191 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
191 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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PIRATE RADIO SURVIVAL GUIDE
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Note: this chapter is from the book "Pirate Radio Survival Guide" written by; Nemesis of
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Radio Doomsday, and Captain Eddy of The Radio Airplane. If you like this book and would
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like to support their efforts, you may send a donation of your choice to either Nemesis or
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Capt. Eddy at PO Box 452, Wellsville NY 14895.
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Please note that some chapters refer to illistrations or drawings, these could not be included in
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this BBS version of the book. If you would like the illistrations or have other questions you
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may inquire at the above adddress.
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PRODUCING A SHOW
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What you decide to put on the air is only limited to your imagination, every day someone is
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thinking of an idea that has not yet been tried on pirate radio. This is what is so appealing
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about pirate radio: listeners are treated to unique and interesting material. Even if the material
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is not what each listener agrees with or likes, most appreciate the fact that it is genuine,
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without bias from commercial sponsors, or governmental influences. With that in mind, it is
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my wish that this book does not influence the content of your programming, I will offer
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suggestions on technique and ideas, but the final outcome of your work should reflect what
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you enjoy, believe, and feel; your show should reflect the reason you wanted to be a pirate in
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the first place.
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In order to write this chapter, I must make a few assumptions. First I will assume that you
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will want to be popular with your listeners, and second I will assume that you will want to
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develop some sort of a following of regular listeners. If you do not fit this category, don't feel
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that you are wrong; many pirates broadcast without concern for who listens or what they think
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and desire no kind of recognition what so ever. If this is what you want, that's great, that's
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what it is all about: individual choices.
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Once you have set up your studio and decided it is time to produce a show, you will likely
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have a certain subject matter or format in mind. If you don't, then take some time and review
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why you wanted to be a pirate in the first place, was it to make a certain point or political
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view, do you want to entertain or inform, do you just want to play your favorite music, or do
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you want to do all of the above? In most cases you will be sucessful at anything that you enjoy
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doing. Concentrate on what you would like to hear from a station; chances are that if you like
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the show others will also. The important thing is to jump right in and have fun. Dont spend
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too much time trying to sound like a professional DJ, and you don't necesarily have to make a
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point, the content of your show will stand alone. Pirate radio listeners are not like the average
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FM broadcast station listener. Pirate radio listeners aren't hypnotized by a slick sound, they
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listen to content, they appreciate what you are doing, in fact most pirate listeners report that
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their favorite stations are the ones who use homemade productions as opposed to commercially
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made material. They also report that they like the stations who do more than just play music,
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after all you can hear music anywhere. Whatever you decide to do, quality production skills,
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and quality technical skills will certainly put your station on the top of any DXers list.
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Quality production skills are not difficult to learn. Quality does not mean elaborate or
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complicated, it simply means clean, understandable audio, proper use of equipment, and
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attention to detail. If you throw a show together with little concern for quality, it will
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certainly be noticed by your listeners; don't insult them by broadcasting a bunch of junk just
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to fill up time. There can be a whole lot more to being a radio pirate than just being on the air.
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Here are a few tips that will help you produce a better program:
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1. Go easy with the special effects, Reverb sounds great, but after it is bombarded by noise
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and weakened by distance, it often can't be understood and is quite annoying. If you speak in a
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normal voice, with no echo or overpowering background effects, you will be more likely to
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get your message to your listeners. Always be aware that long distant shortwave listening is
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often difficult, so your programming should contain material that is easily understood, a good
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production can be overdone with too many effects and background noise. Sometimes things are
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better if kept simple.
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2. ID your station often, speak clearly and repeat your ID. It also helps to have different
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people give your station ID; some voices are easier to understand through the noise than
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others. Some stations give their ID phoneticly, others have used Morse code.
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3. It is a good idea to have a few identifiable traits about your show, this will help regular
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listeners recognize your station. In the past stations have used traits such as Seal barks, Dogs
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barking, a few bars of music or chimes , musical IDs. Some always play the same song at the
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beginning or end of their broadcast.
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4. When editing a tape, make the edits clean and tight. Avoid long pauses. If you are
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recording to a cassette tape, and you have a good recorder, you can use the pause control to
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make fair edits but be sure to go back and check the edits often, most decks are designed with
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the erase head placed up to an inch away from the playback head, this can cause you to either
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clip what you have just recorded, or create a longer than desireable pause. Know how your
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recorder works, make a few test edits to learn the characteristics of it, with practice, you can
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make very clean and tight edits with a cassette deck.
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5. Use a mixer to soften changes from one audio source to another. A cheap mixer can add a
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lot of professionalism to a show. It also will make your production time much easier and more
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enjoyable.
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6. If your recorder has an audio level meter try to make sure all of your audio is at the same
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level, and make sure the overall level is correct; if it is too high you may get distortion on the
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audio peaks, if it is too low you will have increased noise on the tape. Nothing is more
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annoying than hearing a pirate station with music coming in at a good level but the announcers
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voice is so low you can hardly hear him. Or worse yet, the station is coming in very well, but
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it is so distorted that you can't understand a thing that is being said. If you don't have an audio
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level meter, you will have to trust your ears. With practice it can be done.
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7. Because you can't announce a schedule, most of your listeners are forced to try to find you
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while you are on the air; this usually means that very few people ever hear the first few
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minutes of your show. When you put your show together, it is better to put the most important
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parts at the end of the show. Many pirates play a few minutes of music at the beginning of
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each show to allow the listeners time to find them, others play an interval signal much like
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what is heard before licensed short wave broadcasters go on the air. This lets the listener know
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that someone is getting ready to broadcast.
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The interval signal has a few drawbacks, first it requires you to be transmitting longer, thus
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giving the authorities more time to find you, and second your interval signal may not be heard
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by someone who is just scanning the bands.
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8. In most cases it is wise to avoid live broadcasting . To broadcast live and sound good is a
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VERY difficult thing to do. This is not to say it cant be done, many stations have the talent
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and experience to do it well. However, others do it and it is disasterous. Live broadcasts can
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result in lots of dead air; if you encounter a problem you will have to be prepared to solve it
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while maintaining a live show in the air. If you tape your shows you will have time to review
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what you have done and redo it if needed, you can take as long as you like to think of what to
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say next, and you will almost always sound better. And on the technical side, it is much easier
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to connect a single tape deck to the transmitter and eliminate the RF noise and feed back, than
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to connect a whole studio to the transmitter. If your show is on tape you will have the freedom
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to perform other important tasks while on the air, like maintaining a look out.
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9. Ground your studio equipment and use shielded cables to prevent audio "hiss" and
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equipment "hum". Use quality recording tape (you get what you pay for).
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10. Use quality audio input, avoid scratchy records and bad tapes, If you use a poor quality
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microphone your audio could sound "muddy" or "tinny" good mikes arent always expensive.
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