Pirate Radio Daze Numero Tres…The Wild West….

  • Pirate Radio Daze Numero Tres…The Wild West….

    Posted by dana.acker on September 15, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    When I was a young boy, my Grandpa gave me a really nice AM/FM radio with an extra long telescoping antenna. At night, when I was supposed to be sleeping (my bed was next to a window) I would put that antenna out of the window, attach my earplug so no one could hear, and “ride the radio” until I fell asleep…which was seldom.

    I say ride the radio, because many of the AM frequencies were backed by huge transmitters, and I could listen to stations from all over the place. Hence several years later when I was introduced to shortwave.

    For a guy with limited travel options, the shortwave was my ticket to the world. Time marched on, and soon I had saved up to buy a good shortwave radio with a ham band and a nautical band. I could listen to the Space Shuttle (they communicated via ham with earth) and Somali pirates (real pirate radio). Then I discovered WWCR.

    World Wide Christian Radio. They broadcasted American based programming, from transmitters in the Caribbean, with corporate offices in Tennessee. This was during the Clinton era. Ruby Ridge had happened and Waco and Oklahoma City were soon to come, and WWCR at prime time was on fire.

    Tom Valentine’s Radio Free America was pretty tame, by a lot of standards, but Tom was a likable, well meaning soul who cared about the country. Jack McLamb was very good. His program was top notch. Jack, a retired law enforcement officer, was along with Col. Bo Gritz when he went up to Randy Weaver’s cabin, and negotiated his surrender after US Marshals had killed his young son, Sammy, and the FBI HRT sniper shot Randy’s unarmed wife Vickie in the face while she was holding their baby, while Randy was checking on their son’s body.

    Tensions were high in those days and the shortwave was the Green Dragon Tavern of the day. Private State Militias were springing up all over the place. The head of the Michigan Militia had a program. Then there was Mark Kuernke. He was ready to rumble, and was big on arming the “troops,” so to speak in preparation for war. He advocated saving old microwave ovens, because somehow some component thereof could screw with helicopters (especially black ones). Everyone was on high alert and thought the Clintonistas were going to declare martial law and start rounding up “Patriots” at any moment. That’s when being labeled a “Patriot” was dangerous.

    There were several gold and silver salesmen doing shows. Eric Segerstrom and Robbie Noel (spellings approximate) of Viking International Trading (later Patriot Trading Group) in Scottsdale, AZ were the best. They were honest and really well informed. I learned a lot from their broadcasts, and not just about precious metals. As an aside, Patriot Trading Group was audited by the IRS when the Obama administration sicced the IRS on every business that had “Patriot” in their name. They passed their audit. As I said, they were honest.

    All of the above was before midnight. At midnight things really got rocking. William Cooper’s “The Hour of the Time” came on at the witching hour. Like him or not, Wild Bill Cooper was never boring. And while he repeatedly told the audience “‘they’ were out to get him” because he knew too much, he did die in a gun battle with law enforcement who were lying in wait for him at his home. Good guy? Bad Guy? Kook or the lone “voice crying in the wilderness,” he put his money where his mouth was, and he died with his boots on. He chose to die on his feet rather than live on his knees.

    After William Cooper was the Rev. Pete Peters, one of the few nighttime shows with a dominant Christian theme. Some thought him a white supremacist before the term became pop culture, and some thought him a prophet. I read that he died not too long ago. As I had to work to pay for the electricity to run my shortwave, I seldom lasted much beyond Bill Cooper, so I never got to give Rev. Peters a fair hearing, so I can’t judge, but those who knew him thought highly of the “cowboy preacher,” of which he was the genuine article. He was a real cowboy, and a preacher. Love him or hate him, he was no phony.

    War drums were beating on the underground airwaves, and it wasn’t long before the Clintonistas took notice. The FCC was called into investigate, and put muzzles (and manacles) on these radio Patriots who wouldn’t walk across the street to pee on the government if it was on fire, and, they weren’t afraid to start a real shooting revolution either. Ask William Cooper. R.I.P.

    Not to besmirch the memory or the talk radio legacy of Rush Limbaugh, it was kind of ironic, that Mr. Limbaugh announced publicly that Clinton’s Patriot Pirate Radio witch hunt was aimed at him. He did change the face of political ideological themed talk radio, but he didn’t die in a shootout with the law.

    Now WWCR mostly airs non-controversial religious programming, but for awhile….

    OK, Mike, you’ve got the mantle. Wear it with pride, and keep the black flag 🏴‍☠️ flying. We’re with you.







    dana.acker replied 1 year, 9 months ago 9 Members · 25 Replies
  • 25 Replies
  • Christine_B

    Member
    May 25, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    Nice, i like this write up! Sorry took me so long to read! Thanks for sharing. 🤗

  • dana.acker

    Organizer
    May 25, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    Why, thank you. Better late than never. Appreciate it!

  • BrodyDog

    Member
    May 26, 2022 at 12:09 pm

    Is William Cooper the same one who wrote Behold! A Pale Horse? I’m reading it now, and the book lays out the entire Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars in it’s introduction that Legalman recommended everyone read too. Great book.

    • dana.acker

      Organizer
      May 26, 2022 at 12:11 pm

      Yep, one and the same.

      • BrodyDog

        Member
        May 26, 2022 at 6:03 pm

        Fascinating guy.

        • BrodyDog

          Member
          May 26, 2022 at 6:04 pm

          Would love to hear that show.

          • dana.acker

            Organizer
            May 26, 2022 at 6:51 pm

            Unfortunately that was a show he never got to do. He came home to a law enforcement ambush. He came out shooting, but was outmanned and outgunned. He was shot dead in the shootout. A lot of people talk the talk; Mr. Cooper also walked the walk.

            • dana.acker

              Organizer
              May 26, 2022 at 6:55 pm

              Depending on whether one is pro-government, or not so much is how his death is reported. At the time of his death, Mr. Cooper had no friends in the government.

            • BrodyDog

              Member
              May 30, 2022 at 11:37 am

              I meant would love to hear the show generally. Not of his death. We’ve definitely learned over the last two plus years how the reporting only goes one way.

        • dana.acker

          Organizer
          May 26, 2022 at 6:13 pm

          Mr. Cooper’s death should be a lesson to us all.

  • Paulie

    Member
    May 26, 2022 at 6:46 pm
    • dana.acker

      Organizer
      May 26, 2022 at 6:59 pm

      Thanks for the links! Good info. I’m still trying to figure out communication on the APP. I’m better on Paine.TV website on my tablet. Our kids gave us the smart phone, but we’re still having to get our grandchildren to explain it to us?????

      • Betsy.Ross

        Member
        June 9, 2022 at 4:01 pm

        I’m certain support has my profile on their dartboard. I wear them out. 😂😂😂

    • Betsy.Ross

      Member
      June 9, 2022 at 4:08 pm

      Wow! Thank you!

  • Paulie

    Member
    May 26, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    lol. Ok, now I know.

  • Paulie

    Member
    May 26, 2022 at 7:04 pm

    Your welcome.
    LezTyranny may have something to say about a smart phone .😉
    I’m on a PC. Just not used to replying to a group as opposed to commenting on the feed.

    • LesTyranny

      Member
      May 26, 2022 at 9:08 pm

      <div>I use a laptop for P.tv – phone very rarely and without the app.</div>

      Getting rid of smart phone any week now.

      That’s all I got.

      • Betsy.Ross

        Member
        June 9, 2022 at 3:59 pm

        Boy like to never figured out this particular maze, but it appears I have. 😁 I used to lie in bed in Louisville and listen to WLS in Chitown. They pushed a lot of power.

  • UpinCT

    Member
    June 9, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    @Betsy.Ross Same here, only I’d be lying awake in Tulsa, my little transistor radio hidden from my parents under my pillow. Most of my 25 cents/week allowance went to 9V batteries!

  • mjgordon42

    Member
    June 10, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Brings back memories. The only thing I wanted for Christmas (around 1973) was a 10-band radio. AM/FM/UHF/VHF/and my favorite Shortwave. I can still hear the theme from HCJB IN Quito Ecuador (If you know, you know). I also listened to Radio Moscow and got a whole different take on world events. I used to wonder how the citizens of Russia felt listening to the lies of their government. Sadly, I now know.

    I also enjoyed the late Art Bell. These days, you know where I get my forbidden information.

    Long live pirate radio!

    • SpotTheDog

      Member
      June 10, 2022 at 9:05 pm

      Did you get into ham radio?

      • mjgordon42

        Member
        June 10, 2022 at 9:08 pm

        I never did. It seems I’m destined to be a “listener”. 😎 I did get an FCC license to broadcast on my college radio station and spun some records in the mornings.

        • SpotTheDog

          Member
          June 10, 2022 at 9:12 pm

          Ha, reminds me of a story my wife told me in her college days where they didn’t like the DJ and gave him multiple ExLax doses in different foods and laughed when he was missing while playing tunes that ended with just scratchy noises over the radio airwaves….. No British flushes were ever heard, LOL 🤣

          • mjgordon42

            Member
            June 10, 2022 at 9:18 pm

            😂 So glad that never happened to me. I still remember playing Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story”. If I recall correctly, it was distributed on vinyl and we would play the track. We also did government sponsored PSA’s on tape between my selections ( Stones, Skynyrd, etc.). Good memories.

  • dana.acker

    Organizer
    June 12, 2022 at 4:44 pm

    I believe there were only a handful of 50,000 watt transmitters licensed in the US back in the day, WLS being one. Back when nighttime AM radio ruled all the airwaves except the Radio X several hundred thousand watt monsters just south of the Mexican border. God bless Wolfman Jack!

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