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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.
and wonders where young people are going to make culture now, now that the internet is killing off the pirate radio.
It has never been easier to promulgate "culture" (e.g. audio) that you make.
It has to be a $%^&load easier for more people to make music with today's tech and put it out on the internet than it was to do it with older tech and try to get it onto "pirate radio".
If this journalist wonders where "the young people will make culture" in the age of the internet, then this journalist is stupid and probably doesn't know how to internet very well.
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.
So, they used the phrase "could interfere" with regards to emergency broadcasts. That sounds like excuse wording. At the very least it's unclear wording. Why not 'did' or 'sometimes' interfered?
We're at the tail end here. DID it interfere with critical infrastructure, or was that an excuse used to attack interference with purely commercial broadcasters?
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.
The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a radio transmitter is a good guy with a stronger radio transmitter?
Years ago I happened to stumble upon stories about how some of these "pirate" stations took up residence in offshore military installations left over from World War II. I spent the better part of a day reading about ingenuity and innovation of those stations in particular. To my knowledge we never had anything comparable in the USA, which is a big shame; apparently after the Revolutionary War we ceded our revolutionary mindsets back to British citizens?
Actually, we did and still do, but they are mostly low power stations that broadcast over a very narrow area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Admittedly there were some restrictions on UK radio at the time. Firstly only the BBC was allowed to operate radio stations, having just the three national services, one of which was essentially part time. Secondly the BBC was encumbered by 'needletime', the Musician's Union imposed limit on how much commercially available music could be played on the airwaves. It was a ridiculously low limit, forcing the BBC to use session recordings, or more likely cover versions of current hits by non-entities. Only one station, The Light Programme, played popular music at all, and that had to share its airwaves with sports, comedy, drama, and various other forms of music such as cinema organs and brass bands. The pirates came and could play records all day. Of course the paid no royalties, but there were other problems. The owner of two stations also had his own record label, and they constantly played his often mediocre releases. Another was owned by a prospective Parliamentary candidate, and used his station to broadcast campaigning adverts. There was also a murder associated with the ownership of one station and an incident in which several members of the crew of one station drowned. Eventually the government stepped in, granted the BBC an extra station just for popular music (but restricted still by 'needletime'), and made it illegal to advertise on these stations, or do any other business with them. Most stations closed when the law came in in Summer 1967. Within a few years the UK also gained some commercial stations, but radio didn't get fixed until about 20 years later, when emergency services started to move off the FM waveband, allowing far many more stations.
Have you actually been to London?
Of course he's never been to London. He probably thinks driving to the next crappy flyover State is "travel".
None of those idiot A/C's who post nonsense about muslims have ever been anywhere. Why bother when you can stay at home and have Alex Jones and Fox News tell you what to think?