There’s a running debate taking place between the collaborative blog Radio Survivor and the industry trade newspaper Radio World about the “merits” of pirate radio. You’d think, after 20+ years of organized unlicensed broadcasting (and the resultant creation of an LPFM service), that this argument would have been settled long ago.
It all began in July with a tongue-in-cheek piece penned by Matthew Lasar. In mockery of a National Association of Broadcasters “analysis” which attempted to (inflatedly) quantify the importance of the radio industry to the national economy, Lasar conducted a “guesstimate study” which suggested that pirate radio generates some $576 million annually in jobs and services.
Radio World editor Paul McLane took Lasar’s piece a bit too seriously and filed commentary asserting the premise that any positive implication of pirate radio – economic or otherwise – was simply illegitimate. Continue reading “Pirate Radio: A Natural Part of the Airwaves Since 1912”
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