| Title | Radio: Dutch Pirate Blowtorch Blowout | |
| Date | Monday December 13 2004, @10:28AM | |
| Author | nolympics | |
| Topic | Independent Media | |
| from the radio-radio dept. | ||
Anonymous Comrade writes
Dutch Pirate Blowtorch Blowout
It's tough to fully understand because it's all in Dutch, but there was one hell
of a pirate broadcast in Europe this past weekend. Radio Koning, Keizer,
Admiraal ("King, General, Admiral") took to the airwaves Friday on 97.0 FM,
running 11,000 watts out of an antenna more than 100 meters
tall.
The broadcast was the result of a combined effort of four pirate station-groups
operating in the eastern Netherlands, laid on (in part) to protest the
methodical sweep of the FM band carried out by the Dutch government in the past
few years as part of a policy of spectrum commodification. Practically speaking,
however, it was just one big
party.
The actual antenna and transmitter were located just just over the border in
what appears to be some German woodland. Reception reports poured in from as far
away as Italy. I believe this may have been the largest-ever land-based FM
operation ever constructed by Dutch pirates (possibly the largest-ever in
northern Europe).
The same day Radio KKA took to the air, Dutch authorities paid a visit to the
station, reportedly on complaints about interference to a regional public
broadcaster (KKA operated on an adjacent channel to the affected station).
Saturday afternoon saw a large multi-jurisdictional German/Dutch enforcement
team locate and raid Radio KKA; someone's got the last 8:47 of the broadcast
online. Station crew were also slapped with a
€40,000 fine (~$53,000).
The party didn't stop Saturday night: part-celebration of KKA's short but bright
run and part-fundraiser.