Where Have All The Pirates Gone?

Arrrrrr..... L.A. has a rich history of pirate radio (not including "100.3 Pirate Radio," the late-80s Scott Shannon-led commercial radio station that pretended to be a pirate). But as of late, local pirates have been awfully quiet, at least here in the Los Feliz/Silver Lake/Hollywood area.

All three frequencies popular with pirates -- 87.9 FM, 100.7 FM and 104.7 FM -- have been empty as of late. That's a contrast to just a few years ago, when "Pirate Cat Radio" blasted out on 87.9 FM, a techno/dance station out of Hollywood blared on 100.7, and "Kill Radio" inherited the legendary KBLT's pirate frequency, 104.7.

The late 90s heyday of KBLT is recounted in Sue Carpenter's recent book, 40 Watts From Nowhere.

Released in February, the book recounts how Carpenter enlisted some friends and created a scrappy pirate radio station that quickly became the talk of the east side. Big names like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck and Danzig all made it to Carpenter's apartment, where she spent near $20,000 to outfit her makeshift radio station. Volunteers showed up throughout the day and night to host their own shows; even former Minuteman Mike Watt was a DJ.

But after playing a cat and mouse game with the FCC, and managing to outsmart the agency for three years, it all came crashing down in 1998. The FCC finally found her secret transmitter and antenna atop the Sunset-Vine Tower (yup, the one that's now a ghost tower, having been boarded up after a 2001 fire) and pulled the plug. (Here's an L.A. Weekly story from back then about KBLT; Paige Jarrett is actually Carpenter, using an assumed name.)

Carpenter, who lived a double life as wild radio pirate and mainstream freelance writer, tells an interesting story. (She's now a feature writer at the L.A. Times.)

Meanwhile, Pirate Cat Radio-- which broadcast for over a year from Hollywood -- is now living and broadcasting in San Francisco, according to the pirate's website. Pirate Cat has been arguing for some time that broadcasting without a license is now technically legal because of the ongoing war on terrorism. That's according to Pirate Cat's reading of U.S. Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.3542,which says:

Authority is granted, on a temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances requiring emergency operation to serve the public interest. such situations include: emergencies involving danger to life and property; a national emergency proclaimed by the President or the Congress of the USA and; the continuance of any war in which the United States is engaged, and where such action is necessary for the national defense or security or otherwise in furtherance of the war effort.

Hmm, don't quite know if that would hold up in court. But as of now, the FCC is busy pursuing, ahem, other matters (i.e., "indecency" in the wake of Janet Jackson's boob). That's probably good news for Pirate Cat and company.