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