On Board The Crystal Ship 'An
Exclusive Interview with one of America's most widely heard radio pirates'
(Originally published in the A*C*E, monthly bulletin of the Association of Clandestine Enthusiasts, December 1983 issue) ACE: Let's begin this interview with a historical background of TCS. When did you decide you wanted to run a pirate radio station? TCS: Back in June of 1982, three of us were just wrapping up a term of school, and the Poet said, "Hey, let's start a radio station." Everyone thought it was a good idea. The first broadcast that we know someone heard was aired on July 31, 1982, and was monitored by A*C*E's Darren Leno. ACE: How was the Poet first exposed to pirate broadcasting? TCS: The Poet had never heard a pirate before we started TCS, but he was an SWL and NASWA member back when the 'Voice of the Voyageur' was first getting popular in 1978, and he read a lot about them in FRENDX. ACE: So obviously, the Voyageur served as an inspiration to the Poet. What can you tell us about the rest of the TCS staff? TCS: The basic staff consists of 'the Poet', 'the Radical', and the 'Unknown Soldier'. The Poet has been the motivating force behind the station, as well as the pseudo-engineer and production manager. The Radical is our resident democratic socialist, and supplies much of the political thought heard on the station. The Unknown Soldier defies labels, but would have to be considered the 'militant arm' of TCS operations. Like we always say, "The FCC can get Federal Marshals, but WE got the Unknown Soldier!" Unfortunately, he is often absent from programs due to 'overseas engagements'. The three of us were brought together in this through a mutual affinity for the music of The Doors, The Who and Blue Oyster Cult. ACE: The audio quality of TCS's first transmissions was relatively poor. What steps did the 'pseudo-engineer' take to correct that problem? TCS: Much of our trouble originated from within our 1962 Allied Knightkit T-150 transmitter. Whoever originally assembled it made somewhere from 12 to 20 big errors in wiring it; quite a few parts also needed replacement. We also suffered from RF feedback, sometimes referred to as "motorboat" because that's what it sounds like. When we got our new audio mixer from Radio Shack, we bypassed all the line inputs and outputs with .001 mica capacitors installed across the jacks, as well as one across the audio input to the transmitter, and never suffered from RF again. Not being technically inclined, we never would have been able to solve these problems without the help and advice we received from a very good friend to the movement in the east, who shall remain nameless. (Note: It is now safe to reveal that the transmitter work was performed by the operator of WART-AM in New York, another pirate of that era. The Poet) Many of the audio problems pirates suffer can be linked to RF feedback interference, especially on shortwave. ACE: Certainly your station has had its problems. On a lighter side, have you had any humorous experiences while on the air? TCS: We were at a remote location on our first attempt to go on the air, parked in a van on one of the highest spots in the county. We had our antenna erected, and equipment connected to a power inverter from the van's battery. We didn't realize that we couldn't draw over 300 watts of current from a 100-watt power inverter. We tried it for a few seconds, and then the tapes started slowing down and speeding up and the lights on the transmitter dimmed, until we finally realized that this wasn't going to work. We were sitting there, all bummed out, trying to figure a solution to the problem, when the Radical finally says, "Well, why don't we just get a 'Mister Microphone'?" ACE: Has TCS made any mistakes it's sorry for? TCS: Yes, we're sorry that we wiped out the 41 meter band on or about October 24th, 1982. We didn't
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realize that our transmitter was having delusions about being a high-powered wide-band FM rock station; we didn't intend to cause the Strategic Air Command to scramble on our account. We sent the transmitter to 'the doctor' right after that, who worked on it for months. We didn't get it back until April 1983; all its 'delusions' were resolved at that point. ACE: Is there a philosophy behind TCS, and if so, what is it? TCS: There is a philosophy behind this, and it is expressed in a poem written by the Poet, which is recited right after the song 'The Crystal Ship' by the Doors, which opens each broadcast. Many listeners probably never have caught the beginning of a show, or couldn't copy it due to conditions, so here it is: The Crystal Ship is being filled, a thousand thrills awaiting We bid you come along with us, and sow the seeds of rebellion For the time is now, the hour has come, the young shall fill the streets And they will grab for the brass ring, ripping it from the hands of tyrants The high and the mighty overthrown, their idols trampled to the ground, Conceived by the young, a new world is born, the way it ought to be Be daring, be strong, they've got the guns, but we have got the numbers Our time has come, now follow us, and we will take you there ACE: It has been said that the content of your programming is 'socialist'. Is it? TCS: It certainly seems that way sometimes. However, we don't consider ourselves to be a socialist station. ACE: A few months ago, TCS seemed to be on the air just about every weekend. Why have you cut back on your air time? TCS: It got to be hazardous to our health. ACE: What would you do if you were ever "busted" by the FCC? TCS: I'm sure you'd read about it in the newspapers; it should make national headlines... ACE: Do you favor the creation of an 'amateur broadcasting service'? TCS: Absolutely! We would be happy to do what we're doing now in a legal manner if the Feds would give us the means. Unfortunately, they show no sign of ever doing it soon. ACE: What can be done to bring about such a service? TCS: There are quite a few things that could be done, if someone would do them. First of all, anyone may submit a proposal to the FCC, and the FCC has to put it on public display for two months and then MUST take some sort of action on it. We are trying to put together a proposal of some sort right now, and would be very pleased to receive any suggestions on specifics. We would also like to meet with our congressmen, because it may very well take legislation for any change to occur. It seems pretty unlikely that the FCC will approve anything, partly because it might create a lot of extra work for them. ACE: Do you think you provide an alternative to commercial radio with your programming? TCS: Well, we're a shortwave station, and shortwave isn't really a commercial medium. I'd say we provide a good alternative to all the government-owned stations that are on the air. ACE: In your eyes, is there unity among pirate broadcasters? TCS: There is some unity, but it occurs in very small circles where certain pirates know one or two others, and they help each other out. I think there should be much more unity, since we're all doing the same thing and have a common enemy. If we band together in certain ways, we could all become stronger. We've had a few ideas, such as forming a 'free radio network,' a political lobby, or maybe a liberation army.... We should flex our political muscle. ACE: In your eyes, is there too much government regulation of the radio industry? TCS: You have GOT to be kidding!!!
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ACE: I'll take that as a yes. As long as we're on the subject of government, what is your attitude toward the FCC? (-Editor's note: TCS's response to this question was so long, it had to be edited for length. However, every effort was made not to detract from the general attitude of the reply.- Leno) TCS: We consider ourselves to be in a 'state of war' with the F.C.C. They're playing dirty now, aren't they? I refer to the recent bust and subsequent action at Radio Northstar International. That guy made the basic mistake of opening his door during a broadcast, but what the FCC agents then did would seem to be pretty dishonest and sleazy. The agent who walked in on Horthstar saw the equipment in operation, which would be all the FCC legally needs to levy a fine. Then he offered the operator of Northstar "leniency" if he "cooperates". The agent then convinced the operator to write a letter "saying how sorry he was for what he had done." What the agent actually wanted in hand was a document which amounted to a 'signed confession'. Instead of leniency, the operator of Northstar was later levied with a $2,000 fine, the highest amount which anyone has been fined to date, and usually reserved for repeat offenders. The price for free speech and freedom of the airwaves keeps going up, and WE think it is time for a Revolution of the Airwaves. Now I'd like to say a few things to the operators of free radio stations who will be reading this; it can help you to avoid a fine if you know exactly what to do if the agents knock at your door. All of the operators who have been busted seem to think that it's "all over" when the Feds are outside on your doorstep, when in reality it's only the beginning of their process. In order to levy a fine, the FCC must have real proof of the offense, and be able to name exactly who it is who is committing that offense. Believing that a signal is coming from your house is proof of NOTHING. The FCC can't go into court and say, "Well, there was an antenna, and he sure acted guilty!" What they really want is an admission from the operator, which is why they'll ask to be let in "to see the station," and then they don't have to prove anything, because once you let them in and admit operation, you've basically "turned yourself in". DON'T let the FCC into your house without a search warrant, and remember to shut down all your equipment before answering the door for anyone. ACE: Thank you for talking with us. I'm sure the members of A*C*E wil find your remarks very interesting, and please keep us up-to-date with things on 'The Crystal Ship'. It should also be noted here for clarity's sake that A*C*E* neither officially condemns nor condones the activities of pirate broadcasters. Because broadcasting without a license is a crime punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to one year in prison for EACH violation, we encourage no one to do it. (A*C*E) (Credit is give to The A*C*E, The Association of Clandestine Enthusiasts, for this article.)
The Crystal Ship tcsshortwave@gmail.com
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Origins and History of The Crystal Ship by John Poet The partnership which would become The Crystal Ship was formed in June 1982. Three nineteen-year-olds were finishing up a term of college when John 'The Poet' (that's me) came up with the bright idea of creating a pirate radio station. Of course my compatriots were all for the idea. My partners, "The Radical" and "The Unknown Soldier" and I shared an affinity for the music of The Doors, The Who, Blue Oyster Cult and The Rolling Stones, among other things. The station was eventually named 'The Crystal Ship' after the tune of the same name from the first Doors album, which we would use to open each broadcast. Later, our shows would close with 'We want the Airwaves' by The Ramones (and still do). I had been an SWL in the late 70s as a young teen, and was exposed to pirate radio through articles about the 'Voice of the Voyageur' station which were published in NASWA's FRENDX club bulletin. As such I had a good general idea of how it could be done, but without any knowledge of the specific problems which could crop up. Locating an amateur shortwave transmitter was much more difficult in those days, particularly to purchase one without having to answer a lot of silly questions. I eventually located an aging Knight T-150 through a weekly ad paper, and purchased it with a story about how 'It's a gift for my father who collects older equipment.' We also managed to throw together a motley collection of consumer audio equipment for the 'studio.' along with a very crude homemade mixer. We first attempted to operate in a 'fixed mobile' mode out of a van, but were unable to meet the power requirements of the equipment. We eventually settled on operations out of two alternating fixed locations about fifty miles apart, to help evade any authorities. Interestingly, not yet being aware of the 'standard pirate frequency' which was 7425 kHz at that time, but knowing enough to stay out of the amateur bands, we initially operated around 6965 kHz, which is within the frequency range most often used now by North American pirate stations. About this time I became aware of the new Association of Clandestine Enthusiasts pirate SWL club with their ACE bulletin. I formed a friendship with the club founder, Darren Leno, and arranged to use them as a maildrop at Box 452, Moorhead Minnesota. Leno became the first listener to log the station in August 1982. He convinced us to switch to the "pirate frequency" of 7425 kHz. Numerous listeners began logging the station through the Fall of 1982. Being totally inexperienced with how our signal should sound through a monitor, I mistakenly attributed distortion to receiver overload from the proximity of the transmitter. It turned out that the transmitter had severe problems, including but not limited to wiring mistakes by the original builder, aging components, and severe RF feedback from our studio. At times it was reported to be transmitting in the FM mode, which is a problem for an AM transmitter. Through the use of loop phone lines, we became aquainted with the operator of the AM /shortwave pirate WART, in New York. (He called our loop line announced during a show. Shortly after, I heard WART on shortwave, called his announced loop line and recognized his voice as our previous caller... gave him quite a scare at first.) He convinced us to suspend operations, and send our transmitter to him for an overhaul... and explained how to modify our other equipment to kill the RF feedback moter-boat. We spent the downtime creating our format, writing a poetic call to arms, recording various station promo spots and an interval signal (a 'crowd' of five yelling "We want the world and we want it now" recorded inside the natural echo chamber of a parking ramp stairway). We hit the airwaves again in April 1983, and were well-received with our now-clean signal and more organized programming. Political content consisted of much criticism of the Reagan administration, particularly their policies in Central America and their prosecutions of draft registration resisters. Soon we became characterized as a 'socialist station,' probably because of 'The Radical's repetitive use of the phrase "Socialism forever, Socialism for everyone" in our editorial program 'On Deck'. Relishing the reputation, we did what we could to feed it.... although we were actually liberal Democratic Party activists.
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Regular operations continued for a number of months, until it became clear by August 1983, through various grapevine sources who had actual contacts with various F.C.C. employees, that the agency was hot on our trail. "They are #1 on our 'hit list'!" an agent at the Fort Lauderdale monitoring station reportedly told one listener. Often operating every weekend, often two days in a row, its a wonder that we were not caught. I attribute their failure to our use of multiple locations confusing their long-range triangulation. They were close enough to each other to appear to be coming from the same general area, but would have temporarily prevented a definitive "fix" on our locales which would have allowed the mobile enforcement units to go to work on the 'problem'... but informed sources soon told me that they were ready to spring the trap on The Crystal Ship. As luck would have it, transmitter problems forced us off the air at that very time in August 1983. At the same time, it was reported to me that a "suspicious van" had been noted parking down the street from our primary location. If the FCC had us tracked down to the very street, we would have been easy to spot-shortwave antennas were visible from the street. We remained inactive for the remainder of 1983. In early 1984, a relay was arranged and a number of programs were anonymously broadcast by one of the former operators of the famous 'Voice of the Voyager'. They had been shut down for the second time in 1982 and were paying fines on an installment plan, but one operator was able to make these relays of taped programming from a new location far from Minnesota and far from us. One of these programs contained our endorsement of Jesse Jackson for the 1984 presidential nomination, pushing the Democratic Party to do "more than just giving lip service to Black Americans." In June of 1984, I managed to get our own transmitter back on the air one last time, (or maybe a couple times), doing little more than playing whole album sides. I only recall one report of it-- a taped report of 'Yes' from our furthest reporter ever, located in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada-- a distance of over 1300 miles. Due to continued transmitter difficulties and other interests, The Crystal Ship then drifted into pirate radio history, having operated sporadically for almost two years, and having issued approximately 30 QSL cards. The problem equipment was sold off and that was that. We all went on with our lives. Twenty years later in 2004, I was doing some business research on Google. Just for yucks, I was inspired to type in the name of the station, not really expecting to find anything. Naturally I was shocked to find several different references to our station on the internet, including a missing QSL graphic, as we had been inactive for twenty years, and our existence pre-dated the internet by a good number of years. This knowledge began to eat at me. To realize that what we had done as teenagers had not been totally forgetten by the world after all this time, gave me a huge feeling of immortality, history and Deja Vu. At the very same time, I was intensely frustrated with the machinizations of the Bush administration, the GOP Congress and the war in Iraq and felt the need to strike back in some way. In other words, the stars were in perfect alignment for The Crystal Ship to arise from its ashes and rise from the dead. The emergence of the internet and eBay made vintage equipment readily available, and easy anonymous communication and information sharing with other pirates as well as amateur radio operators possible. By late September 2004, The Crystal Ship made its reappearance on the airwaves, the voices of 'The Poet' and 'The Radical' being broadcast through a fresh Knight T-150A aquired off of eBay... (I initially chose to buy another T-150 as I was already familiar with its operation and some of its likely failures from the first time around. As luck would have it, I had managed to keep most of the audio equipment, as well as original recorded spots and QSLs safe for all those years in-between, though other equipment was lost. Thus the QSLs we have been issuing are from the original printing run in 1983; they are just a tad aged.) The re-emergence of the station created quite a stir in the pirate radio listener community, particularly among the few still around who had previously logged us in the early 1980s. The Crystal Ship has been back in operation for almost five years since its 'second coming' in September 2004, now utilizing Johnson plate modulated transmitters, Valiants and a Viking 2. Due to easier Email communication with listeners we have now issued well over 100 QSL packages. We have
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been reported from all four corners of the United States, from Mexico and by numerous Canadians, as well as confirmed overseas reports from Venezuela and France. We now maintain an Email list of about 170 potential listeners, whom we sometimes tip off to broadcasts and frequencies. Potential listeners may join the list at tcsshortwave@gmail.com As of Summer 2009, TCS frequencies in use include 6876 and/or 5385 kHz AM.
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