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Overall, 2016 was another great year for shortwave pirate radio listeners. If you’re interested in hearing pirates, the best ways to keep up to date on what is being heard is via the HFUnderground.com message board, as well as the real time Ryver chat. Rather than finding out about a transmission after it is over, you can tune in while it is still on the air.

And of course, your loggings and other posts on the HF Underground are most welcome! This is how we find out what stations are being heard. I’m looking forward to see what new and interesting pirate radio programming 2017 brings us. Happy DX!

To gauge shortwave pirate radio activity in 2016, I analyzed the Shortwave Pirate loggings forum of the HF Underground (http://www.hfunderground.com). A computer script parsed the message thread titles, as well as the timestamps of the messages. This information was used to produce some statistics about the level of pirate radio activity. Of course, as Mark Twain has written: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Still, let’s see what we can learn.

There were 13,860 messages posted to 2,398 unique threads, compared to 13,944 messages posted to 2,183 unique threads in 2015. Activity levels are essentially flat, but still at historically high levels. Back in the 1990s, it was not uncommon for an entire month to go by with only a handful of pirate stations logged. If you want to know when the “golden age” of shortwave pirate radio was, I would say it is right now.

Ideally, each thread represents an individual pirate station transmission. Also ideally, each message posted to a thread represents one logging. In reality, there is some error involved.

First, we can look at the transmission mode used:
AM 1,083
USB 1,139
LSB 73
CW 18
FM 17
UNKNOWN 62 (no mention of the mode in the posting)

USB barely beat out AM this year. If we assume (as likely) that the cases where no mode was reported were one of these, AM and USB account for virtually all of the transmissions. Cold Country Canada is a major user of LSB, along with Peskie Party Radio.

Next, we can see how much activity there is for each day of the week:

Sunday 512 (21%)
Monday 237 (10%)
Tuesday 196 (8%)
Wednesday 192 (8%)
Thursday 240 (10%)
Friday 379 (16%)
Saturday 642 (27%)

The percentages for each day in 2016 are virtually unchanged from 2015. As one might expect, Saturday and Sunday are the big winners, with Friday in third place. But don’t give up on weekday listening! Over a third of all transmissions are on a Monday through Thursday.

We can also look at the number of logging threads per month, to gauge activity:

This chart clearly shows the typical summer slump in pirate radio activity, presumably caused by high static levels, and people doing other things than listening to the radio (or transmitting on the radio). There was a bump in July, however.

Here’s a graph showing the number of broadcasts per day of the year that were logged, please click on the image to see it full sized:

Holidays are, as usual, a great opportunity to hear pirate stations.

We might be interested in knowing the best time of the day to try to hear a pirate station. Here’s a plot of the start times of the logged broadcasts, binned
by UTC hour of the day:

As you might expect, evening Eastern Time is the best, roughly 2300-0200 UTC, with a broader peak of lower activity from roughly 2000-0500 UTC. There is some activity in the morning to afternoon time period, and very little during the wee hours.

The next question is where to tune. As one might expect, 6925 kHz was the clear winner:

3375 kHz: 4
3387 kHz: 1
3440 kHz: 3
3495 kHz: 2
4015 kHz: 1
4020 kHz: 5
4025 kHz: 2
4030 kHz: 1
4060 kHz: 1
4070 kHz: 2
4865 kHz: 1
4875 kHz: 1
4920 kHz: 1
5110 kHz: 2
5120 kHz: 3
5125 kHz: 1
5150 kHz: 77
5790 kHz: 1
6030 kHz: 1
6150 kHz: 33
6170 kHz: 5
6200 kHz: 1
6205 kHz: 3
6210 kHz: 7
6240 kHz: 2
6275 kHz: 2
6282 kHz: 2
6295 kHz: 1
6340 kHz: 2
6375 kHz: 1
6770 kHz: 109
6780 kHz: 4
6850 kHz: 10
6873 kHz: 13
6874 kHz: 1
6875 kHz: 13
6876 kHz: 23
6880 kHz: 3
6885 kHz: 3
6888 kHz: 1
6899 kHz: 1
6900 kHz: 21
6905 kHz: 1
6910 kHz: 2
6914 kHz: 1
6915 kHz: 2
6919 kHz: 1
6920 kHz: 5
6922 kHz: 1
6923 kHz: 3
6924 kHz: 46
6925 kHz: 808
6926 kHz: 17
6927 kHz: 7
6928 kHz: 1
6929 kHz: 16
6930 kHz: 245
6931 kHz: 1
6932 kHz: 8
6933 kHz: 5
6935 kHz: 201
6936 kHz: 1
6937 kHz: 4
6939 kHz: 2
6940 kHz: 59
6941 kHz: 1
6943 kHz: 2
6945 kHz: 37
6946 kHz: 2
6949 kHz: 22
6950 kHz: 207
6951 kHz: 10
6952 kHz: 6
6954 kHz: 6
6955 kHz: 101
6956 kHz: 12
6957 kHz: 2
6958 kHz: 2
6959 kHz: 1
6960 kHz: 22
6961 kHz: 1
6963 kHz: 1
6964 kHz: 3
6965 kHz: 8
6967 kHz: 1
6969 kHz: 28
6970 kHz: 3
6974 kHz: 1
6975 kHz: 7
6976 kHz: 15
6977 kHz: 2
6980 kHz: 1
6995 kHz: 1
7335 kHz: 1
7405 kHz: 2
7410 kHz: 2
7515 kHz: 1
7519 kHz: 1
7520 kHz: 1
7530 kHz: 5
7590 kHz: 1
7595 kHz: 1
7610 kHz: 26
7940 kHz: 1
8020 kHz: 1
8040 kHz: 7
8055 kHz: 6
8060 kHz: 9
8065 kHz: 3
8070 kHz: 9
8485 kHz: 1
11640 kHz: 1
12286 kHz: 1
13855 kHz: 1
15050 kHz: 1
15100 kHz: 1
25925 kHz: 1

6925, along with 6924 and 6926 kHz, account for about 36% of logged transmissions. Last year they accounted for 40% and the year before that 50%, so there has been some movement to other frequencies. Also worth considering is that Old Time Radio’s use of 6770 kHz accounts for about 5% of the broadcast threads, and Relay Station 5150 on, curiously enough 5150 kHz. Still, virtually all activity occurs within the 43 meter band, 6850-7000 kHz.

There has been some movement to the lower bands, 3, 4, and 5 MHz, due to 43 meters “going long” and being unusable for short distance (NVIS) reception at night. Whether or not this trend will continue remains to be seen. It’s a great band for nighttime use, but not as many listeners check it out, or have decent antennas for 90 meters.

The most popular station logged is of course “UNID”, short for unidentified. In the world of shortwave pirate radio, there’s a number of transmissions where no ID is given. There’s also cases where no ID could be heard, due to poor conditions. This year, 888 out of 2,398 threads were UNID, or about 37 percent, the same percentage as last year. For 2014, there were 651 threads with 2,788 loggings where no station ID was given – that’s almost 33 percent of the threads.

Here’s the complete list of all stations with two or more logging threads:
UNID (888)
Moonlight Radio (171)
Old Time Radio (107)
Amphetamine Radio (92)
PeeWee Radio (84)
RELAY STATION 5150 (66)
Liquid Radio (61)
Radio Free Whatever (48)
Radio Azteca (47)
Radio Illuminati (40)
Radio Zed (39)
Captain Morgan (32)
Wolverine Radio (30)
XLR8 (30)
Channel Z (27)
WJD (27)
Cold Country Canada (24)
The Crystal Ship (19)
WREC (18)
Pirate Radio Boston (16)
Insane Radio (14)
XFM (13)
Boombox Radio (13)
Rave On Radio (12)
Radio Ga Ga (12)
Fab Four Radio Show (12)
WAZU (11)
YHWH (11)
Burn It Down Radio (11)
Skippy Radio (11)
Cool AM (10)
Pseudo Radio (9)
KCPR (9)
Red Beacon Radio (9)
CWCW (8)
Northwoods Radio (7)
Radio Free Euphoria (7)
Sousa Station (7)
WORK (7)
KIPM (6)
Radio True North (6)
Undercover Radio (6)
Radio Paisano (6)
Happy Hanukkah Radio (6)
Radio Fusion Radio (6)
WEEK (6)
X 2 (6)
Renegade Radio (5)
Blue Ocean Radio (5)
Toynbee Radio (5)
Black Cat Radio (5)
Partial India Radio (5)
WJFK (5)
Drunken DJ Radio (5)
The Bangalore Poacher (5)
Canadian Radio After Dark (5)
Ghost Shortwave (5)
BBC Pirate Radio (5)
Voice of Uncle Don (5)
The Fox (5)
Sycko Radio (5)
WEAK (4)
Radio Trump (4)
Howdy Doody Radio (4)
How Sweet It Is Radio (4)
Newport Pirate Radio (4)
Radio Free Ramones (4)
Doctor Detroit (4)
WBOG (3)
WHYP (3)
WEAK Radio (3)
XEROX (3)
Vo Pancho Villa (3)
The yodeler (3)
Network 51 (3)
CPRRS (3)
Brockett 99 (3)
Voice Of Greece (3)
Celtic Music Radio (3)
SEKIO Radio (3)
Nuttin’ On Shortwave (3)
Electric Circus Shortwave (3)
WGAY (3)
Old Classic Radio Plays (3)
Radio AV (3)
KFBN Fly By Night Radio (3)
KMUD (2)
WMPR (2)
Radio Jamba International (2)
Radio Free Mars Radio (2)
Radio First Termer (2)
WHJR (2)
WFUQ (2)
LTO Radio (2)
WLIS (2)
Pumpkin Patch Radio (2)
WAHR (2)
Witch City Radio (2)
Radio Halloween (2)
Amelia Earhart Comms (2)
COOLAM (2)
CKUT Relay (2)
KVR (2)
WPIG (2)
Girl Scout Radio (2)
Up Against The Wall Radio (2)
Radio Enterhaken (2)
KROW (2)
WYDX (2)
The Voice of Shortwave Radio (2)
The Gas Man Show (2)
Radio Metallica Worldwide (2)
No Coast Pirate Radio (2)
Bat Country Radio (2)
Radio Three (2)
Sonic Death Shortwave (2)
Cosmic Dust Shortwave (2)
RFF Radio (2)
Radio Free Do Whatever (2)

This gives us a guide as to which stations were most active in 2016.

Another thing we can look at are the total number of posts in all logging threads for each station, as a rough guide to how many listeners heard a particular station. There’s duplication of course, as the same listener likely reported several broadcasts for each station:
Moonlight Radio (917)
PeeWee Radio (627)
Amphetamine Radio (605)
Wolverine Radio (497)
Radio Free Whatever (442)
RELAY STATION 5150 (317)
Old Time Radio (315)
XLR8 (286)
Radio Azteca (281)
Liquid Radio (259)
WJD (259)
Radio Illuminati (249)
The Crystal Ship (210)
XFM (194)
Radio Zed (191)
Burn It Down Radio (158)
Channel Z (154)
Captain Morgan (153)
Cold Country Canada (134)
Insane Radio (116)
Skippy Radio (116)
WREC (109)
Boombox Radio (104)
Radio Ga Ga (93)
Pirate Radio Boston (91)
Drunken DJ Radio (88)
Northwoods Radio (81)
Fab Four Radio Show (77)
WEEK (69)
Undercover Radio (64)
WAZU (63)
Radio True North (61)
Cool AM (61)
Blue Ocean Radio (58)
Renegade Radio (55)
Red Beacon Radio (52)
Black Cat Radio (51)
CWCW (51)
Ghost Shortwave (48)
KIPM (47)
Rave On Radio (47)
The Fox (46)
Partial India Radio (45)
Voice of Uncle Don (44)
Radio Free Ramones (38)
Sousa Station (37)
Witch City Radio (36)
YHWH (36)
KCPR (35)
Canadian Radio After Dark (35)
Radio Paisano (34)
Radio Trump (33)
WORK (33)
X 2 (32)
Old Classic Radio Plays (32)
Happy Hanukkah Radio (31)
Doctor Detroit (31)
Radio Free Euphoria (30)
Brockett 99 (30)
WFUQ (29)
Radio Fusion Radio (29)
KMUD (28)
WBOG (28)
WGAY (28)
WHYP (26)
XEROX (26)
Pseudo Radio (26)
SEKIO Radio (26)
Bat Country Radio (26)
WEAK (25)
Newport Pirate Radio (24)
How Sweet It Is Radio (23)
Radio Free Mars Radio (22)
WJFK (22)
KFBN Fly By Night Radio (22)
LTO Radio (21)
Howdy Doody Radio (21)
Sycko Radio (21)
Nuttin’ On Shortwave (20)
BBC Pirate Radio (18)
Electric Circus Shortwave (18)
WEAK Radio (16)
The Bangalore Poacher (16)
COOLAM (16)
Girl Scout Radio (16)
CPRRS (16)
Radio Enterhaken (16)
The Gas Man Show (16)
Up Against The Wall Radio (15)
KROW (15)
No Coast Pirate Radio (15)
Amelia Earhart Comms (14)
The yodeler (14)
WHJR (13)
Radio AV (13)
Toynbee Radio (12)
CKUT Relay (12)
Network 51 (12)
Radio Three (12)
Cosmic Dust Shortwave (12)
WMPR (10)
Radio First Termer (10)
Vo Pancho Villa (10)
Pumpkin Patch Radio (10)
Radio Halloween (10)
The Voice of Shortwave Radio (10)
Radio Metallica Worldwide (10)
Voice Of Greece (9)
Radio Jamba International (8)
RFF Radio (7)
WLIS (6)
KVR (6)
WPIG (6)
WYDX (6)
WAHR (5)
Radio Free Do Whatever (5)
Celtic Music Radio (4)
Sonic Death Shortwave (4)

Next we can calculate the ratio of logging messages per thread, to gauge, in general, how many people reported hearing each station:

Moonlight Radio 917 171 5.36257
PeeWee Radio 627 84 7.46429
Amphetamine Radio 605 92 6.57609
Wolverine Radio 497 30 16.5667
Radio Free Whatever 442 48 9.20833
RELAY STATION 5150 317 66 4.80303
Old Time Radio 315 107 2.94393
XLR8 286 30 9.53333
Radio Azteca 281 47 5.97872
Liquid Radio 259 61 4.2459
WJD 259 27 9.59259
Radio Illuminati 249 40 6.225
The Crystal Ship 210 19 11.0526
XFM 194 13 14.9231
Radio Zed 191 39 4.89744
Burn It Down Radio 158 11 14.3636
Channel Z 154 27 5.7037
Captain Morgan 153 32 4.78125
Cold Country Canada 134 24 5.58333
Insane Radio 116 14 8.28571
Skippy Radio 116 11 10.5455
WREC 109 18 6.05556
Boombox Radio 104 13 8
Radio Ga Ga 93 12 7.75
Pirate Radio Boston 91 16 5.6875
Drunken DJ Radio 88 5 17.6
Northwoods Radio 81 7 11.5714
Fab Four Radio Show 77 12 6.41667
WEEK 69 6 11.5
Undercover Radio 64 6 10.6667
WAZU 63 11 5.72727
Radio True North 61 6 10.1667
Cool AM 61 10 6.1
Blue Ocean Radio 58 5 11.6
Renegade Radio 55 5 11
Red Beacon Radio 52 9 5.77778
Black Cat Radio 51 5 10.2
CWCW 51 8 6.375
Ghost Shortwave 48 5 9.6
KIPM 47 6 7.83333
Rave On Radio 47 12 3.91667
The Fox 46 5 9.2
Partial India Radio 45 5 9
Voice of Uncle Don 44 5 8.8
Radio Free Ramones 38 4 9.5
Sousa Station 37 7 5.28571
Witch City Radio 36 2 18
YHWH 36 11 3.27273
KCPR 35 9 3.88889
Canadian Radio After Dark 35 5 7
Radio Paisano 34 6 5.66667
Radio Trump 33 4 8.25
WORK 33 7 4.71429
X 2 32 6 5.33333
Old Classic Radio Plays 32 3 10.6667
Happy Hanukkah Radio 31 6 5.16667
Doctor Detroit 31 4 7.75
Radio Free Euphoria 30 7 4.28571
Brockett 99 30 3 10
WFUQ 29 2 14.5
Radio Fusion Radio 29 6 4.83333
KMUD 28 2 14
WBOG 28 3 9.33333
WGAY 28 3 9.33333
WHYP 26 3 8.66667
XEROX 26 3 8.66667
Pseudo Radio 26 9 2.88889
SEKIO Radio 26 3 8.66667
Bat Country Radio 26 2 13
WEAK 25 4 6.25
Newport Pirate Radio 24 4 6
How Sweet It Is Radio 23 4 5.75
Radio Free Mars Radio 22 2 11
WJFK 22 5 4.4
KFBN Fly By Night Radio 22 3 7.33333
LTO Radio 21 2 10.5
Howdy Doody Radio 21 4 5.25
Sycko Radio 21 5 4.2
Giles Letourneau Relay 21 1 21
Nuttin' On Shortwave 20 3 6.66667
Voice of Helium 19 1 19
BBC Pirate Radio 18 5 3.6
Electric Circus Shortwave 18 3 6
WEAK Radio 16 3 5.33333
Radio Casablanca 16 1 16
The Bangalore Poacher 16 5 3.2
Chairman Of The Board Radio 16 1 16
COOLAM 16 2 8
Girl Scout Radio 16 2 8
CPRRS 16 3 5.33333
Radio Enterhaken 16 2 8
The Gas Man Show 16 2 8
Up Against The Wall Radio 15 2 7.5
KROW 15 2 7.5
Brownie Radio 15 1 15
No Coast Pirate Radio 15 2 7.5
Amelia Earhart Comms 14 2 7
The yodeler 14 3 4.66667
Kid From Brooklyn 14 1 14
WHJR 13 2 6.5
Radio AV 13 3 4.33333
Toynbee Radio 12 5 2.4
Make Your Liver Quiver Radio 12 1 12
CKUT Relay 12 2 6
Network 51 12 3 4
Radio Three 12 2 6
Cosmic Dust Shortwave 12 2 6
Voice of Portugal 12 1 12
MAC Shortwave 11 1 11
Hit Parade Radio 11 1 11
Left Lane Radio 11 1 11
Mouth of Mohammed 11 1 11
WGXC 11 1 11
WNPP 11 1 11
Radio Free Furry 11 1 11
Euro Temptations Shortwave 11 1 11
WMPR 10 2 5
Kracker Radio 10 1 10
Radio First Termer 10 2 5
Vo Pancho Villa 10 3 3.33333
Radio Cinco De Mayo 10 1 10
Pumpkin Patch Radio 10 2 5
Radio Halloween 10 2 5
The Voice of Shortwave Radio 10 2 5
Radio Metallica Worldwide 10 2 5
Urea Radio 10 1 10
Cradle Rock Radio 10 1 10
Spy Numbers Relay 10 1 10
Voice Of Greece 9 3 3
KULP 9 1 9
Radio Jamba International 8 2 4
Peskie Party Radio 8 1 8
Radio Merlin International Relay 8 1 8
WTKY 8 1 8
Chamber Pot Radio 7 1 7
Fruitcake Station 7 1 7
WCTU 7 1 7
RFF Radio 7 2 3.5
Radio Morania 6 1 6
WLIS 6 2 3
Artem Radio 6 1 6
KVR 6 2 3
WPIG 6 2 3
WYDX 6 2 3
WRIR Relay 6 1 6
Auld Lang Syne Radio 6 1 6
Radio KEN 5 1 5
Germany Calling 5 1 5
KAMP 5 1 5
WAHR 5 2 2.5
IBC Radio 5 1 5
Old Turkey Radio 5 1 5
KDST 5 1 5
Radio Free Do Whatever 5 2 2.5
WBCQ Relay 5 1 5
WGWR 4 1 4
WRRI 4 1 4
Native Radio 4 1 4
Big Johnson Radio 4 1 4
Celtic Music Radio 4 3 1.33333
Lee County Radio 4 1 4
Ride of the Valkries 4 1 4
Sonic Death Shortwave 4 2 2
Union City Radio 4 1 4
Radio Saxophone 4 1 4
Fake UVB33 Numbers 4 1 4
International Free Radio Service 4 1 4
Radio Clandestine 3 1 3
WOLF 3 1 3
Hobart Radio 3 1 3
X 1 3 1 3
Radio Indiana 3 1 3
Potato Pirate 3 1 3
Bird Calls 3 1 3
He Man Radio 3 1 3
Pirate Radio Wilson 3 1 3
Mushroom Radio 2 1 2
Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic 2 1 2
Rcok and Roll Radio 2 1 2
Son of the Lincolnshire Poacher 2 1 2
NRUI 2 1 2
WGOD 2 1 2
Brother Stair Numbers 2 1 2
Indira Calling 1 1 1
Vivian Girls Radio 1 1 1
Friday Night Radio 1 1 1
Radio Tambour 1 1 1
Echo Radio 1 1 1
Radio Airplane 1 1 1
Soft Rock Radio Relay 1 1 1
Not For FCC Airplay Radio 1 1 1

For each station, the first number is the total number of reports, the second is the number of threads, the third is the ratio. One risk here is that the same transmission could be logged in two, or even more, threads, which would reduce this ratio. This gives us a very rough estimate of how well heard, or reported, anyway, each station is.

We can then sort these by that ratio:
21,Giles Letourneau Relay
19,Voice of Helium
18,Witch City Radio
17.6,Drunken DJ Radio
16.5667,Wolverine Radio
16,Radio Casablanca
16,Chairman Of The Board Radio
15,Brownie Radio
14.9231,XFM
14.5,WFUQ
14.3636,Burn It Down Radio
14,KMUD
14,Kid From Brooklyn
13,Bat Country Radio
12,Make Your Liver Quiver Radio
12,Voice of Portugal
11.6,Blue Ocean Radio
11.5714,Northwoods Radio
11.5,WEEK
11.0526,The Crystal Ship
11,Renegade Radio
11,MAC Shortwave
11,Radio Free Mars Radio
11,Hit Parade Radio
11,Left Lane Radio
11,Mouth of Mohammed
11,WGXC
11,WNPP
11,Radio Free Furry
11,Euro Temptations Shortwave
10.6667,Undercover Radio
10.6667,Old Classic Radio Plays
10.5455,Skippy Radio
10.5,LTO Radio
10.2,Black Cat Radio
10.1667,Radio True North
10,Kracker Radio
10,Radio Cinco De Mayo
10,Brockett 99
10,Urea Radio
10,Cradle Rock Radio
10,Spy Numbers Relay
9.6,Ghost Shortwave
9.59259,WJD
9.53333,XLR8
9.5,Radio Free Ramones
9.33333,WBOG
9.33333,WGAY
9.20833,Radio Free Whatever
9.2,The Fox
9,Partial India Radio
9,KULP
8.8,Voice of Uncle Don
8.66667,WHYP
8.66667,XEROX
8.66667,SEKIO Radio
8.28571,Insane Radio
8.25,Radio Trump
8,Boombox Radio
8,COOLAM
8,Peskie Party Radio
8,Girl Scout Radio
8,Radio Enterhaken
8,The Gas Man Show
8,Radio Merlin International Relay
8,WTKY
7.83333,KIPM
7.75,Radio Ga Ga
7.75,Doctor Detroit
7.5,Up Against The Wall Radio
7.5,KROW
7.5,No Coast Pirate Radio
7.46429,PeeWee Radio
7.33333,KFBN Fly By Night Radio
7,Chamber Pot Radio
7,Fruitcake Station
7,Amelia Earhart Comms
7,Canadian Radio After Dark
7,WCTU
6.66667,Nuttin’ On Shortwave
6.57609,Amphetamine Radio
6.5,WHJR
6.41667,Fab Four Radio Show
6.375,CWCW
6.25,WEAK
6.225,Radio Illuminati
6.1,Cool AM
6.05556,WREC
6,Radio Morania
6,Artem Radio
6,CKUT Relay
6,Newport Pirate Radio
6,Electric Circus Shortwave
6,Radio Three
6,Cosmic Dust Shortwave
6,WRIR Relay
6,Auld Lang Syne Radio
5.97872,Radio Azteca
5.77778,Red Beacon Radio
5.75,How Sweet It Is Radio
5.72727,WAZU
5.7037,Channel Z
5.6875,Pirate Radio Boston
5.66667,Radio Paisano
5.58333,Cold Country Canada
5.36257,Moonlight Radio
5.33333,WEAK Radio
5.33333,CPRRS
5.33333,X 2
5.28571,Sousa Station
5.25,Howdy Doody Radio
5.16667,Happy Hanukkah Radio
5,WMPR
5,Radio KEN
5,Germany Calling
5,Radio First Termer
5,KAMP
5,Pumpkin Patch Radio
5,Radio Halloween
5,IBC Radio
5,The Voice of Shortwave Radio
5,Radio Metallica Worldwide
5,Old Turkey Radio
5,KDST
5,WBCQ Relay
4.89744,Radio Zed
4.83333,Radio Fusion Radio
4.80303,RELAY STATION 5150
4.78125,Captain Morgan
4.71429,WORK
4.66667,The yodeler
4.4,WJFK
4.33333,Radio AV
4.28571,Radio Free Euphoria
4.2459,Liquid Radio
4.2,Sycko Radio
4,Radio Jamba International
4,WGWR
4,WRRI
4,Network 51
4,Native Radio
4,Big Johnson Radio
4,Lee County Radio
4,Ride of the Valkries
4,Union City Radio
4,Radio Saxophone
4,Fake UVB33 Numbers
4,International Free Radio Service
3.91667,Rave On Radio
3.88889,KCPR
3.6,BBC Pirate Radio
3.5,RFF Radio
3.33333,Vo Pancho Villa
3.27273,YHWH
3.2,The Bangalore Poacher
3,Radio Clandestine
3,WOLF
3,WLIS
3,KVR
3,Hobart Radio
3,WPIG
3,WYDX
3,Voice Of Greece
3,X 1
3,Radio Indiana
3,Potato Pirate
3,Bird Calls
3,He Man Radio
3,Pirate Radio Wilson
2.94393,Old Time Radio
2.88889,Pseudo Radio
2.5,WAHR
2.5,Radio Free Do Whatever
2.4,Toynbee Radio
2,Mushroom Radio
2,Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic
2,Rcok and Roll Radio
2,Son of the Lincolnshire Poacher
2,NRUI
2,Sonic Death Shortwave
2,WGOD
2,Brother Stair Numbers
1.33333,Celtic Music Radio
1,Indira Calling
1,Vivian Girls Radio
1,Friday Night Radio
1,Radio Tambour
1,Echo Radio
1,Radio Airplane
1,Soft Rock Radio Relay
1,Not For FCC Airplay Radio

Average Ratio 6.77086

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For about the past three weeks, we’ve had a bit of a mystery on the 43 meter pirate shortwave broadcast band. First logged on the HFUnderground on May 18, 2014 on 6772.6 kHz by EvilElvis as an UNID pirate playing “Tooth Powder commercial, 5 Minute Mystery, Red Skelton, Avalon Cigarettes commercial”, this station has been heard nearly non-stop since then, except for some short breaks, and a two day period between June 3 (it was last heard on June 2 at 2357 UTC and returned by 0035 UTC on June 5.

This station has been heard from coast to coast, and has a over 170 loggings on the HFUnderground Pirate Shortwave Radio Forum and has become quite the favorite of many shortwave pirate radio listeners. Many of us where disappointed when we turned on our radios on June 3 to just hear static, and equally thrilled to hear the station again when it returned two days later. I’m hearing it on 6772.6 kHz as I type this at 1323 UTC on June 6, 2014. It generally operates close to 6772 or 6773 kHz, but as also been heard on 6800 and 6880 kHz.

Possibly the same station was reported in the 13.56 MHz HiFer band previously. Glenn Hauser first logged it on 13560.7 AM on April 18 at 0520 UTC, and mentioned the following to me via email:

I haven`t heard it on any of the 6 MHz frequencies, but I keep wondering if it`s the same one I have reported thrice on 13560+. That would be 2 x 6780+ if that was ever a fundamental. Looking thru the posts (not sure I saw all of them) I don`t see anyone referring to that or to the webcast ID I heard from the 1920s Radio Network out of WHRO in Virginia. Should compare the programming to their schedule. They also have a separate mostly-music channel. 13560 was also pointed out to be a part 15 RF ID frequency which be some connexion.

The 1920s Radio Network has a website.

The general format seems to be playing music (often described as easy listening music, or even elevator music) during the daytime, and then old time radio shows overnight, hence the nickname Old Time Radio given by several listeners. No formal ID has ever been heard. News is typically heard at the top of the hour, and seems to be syndicated news audio provided by “Feature Story News“. I’ve noticed that today, June 6, I am not hearing any news.

The first thing that comes to mind is that this is a pirate radio station. There’s no SWBC stations assigned to these frequencies. While speculation about pirate radio station transmitter locations is often frowned upon by parts of the pirate radio community, propagation (based on who can hear the station at various times of the day) clearly shows that the transmitter site is somewhere in the northeastern USA or southeastern Canada. That is pretty obvious. And the signal levels are typical of what you’d expect from a pirate station running something on the order of 100 watts, give or take a factor or two or three. But the surprising thing is how active the station is, running nearly 24/7. Someone’s not that afraid of enforcement activity by the FCC. Or could it be something else, like a radio contractor doing some testing? It seems unlikely, but then again, we had the famous Yosemite Sam station years ago.

So, if you’ve wanted to hear a pirate radio station, but always seem to miss them, now is your chance. Just tune around 6772 when propagation favors reception in your location from a station somewhere around the northeast USA, and you may indeed hear Old Time Radio, or whoever they are.

June 7 Update:
At 2129 UTC on June 7, 2014, the station went QRT on 6771, then came back on 6976 (a new frequency for it) at 2136 UTC.