Saturday, January 25, 2014

Auds'n'Ends: 1/25/14

Every so often you are enlightened by something that makes you reconsider everything you've known about the world. Kind of a Matrix sort of experience, where you discover that your assumptions...or maybe everything that you've been taught about the world is wrong.

The bad thing is that this article was published in 1995. OK, so 18 years later, I have this Matrix-like experience while everyone else is presumably fully aware that the CIA majorly funded modern art as a way to undermine communist ideology. Was everyone else in radio circles aware of this? Although I'd read a lot about Radio Swan and Radio Americas broadcasting from Swan Island and trying to help out with the Bay of Pigs invasion, I did not know that the CIA was also secretly funding ultra-abstract artists, such as Jackson Pollock. The CIA was also secretly funding jazz and classical artists and concerts and publishing journals.

Why were they doing these things? To show the creativity and freedom that could be experienced in the United States. Combating Soviet realism one paint-splattered canvas at a time. And it wasn't just an ideological war; at least some of the CIA administrators were evidently big fans of the art and the music.

Another fascinating bit to me is that while the FBI was infiltrating left-wing organizations in the '60s while trying to bring them down, the CIA was infiltrating the arts in the '60s (presumably filled with left-wing fans and artists) while attempting to strengthen them.

Isn't it about time that the CIA showed to the world what a great and freedom-loving country this is by secretly sponsoring a number of shortwave pirates? If the Radio Free Whatever t-shirt sale suddenly hits 50 (see below), you'll know what happened.


* If you're getting low in pirate radio t-shirts, your favorite heavy-metal-with-fake-Russian-accented-DJs-on-shortwave pirate is coming through in the clutch. Radio Free Whatever t-shirts are now available for $20. Those who haven't heard the station might think you're a psycho communist if they see you wearing it, but it does make for a good conversation starter. Be on the lookout if people start wearing Jackson Pollock t-shirts around you; the CIA might've infiltrated your inner circle.

* The 27th Annual Winter SWLfest is coming up on March 14 and 15, and the list of forums have been announced. Taking center stage is Behind the Curtain: North Korean Broadcasting and Propaganda, which "will extensively discuss and feature audio and video examples of North Korean internal and external broadcasting, international and clandestine broadcasters that manage to penetrate through the regime’s jamming, as well as descriptions and photographs of the media infrastructure used by the North Korean regime as the prime instrument of control over the population."

*  Pirate YHWH has not been reported on any of the pirate forums lately, but on the HFU blog, Everett Curry commented that he heard it on 14350 kHz on January 16 at 2300 UTC.

* I bought a new radio for restoration, a Philco 87 lowboy console. I've started stripping the cabinet and cleaning the chassis. I haven't forgotten about the Goldentone, but it's poorly made and I'm still in the process of trying to drill out the pot-metal screw that holds the tuning knob onto the potentiometer. Hopefully, I'll start posting a Philco 87 running account this week.

* Radio song of the day? "Radio Song" by Superbus from France




Monday, January 6, 2014

Auds 'n' Ends: 1/6/14

In the past New Year's Eve has been excellent for pirates, but activity really slows down for New Year's Day. That happened again in 2013/2014, but I expected that a lot of stations would crop up for this past weekend--especially because of the big snowstorms that have pounded the Midwest and Northeast over the past few days. As it turned out, very few stations were on; in fact, it was one of the lightest weekends in terms of activity in probably about the past four years. Strange, but the unpredictability of pirate radio does help make it fun.

* Summermeeting is an annual event in Europe for pirate radio enthusiasts. Cool AM created an audio promo for it and posted it here.

* Song about radio of the week (or at least this post): Lana Del Ray "Radio"

* The temperatures are dropping faster than the MUF at sunset. I heard that it's supposed to get so cold that frostbite can occur in less than 10 minutes. After watching the Packers-49ers game last night (real temp. 2 degrees in the 4th quarter), I think football player arms must be immune to frostbite.

* I should have another group of PRAs going out either tomorrow or Wednesday.

* Speaking of the PRA, I just wrote a couple of entries yesterday (during the Packers-49ers game) and two more today for the 2014 edition. Slowly, slowly....

* I've been talking over the past year or so to people about the disappearance of South American pirates in the hobby. I've been planning to write an article to the topic for this PRA. So, I was really surprised to see a mention on HFU about Radio Compañía Worldwide, Chile. I hope this new station will get more people in the region thinking about the possibilities.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Station Entries for the 2014 PRA



I've been working on creating the initial entry list and also writing a couple of entries today for the 2014 Pirate Radio Annual. Between the thousands of loggings posted online, some of which are initially listed as unids, with wrong IDs, or are misspelled (which makes searching impossible), this is the list that I'm starting with. If you run a station and don't find your station here, feel free to drop a line to let me know that you were active in 2013 and also please send links to one or more loggings of your station from the year so I can dig up material to write the entry.

All Aboard Radio
All Along The Watchtower Radio
Amelia Earhart
ANN HOFFER
Big Boobs Radio
The Big Q
Bitch Radio
Black Cat Radio
Blue Ocean Radio
BOCHF
Boom Box Radio
Britain Radio International
El Buen Pescador
Bust A Nut Radio
BZN Radio
Captain Morgan Shortwave
Chamber Pot Radio
Channel Z
CHIP
CHKN
CKLW
Cool AM Radio
Crazy Wave Radio. See entry in Europe section
CYOT Radio
DIT DAH Radio
Dubstep.fm
Eccentric Shortwave
Echo One
Edmund Fitzgerald Radio
Empire Radio
Family Radio. See WFMT.
Frederic Chopin Radio
Global Warming Radio
Grasscutter Radio
Grizzly Bear Shortwave
Happy Hannukah
Hardtack Radio
Hit Parade Radio
Hot Radio. See Cool AM.
Hot Legs Radio
Insane Radio
JFK Shortwave
KAMP
KBOX
KEGE Relay
KIPM
KMUD
Knock Knock Radio
KPZL
Laser Hot Hits
The Late Movie
Left Lane Radio
Liberty Rock Radio
Liquid Radio
LTO Radio
MAC
Man Cave Radio
Man In the Moon Radio
Marine Corps Birthday Radio
Metro Radio International
MIDI Radio
Mouth Of Mohammed
My New Underpants
Mysterious America Radio
Mystery Radio
New Jersey Pirate Radio
NOEL
Northern Relay Service
Northwoods Radio
NSDAP Radio
Partial India Radio
Pee Pee Vagina Radio
Pipeline Radio
PBS Pirate Broadcast System
Pirate Radio Boston
Pirates Week
Pirating With Cumbre
Pseudo Radio
Pumpkin Patch Radio
Radio Anonymous Int
Radio Appalachia
Radio Azteca
radio casablanca
Radio Cinco De Mayo
Radio Copy #1
Radio Dr Tim
Radio Echo One
Radio End Times
Radio First Termer
Radio Free Speech
Radio Free Whatever
Radio GaGa
Radio Gallifrey International
Radio Halloween
Radio Ice Cream
Radio Jackie
Radio Jamba International
Radio Jihad
Radio Marlene
Radio Morania Intl
Radio Mushroom
Radio Paisano
Radio Pipeline
Radio Ronin
Radio Snausages Int
Radio Strange Outpost 7
Radio Totse
Radio True North
Radio RWTFYWTCM
Radio Vixen International
Radio Without Borders International
Rainbow Radio Shortwave
Rattlesnake Radio
Rave On Radio
REBEL RADIO
Red Mercury Labs
Renegade Radio
RKNW
Satan Radio
SDF1 Radio
SHARON Radio
Snowball Radio
Southern Relay Service
Sunshine Radio. See Grasscutter Radio.
Tea Party Radio
Toynbee Radio
Turkey Breast Radio
Turtlehead Radio
Twangy Radio
Undercover Radio
"UNID"
Unids
                Backwards numbers station
Fallout 4 Station 3450
Fruitcake Station
                UNID 10YA Station
Victory Radio
Voice of Alix
The Voice Of The American Indian
Voice of Bacon
Voice of Doom
Voice of Honor
Voice of KAOS
Voice of Pancho Villa
The Voice of Planet Zulu
The Voice Of The Robots
WAHR
WAZU
WBNY
WBOG
WCBT
WCS
WDDJ
WDDR (Drunken DJ Radio)
WEAK
WFAR
WFMT
WFUQ
WFUZ
WGWR. See Global Warming Radio
WHJR
Wireless Fantasy
Witch City Radio
WJFK
WKIL
WLIS
WMMR
WMPR
WNKR
WOLF
Wolverine Radio
WPOD
WPON
WRRI Radio Random International
WRRR
WSBR
WTKY
WTPR
WUBR
WWR
Xenu
XEROX
X-FM
XLR8
XYZ
Yawneb
YHWH