Despite its subtitle, Pirate Radio is international in its scope, covering high-powered ‘60s legends like Britain’s off-shore Radio Caroline and contemporary pirates like Russia’s Romantic Space Radio (the voice of whose groovy DJ can be briefly heard on the accompanying CD). Most of the focus of this well-documented history and survey dating back to 1925 is on North American pirate radio, ranging the spectrum from AM and FM to shortwave illegal broadcasts. Some surprising FCC-baiters include the bluegrass station WHBH (“Hill Billy Heaven”); WEED (guess the format); Black Liberation Radio operated by an unemployed and blind black man from a housing project in Springfield, IL; WKAR (“Wisconsin Kick Ass Rock”) emphasizing Christmas parody music”); WXZR (“Meontological Research Radio”) featuring industrial music and sound collage; the neo-Nazi “Voice of Tomorrow” with its distinctive wolf-howl interval signal; and WYMN (“Testosterone Free Radio”) with a female folksinger format which has been broadcasting sporadically since 1984. Pirate Radio provides valuable resources such as a worldwide address list of mail drops for pirate operators and leads on where to obtain monitoring equipment and technical information. The CD which accompanies the book reveals to the neophyte just how strange and intriguing the ephemeral realm of pirate radio might actually be. Includes CD. SS

Publisher: Hightext
Paperback: 256 pages
Illustrated

Readers who have spent any time at all exploring the shortwave radio dial (DXing, in nerdspeak) have probably heard at least one of the many stations that broadcast, except for the occasional verbal non-sequitur, nothing but an endless series of numbers in Spanish, English or German. What the heck is that about? Hmmm, let’s see . . . there’s no hideous Whitney Houston songs and the voice doesn’t sound like Casey Kasem, so we can pretty much rule out the “American Top 40,” countdown; no one ever says “Breaker, breaker, good buddy,” or “Bear in the air” so it’s definitely not wayward CB radio transmissions. Well, wonder no more! Now there’s a comprehensive (albeit vaguely speculative) guide to the mysterious world of “unusual, illegal, and covert radio communications.” The third edition of Donald Schimmel’s Underground Frequency Guide not only gives all the information available on those “numbers” stations (usually coded espionage messages) but also many other bizarre shortwave anomalies. Find out which weird “beeps,” “rasps” and “foghorns” are the clandestine communications of spies, smugglers or paramilitary guerillas and which ones are still just weird “beeps,” and “rasps” and “foghorns." DB

Publisher: Hightext
Paperback: 200 pages
Illustrated