Confession time: one of my favorite pirate radio stations is Radio Casablanca.
Why?
For one thing the format is WWII-era music. When I hear Radio Casablanca, I close my eyes and imagine what it must have been like to hear the great bands of the era over the shortwaves…
Radio nostalgia at its best.
The signal strength is always sufficient to be heard in relatively good fidelity here in my radio room, but not so strong as to detract from the perceived distance. I believe the recording you’ll hear below could very well mimic broadcasts over shortwave, heard across borders during WWII as well as listened to on classic console radios in people’s living rooms and front parlors.
When my buddy Mark Coady posted that he was listening to Radio Casablanca Tuesday night on 6940 kHz AM, I immediately rushed outside to hook up my antenna, and started rolling. I didn’t want to miss even one more minute (I came across Mark’s post about twenty minutes into the broadcast). Though regional storms produced some static pops and crashes, overall fidelity is decent. You will hear the filter and side-band sync being adjusted at times as I attempted to eliminate adjacent noises–which, in the end, are all a part of the listening experience.
Click here to download an MP3 of the recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Either way, prepare to go (or at least, send your ears) back in time…
Well just for kicks i twisted the dial on the ol’ R-388 to 6940 kc. guess what? Nothing like what i’m hearing from the recordings. Oh poo. Maybe another day.. What area of the country was this station located? May not even been able to hear him out here in the desert. I live for this era music.
I just discovered these recording. Oh me! I didn’t discover SW till the mid 50’s when my dad came up with a WWII Hammarlund BC-779. I strung up about 80 ft of wire out the back of the garage where my radio was and happily joined the medium listeners. Been at it ever since at least in ham community but whenever i get any good propagation i’m listening to SWBC stns. Getting scarcer everyday it seems. Anyway these are a pure pleasure to listen to in spite of the QRN and QSB. Would love to find more Pirate recordings from the 60-thru the 60’s era. One note, when in Europe in the mid to late 60’s we listened to Radio Caroline as much as possible. good days, good music and good times. More of this stuff please.
Hey– thanks for the nice post and recording. It’s nice to hear what it sounds like on the other end.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Richard, Glad you’re out of the POW camp and back on the air! Now we want more!
Best,
Thomas