KMRT LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz. KVB ELP 91 .1
FM in Portland. And today is an extra special
Sonic Smorgasbord show. I'm your host, DJ Not
-So -Jazzy Jeff. And today we are celebrating
one of the great origin stories in independent
radio. Before KPC, our Pirate Cat radio was a
beloved community station. Its founder, Daniel
Roberts, was a low -scottish high school kid
who believed so deeply in the power of broadcasting
that he took to the airwaves without permission.
There were shutdowns, run -ins with the FCC,
hard lessons, and ultimately, a transformation.
Instead of walking away, Daniel built something
lasting, legal, and fiercely community -driven,
and we're lucky to have him here with us in the
studio today. So let's get right into it. Daniel,
how are you? Thanks for visiting your studio
today. You just told the whole story. Thanks.
Bye. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Jeff. I've always
wanted to be on the Sonic's mortgage board. Typically,
I'm sitting at my office and listening to your
show. So it's fun to be on the air with you today.
Great. All right. Well, we're going to get right
into the questions. My first question for you
and I think what everyone would love to know
is how this all started. So take us back to high
school. What was it about radio that grabbed
you so hard that you were willing to pirate the
airwaves? So. Where's the blue? Yeah, so you
know back then this was gosh 1995 or 96 or so
You know, I spent a lot of time growing up listening
to college radio here in the Bay Area, primarily
KSCU at Santa Clara University and 103 .3. They're
still there. All the really weird programming
now, if there ever is programming. And then KFJC,
which has held strong over the years from Foothill
College, both really influential in kind of discovering
what radio could be outside of the KOMEs and
KSCU. and all that stuff that was out here back
then. Those college radio stations introduced
me to a whole other world of not just music,
but thoughts and voices and things like Lenny
Bruce or Alan Watts, things like that, and then
punk music, Scott music, et cetera, especially
here in the Bay Area during the mid -90s. That
was a pinnacle for underground music, I think.
And there's a resurgence today, folks, so don't
get upset if you don't think I'm giving you credit.
But yeah, it was those college radio stations
that really, really, really led the way. I wanted
to be on one so badly, but was in high school.
And every time I went down there, I had to ask,
can I have a radio show, can I have a radio show?
I said, no, you have to wait until you're in
university, and you have to attend our university.
It's like, oh. Foothill College is like, oh,
you have to take our course. Are you 18 yet?
No, oh. can't go there so you know I didn't get
to do it but one day I was listening to KSU and
some guy came on the air with one of the DJs
and was talking about his pirate radio station
called Radio Free San Jose that he had going
on over in the Willow Glen area in San Jose and
93 .7 FM I could not reach my phone soon enough
man I grabbed the phone I called in the studio
like you got to give him my number you got to
tell him about I want a radio show I want a radio
show and A few days later, I got a phone call.
The guy came to my house, looked at my record
collection and said, yeah, you seem cool. You
can come do a show. So that was the start of
everything was going in and doing a show as DJ
Monkey Man playing local ska and punk music from
Wednesdays from three to five, I guess. So. Right.
So. When did you start your own station? So shortly
after being invited to do that radio show in
Radio Free San Jose I got kicked off the air
for making prank phone calls on the air because
back then you could do a thing of prank phone
calls caller ID didn't exist and people had landlines
So yeah, they got a little upset that I was doing
prank phone calls 15 years old, what are you
going to do? Phone calls. It's what you do. Yeah,
exactly. The jerky boys were as well a big influence
back then. So come on. Um, I don't know. Anyway,
so I was trying to think of a jerky boys joke
there, but I couldn't think of anything. They
say, what, come on Rizzo something. I don't know.
Whatever. Yeah. We'll have to revisit some jerky.
Yeah. Yeah. Or not. Um, but yeah, so the jerky
boy has been a big influence, but yeah, so it
got kicked off. And, um, during that period.
ended up finding about Stephen Dunifer, who did
Radio Free Berkeley. And Dunifer was a really
influential guy. And also, another thing locally
here in Los Gatos, a guy who, I won't say his
real name, but he went by the name Dr. Slick,
ran Free Radio Los Gatos on 91 .3 FM. And between
him and Stephen Dunifer, I was able to get some
leftover equipment from this guy. Dr. Slick whose
real name I almost said and then Stephen Dunifer
up in Berkeley. I would take the the train up
there and go sit in front of his warehouse kind
of like, you know Shaolin monks if you want to
be a Shaolin monk you have to sit in front of
the temple and they they have to like Belittle
you and you have to sit there through storms
and wind and rain before they actually let you
in the temple Dunifer was kind of like that to
me He would not let me in to actually work on
a transmitter or get a transmitter It's like
if you want to learn how to build one you have
to learn and then come back. I had nowhere else
to go so I just kind of waited and kept harassing
the guy until he let me into his warehouse and
showed me how to build transmitters. So we were
building these like really dodgy radio transmitters
and sending them off to rebel groups in Central
America. I don't know what any of them were doing
but you know supporting that kind of stuff eventually
out of it I got a transmitter of my own. which
I built with my own hands and You know made a
coat hanger ground plane antenna So taking literally
copper antennas and welding them together so
that I could have an antenna Put that on the
roof of the apartment we lived in here in Los
Gatos and hey I was the first 16 year old in
Los Gatos on the radio and that was the birth
of pirate cat radio Very cool. So when you flipped
on that mic for the very first time at your own
station What did it feel like knowing that you
were broadcasting without permission? Permission
wasn't a thought going through my mind. It was
just, hey, I'm doing this. Yes, I'm doing this
now. Yeah, shifting like, you know, FCC license
permission. Yeah, you kind of know about that
in the background, but it's not the thing of
the forefront. It's more so. All right, I'm on
the air. Does my CD player work properly? Can
I play these songs from the CD that I got from
a local band? I don't have a microphone. How
am I going to do this? I'll record into my tape
recorder and then play the tape back and have
that ready. Like, you know, that's kind of the
hacky thing that I was doing is making sure that
everything just kind of operated and that I could
bring the content out that I wanted to. Aside
from that, like, yeah, the concerns about legal
repercussions, anything else? Wasn't even a breath
Very cool. All right Let's talk a little bit
about I'm gonna call it the pirate era So what
did pirate radio represent to you at that age?
You know, was it was it the rebellion was it
access community? You know, what what was it
that was really the driving force for you? Yeah,
what was the driving force back then? I mean
just the ability to do something that was different
from what you would hear on the larger radio
stations. And even back then, there was a sense
that radio was becoming homogenized. The clear
channels of the world, the enter coms, stuff
like that. You knew if you went from the San
Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles, you would
find some radio station down there with a different
call letter that played exactly the same format
of music you heard back up in the Bay Area, and
vice versa, anywhere you went in the US. That
type of homogenization was happening. Especially
after 1997, when the Telecommunications Act came
through, or sorry, 1996, when the Telecommunications
Act came through. That basically overhauled 60
years of regulatory requirements around ownership
of radio licenses. Big newspapers, big organizations
were just buying up license after license. They
could do whatever they want with them. That was
really feeding into things. So for me, to be
able to bring in content that was totally different
was really powerful. Very cool. Tell me the story
about when the FCC shut you down the very first
time. Well, the first time they didn't shut me
down, they... They came to my house. These two
guys, one looked like Captain Kirk. The other
guy looked like Mr. Spock from Star Trek, just
wearing really bad button up shirts and pocket
protectors. But yeah, they showed up at my house.
They showed me their badges to flash them like,
hey, we're the FCC. Are you Daniel Roberts? Maybe?
Let them in, showed them my setup, was really
proud of it. Like, this is my transmitter under
my bed and this is the antenna. You see how this
connects? What do you think if I modified this
power supply? They were like not amused, kept
very straight faces. They took a look at me and
said, look kid, if you give us your equipment,
we'll say it's over and we won't bother you.
But if you keep the equipment and you stay on
the air, you're gonna have some problems. I didn't
even think very long about it. It's like, yeah,
I'm not gonna give you my stuff today. I'm like,
okay. And they made their way out of the house.
Nobody was home, I was home alone at the time.
And I followed them outside to their van and
I wanted to... No, what does an FCC van look
like? Is it a big UPS -style van? Is it a yellow
car? What is it? Is it a police vehicle? No,
it's just a boring station wagon, station wagon
minivan at the time, with a bunch of crazy antennas
on it. And I went up to them as they were starting
their car, and I said, guys, can you drive me
around and show me how you found my station?
And they're like, come on. So they put me in
their car. They showed me all their screens.
They drove around. They showed me how you could
actually use Doppler equipment to track radio
stations and find exactly where they're coming
from. And I loved it, man. I was just absolutely
enthralled at that point and wanted to keep doing
it even more. So I ended up spending more time
learning about RF engineering and electrical
engineering, which I knew really nothing about.
And that kind of kept me going. I kind of wish
they didn't. take me in that van because, well,
I don't wish, but if they didn't take me in that
van, we probably wouldn't be in a radio studio
today. Very cool. All right. It is time for some
station business. Pirate Cat Radio is built and
run by volunteers. We do the programming, editing,
tech and outreach. We produce original shows
like Cold War, Happy Hour, Salt Lake Dirt. Brave
Space. I don't know what Brave Space is. I've
never heard of that show before. I've been wondering
about that. I keep I keep reading this card and
I'm like, what is Brave Space? If you want to
host a radio show called Brave Space, send me
an email. Daniel, Daniel at kpcr .org. I'd be
happy to set you up with that show. And that
I mean, that is. pretty vague. It can be a lot
of things. It could be really cool. All right.
How did you escape that escape room? But staying
on the air takes more than time. It takes funding.
It's hard. This is not free, folks. So you're
learning about what it takes to run independent
public radio station. Non -profit from our pocket.
Yes. And yours, hopefully. it requires funding.
We get no government funding. We rely on listeners
and support from the community to keep this thing
going. So if you like what you're hearing, and
you probably do if you're listening right now,
please consider supporting the cause, support
local voices, and join the Signal Society at
kpcr .org slash join. And what the Signal Society
is It's basically your membership to the station.
So we have Signal Society partners that offer
discounts on the various businesses that they
have. So Roundtable Pizza is one of them. They're
right below our office. And I can tell you for
five bucks a month, which is the minimum Signal
Society membership level, it's worth it for that
alone. Just for the, just for the round table.
Take it from a guy who, well, they know me there.
He's not getting any kickbacks. No kickbacks.
I just, they just, they know me there. But on
top of that, we there, you can get discounts
for so many different things. So many different
restaurants and, um, uh, we have, uh, concert
tickets, concert tickets, concert tickets is,
is kind of the biggie here. So we now are partnered
with. Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue
in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every
venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay
Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue
in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every
venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay
Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue
in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every
venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay
Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue
in the Bay Area There's a venue you can get tickets
for if you call 408 -357 -0330. Give us your
Signal Society number and we'll put you on a
list. We're going to read off the free tickets
that we have coming up at the next break. And
yes, tons of great shows. And for the roundtable
discount and the free concert tickets alone,
it is worth joining the Signal Society. Again,
that's kpcr .org slash join. All right. We're
going to get back to a little bit more of asking
Daniel all about running Pirate Cat Radio. But
first, we're going to play some more music from
his playlist that he brought in for us today.
And then we'll talk about these songs a little
bit and the artists. And yeah, let's get into
a little bit more music and then we'll be back.
interviewing Daniel Roberts, the founder and
chief of KPCR Pirate Cat Radio. Thanks for listening.
You were listening to Pirate Cat Radio, KPCR
LP 92 .9 FM Los Gatos, KMRT LP 101 .9 FM Santa
Cruz, and KVBE LP 91 .1 FM in Portland. And you
just heard Chlamydia, the band Chlamydia with
their song Arvavon. And that was from Daniel's
playlist I asked him to put together a little
playlist of songs no rules No format just any
songs can be random and scary folks and we're
just gonna talk a little bit about them And it's
just a little bit more of you know, the get -to
-know Daniel Roberts the founder of kpcr pirate
cat radio So tell us about that song and and
that band and why is it on the list? So it's
crazy that song so I spent some time working
in Finland for Nokia a long time ago when I was
living in Europe and that band, Chlamydia, they
released that song in like 1995. And I had heard
it on on KSCU in the 90s a few times. Apparently
they were on a compilation for an old record
label here in San Jose that doesn't exist anymore
called Farmhouse Records. And that song was the
random song in a foreign language that was on
there. Nobody had any idea. It wasn't until I
got to Finland where I heard it playing again
when I went to a chlamydia show. Like, wait.
Huh, they're playing that's that's all a bookie
thing. So I went up to the guys and asked them
They're like, yeah, we're it's a song about Santa
Claus and so apparently it's a Christmas song
But yeah, so now that song I'll play it for my
daughter or sing it to her in the back of the
car is a little bookie little bookie ballas out
of car to book me in my belly car and She'll
just start dancing to it. In fact, I got a message
from my wife right now She's like when he started
playing that song our daughter like lost her
mind Nice and that we should probably talk about
the song that kicked off the show today and that
was institutionalized cover obviously by black
velvet flag and That was just a fun fun song
kind of a Richard Cheese sort of a thing one
of the beautiful things about Community radio
is you might hear institutionalized by suicidal
tendencies on a lot of alternative radio stations,
but you'll never hear that version That's right.
Well, I will take this moment to tell you what
hooked me onto the station I was stopped at a
light and I was just doing your classic Scrolling
through the stations as I you know, we sometimes
still do that I do and I heard this moog song
and I'm like this sounds really familiar and
it was kind of like almost like Muzak, and it
was Basket Case by Green Day. The Moog Cookbook
version. The Moog Cookbook. And I finally found
out, yeah, it was Daniel that was responsible
for that. And anyway, that's what hooked me in.
I'm like, I'm all about this station. And so
I kept listening and there were more great songs.
And anyway, yeah, so that is the beauty of Public
radio. It's why I'm here. It's why you know,
I think you heard that's kind of what Why Daniel
started all of this is that you you can listen
to? Pirate cat radio and if you listening if
you listen to it all day long, which I did recently
because I was laid up after an accident. I listened
to every single show. I didn't want to watch
your hell hostage by the radio. All I could do
is sit in this brace that I'm still wearing today
and just listen. And I listen to everybody's
show and I love them all. I really did. There's
and it's just so diverse. And that's kind of
that's my whole show is the Sonic Smorgasbord.
I play anything and everything. And so anyway,
just a little. little side note listen to all
of the shows on on kpc and folks you know jeff
is sitting here right now and he was he was in
a tragic accident a few weeks ago and he looks
like the six million dollar man right now and
that doesn't mean he has like five teslas but
it's like He is well equipped right now. Like,
if you came and tried to fight this guy, he's
just like, he's all in armor. Yes, this this
girdle I'm wearing, it's supporting my my broken
back right now. Yeah. All right. We're going
to get back into the interview. If you're just
tuning in, we are. doing a special Sonic Smorgasbord
show today. I'm your host DJ Not -So -Jazzy Jeff
and today we're interviewing the founder of KPCR
Pirate Cat Radio Daniel Roberts and the first
part of this interview we talked about how he
got started in public radio which was he Founded
his own pirate cat radio the original pirate
cat radio when he was still in high school And
if you've been listening this long you are brave
space Thanks for listening Yes, so we're talking
about how when he got caught and then how he
did a ride -along With the FCC guys and that
just got him more excited to to keep it going
and which he did And so my next question is so
legend has it you got caught again and then went
on the run. Can you please elaborate on this
story a little bit because it's pretty exciting.
Do I sell into the myth or do I just tell you
the true story? You can you can embellish to
make it. You know more radio -friendly or you
can just tell us like it is So I became a international
man of mystery interpol was following me around
because of all the radio stations I had set up
especially those FARC rebel groups in in Central
America Yeah, you know and when you when you
start setting up transmitters for the Taliban
for you know They just come after you wherever
you are So, you know travel lived on an island
for a while, you know ran out of coconuts left
went to another island ran out of pine apples
went to another place and ended up finding myself
in Belarus of all places and you know just realized
I didn't like potatoes so I left and went to
the UK okay but now the truth is the truth of
the story is no you know Jeff it was ridiculous
so you know back in the day I used to run a place
called pirate cat radio cafe in the Mission District
of San Francisco over on 21st in Florida and
that whole concept was I knew very well and clear
that we were operating without a license. We
were creating radio content and it wasn't necessarily
myself who was broadcasting at that point, but
other people who really enjoyed what we were
doing had transmitters in different parts of
the world and would rebroadcast all the content
coming out of the station. Somebody just happened
to continuously have it on 87 .9 FM in San Francisco.
Thank you to that person. But what I wanted to
do was I had found a clause from World War II
that said it was our civic duty as U .S. citizens
to keep communications with each other by all
means possible during times of war. That's a
really interesting clause when you think about
it because times of war need to be declared not
just by the president but also by Congress. Congress
needs to finalize and declare war, that the U
.S. is engaged in war. Well, at the time, George
Bush was our president, and he had the war on
terror, the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy,
the war on poverty, dare I name more. So I took
that clause and formulated a well -written letter
that stated all these different wars that I can
find evidence of George Bush ever announcing
or declaring, and cited that wartime act and
sent that to the FCC, letting them know that
I'd be operating potentially. on a frequency
in San Francisco. And they didn't bother me for
a very long time. About eight years after that,
I was in the cafe, Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. Now,
I'm gonna just leave that there. So that allowed
me to open Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. It was the
fact that we were on the air doing this thing.
Other people, I say in air brackets, were rebroadcasting
the station with their transmitters. But I wanted
to get us out of the face of, out of the concept,
change the concept of being this pirate elitist
radio station. Like, oh, we wear a mask and we've
got patches over our eyes and we must be like
the most dubious people in the world. And while
we were the most dubious people in the world
and some people coming in high and drunk to do
radio shows, I wanted to put that all in the
forefront of the public. So I leased out a commercial
space in San Francisco. opened a cafe in it,
built half cafe, half radio studio so people
could come inside and see this illegal radio
station operating while they buy a cup of coffee
and support that illegal activity operating.
And also pick up a microphone and talk on air
and be complicit in breaking the law with everyone
else who is broadcasting illegally and was doing
that for roughly five years. So by the time one
day I'm up above the studio, because in the studio
I had this little crawl space that I built out
and we had a melt crate there where all of our
music submissions would come and pile up into
this melt crate and was overflowing with CDs
that people would mail in. Digging through it
one day and I find this letter from the FCC that
apparently somebody had put up there at least
two months before. I pull it up like. Oh, what's
this? I say with an expletive and open it up
and I find that, you know, it's it's titled to
me. It has all of my radio aliases I've ever
had. And basically saying that I have formally
been fined ten thousand dollars and I'm facing
five years of jail time for operating an illegal
radio station in San Francisco. Oh, like a man.
Who left this up here? This is important. So
ended up going out. You know, one of our DJs
was a bartender, had some martinis and was like,
I think I'm in trouble and went home and made
some phone calls called Alan Korn, very famous
broadcast attorney. who works a lot with the
unlicensed broadcasters, and then he referred
me to a guy named Michael Cousins, who was the
older hippie version of him. He was one of the
rainbow people. That means a very certain thing,
the rainbow people, not the LGBT rainbow thing,
but like the hippie rainbow people, like the
folks who would go and stare through stained
glass, if you get my reference there. Lots of
sugar cubes involved. Yeah, so Michael Cousins
took my Case Pro Bono, He told me I should write
a book, which I have tried several times and
thrown away. I should probably do that one day.
But he also took the case pro bono and basically
found that in the FCC's evidence of when they
cited me for broadcasting illegally, the only
evidence they had was of me operating an espresso
machine at the Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. Never of
me operating a transmitter. Never of me being
on air. Just that of me operating an espresso
machine. So Michael Cousins put that in his brief
to the FCC, citing why they should drop all charges.
And it was pending for a long time, but eventually
it was all dropped because they didn't have any
evidence of me doing anything illegal. So did
I leave the country afterwards? Yeah, I sold
the cafe, and that guy did something crazy with
it and gave it away to somebody else. And I decided
to go to law school in the UK. I went to the
UK, went to the University of Law in Bristol,
did a graduate diploma in law there, only to
realize that I got absorbed working in tech again
and was working on music. Services for for Nokia
for some really advanced music applications.
I had way back when of course, this is like,
you know back in 2010 2011 something like that,
but just got stuck doing that and lived in Europe
for Yeah, gosh a really long time Very cool that
that is a very exciting story and thanks for
For elaborating on that, I love the initial story,
too. I did love sitting in Europe, whether I'm
in Germany or somewhere else, and reading papers
in the Bay Area about the crazy things Monkey
Man is doing from abroad. I was like, wow, I
became this tabloid character now. This is really
cool. Apparently, I was selling... Concert tickets
for some radio station that were giveaway tickets.
I don't know whatever all kinds of like really
Bogus stories out there about me and just like
kind of basking anything like this is cool. Everyone
thinks I'm like Snyder Lee whiplash from boiling
goal or something doesn't do rights the enemy
Well, that's what this interview is for today.
It's to clear up all the rumors to find out what
really happened and We are now at the point in
this interview with where you had a turning point.
So at what point did the outlaw broadcaster decide,
I'm going to build something legal and lasting?
Yeah, I mean, I, again, I never had the intent
of doing anything illegal. In fact, like operating
Pirate Cat Radio's inception station, I don't
see as being legal or illegal. It's extra legal.
So I'm more of a radio maverick, as a reporter
put it once, than that of the pirate radio guy.
I was making sure that we were following this
wartime act and trying to do something that was
beneficial for alternative community radio through
and through. It was when I was talking to Michael
Cousins, and Michael Cousins, rest in peace,
he passed away a few years ago, he... He helped
me acquire my first license for a radio station
from a group that didn't know what to do with
their license. So I helped get them on the air.
I put in some time, some investment, and eventually
handed it over to them. at the same time found
how it was possible to apply for radio licenses.
And did that, applied for radio licenses, acquired
licenses from other defunct community groups,
and helped set those up. In fact, there's a station
up in Boulder Creek. That radio station up there
exists because of a license that I salvaged and
was supposed to put on the air, but never did.
And now they have a thriving radio station up
there in the mountains. So that that's from a
long time ago, but you know it was in 2019 where
I found there was a license again that I had
applied for and it came to fruition and It was
my time to to take that and grapple and bring
it on air and that license just happened to be
KPCR on 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz Also, we were
just in the midst of a pandemic that happened.
So this pandemic was in place. Nobody could go
out. Everybody's wearing masks. I'm stuck in
Europe. I can't fly to North America. And I'm
like trying to figure out how do I get this station
on the air without actually being over there?
Well, that's when all the alumni of Pirate Cat
Radio came together. Some really key folks got
together and I organized them to... Go and get
a metal pole go and get this antenna go and pick
up this transmitter that I had shipped from eBay
and Take it to this place that I found on Google
Maps where this crazy ham radio guy saying it's
okay to put a transmitter an antenna here and
Wrangled all that from where I was in, Lithuania
Got everyone on this side organized actually
put this transmitter on the air and there we
were in the middle of a pandemic August of 2020
broadcasting some type of content that I had
coming from a server set up in Lithuania and
was at that point thinking, okay, this is great.
We're broadcasting to Santa Cruz. What do we
do next? That's awesome. All right. You're listening
to KPC, our pirate cat radio. We're interviewing
Daniel Roberts. He is the founder of this station.
If you couldn't figure that out by by the questions
and answers that we had going on, we're going
to take some time right now we're gonna play
some more music from Daniel's playlist that he
brought in and we'll be back with some more questions
thanks for listening You know, you think there's
like a whole minute left in that song and you
realize it's just this like sweet voice saying
look take your medicine All right, that was that
Moon over Marin and yeah and Tell us about that
song you put it on the playlist and Yeah, you
know, how can I put together a playlist for a
show and not play something by the Dead Kennedys
with Jelly Be Offra in it? I mean, you know,
Jelly Be Offra is one of my heroes growing up
as a kid. His lyrics, what he did with Dead Kennedys,
what he did later with bands like Lard, all super
influential to the things that I picked up and
just basically got accustomed to and wanted to
play on air as well. Like, dude, one time I got
to meet Jelly Be Offra and the first time I got
to meet Jelly Be Offra. It was right after Obama
became president or was elected president. So
I had the offer on there He came to the pirate
cat radio cafe. I had him in and man. I was such
a fanboy I was like, oh, you're so cool. Jello.
Oh This song is so great. Yeah. Oh man. You're
like my hero I learned so much from you and he's
like, yeah, I'm really profound, huh? Yeah Do
you want to leave the studio and just let me
take over? Like, oh yeah, Jello, anything you
want to do? Yeah, sure, sure. It's a total geek.
Like, I lost it. But Jello is a really cool guy.
Eventually, you learn to get over your fandom
and just realize, hey, these are just people
like you. They just have a different take on
things. But yeah, that was a really big moment
for me to have him in the studio. And I felt
like I had. kind of accomplished a lot and just
could stop doing radio at that point. It was
like, this is it. I'm done. Yes. No. Yeah. Dead
Kennedy is influential for many of us. Before
that, we heard Salad Days by Minor Threat. Another
great song. Tell us about that and why it's on
your list. I mean, Minor Threat. So I don't know.
Most people probably don't know or a lot of you
do know. But some people don't know Minor Threat
was the first what's called a straight edge band,
meaning you don't drink, you don't do drugs,
you don't have sex, you are a straight edge.
People even took that to being vegan even. But
Minor Threat, the philosophy aside, which you
hear in a lot of Ian McKay's lyrics about being
straight edge is really kind of profound and
quite thoughtful. But as a band and their musicianship
is something that's really quite stellar and
pretty I think groundbreaking for an American
punk band and you know the just in general like
Even when he got to, like, Fugazi, Ian McKay's
other band after Minor Threat, he kind of carried
that same ethos. And, like, really, like, Fugazi
was supposed to be their breakthrough band that
was supposed to get signed to a major record
label. But he always kept things true. It's like,
people shouldn't pay more than $5 to come see
us. If not, they're coming for free. They never
sold merch. He didn't sign for a big record label
or anything. He really, like, kept to his guns.
So I really respect Ian McKay and everything
he's done. But as well, that song, Salad Days,
most people, like, if you listen the NPR All
Things Considered in the afternoon, you might
hear a very familiar guitar riff in between segments
from time to time. I just learned this people,
if you are learning it too for the first time,
that's just one of those, I was this many years
old when I, one of those moments. You are listening
to KPCR Pirate Cat Radio. KPCR LP 92 .9 FM in
Los Gatos, KMRT LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz, and
KVBELP 91 .1 FM in Portland. This is the Sonic
Smorgasbord. I'm your host, DJ Not -So -Jazzy
Jeff. I'm on every Friday from 12 to 2. I usually
play some... Different music and it's usually
based on a theme or sometimes I'll just focus
on a on a subgenre of music But today we have
been interviewing the founder of KPC our pirate
cat radio Daniel Roberts learning about the origins
of the station where it all began how he got
shut down how he came back on the air and We
are at the point now where We're talking about
how he started the station yet again, and I'm
gonna ask, how did your pirate background shape
the culture of the public radio station that
everyone's listening to right now? We got a name
out of it. No, look, you know, they, yeah, okay.
Jokes aside, yeah, KPCR, obviously, you know
what the K, what the PCR stands for now, pirate
cat radio. The name all comes out of like, you
know, running a radio station without a license
in Los Gatos, Los Gatos being Spanish for the
cats, pirate cat radio, get it? But when I, when
I had the opportunity to get 101 .9 on the air
in Santa Cruz, A lot of people don't know this,
but Los Gatos is split on Summit Road between
Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County. So
you have this unincorporated part of Los Gatos
that is not officially Los Gatos, but is Los
Gatos a name, basically. Cool part of the world.
Go check it out. Nonetheless, I got the station
on the air from that point. I was like, we are
in Los Gatos, and I would even say in Los Gatos
at the time. I lost my train of thought here
because my phone started buzzing in my hand.
I'm like, go away phone, stop calling me. Thanks
Tim from the Lions Club, hi. I wanted to get...
what I started in Los Gatos back on the air legally
over here. So, you know, keeping a name I think
was really important and keeping that call sign
KPCR really, really important to me to help kind
of like for myself say I'm back to where I started
from and this time doing it again. But everything
that I had learned from the, you know, 15 years
of running Pirate Cat radio and 87 .9 FM via
other people's transmitters that extra legal
radio station I wanted to take that and bring
that into a more I think structured and formal
setting versus the kind of renegade mess we had
back then which you know it was really hard to
write to herd cats and wrangle a bunch of people
together, but there's so much that I learned
from that period of life of How impactful radio
is what? how you can influence other people,
how you can help share factual information, how
you can help expose people to things they don't
know. That's why like, you know, you might hear
a lot of older punk music on the station from
time to time or older music, but there's so many
people that don't know about it. So keep sharing
it with them. You know things like that like
so much to come from that past of running a radio
station in that cafe with the the crazy folks
of people that decided to volunteer and join
as shaped what we're doing here today and You
know Jeff as a volunteer the station you you
probably see like you have a very strong part
in the station You're organizing our concert
ticket giveaways and liaising with with venues
for us you know, that role is something that
I shaped in the past with other volunteers at
the, you know, the extra legal radio station.
And, you know, I think having you do it the way
you're doing it now has been really successful.
And also, you know, my ability now of what I
learned then to better delegate and step away
and just say like, Cool, you're doing it, man.
You're doing it. Keep going. Like, you know,
as long as you're doing it, I don't have to do
anything. It really comes from from running all
that. So I guess personally, there's a lot of
personal growth in there and learning how to
manage and collaborate with volunteers in a community
radio setting versus what happened before. So
to answer your question in short, like all the
just all the learnings and personal takeaways
came came into play. Now here. The other part
of it is, if it wasn't for what I was doing back
then, I wouldn't know how to spread us out and
get us other licenses. So we've got KMRT now,
101 .9 FM Santa Cruz to pick up where we moved
away from when we came to 92 .9 and 91 .1 FM
in Portland. Where do you see Pirate Cat Radio
growing? that is you know, what are some of the
areas that you would like to expand coverage
and What are some of your goals just long -term
goals for? For this entity. I think we need to
cover more of Tesslandia So do you need more
here here in test landia? Even though your test
landia radios may have a hard time picking up
the station because musk is not really a fan
of ours You know there there are some tricks
up up our sleeves still to get better signal
coverage on 92 .9 FM and You know if the waz
is listening the waz is listening And we'll leave
it at that. But there are some ways that we can
expand coverage. So I really do want to make
sure that our home base is covered first coverage
wise and that we're getting the reach. So we
have more listeners. And so our current listeners
as well can can listen to us with greater ease.
Same thing goes for the Monterey Bay area. Like
I want to make sure that we're solidifying ourselves
in these two spots and our new home in Portland.
I also want to make sure that just these. in
that kind of priority order even, that even Portland
is a ground base for us so we can start doing
more things. I see the one thing that this station
needs in order to grow though is content. And
to do that, we need more people like yourself,
Jeff, and like our listeners right now who want
to create radio content. The station doesn't
thrive. It doesn't grow. It stays stagnant without
people like you and without other folks listening
who want to come and do radio shows of some kind.
So if you're out there right now, doors wide
open, Jeff will train you. I am still in training,
but I will I will train you to the best of my
ability. We're so lucky here. So I volunteered.
I first found out about the station you know
I heard it on the air like I mentioned earlier
and then what what really got me wanting to be
part of this is I heard that a band that I know
local band Ska band monkey if you're into Ska
you you know who monkey is they've been around
forever cool cool guys and they were playing
here at the station and I'm like how cool you
know Los Gatos isn't known as being a and you
were wearing an Omnigon cool This guy needs to
have a radio show I wear I I have a lot of concert
a lot of concert tees how many black concert
tees does one man need the answer is It's never
enough anyway, so I came down here to check out
monkey and support the cause. And then I met
Daniel and just started talking about, hey, I'd
love to volunteer here. What can I do? And here
I am. I want everyone to know that we just lost
Daniel for a little bit. because this is public
radio. We're volunteers and we actually have
day jobs and he has to do a work call right now.
But I prepared for that. I actually have all
sorts of content to keep presenting here. One
of the things is And one of the things that we
would train you, if you are a new DJ here, is
that at the top of the hour, we need to do our
legal ID, which I did not that long ago, but
I'm gonna do it again. You're listening to Pirate
Cat Radio, KPCR LP 92 .9 FM in Los Gatos, KMRT
LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz, and KVBELP. 91 .1
FM in Portland. Yes, that Portland where Daniel
now lives. So we are very fortunate to have him
in the studio today because he's visiting his
hometown. And I nailed him down to this time
and he was able to do it even though he still
has to do work. Alright, we're going to get back
into playing a little more music from Daniel's
playlist. Thanks for listening to Pirate Cat
Radio. freedom of choice. You are listening to
Pirate Cat Radio, KPCR LP 92 .9 FM Los Gatos,
KMRT LP 101 .9 FM Santa Cruz, and KVBE LP 91
.1 FM in Portland, and you're listening to the
Sonic Smorgasbord Show. I'm your host DJ Not
-So -Jazzy Jeff. I'm here every Friday from 12
to 2 p .m. Normally, I will... play a show that's
just a mishmash of all different types of music
usually based on a theme sometimes based on a
genre of music but today is extra special we
have the founder of kpcr pirate cat radio in
the studio with us doing a live interview and
we're learning all about the station what we've
talked about so far if you're just tuning in
is the origins of the radio station daniel started
this thing when he was in high school, got caught
by the FCC because he was pirating airwaves.
He learned more about how radio works from the
kind FCC guys who caught him and let him learn
more from them. Thanks, guys. And then he started
another pirate radio station up in San Francisco.
He had the pirate cat Radio Cafe that he operated
out of in the mission. And he got shut down again.
And we are at the point now where we're talking
about how he where we are today, which is what
you're listening to a legal, legitimate public
radio station. And my next question for you,
Daniel, is what makes this station, Pirate Cat
Radio, different because of your journey, and
what still carries that original spark? Huh.
What makes this, what makes it different? Well...
I can't play Teenage Enema Nurses and Bondage
over and over again to start. That used to be
our Thanksgiving Day thing. I also can't play
the full unedited version of William Burroughs
Thanksgiving Day Prayer. So, you know, a few
little things that make it a bit different. Hey,
if it weren't for the FCC and our license rules,
our antenna would be much higher and putting
out much more power than it does right now. So
Tesslandia could hear us. Hello, Tesslandia.
So the original Spark, obviously we already talked
about that. And now we're doing a legitimate
public radio show on a legitimate public radio
station, and we have to adhere to the FCC rules,
but we're still doing things the way that you
envisioned us doing. Let's talk about that high
school pirate. If he could see, 15 -year -old
Daniel could see what you've built now. This
legitimate public radio station serving the community.
What do you think he'd say? Gosh, you just played
the slaughterhouse by a slogan which is all about
that What would I do if the older version of
me could see me view these be five minutes ago?
You know man if So is it what would the teenage
version of me think about today, or vice versa?
Yeah, what would that 15 -year -old think about
this new, legitimate radio station that's legal,
and you have a team of volunteers, and we have
to adhere to FCC rules and regulations? I still
hope that 15 -year -old would see it and think,
oh, man, I better go a different route. So there's
a funny old saying, and this one I can get away
with saying on air, and it's brutal and it's
blunt and some people might be offended by it
so please don't take offense nothing personal
but it's better to tell your mother that you
play piano in a cat house than work in radio
and you know there's a really good reason for
that nobody's interested in the guy playing piano
and radio is really a effort of love especially
you know Jeff, you you you understand the economics
here in Teslandia of real estate and buying a
home and how things come into play at that. You
know, a career radio is not going to be the thing
that that gets you. comfort in a lot of places
these days. So it's something you need to change
your mind on and shift and focus on is not just
a hobby, but as something that is really philanthropic
and do it in addition to what your regular day
is. So I do take offense to people who say that
what I'm doing here is a hobby. What I'm doing
here is a philanthropic venture. It's something
that I think people like yourself and our listeners
and others gain from. My 15 year old self wouldn't
understand that he wouldn't have the life experience
to understand. Like he might think, Oh, that's
cool. I'm going to do everything the same way
to get to that point. But you wouldn't understand
that it's something that is philanthropic and
done out of love. And that there are a lot of
other things in life that you need to focus on
and do so that you can sustain and keep an organization
like pirate cat radio alive. So Hey, 15 year
old me. Uh, go to law school or something, I
don't know. Yes, I think the 15 year old me would
feel the same way, the 15 year old me who discovered
a minor threat on KFJC and was like, wow, I didn't
know that this world was out there. I fully embrace
that sentiment. I would feel the same way. And
now, being a volunteer here, and we're going
to plug being a volunteer here once again, I'm
going to tell you just from my experience, it
feels good to be part of this. It feels good
to give back to your community. I wanted to do
community service. And I was looking for something
to do that was meaningful. And then this just
kind of fell in my lap. And I can tell you, yeah,
it's not just Having a radio show and playing
cool songs that you want to play and having your
friends listen to you and text you and say that
was really cool and it's it just feels good to
to make a difference and be part of something
bigger than yourself and So and hey Jeff, you
know if you were a university student right now
or college students or even a high school student
for that matter You could get course credits
for being a volunteer here You can get course
credits for being the person in front of the
microphone. So Are kids still in school right
now? If you're playing hooky right now and listening
to the radio, good for you, maybe not. But you
can get course credits for coming in and working
with us. And hey, mom, dad, whoever you are out
there, give it some thought. And also, this is
a great time to talk a little bit about getting
into some station business. Also, if you're a
volunteer, we were talking about how we have
free concert tickets to give away. Most venues
will give us two pairs of tickets for every show.
One is for listeners and the other pair is for
the volunteers of the station because none of
us get paid here. We're just doing this for the
love of it. And so another good reason to volunteer
free concert tickets. And we have a lot of great
shows coming up. I'm going to take this time
because we missed it the last time around to
announce a couple of shows coming up that we
have free tickets for. We already gave away tickets
for tonight's English beat show at the Felton
Music Hall. A lucky, lucky person. Hey, did you
know, just real quick side note, the Los Gatos
Chamber of Commerce. sent me this email just
right now. They're doing this thing called Stars
of Los Gatos Awards. Hey, go, dear listener,
find it online, Stars of Los Gatos Awards, and
write something nice about us. Thanks. Oh, very
cool. OK, all right. Bear with me. I'm just going
to read through a handful of these, because we
have so many. I'm going to read through all of
the shows that we have free tickets for just
through the first part of March. So what's today
is the 27th. It's not even March yet. It's not
even March yet. So I mentioned we had tickets
for the English beat at Felton Music Hall. Those
actually take that back. We have one pair is
gone. We still have a pair. So if you're interested
in those tickets, go to KPCR. dot org slash join
and become a member of the signal society for
as little as five dollars a month that gives
you access to free concert tickets discounts
on our participating uh the businesses and restaurants
um you can get discounts on records you can get
discounts on beauty supplies you can get discounts
on round table pizza um all right english beat
tonight Felton, we have two tickets to give away.
On the 28th, that's tomorrow, at the Felton Music
Hall, we have two pairs of tickets to give away
to Ambrosia. Yes, Ambrosia. I would totally be
going to that, but I cannot go. But I would definitely
go see Ambrosia, especially for free. But I mean,
I would pay to go see Ambrosia at Felton Music
Hall. Also, on the 28th, we have Ahi at Cafe
du Nord in San Francisco, two pairs of tickets.
Like the tuna. Like the tuna. On the 28th, we
have Beni at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Only
one pair of tickets for that. Beni is indie pop
artist. Very cool. Check her out. I don't know
them. Yeah, she's great. I didn't know about
her either. And actually getting these free concert
tickets is great because I'm learning about so
many artists that I didn't know anything about.
Colin, Nero Nava, Music Department, where are
you guys? I check out, you know, every free show
that we get, I always go check to see what the
artist is and, well, mostly to see if... Are
these tickets that I want? I actually don't.
I am totally fine supporting all of these venues.
And so I rarely take advantage of the free tickets.
I'm just throwing that out there. Let's take
a quick focus, though, on just the first the
first start of March. What is the like the top
two shows on that list? OK, I would say top two
shows on on this list. Well, let's see. Those
are gone. We had Margo Price at the Fillmore
and our winner Dave from Felton. Grab those.
Who else do we have? Good job, Dave. Drama at
the Fox Theater. Only one pair of tickets for
that. What kind of band is drama? Drama. Oh,
shoot. I forgot. I looked them up and I watched
a couple videos. I keep waiting for you to add
the... Rama Rama drama Rama. It's not drama Rama
drama Rama just drama We have What else do we
have coming up tons of shows Band of skulls on
The 17th and the ghost women not a gang of skulls
a band of skulls and great American music hall
and not the ghost men and not the ghost men we
have Tigrin Hamasian Two nights in a row and
I can tell you about this guy. It's kind of it's
Experimental it's proggy. It's It's unusual.
It's dancy. It's really cool He's playing two
nights in a row at the Great American Music Hall
on March 5th and on March 6 and we have two pairs
of tickets for those shows those are just some
of the Shows that we have free tickets for. I'm
going to read off just a handful of venues that
are our partners. Come and get them now. 408
-357 -0330. Get the tickets. Call us. Tell us
what tickets you want. We have tickets for shows
at Great American Music Hall, the Fox Theater,
Cafe du Nord, Moe's Alley. Not the catalyst.
Not the catalyst. And not yet. We have tickets
for the Greek theater. in Berkeley, we have tickets
for the Rio theater in Santa Cruz, a whole bunch
more. And the point of this is that we have free
concert tickets, and you should take advantage
of them as a listener. And again, go to kpcr
.org slash join to find out how you can win.
That's right. Okay, back to the interview. We've
kind of gotten through Most of the the meat of
the interview We talked about how pirate cat
radio came to be and Now we're just gonna do
a kind of more of a lightning round type of questioning
I'm just gonna throw throw these out there to
Daniel go most punk moment in your legal radio
career call a friend Call a friend What What
was the question for 500 Jeff Yes, the most punk
moment in your legal radio career we heard about
all the the outlaw stuff that you did Oh, man,
that's either going to be The most punk moment
or pirate moment Punk moment. Punk moment. Getting
a bunch of people in LA to meet with me for brunch
on a Sunday morning and take hammers to their
cell phones. Ah, nice. Yeah. Plus they bought
me breakfast. So that was great. What else? Getting
a bunch of people to drive up to the Rock and
Roll Ralph's parking lot in Los Angeles and I'll
turn the radios on as loud as they could, honk
their horns, flash their lights and scream as
loud as they can. You know, like block the whole
thing. Swearing words parking lot so that that
kind of thing more recently inadvertently organizing
a Anti -ice protest at the Super Bowl. Ah Tell
us more about that. I didn't mean to do it. It
just happened So how does something like that
come to fruition? For anyone out there that is
interested in doing something similar on their
own. Yeah, you know, I think I don't know some
some things are just you you Accidentally slip
and then you find out you fell into something
great and not Mr. Hankey anyway, yeah, you know
that came about after after the The the good
and the the pretty shootings in Minneapolis We
did some on -air content here at the station
Intervening people back in the Midwest about
what was going on their fears, and pulling in
local civil rights groups and other groups that
are anti -ICE. to come on air and talk. And that
led to me pulling together people to gather and
broadcast what they were seeing. And that turned
into a protest, a very peaceful protest, mind
you. Rallied a bunch of people around outside
the stadium in Santa Clara to go and show action
and disdain for what ICE has been doing in the
US for the past few months. Cool. Thanks for
shedding light on that. I forgot that we didn't
talk about the songs that we just played before
I started talking about 15 minutes ago. The first
song that or the last song that we we heard that
you heard is a song called Slaughterhouse by
Slow Gerken. They are an Asian man records recording
artists. As many of you know Mike Park. the owner
of Asian Man Records, is also a DJ here, volunteer
DJ. Why was Slaughterhouse by Slow Gherkin on
your playlist, Daniel? Was that whole question
you asked me earlier about what would the older
version of me tell the younger version of myself?
And I felt like that was something that we would
touch upon here because I've been doing radio.
extra -legal or licensed radio for most of my
life since I was a teenager. I mean, I'm much
older now than I was in 1996. So this is something
that has come with me. It's just a core part
of me. When I'm not around it, I feel empty.
That song I hear and I reflect on the things
that I would tell myself. back then, if I could,
with all the knowledge and all the expertise
I have, tell myself all the things I know now,
then I'm sure a lot of people feel the exact
same way. But for me, because I've been doing
the radio station since I was so long, and since
I was in an adolescent state when I started it,
I don't know if that impacts me more than it
would other people when they have that thought,
but it really, it really sticks with me. So that
that song is one that I would go to slow gherkin
shows and play on the radio when I first started
the radio station. Very cool. I played a slow
gherkin song on one of my shows. I can't remember
which one but also a fan of the band Before that
song we heard killing floor by naked aggression.
Oh So, okay Kirsten patches the singer of naked
aggression is a friend of mine her husband Rick
We when I lived in LA we would hang out. I would
go to their house. We would watch really bad
movies, if not like watch things like Conan the
Barbarian on DVD, but listen to the track where
Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking about the making
of the film the whole time, which I highly urge
you to do with something to take shots of, not
that being a pistol. And, you know, hearing Schwarzenegger
talk about his films is kind of cringy. But,
you know, I would go over, hang out with Kirsten
and Rick and, you know, of course, you know,
Naked aggression would come up from time to time,
but I spent a lot of time with them. So Rick,
Kirsten's husband, was recently diagnosed with
cancer, and they're fighting it right now. They
have a GoFundMe campaign going and are raising
money for Rick for his procedures. I've donated
money to that and highly recommend anyone search
for it, because I don't have the link on me to
share with you right now, but look for Kirsten
Patch's cancer on GoFundMe. But yeah, it's really
tragic to see an old friend of yours get hit
with cancer. It makes you realize how vulnerable
you are all the time. So I think Killing Floor
is a really fitting song to play for that. And
I really just want to say hi to Kirsten and Rick,
if you guys are listening. So, that's why. Also,
really proud of Naked Aggression overall for
deciding not to play Punk in the Park in Pittsburgh,
where it was found that the organizers are huge,
gave very large amounts of money to the Trump
campaign, and a lot of punk bands pulled out.
Only a few bands still are in the lineup, being
the Necromantics and the new version of the Dead
Kennedys, not the Jelly Be Offer version of the
Dead Kennedys, are still there, but a lot of
bands, Majority of bands have pulled out, which
looks like they're gonna have to cancel that
festival. And good on them. I think it's important,
you know, we don't have, as people, as Americans,
as just people in general, you know, a lot of
us aren't those in power. A lot of us don't have
a lot of say, but the biggest thing that we can
do, aside from voting, is be able to make a stance
with our pocketbook. Where we spend our money
says a lot to the people in power. So for those
bands pulled out, and not taking money from those
promoters, I think is a really, I hold them in
high esteem for doing that. And for those of
you who have tickets to the event and you wanna
turn those tickets in, do it, do it, do it, do
it, do it, so. I think I just saw something this
morning that, and I might be wrong, check this,
but I thought I saw something that all of the
Punk in the Park dates have been canceled. Oh,
awesome, wow, I missed that update. So double
check that though. that's I was perusing perusing
the social medias and uh that's where I saw that
we're gonna play a little bit more music and
then we're gonna come back and talk to Daniel
some more learn more about the man the myth and
uh thanks for listening to pirate cat radio you're
in the brave space I'm brilliant So, funny thing
is, Jeff, when I would DJ at clubs in Bristol
in the UK, or you can leave that off, this is
bed music. When I would DJ at clubs, that was
my intro track. I would play that one before
I started my whole set of the night. Wouldn't
wrap up with it. I'd wrap up with baby crying
and alarm bells because that would make people
go home and bartenders appreciate that So they
give you a little bit more of their tips. I love
I always love the song at the end of the night
that venues play To get people to leave and it
always makes me giggle when it's just something
just just god -awful and I'm always like wow,
that's a great choice because We're getting the
heck out of here now So, what is the name of
this song? I can't remember the name of this
song, actually. Oh, I'm looking at it now. Yukhermo
So, which means a man of experience and wisdom.
And it's by Mulatu Astatke. Yeah, you need to
listen to more of him. Yeah, it's very cool.
Cool, moody music. Before this, we heard Suicide
Drive by... The Deep Mind. The Deep End. Yeah,
Deep End. One of my best friends, Joel Marsden,
Fatal, singer of that band in LA. Good guy. Yeah,
we went on tour in Germany a lot with that band.
So we'd go and I would manage their tour and
everything else. They would just go on stage
and perform, load everything up in the van, go
and do the same thing again the next day. Very
cool. So you were the manager for that band.
Road manager, bookie manager, all kinds of crazy
stuff. But yeah, we did, you know. three months
in a van with the same guys it's uh not enough
for breeze in the world i've always thought that
um we're gonna just we're gonna do that and um
i always thought that yeah if if i were to go
on an extensive tour um with the band um i would
want to be the only dude in the band all right
uh As this happened before, Daniel has a work
call. Again, this is public radio people, and
we're volunteers here. We all have day jobs,
and these things come up. And thankfully, I have
plenty more music from Daniel's set, which you
got to just sneak peek of it just now before
we hit pause. We are doing a live interview today
with Daniel Roberts. He is the founder of Pirate
Cat Radio. And if you're just tuning in, we've
already gone through kind of the whole story.
We talked about how Daniel started his first
pirate radio station. in high school. He was
a student at Los Gatos High School when he was
15 years old. He figured out how to pirate airwaves
and start his own radio station. He got busted
by the FCC. They came knocking on his door and
they gave him a slap on the wrist. He walked
outside, saw that They had a cool little van
with like antennas on it and all like different
equipment inside. He asked if he could go with
them and they could show him like, how do you
find pirate radio stations? And they said, sure,
kid. And so he did that. And he that that sealed
the deal. He was all in after that. He learned
how to just to He just learned the ropes even
more from the FCC themselves. He started up Pirate
cat radio again when he was in San Francisco.
He had a pirate cat radio cafe going Lots of
volunteers and people were broadcasting that
that that lasted for a while before he got shot
shut down again This time the FCC weren't so
nice and they wanted to fine him and he wasn't
going to pay it and he wrangled out of that and
anyway, we're We just got through and how we
got back to where we are today, which is what
you're listening to now, KPCR, Pirate Cat Radio.
And that's where we're at before he had to run
out of the room. We were going to have our lightning
round of questions where I've just started peppering
him with just some random things. And we're going
to wait for him to get back. But this is a good
time for some station business. This is your
local station. No algorithms, no corporate playlists,
just unique. hand -built programming you won't
find anywhere else from ska and soul to climate
news and queer culture pirate cat radio reflects
the real bay area help us stay live and grow
give us a call sometime at four zero eight or
you can visit kpcr .org slash join to become
a Signal Society member and what that means is
you become a member of the station and what that
gets you is a bunch of perks including free concert
tickets like we mentioned at the last break discounts
on all sorts of cool things like restaurants
around town, not just in Los Gatos, but throughout
the Bay Area and in Santa Cruz. And I think we're
starting to expand into Portland now as well.
We have Partner businesses, we have the Beauty
Bar in town. You can get discounts off of services
there. That's a really cool spot. Check them
out. As I always mention, because I am a regular
customer, Roundtable Pizza, it's worth becoming
a Signal Society member to get discounts on Roundtable
Pizza. As much as I love Roundtable Pizza, it's
not cheap. So getting a discount off of Roundtable
Pizza every single month, which costs you as
little as $5 a month, it's just a no -brainer.
It's totally worth doing for that alone. And
then the free concert tickets. I mean, we have
tickets that we'll be giving away in the coming
months that are 200 bucks a piece. We're getting
some really... good shows. We're getting some
bigger shows at bigger venues. Like I mentioned,
the Fox Theater. We are now partnering with the
Greek Theater in Berkeley. And just recently
we brought on board the Taub UC Theater in Berkeley,
which has a ton of killer shows. So consider
becoming a Signal Society member if you are not
already. And again, that's KPCR. Alright, you've
been listening to the Sonic Smorgasbord. I am
your host DJ Not -So -Jazzy Jeff and I'm on every
Friday from 12 to 2 p .m. Normally I do a show
that is just a variety of music hence the name
Sonic Smorgasbord. It's usually based on a theme
so I'll play Songs from all different genres
kind of based on a theme so the last show that
I did was Friday the 13th and that was all stuff
about superstition and a little bit of Friday
the 13th stuff, but mostly just about superstition
and That kind of thing I've done I'll do shows
that focus just on a specific genre of music
or subgenre so I've done indie pop I've done
stoner metal I've done All country and cow punk
Just kind of all over the map But today was a
very special show where we're interviewing the
chief the founder of kpcr pirate cat radio He's
still on his work call. So I'm gonna get back
into playing some more music from his playlist
Thanks again for listening to pirate cat radio
It's got glass tables, you can watch yourself
while you are eating. Beer in the bathroom, I
just can't stop it. Every Saturday you see me,
you know it's shopping. But I know it's just
interaction. You are listening to KPC our pirate
cat radio and Just a quick song there Daniel
is back. So hey, sorry I'm so truth be told dear
listener and Jeff I am working one of my two
full -time jobs right now. And while we're doing
the radio interview I've got my computer here
in front of me. I am in a work call and Just
waiting and watching to see if my name gets called
So, hey, who says you can't multitask? That's
right. This is, yeah, you know what? You have,
first of all, that's a man multitasking right
there. You know, we are told that we are unable
to do that. We can do that. And also this is
great because it really gives you, I mean, that's
like the essence of what we're doing here, right?
Like this is volunteer work. Daniel's doing this
for the passion of it. This is what he loves.
We don't get paid. He doesn't get paid. We don't
get paid. And he's doing his day job while he
is is doing his fashion. And so I am a great
product director, I swear. I just sort of I just
make myself unavailable for these two hours every
Friday. And then I get back to work as soon as
I'm done. But he is working while we're doing
this and that is impressive. We just heard mirror
in the bathroom by the beat. And, uh, of course,
you know, that's like one of my top five songs.
I think, you know, anyone who likes Scott, that's,
I mean, for me too, that's, that's like just
one of the all time great songs period. I mean,
and I remember I'm old enough to remember when
it was brand new and it was just. Like nothing
I had ever heard. It was just like the coolest
thing. I'm like, what is this? This is and I
think it was just one of those this is amazing
life -changing type song so Why is this on your
playlist? I think he just said it but you want
to expand well, I mean, you know that one it's
it's one of my all -time favorite songs and I
In addition to being one of my all -time favorite
songs the English beat is playing the Felton
Music Hall tonight and I've got tickets to go
but I may not be able to go because my wife is
sick and her daughter is conjunctivitis and Yeah
adulting adulting that's right. It's a bummer
so much FOMO so much FOMO I've seen them there
twice and it's a great shut up Jeff Shut up Jeff.
It is a fun show there because and Dave is just
he is still absolutely loving every minute of
it and you can feel it like he is having such
a great time and that's just you know what he's
not doing this for the money he he's doing it
because he loves it and and the band of course
you're not getting into the english beat unless
you're a unless you're a really good player and
the band is outstanding Man, you are making me
feel guilty as ever for not being able to go
tonight. Well, maybe you can leave. Take a buddy,
write a nice big IOU. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Daddy
went away to get a pack of cigarettes and doesn't
come back home. Anyway, yeah, great. That's gonna
be a great show tonight. Let's see. Let's see
if I make it out there. But if you do have the
opportunity to go to Felton Music Hall tonight,
totally check it out. absolutely phenomenal.
Yep, one of the all -time greats. And yeah, so
we're at the tail end of our interview. And I
was going to ask Daniel, what advice to young
creators like him and other creators who feel
shut out of traditional systems, what advice
do you have for those people? Young creators
shut out of traditional systems. Well, I mean
you're a creator so automatic by by default you're
not conforming Don't feel like you have to conform
and that goes in a lot of different ways You
know you make your own path. Nobody else makes
a path for you other than yourself and know that
everything you do and everything that we all
do is trial and error. We just end up in situations
where either we're lucky or we're comfortable
or find ourselves in a good pivot point where
we want to extend to something else. But don't
feel like there's a definitive answer of what
you should do. Just keep doing, keep trying,
keep striving. And definitely as a creative Don't
worry about like, you know, you worry worry about
feeding yourself and paying your rent, of course
But like, you know making money isn't everything
at the end of the day You can find a way to get
through and I know that's that's hard to hear
in places like, Teslandia And where rents in
Santa Cruz are five thousand dollars a month
for a one -bedroom apartment but you know, it's
It's it's a struggle nonetheless, but don't feel
like you have to really take on the path that
other people have There's a lot of paths. There's
a lot of ways to be This is where I should probably
have cat Stevens song in here of if you want
to be me be me if you want to be you be you It
really holds true. So, you know, watch Harold
and Maude, listen to the title track song for
that, or check out Baz Luhrmann's Suntan speech.
I find great solace in listening to both of those
songs on a regular basis, like at least once
a year, if not more, just to remind myself that,
you know, the... Most interesting people you
know at 30 didn't know what to do with their
lives. The even more interesting people you know
at 40 had no idea what they wanted to do with
their lives. So just keep that in mind, resonate.
Very cool. And I guess finally, this is just
generic lightning round type of question, but
how would you describe radio today? Effing disaster.
It's a complete disaster radio is a mess You
know, I don't know how many of you out there
need uplifting music that you hear on K love
or these other places but You know radio is just
is destroyed. There's you know, there's so It's
no wonder that it's a slowly fading medium. It
still has its relevance. It'll still be here
in times of emergencies and things like that.
But yeah, you know, the powers that be have really
destroyed it. So that's why folks like myself
and others, like there's a guy named Todd Yurick
who I do work with from a group called Common
Frequencies, and just other people around the
US who I collaborate with to make sure that we're
able to take these meager LPFM licenses like
we've got here or other, you know, community
radio nonprofit licenses and make them become
the thorn in the sides of broadcast corporate
radio. Because I feel like what we're doing is
the only way to save this medium from becoming
just... Utterly useless, utterly useless. Hours
of commercials, the same thing you hear everywhere
else. If radio is going to have a revival, it's
going to be from a community basis. It's not
going to be based on what corporate... Organizations
and are doing with radio today It's it's gonna
be what us as volunteers as people who run radio
stations from a philanthropic process Are doing
to to make radio a viable thing that people want
to listen to again Very cool. All right. Well,
you have been listening to pirate cat radio the
Sonic smorgasbord show I always think about peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches when I hear smorgasbord
I think I picture a a spread a spread, but of
like, it's European. Ah, like the Russian Sunday
brunch of like the big salmon on the table. Yeah.
And like one of those horns. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
That's you've got you've got you like the the
American ideal of a charcuterie board. Yes. But
yeah, I think. Yes, but it's all it's all oral.
That's oral, not oral oral. Who's he? So thanks
for listening. Hopefully you learned a lot like
I did today about how KPCR Pirate Cat Radio came
to be. And we want to thank Daniel for being
here today and sharing the story with us and
also thank him. For creating this and allowing
us to all be part of it that includes me and
the other volunteers and you the listeners and
and all of the Live music venues that we promote
all the local bands that we play And it's all
an ecosystem. We're all in this together and
it takes all of us to kind of make it make it
all work And it's fun to be part of it. Well,
thanks. Thanks for having me today jeff and thank
you for all you do and being our music venue
liaison and To all of our listeners out there.
Thank you for listening Thank you for for keeping
us on the air and and making it all worthwhile
And if you want to be the person who hosts brave
space get in touch All right. We'll be back next
week. Thanks for listening. Thanks all