Right-Wing Pirates: Hateful but Rare

The events of the last month in the United States should leave no question that a fascist, white-supermacist element is on the resurgence here. Spurred on by nationalist and hate-denialist sites like Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and other notable right-wing media conglomerates such as News Corp. (FOX News), Sinclair, and Salem, this despicable ideology has its own well-developed media ecosystem now.
Although much of this media-behavior’s out in the open presently, it’s cropped up throughout our history on broadcast stations that, by law, should not exist. I’ve written about some of these here, including ostansible pro-German prankster-stations during World Wars One and Two, and the curious case of Reverend Carl McIntire who, after creating a loose syndicated radio-version of the FOX News Channel in the 1950-60s, lost the licenses to his Pennsylvania radio stations in 1970. Continue reading “Right-Wing Pirates: Hateful but Rare”

Kentucky Shortwave Militia Pirate Arrested In North Carolina

“Colonel” Steve Anderson, a former member of the Kentucky State Militia kicked out of the group for his operation of a shortwave pirate radio station advocating white supremacy, was arrested yesterday in the mountains of North Carolina. According to the story in the link above, it’s implied that Anderson had a license for his radio station but got it revoked by the FCC. This is incorrect. Anderson once held an amateur radio license which was revoked by the FCC, but he never had any permission to operate on the shortwave broadcast bands.
Anderson used to run “Kentucky State Militia Radio (KSMR)” out of his rural home, running 300 watts of power on two shortwave frequencies. His openly racist rhetoric and the fact that he named the station after the state militia alarmed the militia’s commanding officers, who kicked him out of the group and publicly disowned him in 2001. Continue reading “Kentucky Shortwave Militia Pirate Arrested In North Carolina”

Itching for a Fight

Rumors of the demise of United Patriot Radio have proven to be false; whether or not this is a good thing, only time will tell.
United Patriot Radio is a shortwave pirate broadcasting from somewhere in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Run by a self-described militiaman named Steve Anderson (no relation), UPR originally came to life as Kentucky State Militia Radio (KSMR) in March, 2000, relaying militia-related news and advocating resistance to further encroachment by the Federal government on the lives of America’s citizenry.
Broadcasting on the upper sideband of 3260 kHz with a handful of watts and a homemade antenna, KSMR caused a small stir in the shortwave pirate community: never before had a clandestine station targeting the United States government actually broadcast from within its own borders.
But, as more and more people tuned in KSMR, more and more began not to like what they heard. Continue reading “Itching for a Fight”

Infighting Kills Militia Pirate

It looks like a controversial shortwave militia pirate station is off the air now, possibly for good.
Kentucky State Militia Radio, or KSMR, began broadcasting a couple of months ago from a location in Kentucky. Major Steve Anderson was behind the mic, and he used the station to disseminate contact information for militia groups around the United States. However, the operation of the station was not sanctioned by Anderson’s parent organization, the Kentucky State Militia.
When the Militia’s commander found out about Anderson’s broadcasts – and the pending confrontation it would cause with federal authorities – he ordered Anderson to cease operations.
Anderson complied for a few days, then returned the station to the air under the name “United Patriot Radio.” Anderson claimed the station had no ties to the Kentucky State Militia anymore, and that he’d recruited help from other groups around the country to keep the station running. Continue reading “Infighting Kills Militia Pirate”

KSMR Reborn

On the shortwave front, a militia man in Kentucky that made history in March is back on the air under a different name.
Major Steve Anderson, a member of the Kentucky State Militia, first fired up Kentucky State Militia Radio on March first. KSMR became the first clandestine shortwave broadcaster ever to target the United States from within the country itself – stations of this type traditionally broadcast outside of the country they’re trying to propagandize.
Touting the station as an expression of the First Amendment “protected by the Second Amendment,” KSMR made several broadcasts for about three weeks, passing along militia contact information and warning the FCC to stay away. Continue reading “KSMR Reborn”

KSMR Makes History

When Major Steve Anderson of the Kentucky State Militia fired up a shortwave transmitter and gave birth to Kentucky State Militia Radio (KSMR) this month, it’s not clear whether or not he knew he was making history.
The amateur and shortwave radio bands are heavily populated by militia and other “patriot” broadcasters who criticize the federal government for regularly overstepping its Constitutional bounds. In many cases, these broadcasters advocate isolation from anything federal in nature.
Anderson falls into this category: last year he turned in his amateur radio license to the FCC as a symbolic gesture of detachment from the reins of federal authority. Continue reading “KSMR Makes History”