Board
The Board of the North American Pirate Radio Hall of Fame are all well known members of the Free Radio community. They are past and present pirate Operators, A*C*E columnists and Presidents, and a few commentators and reporters in the hobby. The group truly requires very little introduction.
But we'll introduce them anyway...
In Memoriam
Pat Murphy (Our Founder and Chairperson Emeritus 1949-2019) has been the President and Publisher of the A*C*E magazine, administrator of the Free Radio Network, a talk show host, the President of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts and a TV Political Analyst. Pat has written numerous articles and columns on Pirate Radio. Popular Communications magazine featured one of his articles on the infamous "Grenade" transmitter in 1996, in which Pat interviewed some of the Pirate Operators who were using the "Grenade", including the inventor, Radio Animal. Pat also wrote a column for PopComm called "Murphy's Law of Pirate Radio Listening" outlining for the beginner the steps to finding a pirate radio signal. Pat readily admits that he "loves Pirate Radio and everything about it" and says that it's the "most fun you can have with your clothes on" (or off, in some cases). Pat stopped listening to pirates in October of 2019. (obit)
George Zeller was a Cleveland, Ohio, based Economic Research Analyst. For decades he wrote the “Outer Limits” monthly news column on pirate and clandestine radio in the nationally circulated Monitoring Times magazine, and wrote NASWA's pirate column. For many years he has moderated the annual pirate radio forum at the annual Winter SWL Fest in Kulpsville, PA. George has been an active pirate radio DXer since 1983, when he heard his first pirate radio broadcast from Der Glockenspiel. He has heard more than 600 different pirate radio stations, and has received QSLs from nearly 400 of them. Zeller was a mainstay in the ACE for more than 15 years with his Clandestine column that provided readers with insight and news of the dark world of Clandestine communications. Sadly George passed away in a tragic house fire 3/20/21. (obit).
Current Board Members:
Andy Yoder has heard hundreds of pirates since he started listening to shortwave almost 30 years ago, but he says he still gets a kick out of the whole thing. Andy has also written numerous articles for Popular Communications Magazine and is a prolific writer whose books on Pirate Radio are "must reads" for anyone interested in the hobby. His "Hobby Broadcasting" publication and online site are some of the most informative places to visit for anyone interested in starting their own station. ( http://www.hobbybroadcasting.com/ ) Andy also was on Art Bells' Coast to Coast radio program in the 90s to discuss Pirate Radio at length with Bell who also has some background in "pirate" broadcasting. Andy has run the Blue Ridge Summit, PA, maildrop for over 20 years. He is truly one of Pirate Radios nicest people.
John T. Arthur (Chairperson) has always been interested in radio. He began SWLing in 1957, joined NASA (as it was then called) as member #33 in early 1962, and originated a MWDX column for them. However, his first love was pirate radio, and he verified several AM and FM pirates in the 1960s. His first shortwave pirate was Radio Confusion in 1978, and everything went downhill from there. He was a Charter Member (#6) of The A*C*E, wrote their QSL column (Veried Response) for more than 17 years, and eventually took over the publishing duties in 2000 when Pat Murphy had to step down. John has rebuilt or modified several transmitters - even operated a few - and has verified more than 300 different North American shortwave pirate stations as well as pirates in 13 foreign countries. He took broadcasting courses in University and was on the air (legally!) for four years. He is a VietNam veteran and a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH. John has been instrumental in running "maildrops" for pirate stations; he ran the Arcata, CA, drop in the early 80s; the Hilo, HI, drop in the mid to late 80s; then the Wellsville, NY, drop; and has maintained the Belfast, NY, drop since closing Wellsville in the mid-90s. [A "drop" is the way that pirates can communicate with listeners (and vice-versa) via the mail (or as Pirates call it "snail mail".) Listeners send letters to the pirate by way of the drop and Pirates send QSL's and other communications back to the listeners through the drop address.] John says that he will probably never grow up.
Chris Lobdell bought his first real radio, a Drake SW-4A, in 1968 and joined his first radio club, NASWA, that same year. Nicknamed “The Super 7" of that publication by its editor, Chris has been a very active DX'er and Pirate listener ever since. Chris has also been a member of the ASWLC. He was one of the separatists who broke away and formed SPEEDX, then served as a SPEEDX editor for several years. An avid QSL card collector from the beginning, he has QSLed over 220 countries. It was the the early 1990’s when Chris really got hooked on Pirate DX'ing and joined The ACE and Pirate Pages. When Cumbre DX decided to no longer publish NA pirate logs in 1995, he and Niel Wolfish started the email only Free Radio Weekly, which is still publishing to this day. In 1998 he began NASWA’s “Pirate Radio Report”. He continues to record the “Pirating With Cumbre” segment of Marie Lamb’s DXing With Cumbre show, although hardly it ever airs on World Harvest Radio anymore! Chris enjoys listening to all types of radio on his favorite receiver the Eton E1. He is frequently seen roaming the halls of the Winter SWL Fest talking about the possibility of "pirates" being on the air.
Larry Will, aka cosmikdebris, is a long-time free radio advocate. Cosmik has been keeping the free speech dream alive on WBCQ shortwave ( http://www.wbcq.com/ ) since 2003 and, along with a group of bowling enthusiasts, spreads the word of "Bob" throughout the electromagnetic spectrum whenever he can. Cos is the Administrator of the Free Radio Network, the original and premiere Pirate Radio forum on the internet. ( www.thefrn.net/vines ) Cos is also a co-editor of Free Radio Weekly.
Ragnar Daneskjold was the producer and voice of the PiratesWeek podcast ( http://shortwavepirate.info ) and a co-editor of the Free Radio Weekly. He has been an active listener of pirate radio since 2000 and briefly operated Ragnar Radio from 2002-2004. Ragnar is responsible for the content in the Hall of Fame and has spent countless hours organizing the memories of QSL's and audio clips.
Bill Finn is a co-editor of the Free Radio Weekly ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Radio-Weekly/356592073251 ) since January 2006. He was a contributor to the Monitoring Times when it was paying attention to Pirate Radio with its Outer Limits Column, and has contributed to Popular Communications, NASWA's Pirate Radio Report, Free Radio Network Loggings page, the Pirates Week, and Hobby Broadcasting. He once hosted the Philly JavaRadio program. When he had some spare time he created "Bill Finn's Pirate Radio Page". He has been enjoying listening to shortwave Radio since December of 1991.
Gregg Bares was a member and contributing editor to the Free Radio Campaign – USA, and a charter member of The A*C*E. He also published newsletters promoting the exchange of information about unofficial radio broadcasting. He was a close collaborator with many prominent figures in the free radio scene, particularly the late Scott McClellan. He has heard and verified many North American and low-powered European stations since the ‘80s. In the early ‘90s he was also a regular listener to shortwave pirates while living in Europe.
Janice Laws has been a SWL since 1972 and a pirate radio enthusiast for close to 30 years. Member of ACE and CIDX, Janice has hosted and created many radio shows from the Voice of Juliet to Juliet's Wild Kingdom on WBCQ, and the International Radio Report on CKUT. Janice has instigated and collaborated in numerus pirate radio shows over the years, writing, producing and starring in a vast number of projects, the names of which may be revealed when the statue of limitations runs out and / or when all participants are dead. Appreciating pirate radio and clandestine radio around the world, Janice has travelled to 94 countries and has presented the "Radio on the Road" forum at the Winter SWL Fest multiple times. This forum has also been the subject of articles in Popular Communications and Monitoring Times magazines. Always a Rebel YL, Janice supports free radio and free speech for all underrepresented demographics in society and is a staunch feminist, anti-racist and Me Too survivor. Often said to swear too much, Janice response to being told she is not lady-like is, "fuck that!"
John Fisher It is an honor to be able to serve on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. I seriously began DXing short wave stations in 1975. The thrill of turning on the radio, to this day, never fades; you never know what you will hear. I heard my first pirate in 1978: "The Voice of the Voyager." I heard their interval signal, sign on with Queen's "We are the Champions" and never stopped listening and DXing pirates since. I thank you for this honor of serving as a board member and hope to do a good job serving the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.