During the 1980s, I recorded many American pirate radio stations on cassette tape and actively traded tapes with other DXers.\u00a0 A slow and long process of transferring these cassettes to MP3 was undertaken a few years ago with many more tapes left to digitize.\u00a0 Below are stations that I have recorded and archived, with more to follow as time permits to process them.\u00a0 The quality varies from decent to down right horrible (depending on band\u00a0conditions at the time, recording media, etc.), but nonetheless they are presented here for historical purposes. All recordings were made from a ca.1986 GE “World Monitor” shortwave receiver and a simple longwire antenna by me unless where noted.<\/p>\n
More recent off-air recordings are also featured at the bottom of this page recording off my Microtelecom Perseus SDR receiver and BOG antenna.<\/p>\n
Action Radio<\/a>\u00a0– 7416 kHz\u00a0– December 25th, 1990 – 2320 UTC Celtic Nation Radio<\/a>\u00a0– 7416 kHz\u00a0– October 31st, 1988 – 0245 UTC Free Radio One<\/a> – 7415 kHz – June 15th, 1989 – 0244-0305 UTC Hope Radio Int’l. & Others<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– December 25th, 1990 – approx 2340 UTC KBFA<\/a>\u00a0– 8002 kHz\u00a0– September 5th, 1987 – 0305 UTC More KBFA\u00a0with 80s music “blowing the doors off WRNO”, or so the op claimed.\u00a0 Note the unusual frequency used.\u00a0 I have to admit the signal was pretty strong starting out!<\/p>\n KBFA<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 7400 kHz\u00a0\u2013 November 27th, 1987 \u2013 1618 UTC KBFA<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a07415 kHz\u00a0–\u00a0March 10th, 1990 – 0002 UTC KPLU<\/a> – time\/date\/frequency unknown – circa 1990 Radio Angeline<\/a> – 7418 kHz – June 24th, 1989 – 0313-0353 UTC Radio Clandestine<\/a>\u00a0– 3445 kHz\u00a0– September 26th, 1987 – 0423 UTC Radio Clandestine<\/a> – time\/date\/frequency unknown – should have kept better records Radio Clandestine<\/a> – 7415 kHz\u00a0– September 5th, 1988 – 0546 UTC Radio Comedy Club International<\/a> – 7414 kHz – June 27th, 1989 – 0202-0232 UTC Radio Free Euphoria \/ WREC<\/a> – time\/date\/frequency unknown – circa 1993 Radio Free Willy<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– October 30th, 1988 – 0121 UTC Radio Mauser Worldwide<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– December 12th, 1987 – 8:05 PM EST Radio North Coast International<\/a>\u00a0– 3445 kHz- November 1st, 1987 – 0520 UTC Radio USA<\/a>\u00a0– 7475 kHz\u00a0– October 30th, 1989 – 0003 UTC Secret Mountain Laboratory<\/a> – unknown date\/time\/frequency – circa 1987 The Crooked Man<\/a>\u00a0– 7416 kHz\u00a0– October 16th, 1988 – 1947 UTC The Voice of Free Long Island<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0-December 24th, 1987 – 2226 UTC The Voice of Free Long Island<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– March 19th, 1988 – 0430 UTC The Voice of the Purple Pumpkin<\/a>\u00a0– 15038 kHz\u00a0– October 29th, 1989 – 2143 UTC The Voice of Laryngitis<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– October 31st, 1987 – 2231 UTC The Voice of To-morrow<\/a>\u00a0– 7410 kHz\u00a0– May 29th, 1988 – 0000 UTC WBST<\/a> – 6210 kHz – October 28th, 1989 – 0412-0421 UTC WBLO<\/a>\u00a0– 7420 kHz\u00a0– October 23, 1988 – 0134 UTC WDOG<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 kHz\u00a0– October 10th, 1987 – 0014 UTC WFIX<\/a>\u00a0– 7445 kHz\u00a0– August 10th, 1988 – 2215 UTC WGAT<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 Khz – December 31st, 1987 – 0202 UTC WGAT<\/a>\u00a0– 7415 Khz – December 31st, 1987 – 0331 UTC WLIS<\/a> – unknown date\/time\/frequency – circa 1990 World Mission Radio (WMR) via Radio Caroline<\/a>\u00a0– 6215 kHz\u00a0– August 6th, 1988 – 0500 UTC WXOR<\/a>\u00a0– 7418 kHz\u00a0– April 3rd, 1988 – 0152 UTC WPN<\/a> – unknown date\/time\/frequency – circa 1989 WYMN Woman’s Radio<\/a>\u00a0– 7430 kHz\u00a0– November 7th, 1987 – 1712 UTC Zeppelin Radio Worldwide<\/a>\u00a0– 7416 kHz\u00a0– July 11th, 1987 – 0100 UTC Just placeholders, work in progress, check back soon!<\/p>\n Boombox Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Channel Z<\/strong><\/p>\n Metro Radio International Pirate Radio Saint Helena<\/strong><\/p>\n The Big Q (1710 kHz) Clips<\/strong><\/p>\n Undercover Radio Clips<\/strong><\/p>\n WKND<\/strong><\/p>\n Wolverine Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n YHWH<\/strong><\/p>\n X-FM Stereo Shortwave Clips<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the 1980s, I recorded many American pirate radio stations on cassette tape and actively traded tapes with other DXers.\u00a0 A slow and long process of transferring these cassettes to MP3 was undertaken a few years ago with many more tapes left to digitize.\u00a0 Below are stations that I have recorded and archived, with more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdxer.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNoted as the last entry in my pirate logbook, Action Radio’s<\/a> Christmas Eve broadcast started out with a nice clear signal in this recording and gradually faded down by sign-off time (note the Cheers theme song that Action Radio used for a sign-off).<\/p>\n
\nHope you like Irish folk songs!<\/p>\n
\n“Free Radio One” was a very active shortwave pirate during the late 1980s. Classic shortwave anti-government ramblings using an interview format was the norm for this “Christian Patriot” station.<\/p>\n
\nThis clip picks up where Action Radio (transmission above) left off, revealing a weaker station playing music down on 7410.\u00a0 The killer heterodyne\u00a0that you’ll hear is coming from Hope Radio Int’l. up on 7415 seeking a two-way pirate QSO\u00a0and later getting yelled at by another operator for causing QRM\u00a0to the 7410 station.\u00a0 Note the massive signal from Hope Radio, probably a kilowatt or more.\u00a0 At about minute 7:30 in the clip I start shortwave dial spinning-\u00a0sort of interesting in itself hearing some of the SW broadcasters from this time.\u00a0 The clip ends with two other pirate ops in a QSO, one possibly CEPR “Experimental Propagation Radio”.<\/p>\n
\nCalling themselves the “Broadcasters of Free America”, this pirate usually operated on the odd frequency of 8000 Khz\u00a0and solicited reception reports to the Pirates Den column in Popular Communications magazine. This drove the column editor nuts and frustrated me since I could never get a QSL from these guys. KBFA\u00a0played a good mix of 80s pop music and the station ops went by the name of “The Archer” & “Corona”.\u00a0 As noted here, KBFA\u00a0also operated near 7400 Khz\u00a0and used the slogans “AM 74” & “AM 8000” depending on the frequency used during a broadcast.\u00a0 KBFA claimed they were broadcasting at 200 watts.<\/p>\n
\nA rough reception, but also my last off-air recording of KBFA from 1990.<\/p>\n
\nShort 2 minute clip of KPLU (?) broadcasting in SSB.<\/p>\n
\nAnother 80s pirate gem in the form of “Radio Angeline” as heard here with their chilling Send In The Clowns<\/em> music box interval signal, poetry readings set to odd background music, and other weirdness.<\/p>\n
\nStation op “RF Burns” operating here at the top of the 90 meter band with his classic anti hum-drum programming style.<\/p>\n
\nThis short clip contains Radio Clandestine signing off, possibly continued from the broadcast noted above.<\/p>\n
\nMore R.C. goodness, recorded off my GE World Monitor\u00a0and random wire antenna – enjoy!<\/p>\n
\nRadio Comedy Club International was another active pirate during the late 80s that I caught a few times. As usual, I had the recorder running when I caught this scratchy summer reception of RCCI.<\/p>\n
\n30 second clip with nice ID “Broadcasting to the world, or at least some small part of it…”<\/p>\n
\n50 minutes of RFW with political humor and music with a nice signal.<\/p>\n
\nA discombobulated\u00a0show to say the least during this broadcast.\u00a0 At one point it sounded like a QSO between Mouser and other op, and other times just endless ramblings.\u00a0 I stripped out the IDs and produced a short clip so that I have them “on record”.<\/p>\n
\nCaptain Willy’s well polished RNCI shortwave Halloween Special \/ Phil Spector Special.\u00a0 Classic shortwave pirate parody programming at its finest. Nice signal received.<\/p>\n
\n12 minutes of classic Mr. Blue Sky punk music and skits in this off-air recording.<\/p>\n
\nA rough cut here of a SML shortwave broadcast.<\/p>\n
\nCrazy rants by the Crooked Man himself in this clip with a good selection of music to balance the program out.<\/p>\n
\nThe VOFLI\u00a0began operations in 1987 on Long Island, NY. using 100w\u00a0and described itself as a politically conservative pirate supporting such causes as the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters and the Afghan Freedom Fighters.\u00a0 Though conservatively focused, the VOFLI\u00a0also played pop music at times, as in this clip, and took live phone calls from DXers.\u00a0 In this clip you’ll hear the op take a live call from yours truly, though problems with the station’s phone patch prevented the telephone call from being heard over the air.\u00a0 The station’s op went by the handle of “The General” and was a licensed 21 year old ham radio operator at the time of this broadcast.\u00a0 Interestingly, some of the early VOFLI QSL<\/a> cards were the op’s ARRL sanctioned cards with a label simply stuck over the ham’s call letters!<\/p>\n
\nVOFLI\u00a0with a new feature called “DX Darren” with SWL\u00a0and DX tips.\u00a0 If you can\u00a0imagine\u00a0Cliff Clavin\u00a0from Cheers reading DX tips, then you get the idea…<\/p>\n
\nA familiar name in pirate radio history, the operator in this clip claims to be the original VOTPP during this special Halloween broadcast, about 17 minutes in length.<\/p>\n
\nClassic Huxley<\/a> style programming at its best!<\/p>\n
\nKevin Alfred Strom’s<\/a> white separatist openly racist pirate radio station.\u00a0 It’s believed the station was operated from the Virginia area.<\/p>\n
\nOn October 28th, 1989 I logged an old Halloween favorite, pirate radio station “WBST” on 6210 kHz at 0412 UTC. \u00a0Here’s a scratchy off-air recording of that reception including a nice ID.<\/p>\n
\nAnother historical shortwave pirate, WBLO.\u00a0 My orignal notes indicate this WBLO transmission was relayed by Radio Clandestine.\u00a0 This clip is rather short as the rest is pretty unlistenable due to poor conditions.<\/p>\n
\nPerhaps the only broadcast (and logging) of this shortwave pirate calling itself “WDOG” testing and playing a string of songs by Gary Numan.<\/p>\n
\n“Fix It Radio” seemed mostly preoccupied with playing their interval signal, so much so that I had to crop about 10 minutes of it out.\u00a0 Check out the cool spook signal that’s clearly heard when the op leaves the air!<\/p>\n
\nFrom deep in the Dismal Swamp of Eastern Virginia comes WGAT\u00a0 – GATOR RADIO!\u00a0 Though more music based, I always enjoyed hearing Dr. Klystron’s voice coming over the airwaves.\u00a0 The station claimed to be using a 1956 commercial RCA 500 watt transmitter and a half wave dipole supported from two cyprus trees.<\/p>\n
\nGator Radio returned later in the evening on New Years Eve for a second broadcast as heard here.<\/p>\n
\nShort sample of “We Love Interval Signals” in this clip broadcasting in SSB.\\<\/p>\n
\nRadio Caroline, aboard the MV Ross Revenge, relayed World Mission Radio (WMR) during the evening hours as heard in this clip from 1988.\u00a0 Aside from some mild summer static, reception is pretty good.<\/p>\n
\n“Captain Bottle Cap” & “Pull Tab Hunter” playing Elton John and others while broadcasting in Satan sideband.<\/p>\n
\nThree minute clip of WPN\u00a0with anthem and nice YL ID and “first ever color pirate shortwave broadcast”.<\/p>\n
\nProbably the world’s first feminist pirate radio station.\u00a0 This short clip contains some local QRN but the ID is clearly heard under the noise.<\/p>\n
\nI had the recorder running for what turned out to be my first ever pirate catch back in 1987 that netted a classic ZRW QSL card<\/a> (and business card, and paper bookmark).<\/p>\nPirate Radio Off- Air Archive, 2011-present:
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n