Pirate Radio today

Pirate radio still exists today except instead of being anchored in oceans they broadcast online instead. They are free from music copyright fees and other restrictions put on AM/FM stations. However, they attract a smaller audience than the original offshore pirate radio stations but most stations remain unnoticed by authorities for now. They broadcast in defiance of the FCC, because they believe that they are only concerned with big broadcasting interests.
Internet Pirate Radio links

Reasons for Pirate Radio

The main reason for the creation of Pirate Radio was to meet the needs of music fans. The BBC wasn’t playing music that people liked and wanted. They instead played educational broadcasting. Formation of offshore radio stations was popular because they were free from any restrictions. They were allowed to broadcast whatever they like because the governments couldn’t prosecute them because they were abroad since the seas were considered free territory, and not owned by any government. 

Beyond the UK, pirate radio stations were also established in Asia, Australia, Central America, the Caribbean Sea, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. The main reasons pirate radio stations developed in the South China Sea (Broadcasting to China) was to broadcast political ideas by stations such as the Voice of the People's Liberation Army, Radio Flash, The October Storm, Redifussion Central, and Popular of Peking. Offshore radio stations were created by Cuban exiles for the same reasons as in China. In the U.S. pirate radio refers to unlicensed broadcasting on any part of the radio spectrum that is used by governmental, public, or commercial licensees, so basically anyone who broadcasts without a license is considered a “pirate”. Most “pirates” in the U.S. started stations because they believe that government regulation only favors large corporations and therefore consider themselves a challenge to authority.
Pirate Radio USA 

Background; Pirate Radio of the 60s

During the 1960s the BBC(British Broadcasting Corporation) had a monopoly on radio broadcasting in Britain, and the needs of pop music fans were not being met. Pop music received very little exposure, and there was a limit to the amount of records they could play. The BBC mostly broadcasted educational material such as speeches and lectures as well as banjo “butchered” pop songs.

The first radio station to fight the government was Radio Luxembourg, based in Luxembourg they broadcasted pop music to the UK. It was illegal but since they were abroad there was no way to prosecute them.

Offshore Pirate Radio did not start until 1964 when Radio Caroline(North) was the original ship to anchor off the Essex Coast. Radio Caroline first started broadcasting in 1964 but was joined a month later on May 9th by a pop radio station, Radio Atlanta which later merged with Radio Caroline, due to Radio Caroline’s audience base, becoming Radio Caroline South. Radio Caroline broadcasted from 6 a.m to 9 p.m and 12 midnight to 2 a.m. to North of England, Midlands, Ireland, Scotland and North Wales. On Easter Sunday of 1964, with their voices pre-recorded (because they were too nervous to broadcast live) Chris Moore and Simon Dee announced “This is radio Caroline on 199, your all day music station” followed by “Not Fade Away” by the Rolling Stones dedicated to their founder Ronan O’Rahilly. Ronan was a music industry entrepreneur who was finding difficulty getting his artists on the radio, so he found a way around the monopolized mainland UK stations.
By Autumn of 1964, Radio Caroline had more listeners than the BBC as pirate radio fans started to see the BBC as “grumpy killjoys”. The British government threatened to shut down pirate radio but made no actual efforts, due mostly to loss of votes, until a dispute over sea forts ended in murder giving pirate radio DJ’s a bad name. They were then portrayed as battling, murdering gangsters, allowing the government to propose the Marine Offenses Act becoming law at midnight, August 14th 1967. Ronan and Radio Caroline however attempted to defy the government, moving base to Holland, however the costs were high and isolation took its toll on the DJ’s. March 3rd 1968 the Radio Caroline was towed to shore and impounded by its creditor due to lack of payment. Ronan attempted to purchase Radio London, Oceaan VII, and Radio 270 ships but couldn’t because of the cost.
Radio London broadcast to the Southeast, anchored a few miles off Essex in the North Sea. The station broadcasted from December 16th 1964 to August 14th 1967. Started by Don Pierson, from Eastland Texas, he got the idea from Radio Caroline and Radio Atlanta.

Radio 270 was located on the Dutch ship Oceaan VII which was anchored off Bridlington Bay, broadcasting from June of 1966 to 1967, serving Yorkshire and North East of England. The Station dealt with many technical “nightmares” and seasick DJ’s on the harsh North Sea waves, only lasting less that a year but not because of its internal troubles but rather the governments Marine Offenses Act. The Oceaan VII was the inspiration for the Radio Rock boat in the film “Pirate Radio”/“The Boat that Rocked”.

Radio 270's Oceaan VII

Ronan O'Rahilly

 

Pirate Radio 2009 The Plot

Pirate Radio depicts a Rock radio show that takes to the seas in order to avoid the British governments attempts at censorship in the 60’s. The “Radio Rock” station and its eccentric DJ’s broadcast rock and pop music to the United Kingdom whilst anchored in the North Sea as the government desperately tries to shut them down. The movie starts when seventeen year old Carl, who was expelled from school, is sent to stay with his Godfather, Quentin, who runs the station.

In London, a government minister, Alistir Dormandy, resolves to shut down the station because of its lack of morals and commercialism. He enlists his subordinate Twatt to find legal loopholes in order to shut down the station. They first attempt to cut off the stations revenue by prohibiting businesses from advertising on unlicensed radio stations, and in rebuttal Quentin brings in popular American DJ Gavin Kavanagh out of retirement, causing advertisers to work around the law by paying bills from abroad.

When Carl turns 18, on his birthday Quentin introduces him to his niece Marianne and he instantly falls in love with her but is heartbroken when she is seduced by Doctor Dave, one of the radio’s DJ’s. Carl’s roommate “Thick” Kevin observes that the environment on the Rock Radio ship is not the place for Carl to get back on track after being expelled from school and so theorizes that his mother sent him there to find his father who must be on the boat and most obviously Quentin. Marianne later returns and apologizes to Carl. Carl’s mother Charlotte visits for Christmas and denies that Quentin is his father but as she leaves Carl passes on a message from DJ “smooth” Bob Silver that leads to Carl finding out Bob is his father.

Dormandy’s mission to eliminate rock radio advances when Twatt discovers news of a fishing boat whose distress call was blocked by Radio Rock’s signal. Twatt proposes the Marine Offenses Act, which makes pirate radio stations illegal because they endanger other vessels. The Act takes effect at midnight on January 1^st but Radio Rock chooses to defy the law and continue broadcasting, firing up the ships engine to avoid being arrested. However the old engine cannot take the strain, explodes and the ship begins to sink. The DJ’s broadcast their location in hopes of being rescued but Dormandy refuses to send rescue boats. The crew gathers on the prow as the ship sinks, and before they go completely under they are rescued by dozens of fans who heard their broadcast. The Radio Rock ship disappears into to sea with pirate radio coming to an end.

Pirate Radio 2009 Trailer