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.
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