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An introduction to the subject of Pirate Radio can be found under that heading.
Compared to authoritarian governmental systems which restrict access to the means of communication, access to the communications spectrum of the United States is relatively free and easy from direct government control and censorship. As a result of this difference the term pirate radio has a totally different meaning than in many other countries where access is limited.
In the United States the term pirate radio implies the unlicensed use of any part of the radio spectrum that is reserved for use by governmental, public or commercial licensees. This includes the FM, AM and Shortwave radio bands.
Because basic radio transmission equipment is relatively easy to obtain and hide, the FCC, which has the authority to regulate radio communications, sometimes has difficulty in finding and prosecuting offenders who transmit without a license.
In the USA pirate radio is frequently, but not always associated with anarchism which considers governmental spectrum regulatory schemes as favoring the interests of large corporations. Anarchists therefore consider pirate radio transmissions to be a challenge to that authority.
- RKXR aboard the SS City of Panama anchored off California, USA.
- Radio Free America a brief religious station by Dr. Carl McIntire aboard the MV Columbus anchored off New Jersey, USA.
- Radio Newyork International aboard the MV Lichfield I disguised as the MV Sarah and anchored off Jones Beach, Long Island, New York.
Brief history of Radio Newyork International
The history of Radio Newyork International is also linked to the stories about Radio Caroline and the so-called Principality of Sealand.
Radio Caroline is probably the world's most well-known offshore radio station, having begun life in 1964 and remaining off and on until 1991 as an unlicensed radio station aboard a variety of ships usually anchored off southeast England.
On August 19 1989 James Murphy, an investigator for the Office of Official Solicitor acting on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry, led colleagues and counterparts from the Netherlands Radio Regulatory Authority carried out a raid on the Ross Revenge which had become the latest home of Radio Caroline, together with a Dutch station both on different AM frequencies and a shortwave religious station called World Mission Radio with an on air mailing address in California, USA. During the raid vital equipment was wrecked or confiscated. It was claimed that WMR's use of a shortwave frequency in the 49 metre band for the transmission of paid-for religious programmes was causing interference to other short wave broadcasters.
Prior to that raid in 1997, Allan Weiner of Maine, USA had twice attempted to broadcast on AM (Medium Wave and Long Wave), FM and Short Wave from the motor vessel alleged to be the Sarah off Jones Beach, Long Island, New York, under the name of Radio Newyork International. Weiner also been on board the Ross Revenge where he had earlier attempted to install a shortwave transmitter. On board was his dj friend John Ford from the USA. Later, after Ford left Radio Caroline he became one of the original investors in Radio Newyork International. Transmissions were received over half of the USA.
In 1987 this station was forcibly shut down by the US Coast Guard and United States Marshals on behalf of the FCC and the ship was later towed into port at Boston. Following the raid on the Sarah in which Weiner had been brought back to shore in handcuffs, he flew to England for an offshore radio convention in Blackpool and later met Michael Bates whose father Roy claimed to have established an independent country off southeast England. Under a paper transaction, Weiner sold both the radio station and the radio ship to a British company managed by Michael Bates, upon the provision that at a later time Weiner would be able to buy back both the radio station and radio ship. Under this agreement Weiner was to manage the radio station for the alleged British company, while the radio ship itself was to be reregistered by Michael Bates in the country which his father was alleged to have established. Thus Weiner claimed that he no longer owned the radio station or the radio ship.
The following year in 1988, the vessel returned to sea again off Jones Beach and again attempted the same broadcasts under the same call-sign, only this time it claimed be owned by a British company with the radio ship itself registered in the independent Principality of Sealand. This so-called "principality" was in reality a former British World War II fort built in England on board a barge, floated out to sea and then intentionally sunk on Rough Sands sandbar which was between 6 to 8 miles off the coast of Southeast England. After the sinking only the twin legs and top deck of the superstructure of the sunken barge could be seen above the water line.
The US government immediately contacted the UK Department of Trade and Industry concerning these British connections to both the radio station and the radio ship, when attorneys representing Allan Weiner also began citing Radio Caroline as an internationally accepted offshore radio station during the case brought against Weiner and his associates that resulted from their first offshore broadcasts in 1987 which had led to Weiner's arrest. Connections were then made between World Mission Radio and the USA.
Later, in 1990 during an Administrative Court hearing into a shortwave radio license being sought by Allan Weiner, the US government again contacted the DTI for help concerning the Principality of Sealand registration of the MV Sarah. In return the same James Murphy who had led the British part of the raid on the MV Ross Revenge then performed a sworn document made under the laws of both the UK and the USA. In this document he stated that he was an Investigator for the Official Solicitor on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry and that he had personally carried out an investigation into the alleged Principality of Sealand. He reported that it was neither a state nor an entity capable of registering ships. The 1990 this US Administrative Court decision was later appealed by Allan Weiner in 1991 and the original Opinion was upheld in court.
This is the complex story behind the raid and why it took place and the reason for when it took place. As a footnote these international court case connections eventually led to Ryan Lackey abandoning the Havenco internet project on Rough Sands.
Footnote
Although Radio Newyork International did not commence offshore broadcasting again, it did become a program heard over US licensed shortwave broadcast station WWCR. Later Allan Weiner obtained an FCC license for his own shortwave station known as WBCQ which broadcasts from Monticello, Maine. Radio Newyork International resumed as a program on that station on Sunday evenings.
USA Cultural References
The movie Pump Up the Volume has as its hero a high school student who has built and operates a pirate radio station which he uses to broadcast to his neighborhood.
See also: Community Radio
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