-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Pirate Radio Busts in Indiana
- Thread starter Ur-A-Dawg
- Start date
I haven't really been interested in the Pirates since Willie Stargell died. :'(
Once upon a time, here in Lafayette there was a pirate radio station called RFL
(Radio Free Lafayette). It operated on 90.7 MHz with about 50 watts of power.
The station was on nights and weekends and was quite popular with Purdue students.
But down from Chicago came an FCC man. His name was Peterson.
He showed up at the place from which Radio Free Lafayette was broadcasting.
The year was 1971 and in those days the FCC had to actually catch you on the air.
Bur the pirate had pulled the plug on the transmitter as they pulled up.
But the FCC knocked anyway. "I'm looking for an unlicensed radio station" said the
FCC agent. "It's not here" said the pirate. "Maybe not" said FCC agent Peterson
who proceded to tell the pirate that the station had a bad buzz, hum, and distortion.
After hearing his engineering so insulted, the pirate got mad and plugged it back in
to show the FCC that he had good audio. "Your right the FCC said. "And your busted.
That was the end of Radio Free Lafayette. It's story that lives on in Lafayette broadcasting
history to this day.
(Radio Free Lafayette). It operated on 90.7 MHz with about 50 watts of power.
The station was on nights and weekends and was quite popular with Purdue students.
But down from Chicago came an FCC man. His name was Peterson.
He showed up at the place from which Radio Free Lafayette was broadcasting.
The year was 1971 and in those days the FCC had to actually catch you on the air.
Bur the pirate had pulled the plug on the transmitter as they pulled up.
But the FCC knocked anyway. "I'm looking for an unlicensed radio station" said the
FCC agent. "It's not here" said the pirate. "Maybe not" said FCC agent Peterson
who proceded to tell the pirate that the station had a bad buzz, hum, and distortion.
After hearing his engineering so insulted, the pirate got mad and plugged it back in
to show the FCC that he had good audio. "Your right the FCC said. "And your busted.
That was the end of Radio Free Lafayette. It's story that lives on in Lafayette broadcasting
history to this day.
Indianapolis actually has some of the richest pirate radio history in America.
Some of the pirate stations busted here include WISK, WMRT, WSSE, WMRT,
WQRK, Radio Free Naptown, and Radio Free Insanity.
Some of the pirate stations busted here include WISK, WMRT, WSSE, WMRT,
WQRK, Radio Free Naptown, and Radio Free Insanity.
Never heard of any of that.
Thanks for sharing, Time. I learned something on here today.
Also, "quite popular" is a relative term. 100 students? 1000 students? Students who knew it even existed?
Sort of the "everybody loved that movie!" sort of claim throwing the net widely as possible to embellish a bit?
Thanks for sharing, Time. I learned something on here today.
Also, "quite popular" is a relative term. 100 students? 1000 students? Students who knew it even existed?
Sort of the "everybody loved that movie!" sort of claim throwing the net widely as possible to embellish a bit?
D
donkeypuncher
Guest
sporting jokes unplugged i thought better of you?Lafayette Unplugged said:
And we can't forget Bruce Quinn. After being busted by the FCC for running a pirate
radio station in Bloomington, he swore in the media that he would pirate the world.
He went to Jolly Old England where British Postal Agents arrested him on a pirate
radio ship and brought him to London in handcuffs. The pictures and stories of this
bust flashed back to the American media. The chief engineer at Radio One still has
a copy to this day.
radio station in Bloomington, he swore in the media that he would pirate the world.
He went to Jolly Old England where British Postal Agents arrested him on a pirate
radio ship and brought him to London in handcuffs. The pictures and stories of this
bust flashed back to the American media. The chief engineer at Radio One still has
a copy to this day.
Tired-Old-Dog said:
I still have the original newspaper clippings of the Radio Free Naptown bust, and Bruce Quinn's bust in Bloomington by the FCC's infamous George Sklom. Back in the early 80's, I ran a pirate operation called 94-X (idea stolen from 96-X, KXXY in Oklahoma City). We were at 93.7 with right at 15 watts output and covered roughly 3 miles broadcasting from a spare bedroom in a large westside apartment complex. We were in stereo (rare for a pirate operation in those days), the transmitter was completely homebrew using Heathkit and VHF Engineering RF amp boards fed by an old tube-type stereo signal generator that just happened to have aux. inputs (still have it!). People would catch us on the air by tuning back and forth between WNAP and WFBQ on those ancient analog Pioneer and Technics receivers. Our audio was quite good and not overly processed. We used a Heathkit stereo mixing board, twin Technics direct drive turntables, a couple of old donated cart machines and a reel-to-reel tape machine. Many of the shows were on reel tapes or cassettes so that the station could operate on auto-pilot..all antique by today's standards. I even had bumper stickers designed and printed where I worked at the time and before long, I actually saw them on the back of cars. Had a lot of fun with it, never got busted by the FCC, but rather the apartment complex security people and management. Seems that they were getting complaints of the station getting into some cheap TV sets around the complex (this was right before the time people started getting cable TV). I knew the signal was clean as we had the transmitter on a spectrum analyzer several times after it as built, so rather than being obnoxious about it, I just pulled the plug and started hanging out in real radio stations. Since then, I have heard a few pirates on FM in and around Indy, but they seem to come and go.
IndyDan said:
As a former 94X listener, I salute you. I wonder if Bernie Eagan still has that aircheck I recorded?
Years ago, 96STO (Owensboro/Evansville) started receiving calls from Louisville. Each call asked the same question, "Why do you call yourself 96STO but are at (somewhere else) on the dial?" It turns out a Louisville radio geek loved 96STO so much he used the output of a tuner to feed a transmitter. The coverage area covered his trip to work.
[[/quote]
I still have the original newspaper clippings of the Radio Free Naptown bust, and Bruce Quinn's bust in Bloomington by the FCC's infamous George Sklom. Back in the early 80's, I ran a pirate operation called 94-X (idea stolen from 96-X, KXXY in Oklahoma City). We were at 93.7 with right at 15 watts output and covered roughly 3 miles broadcasting from a spare bedroom in a large westside apartment complex. We were in stereo (rare for a pirate operation in those days), the transmitter was completely homebrew using Heathkit and VHF Engineering RF amp boards fed by an old tube-type stereo signal generator that just happened to have aux. inputs (still have it!). People would catch us on the air by tuning back and forth between WNAP and WFBQ on those ancient analog Pioneer and Technics receivers. Our audio was quite good and not overly processed. We used a Heathkit stereo mixing board, twin Technics direct drive turntables, a couple of old donated cart machines and a reel-to-reel tape machine. Many of the shows were on reel tapes or cassettes so that the station could operate on auto-pilot..all antique by today's standards. I even had bumper stickers designed and printed where I worked at the time and before long, I actually saw them on the back of cars. Had a lot of fun with it, never got busted by the FCC, but rather the apartment complex security people and management. Seems that they were getting complaints of the station getting into some cheap TV sets around the complex (this was right before the time people started getting cable TV). I knew the signal was clean as we had the transmitter on a spectrum analyzer several times after it as built, so rather than being obnoxious about it, I just pulled the plug and started hanging out in real radio stations. Since then, I have heard a few pirates on FM in and around Indy, but they seem to come and go.
[/quote]
I lived in the apartment (off 34th St) across the hall from 94-X in 1983-1984. After years of trying to track down the transmitter location of 94-X as a curiosity, 94-X basically found me when then station moved in across the hall (Winter or Spring 1984?). When 94-X ran 15 watts it did not interfere with our equipment, but one night I think a higher power amplifier was tried and the signal was rectified on my Polk 12B speakers even though the stereo was switched off. I enjoyed listening to the station throughout it's tenure and remember it often signed off with Creedence Clearwater Revival. I also have a 94X sticker...
I still have the original newspaper clippings of the Radio Free Naptown bust, and Bruce Quinn's bust in Bloomington by the FCC's infamous George Sklom. Back in the early 80's, I ran a pirate operation called 94-X (idea stolen from 96-X, KXXY in Oklahoma City). We were at 93.7 with right at 15 watts output and covered roughly 3 miles broadcasting from a spare bedroom in a large westside apartment complex. We were in stereo (rare for a pirate operation in those days), the transmitter was completely homebrew using Heathkit and VHF Engineering RF amp boards fed by an old tube-type stereo signal generator that just happened to have aux. inputs (still have it!). People would catch us on the air by tuning back and forth between WNAP and WFBQ on those ancient analog Pioneer and Technics receivers. Our audio was quite good and not overly processed. We used a Heathkit stereo mixing board, twin Technics direct drive turntables, a couple of old donated cart machines and a reel-to-reel tape machine. Many of the shows were on reel tapes or cassettes so that the station could operate on auto-pilot..all antique by today's standards. I even had bumper stickers designed and printed where I worked at the time and before long, I actually saw them on the back of cars. Had a lot of fun with it, never got busted by the FCC, but rather the apartment complex security people and management. Seems that they were getting complaints of the station getting into some cheap TV sets around the complex (this was right before the time people started getting cable TV). I knew the signal was clean as we had the transmitter on a spectrum analyzer several times after it as built, so rather than being obnoxious about it, I just pulled the plug and started hanging out in real radio stations. Since then, I have heard a few pirates on FM in and around Indy, but they seem to come and go.
[/quote]
I lived in the apartment (off 34th St) across the hall from 94-X in 1983-1984. After years of trying to track down the transmitter location of 94-X as a curiosity, 94-X basically found me when then station moved in across the hall (Winter or Spring 1984?). When 94-X ran 15 watts it did not interfere with our equipment, but one night I think a higher power amplifier was tried and the signal was rectified on my Polk 12B speakers even though the stereo was switched off. I enjoyed listening to the station throughout it's tenure and remember it often signed off with Creedence Clearwater Revival. I also have a 94X sticker...
In the mid 60s Indianapolis had three pirate stations operating at once.
WSSE, WMRT, and WISK. The FCC raided and closed them all down on
the same night.
It's said that it was through the bust that these pirates all met eachother.
They were high school kids at the time.
They banded together and started another pirate station called WQRK.
After this station was raided and shut down the operators started another
bootleg station called Radio Free Naptown. This station lasted more than
5 years. Their is no doubt that Radio Free Naptown was the greatest of
all the Indy pirates. It had 10,000 estimated listeners.
WSSE, WMRT, and WISK. The FCC raided and closed them all down on
the same night.
It's said that it was through the bust that these pirates all met eachother.
They were high school kids at the time.
They banded together and started another pirate station called WQRK.
After this station was raided and shut down the operators started another
bootleg station called Radio Free Naptown. This station lasted more than
5 years. Their is no doubt that Radio Free Naptown was the greatest of
all the Indy pirates. It had 10,000 estimated listeners.
Tired-Old-Dog said:
What great stories. Does anyone have tape?
MacOConnor said:
Cool! Well, I was speaking of the time prior to the move to 34th street, but yes, we did operate there for a while. I was reluctant to mess with it after moving, but somehow got talked into it. To make a long story short, there were just too many problems trying to run the thing from a second-floor apartment with RF floating all over the place from lack of decent grounding. I had to make "modifications" to the building since audio lines had to be run from inside the apartment to the outside storage area where the transmitter was. The signal was just plain lousy there and it just wasn't worth the time and trouble any longer. Sorry about your 12B's!...just couldn't afford a STL at the time! I suppose we played our share of CCR, but there were probably close to 1000 albums and by that time, several CD's in the library. The most memorable part was a spoof spot I made about a buddy (self-proclaimed audio expert) running a ficticious stereo store in mega-malls located in Pittsboro and Brownsburg selling nothing but tube-type equipment imported from Russia. It ended up being carted at the radio station I worked at and actually played on the air during a Friday night football game...really threw the play-by-play guys off! Overall, the 'X' was successful not only as an experiment to see if we could pull it off, but it was truly free-form radio and we had fun doing it.
I never ran a pirate when I lived in Indiana, but did shortly after moving to Chicago in 1988. It was the most fun I've ever had for my thousand dollar NAL. I can still remember the field-officer asking which part was the Xmittr, and saying, " I don't think I can get a frequency reading or power level off this", as it was a home-brew hand-wound coil affair that looked straight outta 1934.
I also favored CCR, and other anti-establishment music.
Kudos to those who made the fun last for years. I started a project for a 1.5-30 Mhz capable class ab1 Xmittr with 4 parallel 807s at
140 watts, but since have only used the osc and modulator for pt 15 AM-compliant home use.
Someday I may put the PA together, but I still remember the feeling in my stomach, receiving that N.A.L..
How much do they cost these days?
I also favored CCR, and other anti-establishment music.
Kudos to those who made the fun last for years. I started a project for a 1.5-30 Mhz capable class ab1 Xmittr with 4 parallel 807s at
140 watts, but since have only used the osc and modulator for pt 15 AM-compliant home use.
Someday I may put the PA together, but I still remember the feeling in my stomach, receiving that N.A.L..
How much do they cost these days?
- Status