I was thinking to myself while broadcasting music that no other station will play anymore but all my friends love to hear. I sat their with my automation software running and my mic on cue with my macho man audio compressor in line with it. I thought for a moment.. This is more than worth it.
Pirate radio isn't just a hobby. It's a message. It's a way of not only showing those that you have the means of making a hell of a show that people want to listen to, but it's your show. Pirate Radio is an art, not a medium.
Regular licensed radio still has something to it but it's a dying medium not because people don't want to get behind a mic like us, but beause the core of it is corrupt.
Broadcasting tonight really dug deep into my mind while listening to my modulation monitor through my sound system in front of me. It really made me realize something that should be obvious and that is that Radio is still a great communications medium for art, speech, music and so on.
I think we should all encourage pirate radio. Or at least PART 15. I sit back and tune through the dial once in a while hoping to find a pirate or at least a part 15 op. So lets branch out. Us members here are experienced and educated on this stuff.
It would be a waste of information if we keep talking about our own stations and ask questions on these things. We need to branch out like Ham radio ops do. Invite others into the hobby so that one day we can kick back with our radios and listen to others instead if thinking we are the only ones on the air.
I have gone about this myself. I am currently donating a few FM rigs to my friends and will teach them how to operate the equipment.
You are the answer folks. Don't let pirate radio die because you think no one listens to the radio anymore. Well yes no one wants to anymore, but BECAUSE there is nothing to listen to that is worth their time. Put on a show. Get out in your community and record shit. Take a tape recorder. Take interviews, then tell those that they will be on radio and what channel and when. See it's that simple. You build a community and they will listen.
It sucks to me that I am the only pirate in my area. I want to be able to turn on my radio and tune around and here someone else for a change. Please people make that change!
I fully concur with Kage. One thing that should be noted and paid very close attention to is the current migration of AM's over to FM and the "talks" about expanding the FM band's lower end, which is where many of these migrating AM stations will end up.
That said, I believe the push to keep radio alive should begin where it began to begin with..in the AM band. Pretty soon the MW band will seem like a ghost town as those power house stations move over to the FM band. This leaves a lot of spectrum real estate going to waste and the MW band has huge potential, mainly coverage compared to FM.
Where FM takes a good deal of power and antenna height to achieve any respectable coverage range, the MW band can put the FM band to shame when it comes to coverage range. Add C-QUAM stereo and you can give a digital FM station a run for its money any day.
But in all aspects, be it FM, AM, SW, LW, tin can s and string or megaphone, media is only going to return to it's valuable and asset state by those of us out here, not big corporate conglomerate one sound fit's all ears nonsense.
Peace!
K-ROCKS RadioOne
ZeroPointRadio
AM Stereo 1670
FM Stereo 92.1
I agree RFBurns. I only know of a handful of pirates who use the AM BC band, me being one of them as of lately.
Though you don't need an antenna high up in the air with a ton of gain like with FM broadcasting, AM still has it's challenges mostly arising from the low frequencies used like that of really long dipoles or short verticals that need much more complicated tuning systems and a proper radial system. Also the only real way to get heard at night and get some skip out there is with a horizontal dipole which just is not practical unless you have the space to stretch out a wire that long. Shortened verticals just won't cut it for skip on such a low frequency but work great for local daytime coverage (which is what I do) and can still rival FM coverage even without the skip.
However even with those challenges it can pay off a heck of a lot for getting a signal out there. I read somewhere in the past that there are around 1 AM listener for every 10 FM listeners. Sounds discouraging until you count in the factor that AM signals can easily get out a lot further and grab those extra listeners, even with daytime coverage. Also it has the properties of shortwave in that respect getting you much wider coverage so your listener base will be more than just a small town. That alone has the advantage if not being tracked down quite as easily as with FM, and there is less likely of a chance that the FCC will be notified about an unlicensed broadcast.
No matter how you look at it the old time AM BC band is underutilized by pirates and it's open grounds for experimenting. Best of all for hobbyist finding parts to work at mediumwave isn't a chore like it is with those higher frequencies where PA amplifier parts start to go up higher in price as you go up higher in frequency.
I sure would love to hear more pirates on these lower bands ;D