Message to Critics: Pirate Radio Stations (Feb 18, 2006)

What kind of generalization is that? First off, the logos take up valuable bandwidth, so if Clear Channel, CBS Radio, J-P, etc, wish to have their links and logos displayed on the right-hand side of this page (above those I list for free such as my station DFSX, and other stations), then Click Here to make a donation to pay for the expenses for "implied endorsement" of a radio station you choose to have listed in your words. You want KGB on this page? You endorse it by paying me to link to their site from my high-traffic main Latest News page. It only costs $25 a month to list a radio station logo on my site.

And yes, I list the pirate radio stations for a reason: the local legal radio stations as a whole need to stop accepting money from the Indies if they haven't already (yet Channel 933 continues to sound like it still does with unlistenable CHR crud that has no personality) and dump the payola songs that actually sound like crap and people won't put up with it anymore. Does a radio station wish to have most of their listeners they're targeting hooked on their iPods for the latest hits that matter? And, yes, the pirate radio stations, like iPods, do take away listeners' audiences, as 91X and 94.9 have been suffering consistently under a 3.0 rating for a couple of years at least since Pirate 96.9 was launched three years ago. What does this tell you? Pirate is serving the San Diego audience (sorry David Eduardo) with relevant music that 91X and 94.9 isn't playing, though they are playing material with offensive words that the FCC won't allow such as taped broadcasts of a caller telling the deejay at KUBE 93.3 to do something physically impossible with a part of an anatomy when the station admitted that it was involved in getting a pirate in Seattle at 93.7 off the air.

My job is not to blast the pirate broadcasters but to report their existance and what they're trying to accomplish in San Diego. They have a right to cause grief to the legal broadcasters, though I don't reccomend breaking the law outright by turning on a 30 watt stick to play expletives, and a few times, some E-skip from a few nights ago overpowered Pirate 96.9 with religious programming for a minute or two (is this a sign of God or something?)

Whatever the reason, my job is to show people what's out there and what alternatives are out there, and as we enter the second decade of Internet radio broadcasting, legal broadcast radio needs to get some music directors that have a good ear for music to get listeners to shut off their iPods.

91X playing Ray Charles and FM 94/9 playing Herb Alpert (yup, I heard them) isn't enough to make their music more diverse. They both need to play the likes of Power Salad, Worm Quartet, Hot Waffles, Jeff Daniels, UFO Phil, Lemon Demon, even the Cast of Rent doing a dance remix of "Seasons of Love" will do!

And if Pirate Radio 96.9 plays any of my stuff from Stupid Audio, I'll give them a 480x60 banner on SDN valued at $1,200 a year for free for a year. Please visit David Tanny aka The Ant Farmer for my Stupid Audio CDs and buy a pair today!