Well said Terry. Whenever I've been involved with the Europirate folks, they've been extremely friendly and welcoming to new participants. I'm sure things aren't perfect, but they don't seem to have the same issues we do here. I imagine they find much of what goes on with the FRN pretty confusing.
Indeed, things aren't perfect. But the Europeans learned a very valuable lesson way back in 1966, when the owner of Radio Caroline shot and killed the owner of Radio City during a dispute over payment for a transmitter (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Calvert). Up to this point, the pirates had the overwhelming support of the people, with millions of listeners.
(It is a frequently repeated story that the Prime Minister of the time called his Home Secretary and asked "What are you doing about the pirates?" ... to which the HS replied "I am listening to them".)
This one incident was sufficient excuse for the government to pass the necessary laws to eliminate the pirate stations.
Since that day, pirates in Europe have made an effort to behave in a way that will not reflect badly on everyone. It seems to be instinctive.
So ... what they learned is that if the shit ever hits the public fan, everyone gets splattered. Not that the mainstream media would ever pay attention to pirate radio today, but some weird and wacky sh*t goes viral on the net these days. Something to think about.
As for what Europeans think of all this, I will quote British pirate icon Andy Richards (from the alfalima post mentioned by Poet above):
"I don't wish to sound "Funny" or "Disrespectful", but isn't this a load of SHIT?
What is the matter with you guys Stateside?
LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR CHRISSAKES!!"
Cheers, Terry