HFU HF Underground
General Category => Pirate Radio History => Topic started by: ThaDood on October 25, 2025, 1624 UTC
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https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2025/10/radio-station-visit-181-wmpg-fm-at-university-of-southern-maine/ Hmmmmmmmm... I've heard of WGOR called letters being used before in pirate history. Can someone jar my memory in that? Still, interesting to check out this college station tour & history.
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WCAL-FM started as a pirate too.
The Vulcan Radio Club was formed in the mid-1960s, but it split within a couple of years between those interested in AM/FM broadcasting and amateur, or “ham,” radio operators
In spring 1969, students attempted to set up an unlicensed station in Vulcan Lounge, according to the Cal Times.
The station – now called WMCL – moved first to McCloskey Hall, then to a student's basement, then to a house on Beazel Street where train whistles interrupted the programs.
Finally, in fall 1971, the radio station moved to the basement of the student center, and the Student Activities Association requested a 10-watt FM license from the Federal Communications Commission.
Permission was granted in 1972. An official station – the 10-watt WVCS (Voice of Cal State) – was finally on the air, operated by the Student Broadcast Club.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCAL
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Here in the UK too ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIb5Z_Jle_c&t=28s
Students in the electronics dept of UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), now University of Manchester, put on a charity radio station every year. Rag weeks are common in the UK, usually selling cheaply printed magazines full of bawdy student humour, but radio was a little different.
Legal student radio stations are now common in the UK, but this pirate was probably the first to start the whole thing.