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

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.

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 Captain Ron SW

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