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London's Radio Pirates Changed Music. Then Came the Internet. (nytimes.com)
Earlier this month, The New York Times ran a story which looks at the ways a network of illegal radio stations changed British music, and wonders where young people are going to make culture now, now that the internet is killing off the pirate radio. An excerpt from the story: Ofcom, the British communications regulator, estimated there are now just 50 pirate stations in London, down from about 100 a decade ago, and hundreds in the 1990s, when stations were constantly starting up and shutting down. Ofcom considers this good news, because illegal broadcasters could interfere with radio frequencies used by emergency services and air traffic control, a spokesman said.
But pirate radio stations also offered public services, of a different sort: They gave immigrant communities programming in their native languages, ran charity drives and created the first radio specifically for black Britons. Pirate radio was also the site of some of Britain's most important musical innovations, introducing pop to the airwaves in the 1960s and incubating the major underground British music trends of recent decades, up to and including dubstep and grime: Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Skepta all launched their careers on the pirates.
But pirate radio stations also offered public services, of a different sort: They gave immigrant communities programming in their native languages, ran charity drives and created the first radio specifically for black Britons. Pirate radio was also the site of some of Britain's most important musical innovations, introducing pop to the airwaves in the 1960s and incubating the major underground British music trends of recent decades, up to and including dubstep and grime: Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Skepta all launched their careers on the pirates.
The term "Radio Pirate" was used in the 1960s, it had nothing to do with copyright violations. Oddly enough the usage may actually have been the impetus for it being used for the latter.
The term was initially used to describe radio stations that were literally run from ships in order to make it harder for UK authorities to prevent them from broadcasting an unlicensed service. Boats. Illegal activity. Boats. Illegal stuff. You can rather easily figure out why the word "pirate" was used.
Over time the term was used for any unlicensed radio station, and ultimately I suspect this is why it translated so easily over to other kinds of unlicensed activity, including copyright infringement.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I was an SWL (short wave listener) from the 1950s until about 1990 and I can't recall any "pirate" radio station that could possibly interfere with emergency services or air traffic control. Most "pirate" broadcasters operated on frequencies in the domestic AM and FM broadcast bands (where ordinary people could hear them) or, if on short wave, near the international broadcast bands (naturally) or on *clear channels* in the so-called Fixed Public bands (point-to-point press and commercial services, etc) or in the Maritime Mobile bands. None of the "pirate" stations wanted to interfere with anyone else because then they would suffer interference too. (Radio interference is a two-way street, you see.) I think the Ofcom statement is simply a regurgitation of some self-serving bureaucratic mythology.