"Pirates, I See You on My Frequency!" Tales of Pirate Radio Resistance in New York City, 1969–2024

This presentation explores the history and persistence of NYC’s broadcast subculture in the face of government enforcement. The talk will focus on the eternal struggle between unlicensed broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This struggle intensified in 2020 when Congress passed the Preventing Interfering Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act which greatly increased the consequences for pirate radio operators.

Unlicensed radio stations have been a vibrant, unpredictable and subversive presence in New York City for over 50 years. Often called pirates for broadcasting without a license, these stations are considered a nuisance by the authorities but a refuge by their listeners whose interests and needs fall outside the lowest common denominator calculations of the commercial broadcast industry.

In New York City, from the late 60’s three eras of pirate radio activity have unfolded:

1969-1987: underground counterculture & radical politics, pranksters, music fans. Stations included WSEX, WHOT, WKOV & Stereo9fm.

1987-2003: dance music, hip hop street culture, experimental art, community activism. Stations included Nasty Radio, WBAD, free103point9, and Steal This Radio.

Late 90’s-today: West Indian (Haitian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Grenadian), Latino/a (Dominican, Ecuadorean), Orthodox Jewish. Stations include Fierte Haitenne, Irie Storm, Impacto & Kol Hashalom.

Current pirate radio activity is a grassroots community-oriented radio scene with 75 stations on-air daily. Stations in the earlier eras were more secretive, transmitting mainly on late nights and weekends to avoid detection. Today’s stations serve West Indian and Latino/a neighborhoods with news and cultural content from their respective countries of origin as well as crucial information on negotiating life in a new land.