Something I have been struggling with ,besides Commander Bunny ,is what is really the point of pirate radio in this day and age . I have been doing a lot of listening lately instead of transmitting mainly to decide this .
In my transmitting and posting I have tried to be provocative and point out injustice and the ridiculous nature of the world we live in . Granted a lot of that programming when I wasn't relaying stuff was aimed at the US infrastructure and its 2 faced persona and the cult of homeland fever that swept the nation after 2001. Now I don't expect fan mail praising me or anything that was not my point . My point was to perhaps awaken a few people to what is going on in the world and how they are being duped . Perhaps I did but I never heard from them.
Pirate radio in the 60's was all about exactly that . Awakening people to the fact that they should be free to say and transmit what they want without government intervention. People risked everything they had to make that voice heard on the air. Long terms in jail were at stake in those days but yet people spoke their mind and played provocative music not allowed on the air by certain countries.
Today pirate radio seems to me to have become a long episode of "GUESS THIS TUNE" and "WOW WHAT NICE AUDIO". Is it me or has pirate radio become a shadow of it's former self ? All I see is (mostly ) is a bunch of bored ham radio operators playing top 40 from times gone by with their store bought transmitters . Maybe playing with audio equipment or stereo broadcasts . Maybe it's me, but was the whole goal of pirate radio in the first place exactly that . The right to play DJ for an hour or so. Granted even I have done this from time to time , but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth . The way I see it is the FCC likely leaves you alone because you do exactly what is done on top 40 stations across the nation apart from the fact that you are out of band and put in the occasional plug for "free radio". Maybe that is why Commander Bunny declared that I was the most dangerous kinds of Pirate radio operator there is . One that brings attention to what has now become it seems an accepted "HOBBY". When I say accepted I mean by the listeners and legally licensed hams . I cannot remember the last time I heard someone key down intentionally on a pirate op. Yet god help you if you say something negative on a ham band . Where it takes all of 5 seconds after a non-conventional thought has been transmitted for someone to QRM you.
The pirate broadcasters of the 60's+ 70's in their rusted out boats made real waves in the sea of freedom .Today if any of the pirates are in boats the water around them would be calm because they aren't rocking the status quo at all. Has everyone,, including pirate radio ops, been collectively absorbed by the BORG.
Or again maybe it is me, and we are so "FREE" that rebelling seems pointless . Like so many corn fed cattle in a slaughter yard.
Now I am not saying for those who wish to put words in my mouth that pirate radio sucks and that I do not enjoy it . I was very willing and happy to participate in last nights top 40 line up with Wolverine radio .
However lets face it ,the same thing that was last nights extravaganza of great signal and music by request could have been done on any of the 10 000 licensed FM or AM stations across the greater US and Canada. Of coarse you would have had to put up with commercials and there would have been no sstv signal of a naked girl or some such silly thing at the end. Apart from that what is the point of HF pirate radio today?? The way I see it we live in a world that has never seen as much strife ,pain , ignorance , nationalism , war ,death ,starving ,and all around SHIT as the one we live in now, but pirate radio does not seem to reflect any of this AT ALL !
Sometimes I can almost hear a collective chant in the pirate scene.
"PIRATE RADIO IS DEAD, LONG LIVE PIRATE RADIO"