Pirates.

Pirates, well yes, but not the ones off the Somalia coast. The pirates of London, of music, of underground music. They are not new, they are just moving slowly to the internet, but they are keeping their stations going- the net is not universal, even in the west. Take a look at 'Exploration #6, Short documentary', it's a great little documentary and made me want to dig.

Why are the airwaves so restricted? Governments claim them and license use and it's illegal to set up your own broadcast, but why? It seems to have its roots in government censorship and control, especially in less benign countries, Here a web page - Ofcom.org, wonders who the backers are, from the UK - oh the government, what a surprise, and wow they churn out all sorts of 'harm' that pirate radios do and are..

Digs for some of the early pirates in the U.K. and comes up with Radio Caroline and Radio London, both used to broadcast from boats in international waters. They had totally 60s theme tunes, here's the best I could find for Caroline (sound is choppy!) and Radio London
I can only say they do sound dated ;)

I do like the sense of adventure that they had, I mean no cushy internet transmission from your pc or mac in the basement or bedroom or living room, but cold wet waters all around and now, of course, the internet is full of free radios, and that's a good thing right??