from Radio Free Speech was peculiar.  The stations transmitter had a beautiful AM audio, but it was usually only 10-watts. Bill used one of the original “Grenade” transmitters, made by Radio Animal, and counted Radio Animal as a trusted friend.   Rights said he had a dipole, cut to frequency and was using Belden 9913 coax, also cut to frequency.  Bill seldom used his linear, a Heathkit SB-221, but when he did, he covered the globe, but only did this on very rare occasions.

Bill documented QSL’ing DX’ers in England, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Canada, South America and the United States.

Bill was a prolific producer of shows, and did over 40 different programs of Radio Free Speech, many of which were relayed by other Pirate Operators for years after Bill hung up his microphone.  Bill is still around, and can be found to post on the FRN-Vines, even did a new show in 2009, but for the most part is behind the scenes and is rumored to be helping Commander Bunny with the WBNY station and the Commander Bunny for President Campaign, where he is a trusted adviser.

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The second edition of The Hall of Fame Spotlight with a look back at Radio Garbanzo.

Since its first pirate transmission in 1987, Radio Garbanzo has become known as having some of the best produced programs in the North American pirate radio scene. Radio Garbanzo was known for elaborate skits and for playing music ”that FM used to play, but threw away like an old prostitute while seeking bigger profits” just a few of the plots in Radio Garbanzo programs have involved station manager Buck McMoney turning the station into a radio home shopping network, Radio Garbanzo overtaking a satellite uplink, spiking Huge G. Gough with LSD, Buck McMoney going to jail and finally the gang broadcasting mobile from an Ethel’s Panel truck.

Unfortunately Radio Garbanzo was silent nearly from about 1991 to 1998. Fearless returned with a new, music based program that was heard by many listeners with good signals in December 1999. This program was repeated New Year’s day. The station was silent until May, when it rattled off seven of its eight broadcasts for the year. Three of these were the well produced Radio Garbanzo semi-annual Memorial Day shows in which Fearless pays a respectful tribute to the shortwave pirates that had been raided by the FCC over the last ten years. Several of the other broadcasts aired were for the Mothers Day 2000 show, which included a timely ad for the U.S. Forest Service Fires-R-Us Los Alamos BBQ.

(from Andy Yoder’s Pirate Radio Stations: Tuning in to Underground Broadcasts in the Air and Online)

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The second edition of The Hall of Fame Spotlight with a look back at the Voice Of Pancho Villa.

Each year at the end of the SWL Winterfest Pancho Villa takes to the airwaves.  The program is usually written in the closet of one of the rooms, by someone highly intoxicated, and then on the last day of Winterfest, a motely crew of DX’ers, partied out, record the program.  The part of Pancho has been played by a number of different people over the years, but Harold Cones is undoubtedly the best (?) of the Pancho’s.  Every DX’er of note has been on a “Voice of Pancho Villa” program over the years.  It is played over the air by those who came to Winterfest with an FM or Shortwave radio transmitter, which is usually 99% of the people. Typically it is heard at Midnight to mark the END of Winterfest on many FM and Shortwave frequencies.

Pancho audio page.

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The second edition of The Hall of Fame Spotlight with a look back at KNBS
KNBS took to the air in January of 1985 to advocate decriminalization of marijuana. Front man Phil Muzik used a low-key approach, playing pot-themed music and reminding listeners that in a “free country” the individual, not the government, had the constitutional right to make the decisions in his or her life. Studio engineer Pot Seedy was never heard on the air, and usually couldn’t be seen in the booth because of all the pot smoke in there. The station used the slogan “The Station With Your Mind In Mind.”The station was owned and operated by the California Marijuana Cooperative and claimed a transmitter site on Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay. In later years KNBS was joined by a Canadian relay station, CNBS, but it was difficult to tell which transmitter was in use for any broadcast since it was never announced.

KNBS also supported NORML, and cooperated with Radio Free Euphoria from time to time. They were a good verifier with a few different cards and a series of sheets and posters. They also sent out pennants and, for a lucky few, pens. The last reported transmission from KNBS was on New Year’s Day in 1998.