Radio Metallica Worldwide (Pirate Radio): June 4, 1997

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Metallica Worldwide (pirate) June 4 1997

Date of recording: June 4, 1997

Frequency: 6.955 MHz

Recption location: Thamesford, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Mode: AM

Notes: Here are three recordings of Radio Metallica Worldwide, a powerful shortwave pirate station that was widely heard all over North America and beyond during the late 1990's, using AM mode on 6955 kHz. These clips are from 1997 and were made in Thamesford, Ontario, Canada.

Listen to Doctor Tornado forget the zip code to his Blue Ridge Summit mailing address, claim to be broadcasting from a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, use his voice reverberator mike, and send greetings out to other pirate radio stations. He certainly provided plenty of entertainment value for his listeners.

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Radio Free Speech (Pirate): December 15, 1996

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Free Speech (pirate)

Date of recording: December 15, 1996

Starting time: 1330 UTC

Frequency: 6.955 MHz

Reception location: Thamesford, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Notes: Radio Free Speech was a shortwave pirate radio station heard regularly in the late 1990's here in Southern Ontario, Canada. Here are a few blended airchecks from their Christmas Special broadcast on December 15, 1996 around 1330 hours UTC. This was on 6955 kHz and the announcer was "Bill O. Rights."

Radio Free Whatever (Pirate): May 8, 2022

Mark Fahey’s KiwiSDR (WebSDR)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Free Whatever

Date of recording: May 08, 2022

Frequency: 6.955 MHz

Receiver and antenna: The NA5B WebSDR Located in Washington DC.

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Here is my recording of radio free whatever on 6.955 MHz, recorded on Mother's Day, May 8, 2022. If I remember correctly, I think this may have been recorded around 9:39 PM Eastern. If any of you haven't heard radio free whatever, they pretty much play all types of music. This was recorded using the NA5B webSDR Receiver that is located in Washington DC.

Thunder Chicken Radio (Pirate): October 16, 2023

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Thunder Chicken Radio

Date of recording: October 16, 2023

Starting time: 00:13 UTC

Frequency: 6.950 MHz

Reception location: Columbus, Ohio

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL880 with telescopic antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: This is my recording of thunder chicken radio on 6.950 MHz, on October 16. I managed to record two pirate radio stations that night, the first one being this station, and then the second one being Smoky Dog Radio. This station was playing some music, and there were some slow scan television pictures, being transmitted as well. Recorded 8:13 PM Eastern

Smoky Dog Radio (Pirate): October 16, 2023

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Smoky Dog Radio

Date of recording: October 16, 2023

Starting time: 00:35 UTC

Frequency: 6.27 MHz

Reception location: Columbus, Ohio

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL880 with the telescopic antenna.

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Last night I caught two pirate radio stations. Here is one of them I recorded. Smokey dog radio was on 6.27 MHz last night. It was a pretty good signal here in Columbus, Ohio. I was also able to receive it on the NA5B WebbSDR in Washington DC, But I thought I would record it with my radio because it had a pretty good signal. I'd say it was a pretty good signal for a pirate. especially for me using a telescopic antenna with my Tecsun PL880. Recorded 8:35 PM eastern (00:35, UTC).

Halloween 2022 Pirate Radio Recordings (Various): October 30, 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following pirate radio recordings and notes:

Audio recordings of numerous Shortwave Radio Pirates recorded around Halloween 2022. This is typically the most active time of the year for Shortwave Radio Pirates.

Location: Hugo, MN

Receiver and antenna: Sdr Play with a wire loop antenna around the perimeter of the attic

Mode: Single Sideband

Please note that pirate radio broadcasts often contain adult language.

Voice Of Christmas (Pirate Radio): December 8, 1996

Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: The Voice of Christmas (pirate radio)

Date of recording: 12/8/1996

Starting time: 1610 UTC

Frequency: 6955 kHz

Reception location: Thamesford, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Pirate radio station The Voice of Christmas as heard in Thamesford, Ontario, Canada on December 8, 1996 at around 1610 hours UTC. The frequency was 6955 kHz USB.

Here are a few blended airchecks with Christmas music and frequent station ID's by the Pirate Elf stating they are "the only pirate radio station broadcasting from the North Pole." P.O. Box in Providence, Rhode Island given for reception reports. Concludes with their "interval signal" tune.

XFM (Pirate Radio): October 30, 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: XFM

Date of recording: Oct 30, 2022

Starting time: 8:45 EST

Frequency: 6865 MHz

Your location: Columbus, Ohio

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL-880 with just the telescopic antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Safe for children?: No

Notes: Some RF noise—the signal gets stronger but was weaker in the beginning of the recording. Recorded October 30, 2022

Please note that pirate radio recordings often contain adult language.

Wolverine Radio (Shortwave Pirate) Clip: December 25, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:

Audio recording of Shortwave Pirate going by Wolverine Radio. This was recorded December 25, 2021 at 0056UTC on 6969khz in Hugo, MN. The broadcast consists of a few minutes of the Barenaked Ladies song Testing One Two Three being play and then a male voice announcing a frequency change.

Broadcaster: Wolverine Radio (Pirate)

Date of recording: 12/25/2021

Starting time: 0056 UTC

Frequency: 6.96 MHz

Your location: Hugo, MN

Receiver and antenna: SDRPlay with a wire loop antenna around the perimeter of the attic

Mode: Single Side Band

Radio Metallica Worldwide (Pirate Radio): July 29, 1997

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Date of recording: 7/29/1997

Frequency: 6.955

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Mode: AM

Notes: This shortwave pirate broadcaster could be heard well here in Southern Ontario in the late 1990's. They finished each program with their theme song "Secret Agent Man."

Radio Echo One (Italian Pirate Radio): March 15, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Rosa Sanese, who shares the following recording and notes:

About a month and a half after the previous radio listening recording that I published, here is a new audio file that I got listening to "Yoga Network" (the one that many years ago in Bologna broadcast in medium waves on AM 1503 kHz—?), re-transmitted by "Radio Echo One" in the afternoon of May 15, 2021 on 1710 kHz. I received the station with my Tecsun PL-600 receiver.

Radio Echo One (Italian Pirate Radio): March 31, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Rosa Sanese, who shares the following recording and notes:

Pirate radio recording made on 1,71 MHz at 6:30 pm on March 31, 2021 from Casalecchio di Reno (BO) with a Tecsun PL-600 receiver and an external wire antenna.

The broadcast begins with the presenter, Lucie Medici, from New York speaking in Italian about scented candles, followed by Radio Echo One jingles and then live replay with the Yoga Network radio host who talks about vegetarian nutrition.

Pirate Radio WFDR: December 24, 2020

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:

A shortwave pirate radio station calling itself WFDR which broadcast on Christmas Eve December 24, 2020 at 2259UTC on 6920 kHz.

The broadcast was as follows:

- Franklin Roosevelts Christmas Speech in 1942

- Winston Churchill Speech

- Christmas Music

Date of recording: 12/24/2020

Starting time: 2259

Frequency: 6.92 MHz

RX location: Hugo, MN

Receiver and antenna: Sdr Play with a wire loop antenna around the perimeter of the attic

Mode: Single Side Band

Pirate Radio Stations WDOG and Radio Station EFP: September 5, 2020

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Richard Lacroix, who shares the following recording and notes:

First off, thank you goes out to John Hudak’s timely post on the ODXA group. Shortly after his post, I was able to quickly tune-in and intercept 2 pirate radio stations on September 5 2020 during the period 00:30 to 02:17 UTC. John’s post read:

“Pirate station WDOG is on 5060kHz. USB right now as I write this – 0027UTC Sept. 5, 2020 (8:27 p.m. EDT Fri. Sept. 4). Fairly good signal, playing various rock and pop songs. Frequent ID’s between songs and sound of dog barking.”

There were in actuality 2 sequential broadcasts. The first from WDOG on 5060.0 kHz USB from an unconfirmed start time until sign-off with “Star-Spangled Banner” played by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock at 01:53 UTC.

The second broadcast followed suite by Radio Station EFP, as well on 5060.0 kHz, but this time in AM mode. Radio Station EFP continued to broadcast until approximately 02:17 UTC after which it started to exhibit deep signal path fades and eventually went off-air at 02:17:40 UTC. Armed with the combination of devoted listeners posting reception reports and a radio always at the ready, this made for a very exciting 2 hours of SWL. Included is a 10 minute audio compilation for everyone to enjoy which I stitched together from the 2 plus hours of off-air broadcast recording I saved:

Borderhunter Radio: December 27, 2013

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and notes:

A recording of European pirate station Borderhunter Radio as heard in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on 21.455 MHz from 1617 UTC on 27 December 2013. The station is located on the border of the Netherlands and Belgium. This was a special "Global Pirate Weekend" test transmission for the benefit of shortwave radio listeners in North America. The station's operator varied the transmitter power from a high of 300 watts to a low of one-half watt (500 milliwatts). Audio was detectable even at that extremely low power.

Receiver and antenna: Icom R-75 with a PA0RDT active "miniwhip" antenna

Radio Clandestine: November 23, 1980

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who share the following recording and notes:

U.S. pirate station Radio Clandestine broadcast recorded on 11.835 MHz (25-meter band) from 1720 to 1742 hours UTC on 23 November 1980 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Radio Clandestine, hosted by DJ "R.F. Burns," was a legendary parody pirate station of the late 1970's into the 1980's and beyond. Its programs are still occasionally rebroadcast by other pirate stations decades later. Radio Clandestine was known for using frequencies inside the regular shortwave broadcasting bands, unlike other pirates that tended to use frequencies just above or below the 40-meter amateur radio band. In this case, 11.835 MHz was a main frequency for legal station 4VEH in Haiti during this time.

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-2900 portable with built-in whip

KVHF: November 9, 1980

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and notes:

U.S. pirate radio station KVHF recorded on 6.420 MHz (42-meter band) beginning at 0615 UTC on 9 November 1980 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Only a few minutes of the recording could be recovered because of the poor physical condition of the original cassette tape. This station was later "busted" by the Federal Communication Commission, at which time its location was revealed to have been in California. This made KVHF one of only a relative handful of "free radio" stations that have operated on shortwave from the U.S. West Coast.

Receiver and antenna: Collins R390A and random end-fed wire antenna

Radio Confusion: October 20, 1980

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and notes:

North American pirate Radio Confusion recorded on 13.992 MHz (20-meter band) beginning at 0100 GMT on 20 October 1980 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Unfortunately, the complete recording could not be recovered because of the poor physical condition of the original cassette tape. Radio Confusion was among the first North American pirates to routinely use frequencies above 7.5 MHz, as I recall.

Receiver: Collins R390A

Jolly Roger Radio: November 9, 1980

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and notes:

This is a recording of U.S. pirate radio station "Jolly Roger Radio" from my location in Kalamazoo, Michigan, beginning at 2300 UTC on 9 November 1980. At that time I was using a Collins R390A receiver and a random-length, end-fed wire antenna. The station was about the only U.S. pirate at that time that specialized in Bluegrass, folk, and Americana music. This was part of a marathon, multi-hour broadcast that led directly to the FCC "busting" the station and putting it off the air. It was revealed that Jolly Roger Radio operated from Bloomington, Indiana, with a transmitter power of around 50 watts.

Neptune Radio (Pirate Radio): October 25, 2001

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recordings and notes:

Here is another little gem I dug up. Neptune Radio! Recorded off air on 10/25/2001, 0515 UTC, 6955kHz USB. It isn’t the best audio but it is intelligible and that was good enough for me!