Pirate radio is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

that

broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...

without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross a national boundary. In other cases, a broadcast may be considered "pirate" due to the nature of its content, its transmission format (especially a failure to transmit a

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper (broadcasting), bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand na ...

according to regulations), or the transmit power (wattage) of the station, even if the transmission is not technically illegal (such as an

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

transmission). Pirate radio is sometimes called bootleg radio (a term especially associated with

two-way radio A two-way radio is a radio transceiver (a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves), which is used for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication with other users with similar radios, in contrast to a broadcast receiver, whi ...

), clandestine radio (associated with heavily politically motivated operations) or free radio.

History

Radio "piracy" began with the advent of regulation of the airwaves at the dawn of the age of radio. Initially, radio, or wireless as it was more commonly called at the time, was an open field of hobbyists and early inventors and experimenters. The degree of state control varied by country. For example, in the UK,

Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This ...

's work was supported by the post office, but in an era of weak regulation, a music hall magician

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...

deliberately hijacked a demonstration. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

began using radio for time signals and weather reports on the

east coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coast, coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean; it has always pla ...

in the 1890s. Before the advent of

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

technology, early radio enthusiasts used (electronically) noisy

spark-gap transmitter A spark-gap transmitter is an obsolete type of transmitter, radio transmitter which generates radio waves by means of an electric spark."Radio Transmitters, Early" in Spark-gap transmitters were the first type of radio transmitter, and were the m ...

s. The Navy soon began complaining to a sympathetic press that amateurs were disrupting naval transmissions. The May 25, 1907, edition of ''Electrical World'', in an article called "Wireless and Lawless", reported authorities were unable to prevent an amateur from interfering with the operation of a government station at the

Washington, D.C. Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is a ceremonial and administrative center for the United States Navy, located in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. (federal District of Columbia). It is the oldest shore establishment / base of ...

using legal means. In the run-up to the London Radiotelegraph Convention in 1912, and amid concerns about the safety of marine radio following the sinking of the on April 15 of that year, the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'' of April 17, 1912, headlined President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

's initiative to regulate the public airwaves in an article titled "President Moves to Stop Mob Rule of Wireless".

Europe

In Europe,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

had the first known radio station in the world to broadcast commercial radio from a vessel in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

without permission from the authorities in the country to which it broadcast (Denmark in this case). The station was named

Radio Mercur Radio Mercur was a Danish offshore broadcasting commercial radio station. It started regular transmission on 2 August 1958 and ceased officially on 31 July 1962, followed by 3 days of transmissions from 13 to 15 August 1962. Later broadcasting ...

and began transmission on August 2, 1958. In the Danish newspapers it was soon called a "pirate radio". In the Netherlands in 1964, ''Radio Noordzee'' and ''TV Noordzee'' began broadcasting from the

REM Island REM Island is a platform built in the Republic of Ireland and towed off the Dutch coast in 1964 as the pirate broadcasting home of ''Radio and TV Noordzee''. Both stations were dismantled by the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was 10 km (6 miles ...

and

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and was on air for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands, to stimulate the sales of ra ...

acquired a new ship, a converted

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

named ''

MV Norderney MV ''Norderney'' was from November, 1964 until 31 August 1974 the transmission ship for offshore radio station Radio Veronica.Website University GroningeYears of Veronica visited 29 June 2012 History ''Norderney'' was built in 1949 as the ''MV ...

''.

United Kingdom

In the 1960s in the UK, the term referred to not only a perceived unauthorized use of the state-run spectrum by the unlicensed broadcasters but also the risk-taking nature of

offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...

stations that actually operated on anchored ships or marine platforms. The term had been used previously in Britain and the US to describe unlicensed land-based broadcasters and even

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service (broadcasting), external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually ass ...

s. For example, a 1940 British comedy about an unauthorized TV broadcaster, ''

Band Waggon ''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series ad ...

'', uses the phrase "pirate station" several times. A good example of this kind of activity was

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

located in the Grand Duchy of

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. The English language evening broadcasts from Radio Luxembourg were beamed by Luxembourg-licensed transmitters. The audience in the United Kingdom originally listened to their radio sets by permission of a wireless license issued by the British

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

(GPO). However, under terms of that wireless license, it was an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act to listen to ''unauthorised'' broadcasts, which possibly included those transmitted by Radio Luxembourg. Therefore, as far as the British authorities were concerned, Radio Luxembourg was a "pirate radio station" and British listeners to the station were breaking the law (although as the term 'unauthorised' was never properly defined it was somewhat of a legal

grey area Grey area or gray area may refer to: Music * The Grey Area (Mute), a record label * ''Grey Area'' (album), a 2019 album by Little Simz * ''The Grey Area'' (album), a 2003 album by Onry Ozzborn * "Gray Area", a song by Kaytranada from '' Bubba'' ...

). This did not stop British newspapers from printing programme schedules for the station, or a British weekly magazine aimed at teenage girls, ''Fab 208'', from promoting the DJs and their lifestyle. (Radio Luxembourg's wavelength was 208 metres (1439, then 1440 kHz)). Radio Luxembourg was later joined by other well-known pirate stations received in the UK in violation of UK licensing, including

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

and

Radio Atlanta Radio Atlanta was an offshore commercial station that operated briefly from 12 May 1964 to 2 July 1964 from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. The radio broadcasting vessel was owned, at th ...

(subsequently Radio Carolines North and South respectively, following their merger and the original ship's relocation), Radio London, and Laser 558, all of which broadcast from vessels anchored outside of territorial limits and were therefore legitimate.

Radio Jackie Radio Jackie is an Independent Local Radio station in Kingston upon Thames, England broadcasting news, popular hits, and local information to South-West London and North Surrey from its studios in Tolworth. History Radio Jackie began as a p ...

, for instance, although transmitting illegally was registered for

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

and even had its address and telephone number in local telephone directories. By the 1970s, pirate radio in the UK had mostly moved to land-based broadcasting, transmitting from

tower blocks A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...

in towns and cities.

United States

In the US, the 1912 "Act to Regulate Radio Communication" assigned amateurs and experimenters their own frequency spectrum, and introduced licensing and call-signs. A federal agency, the

Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...

, was formed in 1927 and succeeded in 1934 by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

. These agencies would enforce rules on call-signs, assigned frequencies, licensing, and acceptable content for broadcast. The Radio Act of 1912 gave the president legal permission to shut down radio stations "in time of war". During the first two and a half years of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, before US entry, President Wilson tasked the US Navy with monitoring US radio stations, nominally to "ensure neutrality." The US was divided into two civilian radio "districts" with corresponding call-signs, beginning with "K" in the west and "W" in the east. The Navy was assigned call-signs beginning with "N". The Navy used this authority to shut down amateur radio in the western part of the US. When Wilson declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, he also issued an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

closing most radio stations not needed by the US government. The Navy took it a step further and declared it was illegal to listen to radio or possess a receiver or transmitter in the US, but there were doubts they had the authority to issue such an order even in war time. The ban on radio was lifted in the US in late 1919. In 1924, New York City station WHN was accused by the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(AT&T) of being an "outlaw station" for violating trade licenses which permitted only AT&T stations to sell

airtime Air time or airtime may refer to: *Air time (broadcasting), also spelled "airtime", available hours for broadcast or time purchased for broadcast * Air time (mobile phone), also spelled "airtime", top-up for mobile roaming services *Air time (ride ...

on their transmitters. As a result of the AT&T interpretation, a landmark case was heard in court, which even prompted comments from

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

when he took a public stand in the station's defense. Although AT&T won its case, the furor created was such that those restrictive provisions of the transmitter license were never enforced. In 1926, WJAZ in Chicago changed its frequency to one previously reserved for Canadian stations without getting permission to make the change, and was charged by the federal government with "wave piracy". The resulting legal battle found that the Radio Act of 1912 did not allow the US government to require stations to operate on specific frequencies, and the result was the passage of the

Radio Act of 1927 The Radio Act of 1927 (United States Public Law 632, 69th Congress) was signed into law on February 23, 1927. It replaced the Radio Act of 1912, increasing the federal government's regulatory powers over radio communication, with oversight vested ...

to strengthen the government's regulatory authority. While

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

issued radio station

XERF XHRF-FM () and XERF-AM () are radio stations in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Originally only on the AM band, XERF is a Mexican Class A clear-channel station transmitting with of power. Now branded as ''La Poderosa'', XHRF-FM and XERF-AM ...

with a license to broadcast, the power of its 250 kW transmitter was far greater than the maximum of 50 kW authorized for commercial use by the government of the United States of America. Consequently, XERF and many other radio stations in Mexico, which sold their broadcasting time to sponsors of English-language commercial and religious programs, were labelled as "

s", but not "pirate radio stations", even though the content of many of their programs could not have been aired by a US-regulated broadcaster. Predecessors to XERF, for instance, had originally broadcast in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, advocating " goat-gland surgery" for improved masculinity, but moved to Mexico to evade US laws about advertising medical treatments, particularly unproven ones.

Free radio

Another variation on the term ''pirate radio'' came about during the "

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

" in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

during the 1960s. "Free radio" usually referred to secret and unlicensed land-based transmissions. These were also tagged as being pirate radio transmissions. Free Radio was used only to refer to radio transmissions that were beyond government control, as was offshore radio in the UK and Europe. The term ''free radio'' was adopted by the Free Radio Association of listeners who defended the rights of the offshore radio stations broadcasting from ships and marine structures off the

coastline of the United Kingdom The coastline of the United Kingdom is formed by a variety of natural features including islands, bays, headlands and peninsulas. It consists of the coastline of the island of Great Britain, the north-east coast of the island of Ireland, as well ...

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

points out:

Propaganda broadcasting

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

broadcasting may be authorized by the government at the transmitting site, but may be considered unwanted or illegal by the government of the intended reception area. Propaganda broadcasting conducted by national governments against the interests of other national governments has created

radio jamming Radio jamming is the deliberate blocking of or interference with wireless communications.https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-12-347A1.pdf Enforcement Advisory No. 2012-02 FCC Enforcement Advisory Cell Jammers, GPS Jammers, and Other J ...

stations transmitting noises on the same frequency to prevent reception of the incoming signal. While the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

transmitted its programs towards the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which attempted to jam them, in 1970 the government of the United Kingdom decided to employ a jamming transmitter to drown out the incoming transmissions from the commercial station

Radio North Sea International Radio North Sea International (RNI; ; ) was a European offshore radio station run by the Swiss firm Mebo Telecommunications, jointly owned by Swiss engineer Edwin Bollier and his business partner, Erwin Meister.. The company, registered in Swi ...

, which was based aboard the motor vessel (MV)

Mebo II The ''Mebo II'' was originally the Dutch freighter ''Silvretta'', built in 1948 by De Groot en van Vliet, Slikkerveer. It had a weight of 630 tons and a length of 186 feet. In 1969, it was bought by Edwin Bollier and Erwin Meister, renamed and c ...

anchored off southeast England in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. Other examples of this type of unusual broadcasting include the USCGC ''Courier'' (WAGR-410), a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

cutter which both originated and relayed broadcasts of the ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

'' from an anchorage at the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

Soviet bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries. Balloons have been flown above

Key West, Florida Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...

, to support the TV transmissions of

TV Martí Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ent ...

, which are directed at

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

(the Cuban government jams the signals). Military broadcasting aircraft have been flown over

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, and many other nations by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Piracy in amateur and two-way radio

Illegal use of licensed radio spectrum (also known as ''bootlegging'' in CB circles) is fairly common and takes several forms.

Unlicensed operation

Particularly associated with amateur radio and licensed personal communication services such as

GMRS The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-range two-way voice communication and authorized under part 95 of the US FCC code. It requires a license in the United States, but some GMRS comp ...

, unlicensed operation refers to use of radio equipment on a section of spectrum for which the equipment is designed but on which the user is not licensed to operate (most such operators are informally known as "bubble pack pirates" from the sealed plastic retail packaging common to such walkie-talkies). While piracy on the US GMRS band, for example, is widespread (some estimates have the number of total GMRS users outstripping the number of licensed users by several orders of magnitude), such use is generally disciplined only in cases where the pirate's activity interferes with a licensee. A notable case is that of former United States amateur operator Jack Gerritsen operating under the revoked

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

KG6IRO who was successfully prosecuted by the FCC for unlicensed operation and malicious interference. A subcategory of this is free banding, the use of allocations nearby a legal allocation, most typically the 27 MHz

Citizen's Band Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...

using modified or purpose-built gear.

Inadvertent interference

Inadvertent interference is common when personal communications gear is brought into countries where it is not certified to operate. Such interference results from clashing frequency allocations, and occasionally requires wholesale reallocation of an existing band due to an insurmountable interference problem; for example, the 2004 approval in Canada of the unlicensed use of the United States

General Mobile Radio Service The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-range two-way voice communication and authorized under part 95 of the US FCC code. It requires a license in the United States, but some GMRS compa ...

frequencies due to interference from users of FRS/GMRS radios from the United States, where

Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; ; )''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Industry (). is a department of the G ...

had to transfer a number of licensed users on the GMRS frequencies to unoccupied channels to accommodate the expanded service.

Deliberate or malicious interference

Interference may be deliberate or malicious, such as the use of two-way radio to harass or jam other users of a channel. Such behaviour is widely prosecuted, especially when it interferes with mission-critical services such as aviation radio or

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-ai ...

Illegal equipment

Equipment could be illegally modified or not certified for a particular band. Such equipment includes illegal

linear amplifier A linear amplifier is an electronics, electronic circuit whose output is proportional to its input, but capable of delivering more power (physics), power into a Electrical load, load. The term usually refers to a type of radio-frequency (RF) powe ...

s for

CB radio Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...

, antenna or circuit modifications on walkie-talkies, the use of "export" radios for free banding, or the use of amateur radios on unlicensed bands that amateur gear is not certified for. The use of

gear for inland mobile radio operations is common in some countries, with enforcement difficult since marine VHF is generally the province of maritime authorities.

Examples of pirate radio stations

Beat Radio Beat Radio originally was an unlicensed radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota that played dance music. Founded by local radio DJ and programmer, Alan Freed, in 1996, the station served downtown Minneapolis and surrounding neighborhoods and ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, USA * BMIR, Black Rock City,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, USA *

Britain Radio Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

, United Kingdom * Citizens Radio 102.8 FM, Hong Kong *

Dread Broadcasting Corporation Dread Broadcasting Corporation, also known as DBC, was a 1980s West London pirate radio station which is credited as Britain's first black music pirate radio station. History It broadcast from the Neasden and Ladbroke Grove areas, and was fo ...

, London's first black music radio station * Free Radio Santa Cruz California, United States * Laser 558, North Sea * Mix FM,

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

* KQLZ, a legal radio station billed as Pirate Radio

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

(with a mailing address at a

P.O. Box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door-to-door delivery ...

Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...

) * Pirate Cat Radio,

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

* Portland Radio Authority,

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Oregon, USA * Radio 270, United Kingdom *

Radio 390 Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort, (near Whitstable), a former Maunsell Fort on the Red Sands sandbar in the River Thames estuary. Previously the fort had been used by Radio Invicta (c June 1964 – February 1 ...

, United Kingdom *

, United Kingdom (now licensed and legal) * Radio City, United Kingdom * Radio First Termer, Saigon, Vietnam 1971 *

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state- ...

, New Zealand (ship, Tiri 1 and Tiri 2) (now licensed and legal) *

, United Kingdom (now licensed and legal) *

, Denmark * Radio Milinda, Dublin *

Radio Newyork International Radio Newyork International was the name of a pirate radio station which broadcast from a ship anchored in international waters off Long Beach, New York, United States in 1987 and 1988. The history of Radio Newyork International (RNI) is linke ...

, Jones Beach, New York, United States (1987 and 1988 pirate ship) * Radio Nova, Dublin 1981–1986 *

Radio Scotland Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave (242 metres), created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was on the former lightship L.V. ''Comet'', which had been fitted out as a radio station ...

, United Kingdom (1960s pirate ship) * Radio Solidarity, Poland (1982–1989) *

, Netherlands *

Rinse FM Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres po ...

, London (gained a license in 2010) * SIBC,

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

, (Originally broadcast illicitly onshore, now licensed and legal) *

Swinging Radio England Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "''World's Most Powerful''" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, En ...

, United Kingdom * Thameside Radio London * TSF,

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal (now licensed and legal) * Twilight FM,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

East Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to the south-west ...

1993–1997 *

Voice of Peace Voice of Peace (, ''Kol HaShalom'') was an offshore radio, offshore radio station that broadcast in the Middle East for 20 years from the former Dutch cargo vessel ''MV Peace'' (formally ''MV Cito''), anchored off the Israeli coast in the E ...

, Israel (pirate ship) *

Wonderful Radio London Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 (in London's case, the "Fab 40") offshore commercial station that operated from 23 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, off Frin ...