Pirate Radio Stations Keep Popping Up In Oregon 

Years ago, when I was in college I set up a pirate station in my dorm room since the school station couldn't be heard beyond the dorm it was located in. I ran the station for about a month, playing tapes between classes or when I was studying, and sometimes others would wander in and play DJ for a while. But then I got a call from the Dean's office asking me to stop by. I was worried. I figured I was just about to get kicked out for my pirate station. And when I walked into his office and sat down, and he said, "I hear you are operating a radio station on campus," I knew it was all over. But he then slide a sheet of paper across to me and said, "I was wondering if you would broadcast this announcement for me. No one can hear our official college station and I hear that yours is listened to all over campus." I assured him that I would indeed broadcast his announcement, as often as he liked, and I walked out of his office as a student in good standing, enormously relieved, and with an 'in' at the Dean's office. :)

In my hometown, a fellow born in 1945 began, as a teen, running his own radio station as a hobby. People who knew about him had to park within, like , 1.5 blocks to tune him in on the car radios. He'd made up call letters, he'd play records, the whole gig. Somehow, his call sign and info reached record companies and he started receiving promo records, shipped to him, to play! He never got in any trouble. (I guess in late 50s/early 60s it was reckoned, "It's a darn weak signal, and he's not out making trouble, leave him be."

When I was in high school, 50 plus years ago, I had a friend who was interested in broadcasting. He built a Knight Kit wireless broadcaster. A couple of hundred foot range. He started broadcasting music, sports, and news. In his quest for more coverage, he put up an antenna and built a 6L6 amplifier. He had started the Mother Fletcher Radio Network. We could listen all over town. This attracted the attention of the FCC. They told him to knock it off. He later became the chief engineer for a big station in Philadelphia.

My roommate and I in college started a pirate radio station and transmitted from our dorm. He built the transmitter and we hung a very long antenna out the third-floor dorm window which let us transmit around 5 miles on some nights. We had four DJs and only transmitted at night. It was great fun and I have fond memories of our radio antics. The reason we got away with the station was the fact we were located in a very small JR college in the high plains of western Colo. Jack Rabbitt country We eventually received a very "official-looking" stern letter from the FCC which ended our radion careers after a year and half

Hi Steve. I used to be in the US Coast Guard (I see the USCG sign in your background, thanks for that!). You mentioned the weird properties of A.M. radio. I have a similar story from my days in the USCG. In the USCG (at least back in the day, can't speak for today), if you received a mayday call on HF radio you were not allowed to respond. You must report it, but not respond. Why??? Because HF can follow the curvature of the earth and, depending on atmospheric conditions, the signal can propagate for thousands of miles. Once you respond to a mayday you are the responsible party for rescue, and if you're thousands of miles away, how effective can you be at rescue? So, you report it, the location is determined, and local people are expected to respond.

I worked as a country radio DJ back in the 1980's for a short time, and I was the only one in the building at night. So I had to check the transmitter on schedule, and log the numbers. But on the topic of "pirate" radio, we had some local stations that did some shuffling of formats among them. Two of the very popular DJs were off the air for a while, and when they came back, they said they were "pirate radio" for a while, but they were really just testing the new equipment and studio, and I believe it was "provisional status" where they were allowed to be on so many hours per day at lower power than they would be using when changing to "operational status." It was a great gimmick to get listeners!

The famous offshore station in England was Radio Caroline, and its story is told in the movie, Pirate Radio.

As a pre teen, I saw an ad in the Popular Mechanics about a "super secret" device that one could hook to a radio and use it to broadcast music or your voice on a low AM band. After saving up the required $ I sent for it and after two tries it was hooked up to my Hallicrafter radio. Darned if it didn't work; weakly, broadcasting maybe a hundred feet . One evening my buddy Gary and I were goofing around trying to be DJ's and Gary came out with a string of profanity that he must of heard from his dad, who was a rough dude. Then something else caught our 11 yo attention and we shut down the radio. The next morning Mr. Gusky, our closest neighbor, came to our back door to speak to my mother. He explained that last night as he and his wife were getting ready for bed, their radio erupted into some terrible filthy language from some kid or kids. Maybe my mother should have a talk with me, he advised. She didn't talk to me; Dad did. The "super secret radio device" went to the junk pile. I kept a low profile for weeks thereafter.

We had Radio Hauraki here in NZ which started as a pirate FM station situated on a ship in (at the time) international waters off the coast of Auckland. At the time, we only had AM stations, primarily government run and with heavily restricted content, similar to the British situation.

My dad used to listen to a pirate radio station when he was a kid that operated just south of the boarder in Mexico in the 1950's and 60's. He actually built an AM radio and could actually picked it up in Eugene, Or. The guy, Robert Smith, played Rock & Roll music. He even appeared in the Movie American Graffiti, which was his first public appearance. He went by the name "Wolfman Jack" on air.

I used to run my church's sound system in high school and college. As part of our equipment we had a small, low power FM transmitter for folks in the building that were hearing impaired. The system came with a set of receivers, but folks could also use a standard radio with headphones. It was also handy for moms in our nursey room. They could listen to the service quietly without disturbing napping kiddos. While not technically a pirate radio system since it fell within the power limits for unlicensed use, it was a pretty handy system. For example, on church work days we would play music through the system so you could listen to some music while you cleaned, painted, etc. (This was in the days before MP3 players.)

I grew up in Massachusetts, but we'd often go to Florida. My dad would listen to AM sports radio from Boston, usually WEEI, at night. Then in college I took an antennas class and learned why. I also learned that not only is the power of a station's signal regulated, but the *shape* of the signal is also regulated.

In the mid to late seventies, my cousin and I try to start a pirate radio station with a home-made transmitter. It was not very powerful but we did get someone to call in and request a song. It was a short lived adventure.

As a Michigan Tech student in the late 80s, I alleviated homesickness by tuning my boom box to WJR and listening to Ernie Harwell call Detroit Tiger games. Good memories. 🙂

Throughout much of the 80's and 90's there was a militia pirate station back in my home town that reached a 5 or so mile radius. The owner/operator claimed it was legal, although unlicensed, because it operated below 100 watts and he broadcast on a frequency that did not interfere with commercially licensed stations. It shut down in the end because the guy was imprisoned on weapons charges by the ATF. He did have to change frequency once, when a Catholic radio station was licensed for the area on the frequency he was using.

In college our dorm FM station transmitter was just a small circuit board on a shelf in the studio. Low power transmitters are not elaborate or expensive. It had a range of about 3 miles.

When I was in college (in the early 90s), there was a student in my dorm who fired up a pirate radio station. Not very high powered, but had a range of about 4 miles in any direction. The town we were in got wind of it, and notified the FCC, and they came to town, and the student got scared and pulled it down. But it ran for months before the town found out about it and it was fun to listen to (radio and communications was my focus/major) while it lasted.

for many decades there have been special vehicles that can seek out signals of these stations and other signals. They drive around, seeking, searching, looking, listening. in the late 80's I had subscription to an electronics mag that published a list of pirate stations around the US, it gave wattage, call letters, content. Most were a few watts with catchy names and content.

Another fine example of government over-reach

As an old radio broadcaster and engineer, pirate radio is a favorite past time for me. I'd go work my jobs at the commercial stations, and come home and fire my own up for some fun. I'd built my own transmitters until I obtained the commercial pro gear and optimod FM for the polished sound. I was told a story about the pirates in Florida. And was from a fellow colleague engineer with good reputation and open mind to us pirate guys. He told me a guy he knew was at the FCC field office talking about pirate radio, and the agent took him into the room where they stored all confiscated pirate radio transmitters and other things. And he grabbed one and handed it to the guy to take home for his own pirate station. True story.

"FCC Enforcement Bureau" What !? That still exists !? Seeing how much RFI is currently being generated, I thought it had been disbanded. Risky behavior ! One deck blackjack, will make "the house" go broke, real fast !

Actually, thanks to tech advances and eBay, you can get an FM stereo transmitter for $35. Just add audio input, and toss a 10W amp on it for another $35 and you have an FM stereo pirate station. Transmitters and amps of varying quality and features can be found for sale all over the web. There are even some interesting setups I've read people putting together that run off of small PV panels and wireless audio inputs, digital hotspot links, etc. They get set up in the bushes on a hillside above a city, and then broadcast remotely. When the FCC arrives (after a few months, or even years,) there is just a modest amount of electronics to confiscate, and no one to fine for the illegal operation - and the pirate just sets up another $100 station at a slightly different location and they're right back on the air. Unlike in the past, the widely available 'how to' info online on the subject means the operator needs to know essentially no electronics. The advances in RF communication, both digital and analog that have been made, the availability of equipment, and the major drop in prices have made the control of radio transmission very difficult for the FCC, and very easy for a smart pirate. I read about an online FM station in Boulder, CO with a full studio would send its programming out online, and the audio would then be fed into FM transmitters around town by various listeners. The real money involved, and the organization of the station was in the perfectly legal studio. The illegal FM broadcasts were something done independently by listeners. This is just an example of the sorts of difficulties faced by the FCC in a high-tech society. I'm sure there are plenty more. I imagine spread spectrum technology will be next. Or microwave broadcasts, and $5 eBay down-converters for the listeners. There is no end to it.

Thanks for the easy find of the Benjamin. You have one of the best history outlets on RU-vid. Thank you for your teachings.

11:28 I bought some FM transmitters for around $15. Of course their range was only a couple feet, and their primary use was to connect an mp3 player (Zune, etc) or cd player to your car’s stereo if it didn’t have an aux input or tape player. I operated my own pirate radio station for a few years out of my car - though you’d have to be tailgating me real close in order to actually hear it...

Would love to hear your commentary on Internet radio. There is a proliferation of internet radio stations and many people don't get there is still a financial commitment to that (music licensing, fees for hosting your station, etc.). For everyone who has that "pirate" radio fantasy...

The "micro-nation" of Sealandia in Europe started out as a "pirate radio" station mounted on a disused WW2 anti-aircraft platform out at sea.

One of the more famous pirate radio stations was Radio Caroline which broadcast from a ship in international waters for decades.

I think about back in the day when you went to a drive in you listen to movie on your car radio.

I had a pirate station back around 1970. I shut it down and went into commercial legal radio. It was fun for a kid, but as an adult I wanted to get into real radio. There was a station called Radio Hauraki off New Zealand for years. Now a legal station in New Zealand.

About the radio stations broadcasting into the UK: the first segment was about Radio Luxembourg that blasted it's signal in western direction, over Belgium and the Netherlands. Radio Monaco also tried it for a bit, but was too far away to listen to it comfortably. Then the sea pirates radio stations started popping up. Not only in the UK, but also in the Netherlands. The UK put an earlier end to it, but the Dutch went on for another 10 years or so. Even after they had put strong restrictions some still went on, like Radio Caroline and Atlantis. It all ended when the boat sank. Where I live, in Amsterdam, there are still two former transmitter carriers. One is a boat, the former Veronica ship (the station is now a legal station) and the other was a oil rig that was transformed into a TV broadcaster, but that was quite quickly closed down because it was too close to the land. It's now a restaurant in the Amsterdam harbor. After that land pirates sprang up and even illegal TV stations through the cable. Those were great times to live in.

HAM radio operator here! Love the show.

I remember during the mid 70s, being in a dorm room that had a real low power pirate radio station. Eventually, the the operator, after several negative interactions, became very familiar with the FCC. One of the FCC agents suggested that he get a legit license and operate a legal station. Unfortunately, our city did not any open frequencies. The agent took the time to help the pirate find a open frequency in a near by town which reached our City. The pirate got a license for the open frequency, started a legit station, and eventually sold the station for several million dollars.

Pump up the volume!

I can't see the harm in pirate radio as long as they aren't running transmitters at some other local station's frequencies, thus "stepping" on them and blocking them out. Not really related, but there was a local station here doing a format change, so for 48 hours before the change they were playing every rock song that they had...but only fifteen seconds of the beginning. After every third or fourth blurb they'd announce "The End Is Coming!" and what they were changing to was a mystery. It was actually kind of cool! There's something about royalties if a song is played for more than 18 seconds, so I can see where they were coming from. Oh, the format change? It was from oldies to alternative. Their handle? They were now "The End", probably because they were at the 107 end of the FM dial.

Things are always different in Oregon

For shame, someone made a radio station that didn't pay their tax to be approved to use it. Shame indeed. Better fine them millions of dollars.

Back in the 90's and early 2000's I used to run a shortwave pirate station. The shortwave pirate scene is still very active, listen around 6900-6980 or so most evenings, especially on weekends. 6925, 6930, 6950, and 6955 are popular pirate frequencies.

one of the main Radio Stations in Auckland NZ (Radio Hauraki) started out as a pirate station on a boat in the Hauraki Gulf in 1966

This is Radio Free Oregon. The Truth Shall Set You Free.

Pirate radio in Texas (which moved to Mexico after FCC action) in the early days of commercial radio was one of the factors popularizing country music.

Years ago involved with Berkeley free radio. In the eighties and early nineties we had two small fm transmitters in Sausalito houseboat community.

There was an article in the Albany Oregon (Western Oregon; La Grande is in eastern Oregon) newspaper several years ago about setting up a low power radio station in a guys house. I don't remember the specifics but i think it said it was perfectly legal if it only broadcast a very short distance, mainly within 1 or two houses. Now probably nearly every thing we do is illegal or needs a license or permit, unless you are homeless then you can urinate and defecate on the sidewalks with impunity.

basically in a nutshell....the Gov is missing the money they feel they are owed....like moonshiners.....nothing else, it's money.

There was a pirate radio station set up on one of those sea forts off the English coast as well. Might have been on Sealand? Fun stuff.

I knew a kid in Jr. High in rural Marana Az. who was an electronics genius and made a broadcasting radio station out of junk and was broadcasting 3 or 4 miles. He got caught and they took all of the electronics out of the house, even the T.V.!

Hey Steve, I’m an Extra Class Hamster and was one of those who complemented you on your choice field-day tea shirts on the channel. Just a technical comment on what could be happening at the church. Unfortunately lower quality none stereo transmitters only capable of running low wattage might be allot cheaper than you would imagine. Someone might not even have to put up a typical antenna to broadcast they could just hook up to the drainpipe on the building or some other feature which looked like a similar wavelength (around 3 meters) to what would be optimal.

I was living in holland from 80 to 84 and the greatest thing was music and video tapes new kids arriving from the states would bring we were so closed off and behind back then

An abandoned Polish Catholic church would be a decent place to transmit from, because there would be a very tall steeple. As a Methodist church though, it's 1 story with a loft. However, that doesn't explain the 35' unstayed aerial attached to the roof of the structure.

when the internet was new, the whole thing was basically one big pirate radio in spirit. boy those were the days

In the 70's there was an excellent radio station that broadcasted from Juarez, Mexico. They played the best music around and could be heard as far as Oregon in the U.S.

One such station popped up in my town a couple months back, but then it got swiftly taken over a couple days later by the authorities.

In rural Oregon , places like La Grande, it is considered your patriotic duty to give the Feds and State officials the proverbial finger.

It's nice to see that some form of business, other than drug dealing, is booming in Portland.

We did high rotation top 40 and dance in the early '00s for 9 weeks on a 'Narrow Band' license in Brisbane, we launched the Hamster Dance and Maddison Avenue's "Who the Hell are You" as a single... We topped the charts at the time.

1964 Great Britain outlawed Rock music. A trawler was converted to a radio station to fight this law 'Pirate' station Radio Caroline that broadcasted 10 KMs off the coast in International waters bypassing the law but giving access to rock music to London. Laws were changed after as it was more profitable to actually get rock station advertising revenue.

The FCC received a complaint. So there's someone out there who goes around searching for pirate stations and snitching them out to the FCC apparently. Must have too much time on their hands.

They made a documentary about this. It was called PUMP UP THE VOLUME.

Presently watching from Pak Chong Thailand. Spotted the "LetoLaw" in Thai behind you. Did you spend time in Thailand?

Steve One of the stickers behind you is for KFAT out of Gilroy CA actually started as a Pirate radio out the bygs trunk of his car. Also huge fan love watching your show as well as your spots on vinwiki I alos like the Thai license plate behind as well used to live there as an expat

Note, "Carrier Current" college stations were legal so long as properly designed and maintained. Those were typically 10 to 30 watt A3 modulation AM transmitters using a 480 VAC 3 phase power buss that looped around buildings as an antenna, and relied on large property sites and interpretation of FCC rules that signal strengths that covered up to a few hundred feet either from the radiator or property line of huge sites, could cover large areas without going above Part 15 interference standards. Alternately those older 47 CFR 15 rules presumptively treated an amplifier with no more than 100 mW DC input power as legal to operate unlicensed, so long as it did so on frequencies and locations not causing harmful interference. There have been legal Part 15 FM transmitters, but they've generally been better suited to church style auditory assistance and operated in mono, than stereo with its tech issues, range limits, and given low efficiency point source non-removable antennas, no way to cover a large campus absent a LOT of coordinated Part 15 "intentional radiators".

Proud of my state 🏴‍☠🏴‍☠. Oregon has always been somewhat of an outlaw state.

Pirate radio stations are everywhere in America. Remember, America is a continent & not a country.

Somewhere around Pacific Beach WA. Around 28 something years ago a man had fun in the same way. I think he was lucky enough to just let him shut it down. Could've been longer ago though. Like decades through the hourglass..so are the days of our lives..

Reminds me of the movie “pump up the volume “, didn’t know people still did that.

AWE MAN! That is why it was so hard for me to listen to Coast to Coast am! The AM stations turn the power down at night and it was 2 am... 😂

I’ll never listen to a radio station again. After having grown up without internet, I never want to hear another car dealer commercial.

The guy with the transmitters had me dying 😂🤣 WHAT IS BRO DOING?! lmaoo

Turns out, it's impossible to actually own radio frequencies.

The FCC is not assigning anymore new daytime AM radio licences anymore but still renewing those in operation.

I've been broadcasting a 15 watt FM signal in Springfield, IL on 95.7 24/7 for a year now and nobody has bothered me. I cover most of downtown, about a 2 mile range. I just play music with fake ads from various video games put between. There is another pirate radio station run by a guy named Mbanna Kantako on 106.5 who is pretty famous, he even has a wikipedia article about him. He is poor and blind so every time he got caught they would take away his transmitter and he would be too poor to be fined.

A pirate radio station at the Free Crystal Methodist Church? Crazy times.

NEED MORE pirate radio stations..... they can be easily overwhelmed in All enforcement issues

EDIT: December 1998 issue, I just found it I remember reading a story about Pirate Radio sometime around 1999-2000 in the Anti-Racist News, a small circulation "zine" in the Columbus, OH area by the published by the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism. It was about a 50ish watt radio station in a guy's garage in San Antonio that hosted discussion about things like The Beatles creating hippies or vis versa, how Taco Bell was discriminating against vegetarians, and even made a kidney transplant possible for someone in need by putting the word out. Let me know if you want to see it, I still have it.

Transmitters, if you know how, are pretty easy and inexpensive to build. Take an inexpensive transmitter if any type (CB, HAM, GMRS, etc). Then use a transverter (built or purchased) that changes the factory frequency to the desired frequency. All the transverter does is change the frequency so it’s a fairly simple build. If the primary transmitter has enough power for your needs, you’re done. AM pirate is much easier. Just take a HAM HF radio and “open it up”. “100 watts and a wire”. Standard HAM frequencies in the US start at 1800kHz and the AM commercial band goes up to 1700kHz. Not far from the radios actual engineering. Some radios are better than others for such a project, some might not work well. But we also have new bands that are significantly lower (frequency) and might even be easier. Of course we don’t teach HAMs how to do this and it IS ILLEGAL to transmit but you know what they say. Some peoples kids.

There has been something of a resurgence of pirate radio stations on the shortwave bands. They usually aren't very strong, but the people running them seem to be having some fun doing this.

That old Doors song where they sing about Texas Radio and the Big Beat was true. On the Mexican side of the border they would set up blowtorch radio stations with huge amounts of transmitting power and blast the signal across Texas. Wolfman Jack was one of the DJ's that got his start there.

"Clap For The Wolfman" : ) I miss Wolfman Jack !!!!

For a while, WILD in the Boston area was a daytime only AM station. At night, we (with permission) would plug in to the tower and bring up W1LD on the 160M ham band. Was a great antenna.

"I know a guy" who ran a Pirate Station back in early 90s. Believe it or not AM 300 kHz. "They" ran parody of NIST station WWV. That station was running weekends for a couple years. Presumably the novelty wore off then went on to other nefarious hobbies.

The best movie about a pirate radio station is Pump Up The Volume starring Christian Slater. I love the sound track

I grew up loving radio in the glory days of the international AM broadcast bands, the exciting beginning of "rock n' roll" on commercial AM broadcast radio (with FM still being regarded as the weak sister), the glory days of AM on the ham bands, etc. There were several truly pirate radio stations on shortwave in those days of course. And I have heard a few pirate FM stations even in recent decades. I was a radio DJ myself for many years, and am an extra class ham as well - rarely getting on now. Radio sure seems to have taken a back seat to the internet in this modern era. It seems kind of sad to see that. Oh well. Times change.

WLW is another clear channel station. I used to listen to it on the ADF in the Pipers I flew. As I flew I always knew where Cincinnatti was.

Who remembers the movie ‘S&MTV’ with Dennis Hopper? I think they changed the name? A Vietnam PSYOP team flying in a converted B-29 running a pirate tv station.

I wish they’d talk about what these stations are broadcasting!

The radio waves belong to the people. Don't really care for the FCC policing what belongs to us all. Pirates are polite and do their best to not overpower others.

Thankfully we have the government to protect us from harms such as an unlicensed radio station

You use to hear about them all the time in the 80's. The trick is that you keep moving it so they never lock on to the location.

These days you can send out a squad of drones on a rotation to be mini transmitters.

You can get a license from the FCC that allows an individual to operate a low power FM station at a frequency that will not interfere with the "BIG BOYS" and at a lower power, up to 500 watts. This is an alternative for churches to allow parishioners to listen to the sermon that cannot get to the church, or at a drive in, there are a few left, or just for whatever. This would be the better route to go and legal as well.

Theuk had a pirate radio, literally on a boat, for decades if i recall correctly. Radio Caroline, i think.

I haven’t listened to AM or FM radio and now television in years. The amount of mind numbing commercials is incredible. I didn’t know there was any real value in owning a broadcast station any longer. I bet the pirate broadcaster in Oregon could have an internet based music platform using a simple laptop from BestBuy and not have the FCC hassling him.

In the early 1980s, I met a man that was running a FM station in his little bitty town, and he told me that as long as you didn’t exceed a certain wattage, you could run an FM station. He showed me that he was using a wireless home phone that people used back then and it was perfectly legal because it did not see the wattage allowed

Great story and quality research.

Pirate Radio, Did this when I was in High School to the local radio station when it whet off the air at night. Some friends and myself figured it out and stated doing it, my teacher figured out we had been up to something and gave use a good talking to and telling us this was a big deal if we got caught. (I had totally forgot about doing this)

I am sure every church has in their budget a radio frequency scanner to find transmitters on their property. If someone not associated with the church is using the steeple, no one legitimate is going to know about it but once someone, such as the FCC, notifies them, I am sure they will release it.

I still have original WABX, WLLZ, and of course many WRIF originals and same logo with various bands, and even a few BaBy stickers too

Oooooh radio the cutting edge of media communications by the standards of 90s years ago

At about $1300 a pop for a transmitter, it might just be cheaper to just purchase transmitters every couple of years than pay $85,000 fine.

Radio Luxembourg wasn’t actually a pirate station but is licensed in Luxembourg. It had studios in London and was powerful enough to cover most of Western Europe at night. I listened in Spain. They played the new, trendy music the BBC wouldn’t.

How much is that doggy in the window?! 🤣