1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,559 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. I don't know if you've heard, but we 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: have a book coming out finally, finally, after all these years. 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,120 Speaker 1: It's great, it's flun You're gonna love it. It's called 4 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know Colon an incomplete compendium of mostly 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: interesting things. Ye, and it's twenty six jam packed chapters 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: that we wrote with another guy named Knowls Parker, who's 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: amazing and is illustrated amazingly by our illustrator Carl Manardo. 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: And it's just an all around joy to pick up 9 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: and read. Even though we haven't physically held in our 10 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: hands yet, it's like we have Chuck in our dreams 11 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: so far. I can't wait to actually see and hold 12 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: this thing and smell it. And so should you, so 13 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: pre order now. It means a lot to us. The 14 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: support is a very big deal, So pre order anywhere 15 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: books are sold. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a 16 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: production of My Heart Radios How Stuff works, Hey, and 17 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: welcome to up up the volume. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. 18 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: Jerry's out there somewhere raging against the machine. And this 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: is um bubble to say, it's just Stuff you should Know. 20 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: I love it. When I sent you this, uh, this research. 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,479 Speaker 1: You are like, the first thing you said, let's pump 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,639 Speaker 1: up the volume. Sure. Man, it's such a great movie. 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: You know, it's funny is I didn't think about that 24 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: once until you said that, and I was like, oh yeah, yeah, 25 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: it was all about piracy and radios. Yeah, I love 26 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: that movie. I just hadn't seen it, and I don't know, 27 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: I don't think probably since then. It has a really 28 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: has a good soundtrack, has bad Brains and Henry Rawlins 29 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: doing kick out the jams you see five songs. It 30 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: also has probably the best sound Garden song of all 31 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: time heretic. Yeah, well it's tough to call for me 32 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: is a sound Garden nut, but yeah, good song. It 33 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: is a good song. Which one is better than that? 34 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: I like a lot of sound Garden, so yeah, I 35 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: have probably twenty tied for songs. Okay, but is that 36 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: one of them? Yeah, it's up there. Oh thanks for that. 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: I love it. It's great. I mean I love all 38 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: sound Garden songs. Yeah, I guess I do too, now 39 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: that I think about it, I think I could have 40 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: had something to do with Chris Cornell's voice to an extent. 41 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: Man r I P Yeah, for real. I used to 42 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: joke about the imagining the first time that he like 43 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: sung in the shower when he was thirteen or something. 44 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: He was like, what, I'm like, Oh, I think I 45 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: know what I'm gonna do for a living. Yeah, exactly, shower. 46 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: So we're talking about pump up the volume and Chris 47 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: Cornell right now, because this episode is about pirate radio, 48 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: and specifically it's about the British pirate radio invasion of 49 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,359 Speaker 1: the sixties that I had no idea about. I've never 50 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: seen that movie, um, Pirate Radio, but I intend to 51 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: now have you seen it? I haven't seen the movie, 52 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: but I was acquainted with the story somehow. I think 53 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: I might have seen a short documentary or or something 54 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: about the Caroline and uh, really really cool stuff it is, 55 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: which is why we're going to talk about it in 56 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: this episode. But um, I just found the whole thing. 57 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: I don't know if mind blowing is the right word, 58 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: but certainly deeply interesting. And I think it's cool because 59 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: it's one of those like pieces to the jigsaw puzzle 60 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: of history, at least like rock history, that you didn't 61 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: even realize, like you didn't you didn't have you know, 62 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: And by you I mean me. Yeah, And Here's the 63 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: thing is, there were other pirate radio stations all around 64 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: the world, and there always have been since there's been 65 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: radio and restrictions on radio. But he and as long 66 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: as there's rock, Chuck, there always will be. That's true. 67 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: But the the UK version was sort of the most 68 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: celebrated and the most famous. I think obviously why they 69 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: made a movie about it. And one of the reasons 70 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: is because the man whose thumb they were under was 71 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: the BBC, which is a big deal. It was a 72 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: big deal because here in the United States and I know, 73 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: um ahoy to all of you listeners outside of the 74 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: United States who are you're like, well, yeah, we we 75 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: this is what it was like. Um, in the United States, 76 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: the radio spectrum has always been very free, or it 77 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: was intended to be very free, to where um, there 78 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: was a multiplicity of voices and you could say a 79 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: lot of stuff got a little stodgy, and it was 80 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: kind of stodgy from the outset. But for the most part, 81 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: it wasn't just one monolithic organization that controlled all of 82 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: the radio waves. That's just not how it's been in 83 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: the States and in places like the UK. That's how 84 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: it was basically, right out of the gate. They said, Um, 85 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: you know, we this is a really valuable tool. You 86 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: can really shape people's minds with this. So we're going 87 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: to leave it specifically under government control. Like we'll provide 88 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: a bunch of different stuff. Not everything you want, um, 89 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: but a lot of stuff. Especially if you're a stodgy conservative, 90 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: old establishment type, you're gonna love what we're pumping out. 91 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: But um, the point is it's too important to just 92 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: kind of let anybody come along as the money for 93 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: a radio license to just set up a radio station. 94 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: That seems absurd. Only the the Looney colonies would do 95 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, So the BBC had a very 96 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: vice like grip, like you were saying, for geez, about 97 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: forty something years and then you know, the sixties come along, 98 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: and like so many other things in America and the UK, uh, 99 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: kids that were born of these World War two I 100 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: guess you would call them baby boomers or booms or boomers. 101 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: The babies of those boomers where rock and roll kids. 102 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: You know, they grew up seeing Elvis and the Beatles 103 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: on television, and they were not square like their parents were, 104 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: and they had different ideas and their parents did. And 105 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: this was the case in England in the nineteen sixties 106 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: when the BBC was you know, rock and roll was 107 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: was a thing and they were like, we're not playing this, 108 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: this devil's music. They probably didn't say that that was 109 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: more American if you, but if you, it was certainly controversial. 110 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: UM songs that seemed to us like I mean, like 111 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: you just hear him on an elevator today, like they 112 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: were highly controversial back then, you know, and like there 113 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: was genuinely nowhere on the radio in the UK for 114 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: you to reliably turn to to hear this stuff. You 115 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: have to go to like a club um to hear them, 116 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: and those were few and far between. And then if you, 117 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: um were lucky enough, you might be able to occasionally 118 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: dial in Radio Luxembourg, which played some of these like 119 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,840 Speaker 1: pop hits, but they were also it was still largely 120 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: controlled by a few record labels, so it didn't just 121 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: they didn't go deep. It was still like whatever new 122 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: big band they were trying to promote, but it was 123 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,919 Speaker 1: still way cooler than anything the BBC was promoting. The 124 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: problem is that the reception was certainly spotty. Have you 125 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: ever been to Luxembourg? I have not. I may have 126 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: passed through it not known it. They blinked, but I 127 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: don't believe I have. It's so under the radar. I 128 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: flew out of there once. That's the only thing I've 129 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: been to Luxembourg is flew home from Europe out of 130 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: Luxembobourg airport. So that's my only like, I don't know 131 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: anything about it as a place. It's it's interesting. It's 132 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: like the Delaware of Europe. It's right, it may or 133 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: may not exist. Yeah. So um, that was pretty much 134 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: the long and short of it. The BBC didn't really 135 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: didn't really care that the teenagers wanted more. They just 136 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: said no. They might have even said nine at this point, 137 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, And this is where 138 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: a gentleman comes in the picture that would really change everything. 139 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: And his name is uh Ronan and I've heard Americans 140 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: pronounced it O'Reilly. It's spelled oh little accent capital r 141 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: A h I L l y. And I heard him 142 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: speak his name in court when they asked his surname. 143 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: But he said it so quickly it sounded like a dolly. 144 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: It sounded like a d So it may just be 145 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: like some weird like you know, Irish pronunciation or something 146 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: that I don't know about, but we're gonna say Riley. 147 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: I mean that's how Yeah, that's how I heard it too. Um. 148 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: But yeah, so he sounded like Brad Pitt and snatched 149 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: sort of. I couldn't understand him. That's where there was 150 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: a d in there. But he was He was a 151 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: guy who uh figured out that their jurisdiction over the airwaves, 152 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: the BBC and the UK government's jurisdiction stopped about five 153 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: kilometers off the coast three miles here in the States. 154 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: And he said, and there were he didn't invent the 155 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: idea of planning a boat out there and broadcasting. Other 156 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: countries were doing this kind of thing and exploiting this 157 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: loophole already, but he said, this is this is something 158 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: we should do. The kids want their rock and roll, 159 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: they want their MTV. We don't know what that is yet, 160 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna bring it to him. Yeah. So um, 161 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: he he actually took inspiration. Like you're saying, there was 162 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: some Scandinavian countries, specifically Sweden and Denmark that had been 163 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 1: home to pirate radio stations that were docked off of 164 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: their coast, and for very similar reasons too. There was 165 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: a state monopoly on radio broadcasting at the time, and 166 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: some people were like, uh no, that's I want to 167 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: broadcast what I want to broadcast. So they set up 168 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,079 Speaker 1: those shops, I mean, all the way back in the fifties. 169 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: And I actually ran across one in the United States 170 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: to bring it on home that was operating in the 171 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties three um, and it had a call sign 172 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: r x k R, and it was out of Panama, 173 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: even though it was off of the coast of Long Beach. 174 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,720 Speaker 1: And I think, Chuck, I think, I think we either 175 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: talked about it in our Prohibition episode or we talked 176 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: about it in our Who Owns the Oceans episode, but 177 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: it was it was originally one of those floating speakeasy 178 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: casinos doctor National Waters. Then they started to broadcast radio 179 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: pirate radio is well for a little while, so it 180 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: had happened before. And there was actually because of the 181 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: success of the Scandinavian stations, there was kind of this 182 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: mad rush in the UK to be the first too, 183 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: to see I guess um and start broadcasting, and Ronan 184 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: O'Reilly beat them all with what came to be known 185 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: as Radio Caroline. Yeah, so he was sort of in 186 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: a tight race with another guy named Alan Crawford who 187 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: had a project called his was gonna be Radio Atlanta. 188 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: I think it was called Project Atlanta. Nothing to do 189 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: with Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Texas. From what I saw, really, 190 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: I figured it was just a riff on Atlantic As 191 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: in the ocean. No one of the one of the owners, 192 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 1: um was a from Dallas, I believe, is a radio 193 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: man from Texas, and for some reason he chose Atlanta 194 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: after Atlanta, Texas. I did another ones in Atlanta, Texas. 195 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: I didn't neither. Neither did the people who live in Atlanta, Texas. So, um, 196 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: they're the Delaware of Texas. That's all right. So there 197 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: was I think o'reiley got about half a dozen investors. 198 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: Because this is gonna call some money. Because you gotta 199 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: buy a ship. Um, it can't just be a little 200 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: dinghy or or a rowboat or anything like that. You 201 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: have to get it takes. It takes a shipload of equipment. Yeah, 202 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: it takes, and people to operate it and people to 203 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 1: stay on it and stuff like that in meeting rooms, 204 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,440 Speaker 1: and so you gotta have a legit ship. So um 205 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: Crawford for Radio Atlanta got the MI Amigo and O'Riley 206 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:34,359 Speaker 1: got a passenger ferry, a Danish ship called the Envy Frederica. 207 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: They each renamed them Uh Atlanta and then Caroline, respectively, 208 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:45,079 Speaker 1: apparently Caroline after Caroline Kennedy because he, as Laura Goes, 209 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: saw a picture. O'Riley saw a photo of Little Caroline 210 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: and Little John Jr. Dancing in the Oval Office and 211 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: he was inspired by that because he was like, this 212 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:56,839 Speaker 1: is what we're trying to do, like sort of uh, 213 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,959 Speaker 1: you know, you're not allowed to dance in the Oval Office, 214 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: yet they're doing it, and we're not allowed to broadcast 215 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: rock and roll music because the government says so. So 216 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna name after Caroline, very cute name. 217 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: It is very cute. Um. So that's the name that 218 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: he went with. And I'm glad that he was one 219 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: of the I'm glad he was the one who who 220 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: made it first because he was the one who was 221 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: doing it. I guess as as purely as you would 222 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: expect somebody to be doing with like a constant rotation 223 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: of DJ's operating twenty four hours a day, legitimately broadcasting 224 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,839 Speaker 1: from the ship, and that was not Radio Atlanta's model. 225 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: At all. They were compiling shows or day's worth of 226 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: shows in the studio back in London, recording them and 227 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: then sailing it out to the ship. It was really 228 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: it was also, I mean there was like banking concerns 229 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: that were invested in it was. It was ill legit 230 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: as far as pirate radio goes from the outset. So 231 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: I'm glad that they weren't the ones who made it 232 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: to market first. Yeah. So Radio Caroline. Their slogan was 233 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: your all day music station because of seven format, and 234 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: it was new and in and of itself, right, Yeah, 235 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: I mean as far I mean as far as playing music, absolutely, 236 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: and they just within a few months. I think they 237 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: launched in on Easter Sunday nineteen sixty four with the 238 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: Stones tune It's all over Now perfect. I saw not 239 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 1: fade Away. I saw it's all over Now. Actually I 240 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: saw in the Guardian and then one other source not 241 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: fade Away, and then I I also saw um all 242 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: over Now. But I saw both enough legit places that 243 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: I'm I honestly don't know. Yeah, I saw not fade 244 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: Away was the station's theme song, so who knows, And 245 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: then they got someone else to compose an original theme 246 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: song because I think they didn't want to keep playing that. 247 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: But at any rate, they launched and it didn't take 248 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: long until they had a larger audience than all of 249 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: the BBC stations combined. That's wonderful. And they quickly merged, 250 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: I think if it goes from Easter Sunday, they merged 251 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: in July, just a few months later with Radio Atlanta. 252 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: I guess they figured they had uh, just more power together. 253 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,320 Speaker 1: And then the Mi Amigo they became um the Carolina 254 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: North in the Caroline South, broadcasting from due different places. Yeah, 255 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: which covered almost all of the UK, but not all 256 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: of it. There was some southwestern parts that just didn't 257 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: didn't get it from either ship they had. They had 258 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: pretty good coverage of of the aisles for sure with 259 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: those two ships. And then eventually Radio Atlanta went under 260 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: as an organization and Radio Caroline was able to take 261 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: over both of those ships. So they had that they had, 262 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: I mean, for a pirate radio station, they they had 263 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: a lot of power behind them, for sure. Yeah, and 264 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: I don't I mean, we haven't said the obvious. They 265 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: were called pirate radio because they were operating on ships 266 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: in the ocean and flouting the law, So it was 267 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: sort of doing double duty there with the name. Yeah, 268 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: there's actually some really great pieces out they're on the 269 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: internet about this this era UM. And one of them 270 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: I saw was they said, like, from the moment they 271 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: started broadcasting, it was basically immediately called pirate radio. For 272 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: some reason, those two words together just seem they just 273 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: strike something in you, you know, Yeah, yeah, for sure. 274 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: And there's there's lots of cool documentaries to UM in 275 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: addition to the narrative film, which obviously takes a lot 276 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: of liberties, and we'll talk a little bit about that, 277 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: but a lot of cool short documentaries and even longer documentaries. 278 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: You wanna take an ad break, Yeah, true pirates. Right, 279 00:15:36,920 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: we'll be right back, everybody, all right, We're back, hopefully. 280 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: Those were the bosses ads you've ever heard. Yeah, I'm 281 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: sure they were very subversive and flouting h anti establishment exactly. 282 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: So UM Radio carolines up and running. And when I 283 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: said earlier, Chuck that there was like a UM it 284 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: represents a piece of the puzzle of rock and roll history, 285 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: even pop culture history that I didn't realize, what I 286 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: didn't know existed. But when I said that, I meant 287 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: this this specific group of pirate radio stations, but really 288 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: Radio Caroline, from what I can tell, had such a 289 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: pronounced effect on music that they they actually managed to 290 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: reshape it and rechange it because the BBC was basically saying, 291 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: we're only playing stagy stuff your parents like, like literally 292 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: square records. That's how square the music we're playing is. Um, 293 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: we there's no place for you bands to play the 294 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: music you want to play, so you have to make 295 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: your make music that we will play on BBC. And 296 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,120 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, now there was this really potent 297 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: outlet that hadn't existed before. And those bands that had 298 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,640 Speaker 1: started out kind of prim and BBC ready were now 299 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: able to start taking acid like on a daily basis 300 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: and really explore like their musical um abilities and try 301 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: new things. And they knew that there was a good 302 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: chance that it would get played on Radio Caroline or 303 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: some of the other pirate radio stations, and in that 304 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: it actually shaped psychedelia. It's shaped the psychedelic music scene, 305 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: um by just giving it a place to start. Yeah, 306 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: I mean they had to fill it. Says here about 307 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: songs each week because they were going seven that was 308 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: each DJ that had to Yeah, that's a lot of music, 309 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: and you know, you gotta you didn't want to just 310 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: play the same stuff over and over. They wanted to 311 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: follow and they could follow the American Top forty sort 312 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: of system where you you play the hits, and you 313 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: play the hits a little more, but then you also 314 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: try and break new music and this house stuff works. 315 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: Article says that the Moody Blues we're a band that 316 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: kind of came directly out of pirate radio as far 317 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: as being broken on pirate radio, starting to do experimental 318 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: stuff and that wouldn't obviously get played on the BBC anywhere, 319 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: but having started out as playing music that would get 320 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: played on the BBC and then being allowed to kind 321 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: of alter what they wanted to be totally. And Um, 322 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: one of the song I saw that's widely considered the 323 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: first pirate radio hit of um the Swinging sixties in 324 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: the UK because Tom Jones, it's not unusual. Good song. Now, 325 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: that is unusual as far as facts go. Uh you 326 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: think that makes the Carlton Dance one degree remove from 327 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: British sixties pirate radio. I would not have seen that 328 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: connection before. Yeah, And I mean you hear it's not 329 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: unusual it's a cool song and Tom Jones was a 330 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: cool dude. But it definitely it feels way more square 331 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: to my ears now than than early psychedelia for sure. 332 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 1: I mean sure, the whole thing is from front to 333 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: back about smoking hash and how much Tom Jones loved 334 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: his hash. But it's still today it seems a little tame, 335 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, he was so great. He's Welsh, right, 336 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: I don't know, probably I think he's Welsh. Okay, we'll 337 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: go with that. So one of the big DJs, and 338 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: they had a you know, a whole rotation of DJs 339 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: that all loved what they did, and most of them 340 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: went on to be DJs for life. Some stayed with 341 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: Radio Caroline for life. Um. I guess that's the sort 342 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: of spoiler, is that they're still around today and you 343 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: can listen to them on the internet and on the radio, 344 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,120 Speaker 1: even though they have a legal license now. But I 345 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: was listening to their their stream. Uh you can stream 346 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 1: sort of the classic version, which is music from back then, 347 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: and it's just fantastic. Uh, it's like a good WFMU playlist. 348 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: If you ever remember, we were on FMU for a while. 349 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: The classic New Jersey freeform radio station. That's so great. 350 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: They clearly had some space to fill too. Yeah, so 351 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: I encourage you to go listen to to Radio Caroline 352 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: and check it out. But one of the more famous 353 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: DJ's to come out of that scene was Tony Blackburn. 354 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: And he was a fan of Radio Luxembourg just as 355 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 1: a listener and saw an ad in the n M E. 356 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: Uh New Musical Express still a great magazine. Sure, it's 357 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: been around since the fifties. I read, Oh, it's fantastic, 358 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: Uh that Melody Maker are two of the best. And 359 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: he basically applied to this for this job, got it 360 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,640 Speaker 1: and uh became one of the more popular DJs on 361 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,120 Speaker 1: on that ship. Yeah, he was one. Um, I mean 362 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: kind of going down through history. Pete Tong started out 363 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: on Pirate Radio. Uh. He's very well known DJ and 364 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: supposedly also UM. I think we mentioned him in the 365 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: Cockney rhyming slang episode where Everything's gone all wrong. It's 366 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: gone Pete Tong. Well, yeah, we definitely did, because we 367 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: talked about that. It's better than nothing, I think. Um. 368 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: And then there was another very famous DJ. Um his name, Yeah, 369 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,439 Speaker 1: he's I'm the DJ, He's the rapper. Remember that they 370 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,400 Speaker 1: had to explain it to everybody on one of their 371 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: so H. The guy I'm thinking of his DJ Andy 372 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: Archer and Um. He is a very well known DJ, 373 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,359 Speaker 1: has been for many many years. I think he started 374 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: out in the sixties. I don't know if he's on 375 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: Caroline or Radio London one of the competitors, but he 376 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: UM is known to have coined the term an iraq 377 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,880 Speaker 1: and in the UK I didn't know this, but antarak 378 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: is slang for like a super nerdy obsessive fan basically 379 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: um and the term was coined because Andy Archer UM 380 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: called some of the nerdy mail radio pirate radio fans 381 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: who were like so obsessed with the whole thing they 382 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: would actually hire boats to take them out to the 383 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: ships that were UM broadcasting. They would normally wear like 384 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: antaracts because of the weather. So in anarak apparently gets 385 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: its its origin from pirate radio too well. And that's 386 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,199 Speaker 1: one of the cool things about the early days of 387 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: pirate radio is they didn't have ratings to depend on. 388 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: They got their feedback from uh kind of like us 389 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: from from hearing from people. We we get it via 390 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: email and stuff like that. But they got bags and 391 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: bags of mail just like us. Just like us, um, 392 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: people would stop by their office, like you said, on 393 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: by boat, just specific us. That's happened to us before, 394 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,119 Speaker 1: even though it's you know, not encouraged any longer, and 395 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:08,400 Speaker 1: especially now during the lockdown there's no one here, um, 396 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: but people would show up. They would send them gifts. 397 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 1: I think Blackburn was the one that said he would 398 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: tell listeners that when he got back to land and 399 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: he would drive away in his little sports car, that 400 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 1: he would give away just you know, records. He would 401 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: give away forty five's and this obsolete vinyl. And he 402 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: said it would take him an hour and a half 403 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: to get out of town just because he was mobbed 404 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,120 Speaker 1: by kids on the street looking for looking for him, 405 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 1: looking to get a piece of him, looking to get 406 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: one of those records. It was like true true fandom. UM. 407 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: I read uh, I read something about Tony Blackburn that 408 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,240 Speaker 1: apparently he once did a live performance of Tie Yellow 409 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: Ribbon around the old Oak Tree um in a cage 410 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: full of lions with a lion t very psychedelic song. 411 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: It is, isn't that weird? Yeah? Why, I don't know. 412 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: I think that's just Tony Blackburn. That's the impression I 413 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,640 Speaker 1: have Uh. Other DJ was an American named Mike Pasternak. 414 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: His DJ name was Emperor Roscoe, and he still sort 415 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: of apparently wears this skull and crossbones baseball hat. And 416 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: I get a feeling all these people like this is 417 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: their cred. They still really hang their hat on this 418 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: experiences like these rock and roll mavericks from the sixties, Right, 419 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,959 Speaker 1: That's the impression I have too. But the thing is is, like, 420 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: you know, I think most people assume that these ships 421 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: were just like party boats basically, and from what I 422 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: can tell, that's just not the case at all. That 423 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: they were largely staffed by professional acting DJs, even though 424 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: a lot of them were not professionals at all. Like 425 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: you said, it was a Blackburn that that had. He 426 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: answered an ad in the New musical Express Blackburn. Did 427 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: Pastor knack the American was he had a little bit 428 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: of experience with military radio on an aircraft carrier two years. Yeah, 429 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: and thought he brought sort of a polish that the 430 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: British guys didn't have. He said they didn't have the 431 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: technique yet. But um, yeah, by all accounts they were pros. 432 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: They weren't like in the movie. I think they really 433 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: play it up as just sort of a big party barge, sure, 434 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: which I mean that's a movie kind of thing to do, 435 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: for sure. And they were allowed apparently only two beers 436 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: a day, and uh, they could play cards, they could 437 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,159 Speaker 1: watch TV, they could sunbathe, and I think Pastor Neck 438 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: said occasionally some some women would come aboard for a 439 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: cup of tea. So, uh, you know, well, I don't 440 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: know if that story is fully true, but I don't 441 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: do either. I think they actually did have tea with 442 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: some of the antarraxx that showed up probably so so. UM. 443 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: So we've got Radio Caroline. It's operating, it's going pretty well. Um, 444 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: but there was an incident that went down, um, I 445 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: think in nineteen sixty six, maybe maybe sixty seven. Um, 446 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: which kind of us to show you, like, Radio Caroline 447 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:06,160 Speaker 1: is this huge smash success and it's allowed to operate, um, 448 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 1: flouting the laws of the UK um for a few 449 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: years before the UK government finally said enough is enough 450 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: and um they passed something called the Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, 451 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: And supposedly the thing that really prompted them to take 452 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: action was that there was a hostile physical takeover of 453 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,439 Speaker 1: one of the pirate radio stations. Um. There was a 454 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: radio station called Radio City that had taken over a 455 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 1: set of abandoned sea forts that were jutting out of 456 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: the North Sea. And there was a disagreement between a 457 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,680 Speaker 1: Radio Atlanta owner, the chairman of it, and the guy 458 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: who was running Radio City, REDG. Calvert, and the other guy, 459 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: Lord Smedley. UM shot REDG. Calvert with the shotgun when REDG. 460 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: Calvert came to negotiate with him about getting a I 461 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: think a transmitter back or something like that. And the 462 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: fact that like these guys were now physically invading one 463 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: another's ships and we're shooting one another, um, really kind 464 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: of brought home that the you know, the fact that 465 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: everybody had been calling it pirate radio for a while 466 00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: made it seem pirate, but not in the good kind 467 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: of pirate, you know what I mean, like the real 468 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: life kind of pirate thing all of a sudden, and 469 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: that forced the British government's hand. Yeah. I think what 470 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: I saw was that Smedley was trying to uh, trying 471 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: to get another merger going and just grow this empire 472 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: with Radio City, and offered up this transmitter to Calvert. 473 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,159 Speaker 1: It didn't work. Calvert didn't want to pay him for it, 474 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: and so Smedley literally sent, like in the dead of night, 475 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: these guys to board the ship and get it back, 476 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,919 Speaker 1: like true pirate style. And Calvert didn't take kindly to that, 477 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: so he threatened him went to his house and was 478 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: met with a shotgun. I saw that he was not 479 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,679 Speaker 1: the type to threaten anybody, um, but that the Smedley's 480 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: house keeper tried to keep Calvert from entering I guess 481 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: his study or his office or something. They got into 482 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,880 Speaker 1: a scuffle and um Smedley shot him with a shotgun 483 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: and fort manslaughter. He you know, apparently claimed self defense 484 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: because I don't know the laws were like back then. 485 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: But the guy did come to his house and he 486 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,200 Speaker 1: claimed he felt threatened. Yeah, and so he was ultimately acquitted. 487 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 1: But the large the larger impact that it had on 488 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: pirate radio in the UK is that Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, 489 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,439 Speaker 1: which um, you could get up to two years in 490 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: the pokey for that, not to mention all of the fines, 491 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: and um. One of the things that they really kind 492 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: of passed this law on was not like, oh, these 493 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: guys are actually shooting each other and now we got 494 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: to do something. It was this idea that their broadcast 495 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: could interfere with marine distress signals, and that is an ongoing, 496 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: long standing establishment government opposition to pirate radio. That's typically 497 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: what they go to the public with, like, Hey, you 498 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: want to be out at sea trying to get help 499 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: and some kids are spinning the who and nobody can 500 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: hear you because your signals being infringed on. We don't 501 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: want that either. Let's all get rid of the pirate 502 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: radio stations. But that doesn't seem to be the real 503 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: reason why governments tend to oppose pirate radio. It's usually 504 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,719 Speaker 1: that they're protecting the interests of the corporations who have 505 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: legitimate licenses and usually a lot more sway with the 506 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 1: government than some kids who got their hands on a 507 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: German merchant vessel and started broadcasting you know, sixties soul 508 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: from it. Yeah, and that's I mean, we'll get to 509 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: America today. But that's that's exactly how they frame it 510 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: today as well, is that you're going to get in 511 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: the way of legitimate signals in case of distress. Um, 512 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: because well, we won't go there yet, but uh O'Riley 513 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 1: keeps Radio Caroline going. His ship was seized by Dutch authorities, 514 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: but he got it back. Um, he kept it going. 515 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: There were some I think George Harrison gave them like 516 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 1: a substantial check to keep it going because he believed 517 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: in their mission in the seventies. And Tom Jones chipped 518 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: in a bunch of hash, of course he did, which 519 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 1: is more valuable than money, as we all know. Uh. 520 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: But both of the boats, the Caroline North and the South, 521 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: had a couple of incidents. I think the mi Amigo 522 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 1: ran aground at one point and was repaired, and then 523 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: the original Caroline I think I did a fire break 524 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: out or did it sink? No, sorry, the so the 525 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: Miamigo sank the original Caroline. I don't know whatever happened 526 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: to it. I could not find it, but I know 527 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: for a fact that it wasn't that the original ferry, 528 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: the the um M V Caroline that sank. It was 529 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: definitely the mi Amigo. Well, the mi Amigo must have 530 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: two then, because it ran aground and was fixed and 531 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: then it did it had a little bit of bad luck. 532 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: What cracks me up in this entire story is that 533 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: there was a German vessel called the Miamigo my friend 534 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: in Spanish, it's a German merchant vessel. Don't understand. I 535 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: think the Caroline is as a museum now, so that 536 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 1: one did survive, right, No, the UM the Ross's Revenge, 537 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: so they came up with another German ship, the Ross 538 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: Revenge UM, to replace the Mia Amigo and that one eventually. 539 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: UM has been outfitted to be a museum, which I 540 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: can't tell. They have a website and it sounds like 541 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: the last update was from two thousand fourteen, and I 542 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: don't know if it's actually open or not. If it is, 543 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: they definitely need to update their website. But um that's 544 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: the plan at least. I don't know if like they 545 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: ran out of money or something like that. Yeah. I 546 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: think there's a couple of different museums, but I would 547 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,479 Speaker 1: love to on our next UK trip go check these 548 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: places out. There be a lot of fun. Yeah. I 549 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: can't wait to get back to the UK and Australia too. Man. Yeah, 550 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: I think we hit even sort of loosely earmarked this 551 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,080 Speaker 1: year next year for another international trip and uh, you know, 552 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to happen. That kind of 553 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: fell through. And also sorry everybody, I'm also excited to 554 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: get back to New Zealand too. Yeah, because I didn't. 555 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: We didn't get enough time there. Oh wait wait and Canada, Well, 556 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: we always love to get to go to Canada. That's easy. 557 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: Should we take it that? Yeah, let's take a break, 558 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: all right, We'll go to Germany next time too. I'm 559 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 1: about to go to Germany. It's my homeland. Well that's 560 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: not true. We'll be right back, Chuck. By the way, 561 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: I said Germany was my homeland because I took German 562 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,479 Speaker 1: in high school and college speak German and have been 563 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: to Germany and love it. I'm not German in any way. 564 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: What what's your what's your ancestry? Uh, it's fully Like 565 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 1: I did the DNA test, it's it's fully like uk Irish, 566 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: sort of European. And then it said like one percent 567 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: East African or something like that. I got, um, like 568 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,520 Speaker 1: two percent or point two percent. Yeah, it was like 569 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: no point zero or two percent Ashkenazi Jew and then 570 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: I got I got two percent something Neanderthal. This all 571 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: checks out, it does, it does for sure. So I'm 572 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: celebrating both of my heritages. Thank you. So I think 573 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 1: it's back at you. So. Um, the US, we've kind 574 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: of overlooked the United States, they didn't have nearly the 575 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: sort of I guess cultural revolution that the UK had 576 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: as far as pirate radio goes. Um, they've had a 577 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:02,800 Speaker 1: few sort of operations here and there. The one that 578 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: you were talking about, Uh, there was this this preacher, 579 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: Reverend Carl McIntyre. He was a fundamentalist who I think 580 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:15,840 Speaker 1: he broadcast from a ship for like ten hours until 581 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:19,839 Speaker 1: there was a fire. He worked so hard on it 582 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: for months, months. He thought he was going to be 583 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:24,520 Speaker 1: up and running in a few days, maybe a couple 584 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: of weeks. It ended up taking him months to get 585 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,359 Speaker 1: this pirate radio ship ready, and he got it going 586 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: and they shut him down in ten hours. And we've 587 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 1: talked about him before actually in our fairness doctrine, the 588 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: reason that he was operating from a pirate radio stations. 589 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:43,439 Speaker 1: He went from being broadcast and like I think six 590 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,319 Speaker 1: hundreds something radio stations across the South and the Midwest. 591 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 1: And he would preach like um, anti communism. He said 592 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: the Catholic Church was fascist. He said Billy Graham was 593 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:57,319 Speaker 1: an appeaser. Um. He was a real firebrand and also 594 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 1: super political too. And because that fairnes doctrine said you 595 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: have to have equal airtime for opposing viewpoints. He didn't. 596 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:06,319 Speaker 1: He didn't do that, so he kind of brought the 597 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,359 Speaker 1: heat onto some of these stations that were worried about 598 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: losing their license. They started to drop him. So he 599 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,319 Speaker 1: tried pirate radio for a minute, and it didn't pan 600 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: out very well for him. He tried for six minutes. 601 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:22,279 Speaker 1: That's right. So, um, that's some fast math there. It's 602 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: pretty easy. Uh where you see pirate radio in the 603 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,239 Speaker 1: United States, and it still continues today. In fact, uh, 604 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,239 Speaker 1: there there was one study that said there are more 605 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 1: pirate radio station UH stations in New York on the 606 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: FM band than there were legit stations. Yeah, and that's 607 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 1: been going on for a while. I saw late eighties, 608 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: early nineties there was a big boom in pirate radio. 609 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: And like the epicenter seems to have been New York 610 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,080 Speaker 1: because the Christians later I think so, or maybe they 611 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: wrote the movie because of the boom. I don't know. Well, 612 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,280 Speaker 1: a lot of them are out of Brooklyn there, um 613 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,240 Speaker 1: broadcast from rooftops. You know, you get a little equipment, 614 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: you get an ant in UH and and you're in business. 615 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 1: And here's the deal with pirate radio in the United States. 616 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: And what's going on now, which is currently the FCC 617 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,840 Speaker 1: has has popped up, of course, and they used to, 618 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: like the article said, play kind of whack a mole 619 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: trying to knock these things back as they came up. 620 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,280 Speaker 1: But I guess they thought it was such a problem, 621 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,479 Speaker 1: especially in New York that the f c C has, 622 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,760 Speaker 1: and especially this current FCC has stood up and said, Nope, 623 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: not going to happen on our watch. Uh. And in 624 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: January of this year, the President signed the and I 625 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,840 Speaker 1: love it when they come up with a an acronym 626 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: that actually worked for this one. They had to reverse 627 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: engineer this one, the Pirate Act preventing illegal Radio abuse 628 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:48,520 Speaker 1: through enforcement but also abuses in there, like stop abusing 629 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,239 Speaker 1: that radio center. Yeah, but you know they needed an 630 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: A for sure. I'm saying, like, hats off to that 631 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:57,919 Speaker 1: for to them for that one. It couldn't be radio 632 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: amusement through Actually, at least they used all the letters 633 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: from all the words. I hate it when they just 634 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: slip a couple of words and they're like nobody's gonna notice, 635 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: you know what I mean? So, um, the problem with 636 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: the Pirate Act is this, it takes uh already existing 637 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: FCC laws that allow the SEC to kind of go 638 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: after pirate radio stations and find them. I saw, um, 639 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: you're looking at fines of something like ten thousand dollars 640 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: a day, typically with the maximum of about seventy five 641 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: dollars for a total fine for operating an illegal pirate station. 642 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 1: That's that's bad. I mean, most people who are operating 643 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: pirate stations do so as as we'll talk about in 644 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: a minute, because they don't have the money to to 645 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 1: run a legit station and pay all the fees and 646 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,359 Speaker 1: all the application fees and the license fees and all 647 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:55,359 Speaker 1: that stuff. So that is significant. What the Pirate Act does. 648 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 1: It takes all those existing laws and just says you're 649 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 1: that seventy five max fee, let's up that to two 650 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: million dollars. And the whole point of that is to 651 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:11,000 Speaker 1: specifically intimidate people out of out of pirate radio, out 652 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 1: of broadcasting pirate radio. And that that's that's terrible, especially 653 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 1: coming from an FCC that's led by a former telecommunications 654 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,440 Speaker 1: lobbyists and the guy who presided over the end of 655 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: net neutrality. That's a that's some sour grapes right there, 656 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 1: if you ask me. Yeah, and the whole deal with 657 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: pirate radio these days, especially out of New York is 658 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,960 Speaker 1: They're not just like spinning tunes for fun. I'm sure 659 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: there are some that do that, but a lot of 660 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: it is, UM are people starting these very small, small 661 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 1: operations that maybe broadcast over their neighborhood because they are 662 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: an underserved community as far as radio programming goes. And 663 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,160 Speaker 1: they will speak in their native language to people who 664 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,680 Speaker 1: are listening in their native language, and they are getting 665 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,160 Speaker 1: news out to people in their native language. And these 666 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,880 Speaker 1: are communities that don't that aren't represented on the on 667 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: the the regular FM spectrum. And there's a big argument 668 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,160 Speaker 1: to be made that this is a almost like a 669 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: public service in a way to these underserved communities. Absolutely is, 670 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,880 Speaker 1: and that's what radio. That's what radio has been, this 671 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:26,000 Speaker 1: has been intended for since the inception of it. At 672 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,279 Speaker 1: least in the United States, it's a and in the 673 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,400 Speaker 1: u k two it's meant to be a public service, 674 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:35,000 Speaker 1: UM for for everybody. The thing is is in the 675 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: U S we've long valued a multiplicity of different voices, 676 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: of competing ideas and thoughts of different music. I mean, 677 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 1: even if you are talking about pirate radio stations, UM 678 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 1: that are just playing music. They're not doing, you know, anything, 679 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,399 Speaker 1: there's no like, you know, community discussion or anything like that. 680 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: The music they're playing is probably stuff you're not gonna 681 00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,760 Speaker 1: hear anywhere else on the radio, and there's definitely something 682 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: that's lost when you know, more and more radio stations 683 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 1: become homogenized further and further, then all of a sudden, 684 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,759 Speaker 1: it's kind of like the radio equivalent of UM that 685 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 1: strip mall that you could go to Topeka or Miami 686 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,960 Speaker 1: or Seattle and find the exact same stuff in the 687 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: exact same stores with almost the exact same layout to 688 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:27,240 Speaker 1: where it's all the same. That's what pirate radio represents, 689 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,160 Speaker 1: or even if you take the pirate out of it, 690 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: that's what a multiplicity of different um community radio stations represents. Uh, 691 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: the lack of homogeneity that kind of sucks the life 692 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 1: out of everything that in and of itself makes them 693 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: valuable and that they shouldn't be aggressively pursued or chuck. 694 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,279 Speaker 1: There's one other thing too. If you are going to 695 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,560 Speaker 1: aggressively pursue this, then also make an avenue for legitimacy 696 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:54,839 Speaker 1: rather than just try to stamp them out or else. 697 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,080 Speaker 1: It really makes you question what the ultimate motive is. Yeah, 698 00:40:58,080 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: and here's the thing, Like, it would be very easy 699 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 1: to sit back and say, well, you've got the Internet, 700 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:04,120 Speaker 1: you can have an Internet radio station, you can have 701 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,319 Speaker 1: a podcast. It's more democratized than ever before to get 702 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 1: your voice out there, which is true in a way, 703 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: but that's also a very privileged thing to say when 704 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,000 Speaker 1: you just assume that someone has the money to afford 705 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:20,239 Speaker 1: the Internet. Let's go get a new iPhone. What's your problem? Yeah, exactly, Like, 706 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,719 Speaker 1: just download the app. It's that easy. Um. Radio, I 707 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: don't understand how you're not kidding. Radio is free and 708 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: you can you can buy a radio. You probably have 709 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,920 Speaker 1: a radio if you're one of these people in an 710 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,399 Speaker 1: underserved community. But if you don't, you can get one 711 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: of the thrift at a thrift store for five dollars 712 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,600 Speaker 1: that picks up the FM and a M spectrum and 713 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 1: you don't have to play pay monthly fees. You don't 714 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: have to pay internet fees. And it is a true 715 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,839 Speaker 1: democratized voice for the people who can't afford to get 716 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 1: it otherwise. Right, So, like, I didn't know anything about 717 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,959 Speaker 1: this as far as like the Pirate Act, I didn't 718 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,080 Speaker 1: know that existed until we started researching this episode, but 719 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: it's very clear that this is ah, this is a 720 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: law that's creating outlaws where they shouldn't necessarily be outlaws. 721 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:15,080 Speaker 1: There's no inherent problem with UM pirate radio like from 722 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,840 Speaker 1: what I've read UM and granted it was on a 723 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:22,760 Speaker 1: pirate radio organization's blog, Prometheus Radio Project, but they said 724 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,760 Speaker 1: they're very you can find very few instances of pirate 725 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: radio stations actually interfering with other stuff, but you can 726 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 1: very easily find major corporate radio stations interfering with stuff 727 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,920 Speaker 1: and very frequently saying there's a There was an instance 728 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:44,840 Speaker 1: in the nineties where North Perry, Florida's airport had to 729 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,320 Speaker 1: change frequencies because the commercial radio station that was interfering 730 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:51,000 Speaker 1: with their frequency that they were using to communicate with airplanes. 731 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,400 Speaker 1: They wouldn't change their their frequency UM, so the airport 732 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:58,799 Speaker 1: had to UM. You don't find that with pirate radio stations, 733 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:00,840 Speaker 1: And from what I saw, there's a lot of self 734 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,479 Speaker 1: policing that goes on in the community because you don't 735 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:06,839 Speaker 1: want to infringe on somebody else's broadcast, because that means 736 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,239 Speaker 1: that their broadcast is gonna infringe on your broad Yeah, 737 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:12,759 Speaker 1: you want your own digits, uh in America. Like we 738 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,879 Speaker 1: said before, UM to reiterate their standing behind the same 739 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,640 Speaker 1: thing the BBC did, which is it's it can interfere 740 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:23,799 Speaker 1: with sharing a vital public safety information, and it's just 741 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,240 Speaker 1: that's such hooey. Like if a someone dropped a dirty 742 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,160 Speaker 1: bomb on New York City, they're sure the radio stations 743 00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:34,160 Speaker 1: might issue some sort of public safety alert. But I 744 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,000 Speaker 1: guarantee you so would the pirate radio stations, and they 745 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 1: would do so in their language. That's true, that's right. Yeah, 746 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:44,160 Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of a lot of evidence that 747 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: pirate radio stations serve immigrant communities because they have like 748 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:52,680 Speaker 1: kind of this cultural tie to UM radio as a technology. 749 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:54,880 Speaker 1: So when they come over here to the United States, 750 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,680 Speaker 1: there they expect to get their information from radio. Yeah, 751 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:02,160 Speaker 1: and they wouldn't like the Twin Towers fall. I guarantee 752 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,640 Speaker 1: you pirate radio stations weren't like, we're just gonna keep 753 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,440 Speaker 1: spinning the tunes, you know. I'm sure they did like 754 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: every other broadcast and TV show and radio show in 755 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,320 Speaker 1: the world. I'm sure they cease their programming and started 756 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,520 Speaker 1: handing out vital information. Oh yeah, for sure. I can't 757 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:21,520 Speaker 1: prove it, but I can't imagine that they did otherwise. UM, 758 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,480 Speaker 1: I like what you did there too? You UM Like, 759 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,120 Speaker 1: they're like, well, what are you gonna do? I mean, 760 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: pirate radio interferes with stuff? You're like, Oh, yeah, what 761 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:30,920 Speaker 1: are you gonna do? If there's a dirty bomb in 762 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,520 Speaker 1: New York? You just threw it right back in the 763 00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:38,319 Speaker 1: FCC's face. I don't know what the thing is is 764 00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: from from this, from what I've seen, small government conservatives 765 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,200 Speaker 1: and libertarians should be all over that Pirate Act. They 766 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,200 Speaker 1: should be very much up in arms about this and 767 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:52,160 Speaker 1: about the way that the SEC targets small illegal radio 768 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:57,160 Speaker 1: stations without offering like a legitimate path to legitimacy. And um, 769 00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,520 Speaker 1: I would like to see that that's right. And by 770 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:02,080 Speaker 1: the way, I have in show correction. I think I 771 00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:04,279 Speaker 1: said that Preacher's boat caught fire. I don't think it 772 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:08,280 Speaker 1: actually caught fire. I think it just started smoking because 773 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:13,120 Speaker 1: the antenna feeder line interfered with another radio station, so 774 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,520 Speaker 1: didn't actually catch fire. When he was because I thought 775 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:20,200 Speaker 1: that the ironies of preaching fire and brimstone and it 776 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:24,000 Speaker 1: actually catching fire was too great, right, God went be 777 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:30,160 Speaker 1: quiet smoke, so um, if you are interested in pirate radio, 778 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,200 Speaker 1: The Verge did a whole series on it, really interesting 779 00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:38,520 Speaker 1: in depth stuff, and uh, yeah you could also do. 780 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,879 Speaker 1: I ran across one called the Lot. It's out of 781 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,640 Speaker 1: I think Williamsburg and it's on a little lot in 782 00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:47,600 Speaker 1: a shipping container. Of course it is. It's like, um, 783 00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:49,719 Speaker 1: all DJ sets all the time, but it's not a 784 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,000 Speaker 1: pretty great and they have a webcam of what you 785 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,919 Speaker 1: can see out the window. It's just cute, nice and 786 00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:57,440 Speaker 1: it's just cozy in a way. Yeah, and again, go 787 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,480 Speaker 1: check out and stream the radio Caroline classic version. Uh. 788 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,960 Speaker 1: If you're into like just good playlist, it's it's one 789 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:06,000 Speaker 1: of the best. I gotta check that out. I didn't 790 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: run across that, so thank you for that public service, chuck. Um, 791 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:13,400 Speaker 1: you got anything else? Nope? Okay, Well that's it for 792 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 1: pirate radio for now. Uh and um that means it's 793 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:22,319 Speaker 1: time for a listener mail. This is called hot off 794 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:24,480 Speaker 1: the Presses. Just got this email and it was just 795 00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,200 Speaker 1: so heartwarming I had had to share it. Hey, guys 796 00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:30,600 Speaker 1: and Jerry, I love listening to the recent episode on soap. 797 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,080 Speaker 1: I consider myself a bit of a soap nerd because 798 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,480 Speaker 1: when I served at the Peace Corps as a Peace 799 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:39,759 Speaker 1: Corps volunteer in Senegal for three years late two thousand's 800 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:44,480 Speaker 1: I guess two thousand sixteen to two thousand nineteen, late teens. 801 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: My main activity was training women's groups on how to 802 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:51,440 Speaker 1: start small businesses making and selling soap. We trained them 803 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:53,719 Speaker 1: on how to make all kinds of our soap using 804 00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:58,480 Speaker 1: local ingredients shape, butter, honey, mint, herbs uh. Teaching these 805 00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:00,560 Speaker 1: women's groups about soap making is a the excellent way 806 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:04,600 Speaker 1: to improve their household financial security for a few reasons. First, 807 00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,399 Speaker 1: you're always going to have a market for soap because 808 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,800 Speaker 1: everyone needs it. Secondly, there are a few barriers to 809 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,239 Speaker 1: entry to making soap. You don't need to be able 810 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,920 Speaker 1: to read or have fancy equipment. If you can measure 811 00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:16,240 Speaker 1: poor and stir, then you can make it. And Thirdly, 812 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:19,319 Speaker 1: because women in Senegal are responsible for so much of 813 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,080 Speaker 1: the daily chores in their home, soap making requires only 814 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:24,320 Speaker 1: a little bit of time since much of the process 815 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,360 Speaker 1: is waiting for the soap to cure fully into a 816 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,480 Speaker 1: hard bar And fourth making soap is a great way 817 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,800 Speaker 1: to teach all the basics of starting a business. Marketing, accounting, 818 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:38,120 Speaker 1: record keeping, calculating unit costs, profit margins, making creative packaging. 819 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:40,680 Speaker 1: Once they master these skills, they can expand to other 820 00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:45,600 Speaker 1: business opportunities. And fifth, it smells really good. Yeah, she said. 821 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:48,439 Speaker 1: Some of the re fondest memories are her service seeing 822 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:50,640 Speaker 1: the satisfaction on their faces as the lion shape butter 823 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: mixture spent ages stirring by hand became real soap for 824 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 1: them to sell and market. Uh I trained over a 825 00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,760 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty members or of more than five women's 826 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,560 Speaker 1: group on soap making, and all of the groups continue 827 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,920 Speaker 1: to make soap and sell it for a profit today, 828 00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:09,120 Speaker 1: helping to make their households more financially secure. Tell me 829 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,479 Speaker 1: they included a website. Uh no, because it's a bunch 830 00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:15,160 Speaker 1: of different groups, but it is. It was from the 831 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,880 Speaker 1: Peace Corps. You obviously want to support them, and that 832 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:24,359 Speaker 1: is from Grace e uh Nagel. Thanks a lot, Gracey Nagel. Um, 833 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:27,120 Speaker 1: we appreciate that. That was that was great. It was 834 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:31,200 Speaker 1: a great email. She sent pictures. We appreciate Um, I'll 835 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,640 Speaker 1: have to check them out. Well, we appreciate you what 836 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,000 Speaker 1: you did over there and sending goal to totally. If 837 00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:38,880 Speaker 1: you want to let us know about something great you 838 00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:41,680 Speaker 1: did in your life, like grace E did. You could 839 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:43,960 Speaker 1: send us an email, wrap it up, spanking on the 840 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,919 Speaker 1: bottom twice, and send it off to Stuff podcast at 841 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:53,400 Speaker 1: iHeart radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a 842 00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:56,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works from more podcasts 843 00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:58,439 Speaker 1: for my heart Radio. Because at the iHeart Radio app, 844 00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,160 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts are where every listening to your favorite shops