Tag Archives: Recordings

Pirate Radio Recordings: Shrimp Boat Radio, WSBR (a.k.a. Freakin’ Awesome Radio, WFAR)

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(Original source: Wikimedia Commons)

“No shrimp? No problem!” Pirates on board! (Original source: Wikimedia Commons)

“We’re shrimpin,’ but they’re not bitin’!”

Last night, a very unique pirate radio station emerged from the static on 6,925 kHz USB: Shrimp Boat Radio. It seems a shrimp boat radio pirate found himself bored on board, due to a lack of shrimp–but his boredom became our gain with an offer to talk shrimpin,’ fishin,’ or just take music requests…live.

This is the stuff great pirate radio is made of.  He started with a request for the Rolling Stones; next Black Cat Radio‘s Greaser Bob chimed in with a request for GNR.  And there began an evening of pirate radio with live on-air requests.

You can tell that this was a completely impromptu production–and it was all the better for it.  Not too long into the show, he took on the alternate name Freakin’ Awesome Radio (WFAR).

Hearing a live pirate radio request show was a first for me, and the sort of thing that gets this “content DXer” enthused. I’m glad I had the tape rolling!  I hope he reappears on the band in the future.

Note that I start the recording at the very first announcement from WSBR. If you want to skip to the first music request, fast-forward to about 11 minutes into the recording (you’ll miss some great banter, though). There are a few long breaks of static in the recording where this pirate scrambled to find and play music requests, but this just adds to the authenticity.

Click here to download the full recording of Shrimp Boat Radio, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Enjoy!

Radio Panik injects shortwave audio into mixes

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LetrangerI recently discovered that the radio show L’etranger, on Radio Panik, 105.4 in Brussels, used shortwave radio recordings of pirate radio and numbers stations, from the SWLing Post and other sources, in one of their mixes of eclectic music and sound clips.

The end result is a splendid piece of sonic art.

Note that their audio is only available on archive.org until May 23, 2013. Click here to download the show, or listen via the embedded player below. You can also hear the show on the L’etranger website.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

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greeceFor your listening pleasure: four hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece.

I recorded this broadcast on Sunday, April 21st March 8th, 2013 on 9.42 MHz at 18:30 UTC. While recording, I piped the shortwave audio through our home hi-fi system–it sounded absolutely amazing. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Romania International

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Victory Avenue (Calea Victoriei), a major avenue in central Bucharest (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Victory Avenue (Calea Victoriei), a major avenue in central Bucharest (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Today at 20:30 UTC, Radio Romania International’s signal on 11,745 kHz was  quite strong, as it so often is.  RRI is one of the few broadcasters that still target Europe and the eastern US on shortwave.

RRI is a treasure of a station, too, with true local flavor–Romanian news, music, and mini cultural documentaries. This Sunday broadcast features the program Inside Romania, Romanian Without Tears (a language program which always reminds me of the similarities between French and Romanian), DX Mailbag, and Roots.

Click here to download the full broadcast as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. This recording features their interval signal before and after the broadcast:

If you enjoy Radio Romania International, I encourage you to send an accurate and descriptive reception report to: rri@rri.ro Maybe your letter will be featured on their DX Mailbag!

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Australia’s Tok Pisin service

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Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Monday morning, I was up earlier than usual and caught Radio Australia’s Tok Pisin (Pacific Pidgin Language Service) on 9,475 kHz.

I doubt many English-speaking SWLing Post readers will understand Tok Pisin if you’re hearing it for the first time, but as with other Pidgin languages throughout the world, Tok Pisin is a mixture of several languages: English, German, Malay, Portuguese and Austronesian languages. It has a comparatively simple structure and you might be surprised what you can understand if the topic shifts to something familiar. I’ve certainly enjoyed listening to it in the background as I work on other projects.

I recorded a full 90 minutes of the Tok Pisin service; you can download it directly by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: NHK Radio Japan

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Tokyo, Japan (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Tokyo, Japan (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

For you listening pleasure: thirty minutes of NHK Radio Japan’s English language service.

This broadcast was recorded an hour ago, at 10:00 UTC on 9,625 (April 19, 2013).  Though NHK has dropped their English language services into North America, you can still receive their broadcasts targeting other regions quite easily.

Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below. note that I include a full five minutes of their interval signal:

Enjoy!

Pirate Radio Recordings: Hardtack Radio

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This Hard Tack Radio SSTV image can be decoded at the end of the broadcast.

This Hardtack Radio SSTV image can be decoded at the end of the broadcast.

For your listening pleasure: a 24 minute recording of the pirate radio station, Hardtack Radio.

Hard Tack Radio plays US Civil War era songs “celebrating the Blue and the Gray.”

I caught Hardtack’s broadcast Friday night (April 12) around 23:10 UTC. Their upper side band signal was pretty strong and well above the active noise floor, though there was a heterodyne/data noise located right around 6926.8 kHz. You won’t hear this noise in the recording below, because I effectively used the WinRadio Excalibur’s notch filter to eliminate it. At the very end of the recording, I turn off the notch and you’ll hear the noise a few seconds before the broadcast ends.

Click here to download the full recording of Hardtack Radio, or simply listen via the embedded player below: