104.1 FM

[Radio_bored-Op]

back in 2002, around this time...april 2002 ( to be exact)
there was a "strange" pirate radio @ 104.1 FM

it was near berkley(?sp) University,
and it was powerful...not powerful
as in signal strength...but powerful
in regards what they would aire out -

if i still remember, and am asking about it ,
six years later, it is pretty obvious it
was a radio station that reeeely had an impact.

any news/updates? ( is it still on?)
i don't expect the "owner" of this station to admit,
comment...but if u are reading this, wow - quite the station.

and yes, at first, thought it was big market radio, after about...
15-20 minutes, i Knew....

 

[create]

I used to like that station too. I think I read somewhere that they got busted.

 

[djj]

104.1 FM(s)

In the late-1990s, there was another pirate station at 104.1 FM -
but it was located near downtown San Jose...a strange station, which
would play (sometimes uncensored) movie dialogues, as well as music
of varying degrees...and it lit up the stereo light on my car radio!...

As to the 104.1 in question, while passing through Berkeley recently,
I noticed it was off-air, so it appears the FCC finally got its way with
Stephen Dunifer of "Free Radio Berkeley," but I couldn't readily find anything
on Dunifer's website about his being shut off by the FCC, or related
updates:

http://www.freeradio.org/

It was a bemusing sight in Berkeley years ago, seeing those black-paint-stenciled
"104.1 FM" signs plastered on phone poles, street-light posts, etc. They look
like those "election signs on sticks" that proliferate the landscape, but these
were obviously homemade...
--jay

 

[Starbucks]

Stephen Dunifer was the guy that originated Radio Free Berkeley.....but was eventually strong armed by the FCC and decided to finally shut it off. It stayed off for awhile then it was replaced by another pirate operated and run by a woman who most likely got it set up by Dunifer, but afterwards Dunifer had nothing to do with it, or you can say just helping out in the background. Then there was this free pirate cat radio that likes to operate down the lower end of the dial like 87.9 and yes, they had a monster signal. They originated operation in San Jose, with dumming down programming like looping the Alfred E. Neuman "Mad" belching tune over and over again for hours. It was interesting for a bit...but if you call that entertainment...I prefer tuning into Legendary Brokered Broadcaster Mike Phillips. (See the Philly Board Under "Sad Day" for details ).
There were as many as 3 interesting pirates operating in the East Bay area which also cable TV Channel 27 which was a black runned cable station out of Oakland operating illegally with poor audio and commercials (and lots of them.) I forgot what frequency they were on....but they got out as far as the Oakland coliseum to near Candlestick Park.
San Jose had as many as 4 of them running at one time....mostly hip hop, rap, hispanic programming. One at 92.9, 104.1, 87.9, and I think at 93.7. By 9 pm most of them would be on. They would have even remote dances at a club like it was legal. I would pick up strange signals on 104.1 like we are the radio station that doesn't exist. They would be on 1 night , and then never heard from again. And one hispanic jock playing his brand of hip hop.... and calling for shoutouts for pretty chicks and doesn't want to take any calls from girls with bad teeth. The most interesting was hearing a jock (if you want to call him that) on 92.9 losing his cool on the air one night after breaking up with his girlfriend after 2 years, and was hoping someone would mess with him because he had a gun and was consistently swearing and threatening anybody to make his day. He started to cool down alittle and started taking phone calls about his situation. It was very interesting broadcasting...as I was about to lose the signal... I pulled off the highway to a parking lot to listen for half hour. I never forgot that broadcast. There's a bunch of other's but to little time, But that's what I call fun interesting DXing.

 

[djj]

LOL! Funny stuff you mention from those bootleg stations, Starbucks!...
You also mention:

There were as many as 3 interesting pirates operating in the East Bay area which also cable TV Channel 27 which was a black runned cable station out of Oakland operating illegally with poor audio and commercials (and lots of them.) I forgot what frequency they were on....but they got out as far as the Oakland coliseum to near Candlestick Park.

I have an aircheck of that "soul" station that was given me years ago by a fellow who
still lives in Oakland: that station was 88.1 KXGQ, Oakland (yes, a pirate station ran a
"legal I.D.")... ;D
--jay

 

[Starbucks]

That wasn't it ...it was at 104.1 the same as RFB....as you would enter the Bay Bridge...RFB faded out and they would come in. It was a streaming TV channel on cable as well (not radio) for the black community. The audio sounded like they were using there TV audio transmission as it was harsh sounding.
KXGQ was a legal cable FM station that was automated on whoever was the main carrier for Oakland residents TV cable and the audio was clear FM sound. I just forgot what they were called.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

Free Radio Berkeley

......Free Radio Berkeley......
that was the slogan !!!!

i remember the signs stenciled
on the poles, etc.....