WEBVTT 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:47.210 KMRT LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz. KVB ELP 91 .1 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:51.640 FM in Portland. And today is an extra special 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:54.960 Sonic Smorgasbord show. I'm your host, DJ Not 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:58.420 -So -Jazzy Jeff. And today we are celebrating 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:01.740 one of the great origin stories in independent 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:05.000 radio. Before KPC, our Pirate Cat radio was a 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.120 beloved community station. Its founder, Daniel 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:10.420 Roberts, was a low -scottish high school kid 00:01:10.420 --> 00:01:13.640 who believed so deeply in the power of broadcasting 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:17.180 that he took to the airwaves without permission. 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.060 There were shutdowns, run -ins with the FCC, 00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:23.819 hard lessons, and ultimately, a transformation. 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:27.019 Instead of walking away, Daniel built something 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:30.299 lasting, legal, and fiercely community -driven, 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.379 and we're lucky to have him here with us in the 00:01:33.379 --> 00:01:37.840 studio today. So let's get right into it. Daniel, 00:01:37.900 --> 00:01:40.819 how are you? Thanks for visiting your studio 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:43.799 today. You just told the whole story. Thanks. 00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:48.480 Bye. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Jeff. I've always 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.420 wanted to be on the Sonic's mortgage board. Typically, 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.280 I'm sitting at my office and listening to your 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:57.239 show. So it's fun to be on the air with you today. 00:01:57.390 --> 00:01:59.709 Great. All right. Well, we're going to get right 00:01:59.709 --> 00:02:02.430 into the questions. My first question for you 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:04.790 and I think what everyone would love to know 00:02:04.790 --> 00:02:08.770 is how this all started. So take us back to high 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:11.569 school. What was it about radio that grabbed 00:02:11.569 --> 00:02:14.530 you so hard that you were willing to pirate the 00:02:14.530 --> 00:02:22.569 airwaves? So. Where's the blue? Yeah, so you 00:02:22.569 --> 00:02:27.490 know back then this was gosh 1995 or 96 or so 00:02:28.349 --> 00:02:30.550 You know, I spent a lot of time growing up listening 00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:34.370 to college radio here in the Bay Area, primarily 00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:38.370 KSCU at Santa Clara University and 103 .3. They're 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:40.710 still there. All the really weird programming 00:02:40.710 --> 00:02:45.330 now, if there ever is programming. And then KFJC, 00:02:45.349 --> 00:02:48.050 which has held strong over the years from Foothill 00:02:48.050 --> 00:02:54.129 College, both really influential in kind of discovering 00:02:54.129 --> 00:02:57.509 what radio could be outside of the KOMEs and 00:02:57.509 --> 00:03:00.639 KSCU. and all that stuff that was out here back 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:05.900 then. Those college radio stations introduced 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:09.080 me to a whole other world of not just music, 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:14.360 but thoughts and voices and things like Lenny 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:17.539 Bruce or Alan Watts, things like that, and then 00:03:17.539 --> 00:03:19.439 punk music, Scott music, et cetera, especially 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:21.740 here in the Bay Area during the mid -90s. That 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:24.539 was a pinnacle for underground music, I think. 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:27.979 And there's a resurgence today, folks, so don't 00:03:27.979 --> 00:03:30.939 get upset if you don't think I'm giving you credit. 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:33.819 But yeah, it was those college radio stations 00:03:33.819 --> 00:03:36.539 that really, really, really led the way. I wanted 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:38.699 to be on one so badly, but was in high school. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:41.159 And every time I went down there, I had to ask, 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:42.580 can I have a radio show, can I have a radio show? 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:43.759 I said, no, you have to wait until you're in 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:45.580 university, and you have to attend our university. 00:03:46.099 --> 00:03:47.979 It's like, oh. Foothill College is like, oh, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.060 you have to take our course. Are you 18 yet? 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:53.800 No, oh. can't go there so you know I didn't get 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.520 to do it but one day I was listening to KSU and 00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:59.919 some guy came on the air with one of the DJs 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.259 and was talking about his pirate radio station 00:04:02.259 --> 00:04:04.460 called Radio Free San Jose that he had going 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:07.919 on over in the Willow Glen area in San Jose and 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:12.240 93 .7 FM I could not reach my phone soon enough 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.379 man I grabbed the phone I called in the studio 00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:16.519 like you got to give him my number you got to 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.139 tell him about I want a radio show I want a radio 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:21.899 show and A few days later, I got a phone call. 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:23.839 The guy came to my house, looked at my record 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:25.360 collection and said, yeah, you seem cool. You 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.560 can come do a show. So that was the start of 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.439 everything was going in and doing a show as DJ 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:34.660 Monkey Man playing local ska and punk music from 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:39.579 Wednesdays from three to five, I guess. So. Right. 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:45.339 So. When did you start your own station? So shortly 00:04:45.339 --> 00:04:48.259 after being invited to do that radio show in 00:04:48.259 --> 00:04:51.339 Radio Free San Jose I got kicked off the air 00:04:51.339 --> 00:04:53.480 for making prank phone calls on the air because 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:55.040 back then you could do a thing of prank phone 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.120 calls caller ID didn't exist and people had landlines 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:00.980 So yeah, they got a little upset that I was doing 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:03.519 prank phone calls 15 years old, what are you 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.139 going to do? Phone calls. It's what you do. Yeah, 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:09.579 exactly. The jerky boys were as well a big influence 00:05:09.579 --> 00:05:13.439 back then. So come on. Um, I don't know. Anyway, 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:15.620 so I was trying to think of a jerky boys joke 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:17.000 there, but I couldn't think of anything. They 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:19.459 say, what, come on Rizzo something. I don't know. 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:22.060 Whatever. Yeah. We'll have to revisit some jerky. 00:05:22.180 --> 00:05:25.480 Yeah. Yeah. Or not. Um, but yeah, so the jerky 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:27.240 boy has been a big influence, but yeah, so it 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:29.540 got kicked off. And, um, during that period. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.879 ended up finding about Stephen Dunifer, who did 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.459 Radio Free Berkeley. And Dunifer was a really 00:05:35.459 --> 00:05:38.779 influential guy. And also, another thing locally 00:05:38.779 --> 00:05:42.339 here in Los Gatos, a guy who, I won't say his 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:44.379 real name, but he went by the name Dr. Slick, 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:51.680 ran Free Radio Los Gatos on 91 .3 FM. And between 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:57.399 him and Stephen Dunifer, I was able to get some 00:05:57.399 --> 00:06:00.290 leftover equipment from this guy. Dr. Slick whose 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:02.670 real name I almost said and then Stephen Dunifer 00:06:02.670 --> 00:06:05.350 up in Berkeley. I would take the the train up 00:06:05.350 --> 00:06:08.569 there and go sit in front of his warehouse kind 00:06:08.569 --> 00:06:10.850 of like, you know Shaolin monks if you want to 00:06:10.850 --> 00:06:12.410 be a Shaolin monk you have to sit in front of 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:14.850 the temple and they they have to like Belittle 00:06:14.850 --> 00:06:16.569 you and you have to sit there through storms 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:18.569 and wind and rain before they actually let you 00:06:18.569 --> 00:06:20.829 in the temple Dunifer was kind of like that to 00:06:20.829 --> 00:06:24.029 me He would not let me in to actually work on 00:06:24.029 --> 00:06:26.370 a transmitter or get a transmitter It's like 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:27.790 if you want to learn how to build one you have 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:30.589 to learn and then come back. I had nowhere else 00:06:30.589 --> 00:06:33.410 to go so I just kind of waited and kept harassing 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:35.689 the guy until he let me into his warehouse and 00:06:35.689 --> 00:06:37.790 showed me how to build transmitters. So we were 00:06:37.790 --> 00:06:40.649 building these like really dodgy radio transmitters 00:06:40.649 --> 00:06:42.629 and sending them off to rebel groups in Central 00:06:42.629 --> 00:06:45.009 America. I don't know what any of them were doing 00:06:45.009 --> 00:06:48.029 but you know supporting that kind of stuff eventually 00:06:48.029 --> 00:06:50.860 out of it I got a transmitter of my own. which 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:54.720 I built with my own hands and You know made a 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.420 coat hanger ground plane antenna So taking literally 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:00.879 copper antennas and welding them together so 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.639 that I could have an antenna Put that on the 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:05.220 roof of the apartment we lived in here in Los 00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:08.720 Gatos and hey I was the first 16 year old in 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.339 Los Gatos on the radio and that was the birth 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:15.180 of pirate cat radio Very cool. So when you flipped 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:18.959 on that mic for the very first time at your own 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.800 station What did it feel like knowing that you 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:27.600 were broadcasting without permission? Permission 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.740 wasn't a thought going through my mind. It was 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:32.360 just, hey, I'm doing this. Yes, I'm doing this 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.819 now. Yeah, shifting like, you know, FCC license 00:07:36.819 --> 00:07:39.439 permission. Yeah, you kind of know about that 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.120 in the background, but it's not the thing of 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.620 the forefront. It's more so. All right, I'm on 00:07:43.620 --> 00:07:45.939 the air. Does my CD player work properly? Can 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:48.740 I play these songs from the CD that I got from 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:52.100 a local band? I don't have a microphone. How 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.100 am I going to do this? I'll record into my tape 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:56.240 recorder and then play the tape back and have 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:58.420 that ready. Like, you know, that's kind of the 00:07:58.420 --> 00:08:00.500 hacky thing that I was doing is making sure that 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:04.019 everything just kind of operated and that I could 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:06.620 bring the content out that I wanted to. Aside 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:09.660 from that, like, yeah, the concerns about legal 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.850 repercussions, anything else? Wasn't even a breath 00:08:12.850 --> 00:08:18.689 Very cool. All right Let's talk a little bit 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:22.850 about I'm gonna call it the pirate era So what 00:08:22.850 --> 00:08:27.110 did pirate radio represent to you at that age? 00:08:27.689 --> 00:08:30.750 You know, was it was it the rebellion was it 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:33.929 access community? You know, what what was it 00:08:33.929 --> 00:08:38.549 that was really the driving force for you? Yeah, 00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.389 what was the driving force back then? I mean 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:44.340 just the ability to do something that was different 00:08:44.340 --> 00:08:47.179 from what you would hear on the larger radio 00:08:47.179 --> 00:08:51.019 stations. And even back then, there was a sense 00:08:51.019 --> 00:08:54.100 that radio was becoming homogenized. The clear 00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:57.480 channels of the world, the enter coms, stuff 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:02.980 like that. You knew if you went from the San 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:06.000 Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles, you would 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.080 find some radio station down there with a different 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:11.590 call letter that played exactly the same format 00:09:11.590 --> 00:09:14.169 of music you heard back up in the Bay Area, and 00:09:14.169 --> 00:09:15.950 vice versa, anywhere you went in the US. That 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:18.730 type of homogenization was happening. Especially 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:22.429 after 1997, when the Telecommunications Act came 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:24.970 through, or sorry, 1996, when the Telecommunications 00:09:24.970 --> 00:09:32.049 Act came through. That basically overhauled 60 00:09:32.049 --> 00:09:37.110 years of regulatory requirements around ownership 00:09:37.110 --> 00:09:41.120 of radio licenses. Big newspapers, big organizations 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.159 were just buying up license after license. They 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:44.620 could do whatever they want with them. That was 00:09:44.620 --> 00:09:46.299 really feeding into things. So for me, to be 00:09:46.299 --> 00:09:52.259 able to bring in content that was totally different 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:57.899 was really powerful. Very cool. Tell me the story 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:02.240 about when the FCC shut you down the very first 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.080 time. Well, the first time they didn't shut me 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.389 down, they... They came to my house. These two 00:10:10.389 --> 00:10:12.509 guys, one looked like Captain Kirk. The other 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:14.389 guy looked like Mr. Spock from Star Trek, just 00:10:14.389 --> 00:10:17.710 wearing really bad button up shirts and pocket 00:10:17.710 --> 00:10:21.169 protectors. But yeah, they showed up at my house. 00:10:21.350 --> 00:10:23.269 They showed me their badges to flash them like, 00:10:23.470 --> 00:10:27.340 hey, we're the FCC. Are you Daniel Roberts? Maybe? 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:31.740 Let them in, showed them my setup, was really 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:34.019 proud of it. Like, this is my transmitter under 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:36.039 my bed and this is the antenna. You see how this 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:38.120 connects? What do you think if I modified this 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:41.220 power supply? They were like not amused, kept 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:44.100 very straight faces. They took a look at me and 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:47.100 said, look kid, if you give us your equipment, 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:50.480 we'll say it's over and we won't bother you. 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:52.539 But if you keep the equipment and you stay on 00:10:52.539 --> 00:10:56.659 the air, you're gonna have some problems. I didn't 00:10:56.659 --> 00:10:58.919 even think very long about it. It's like, yeah, 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.059 I'm not gonna give you my stuff today. I'm like, 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:03.679 okay. And they made their way out of the house. 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:05.639 Nobody was home, I was home alone at the time. 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:10.539 And I followed them outside to their van and 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:14.570 I wanted to... No, what does an FCC van look 00:11:14.570 --> 00:11:17.870 like? Is it a big UPS -style van? Is it a yellow 00:11:17.870 --> 00:11:20.350 car? What is it? Is it a police vehicle? No, 00:11:20.429 --> 00:11:24.149 it's just a boring station wagon, station wagon 00:11:24.149 --> 00:11:26.629 minivan at the time, with a bunch of crazy antennas 00:11:26.629 --> 00:11:29.809 on it. And I went up to them as they were starting 00:11:29.809 --> 00:11:32.529 their car, and I said, guys, can you drive me 00:11:32.529 --> 00:11:34.690 around and show me how you found my station? 00:11:35.330 --> 00:11:37.830 And they're like, come on. So they put me in 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:39.250 their car. They showed me all their screens. 00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:41.110 They drove around. They showed me how you could 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:43.169 actually use Doppler equipment to track radio 00:11:43.169 --> 00:11:44.769 stations and find exactly where they're coming 00:11:44.769 --> 00:11:49.190 from. And I loved it, man. I was just absolutely 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:51.169 enthralled at that point and wanted to keep doing 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:54.190 it even more. So I ended up spending more time 00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:55.909 learning about RF engineering and electrical 00:11:55.909 --> 00:11:58.330 engineering, which I knew really nothing about. 00:11:58.889 --> 00:12:01.850 And that kind of kept me going. I kind of wish 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:04.759 they didn't. take me in that van because, well, 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:06.419 I don't wish, but if they didn't take me in that 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:07.899 van, we probably wouldn't be in a radio studio 00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:12.600 today. Very cool. All right. It is time for some 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:15.600 station business. Pirate Cat Radio is built and 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.580 run by volunteers. We do the programming, editing, 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.720 tech and outreach. We produce original shows 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:25.320 like Cold War, Happy Hour, Salt Lake Dirt. Brave 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:29.500 Space. I don't know what Brave Space is. I've 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:32.320 never heard of that show before. I've been wondering 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.899 about that. I keep I keep reading this card and 00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:37.779 I'm like, what is Brave Space? If you want to 00:12:37.779 --> 00:12:40.200 host a radio show called Brave Space, send me 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:45.360 an email. Daniel, Daniel at kpcr .org. I'd be 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.460 happy to set you up with that show. And that 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:50.779 I mean, that is. pretty vague. It can be a lot 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:53.559 of things. It could be really cool. All right. 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:57.940 How did you escape that escape room? But staying 00:12:57.940 --> 00:13:01.799 on the air takes more than time. It takes funding. 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:06.620 It's hard. This is not free, folks. So you're 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:10.820 learning about what it takes to run independent 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:13.539 public radio station. Non -profit from our pocket. 00:13:13.539 --> 00:13:17.460 Yes. And yours, hopefully. it requires funding. 00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:22.720 We get no government funding. We rely on listeners 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.580 and support from the community to keep this thing 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:29.299 going. So if you like what you're hearing, and 00:13:29.299 --> 00:13:31.279 you probably do if you're listening right now, 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.399 please consider supporting the cause, support 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:39.440 local voices, and join the Signal Society at 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:44.620 kpcr .org slash join. And what the Signal Society 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:48.039 is It's basically your membership to the station. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.860 So we have Signal Society partners that offer 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:55.460 discounts on the various businesses that they 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:58.340 have. So Roundtable Pizza is one of them. They're 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:01.700 right below our office. And I can tell you for 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:04.480 five bucks a month, which is the minimum Signal 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.019 Society membership level, it's worth it for that 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:12.960 alone. Just for the, just for the round table. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.740 Take it from a guy who, well, they know me there. 00:14:15.779 --> 00:14:18.519 He's not getting any kickbacks. No kickbacks. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.960 I just, they just, they know me there. But on 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.200 top of that, we there, you can get discounts 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.299 for so many different things. So many different 00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:31.039 restaurants and, um, uh, we have, uh, concert 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.879 tickets, concert tickets, concert tickets is, 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.580 is kind of the biggie here. So we now are partnered 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:40.980 with. Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue 00:14:40.980 --> 00:14:42.700 in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:44.700 venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:44.700 Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:44.700 in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:45.460 venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:46.940 Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:48.940 in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:52.799 venue in the Bay Area Every venue in the Bay 00:14:52.799 --> 00:15:05.179 Area Every venue in the Bay Area Every venue 00:15:05.179 --> 00:15:09.330 in the Bay Area There's a venue you can get tickets 00:15:09.330 --> 00:15:13.789 for if you call 408 -357 -0330. Give us your 00:15:13.789 --> 00:15:17.110 Signal Society number and we'll put you on a 00:15:17.110 --> 00:15:20.789 list. We're going to read off the free tickets 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:24.669 that we have coming up at the next break. And 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:29.169 yes, tons of great shows. And for the roundtable 00:15:29.169 --> 00:15:32.470 discount and the free concert tickets alone, 00:15:32.870 --> 00:15:35.929 it is worth joining the Signal Society. Again, 00:15:36.230 --> 00:15:41.789 that's kpcr .org slash join. All right. We're 00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:45.590 going to get back to a little bit more of asking 00:15:45.590 --> 00:15:50.389 Daniel all about running Pirate Cat Radio. But 00:15:50.389 --> 00:15:52.769 first, we're going to play some more music from 00:15:52.769 --> 00:15:55.309 his playlist that he brought in for us today. 00:15:55.309 --> 00:15:57.110 And then we'll talk about these songs a little 00:15:57.110 --> 00:16:00.190 bit and the artists. And yeah, let's get into 00:16:00.190 --> 00:16:02.210 a little bit more music and then we'll be back. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:05.580 interviewing Daniel Roberts, the founder and 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:09.200 chief of KPCR Pirate Cat Radio. Thanks for listening. 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:28.640 You were listening to Pirate Cat Radio, KPCR 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:35.339 LP 92 .9 FM Los Gatos, KMRT LP 101 .9 FM Santa 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:42.180 Cruz, and KVBE LP 91 .1 FM in Portland. And you 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:46.240 just heard Chlamydia, the band Chlamydia with 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.460 their song Arvavon. And that was from Daniel's 00:18:51.460 --> 00:18:54.220 playlist I asked him to put together a little 00:18:54.220 --> 00:18:58.920 playlist of songs no rules No format just any 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.079 songs can be random and scary folks and we're 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:03.339 just gonna talk a little bit about them And it's 00:19:03.339 --> 00:19:05.660 just a little bit more of you know, the get -to 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:09.680 -know Daniel Roberts the founder of kpcr pirate 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:13.079 cat radio So tell us about that song and and 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.680 that band and why is it on the list? So it's 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.119 crazy that song so I spent some time working 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:22.599 in Finland for Nokia a long time ago when I was 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:27.319 living in Europe and that band, Chlamydia, they 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:31.250 released that song in like 1995. And I had heard 00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:34.690 it on on KSCU in the 90s a few times. Apparently 00:19:34.690 --> 00:19:37.009 they were on a compilation for an old record 00:19:37.009 --> 00:19:39.210 label here in San Jose that doesn't exist anymore 00:19:39.210 --> 00:19:42.470 called Farmhouse Records. And that song was the 00:19:42.470 --> 00:19:44.430 random song in a foreign language that was on 00:19:44.430 --> 00:19:46.609 there. Nobody had any idea. It wasn't until I 00:19:46.609 --> 00:19:49.390 got to Finland where I heard it playing again 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:52.849 when I went to a chlamydia show. Like, wait. 00:19:53.889 --> 00:19:56.329 Huh, they're playing that's that's all a bookie 00:19:56.329 --> 00:19:58.349 thing. So I went up to the guys and asked them 00:19:58.349 --> 00:20:01.549 They're like, yeah, we're it's a song about Santa 00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:04.549 Claus and so apparently it's a Christmas song 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:07.470 But yeah, so now that song I'll play it for my 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:09.029 daughter or sing it to her in the back of the 00:20:09.029 --> 00:20:12.190 car is a little bookie little bookie ballas out 00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:15.130 of car to book me in my belly car and She'll 00:20:15.130 --> 00:20:16.950 just start dancing to it. In fact, I got a message 00:20:16.950 --> 00:20:18.829 from my wife right now She's like when he started 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:20.890 playing that song our daughter like lost her 00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:25.829 mind Nice and that we should probably talk about 00:20:25.829 --> 00:20:30.009 the song that kicked off the show today and that 00:20:30.009 --> 00:20:34.430 was institutionalized cover obviously by black 00:20:34.430 --> 00:20:38.049 velvet flag and That was just a fun fun song 00:20:38.049 --> 00:20:40.490 kind of a Richard Cheese sort of a thing one 00:20:40.490 --> 00:20:42.950 of the beautiful things about Community radio 00:20:42.950 --> 00:20:46.549 is you might hear institutionalized by suicidal 00:20:46.549 --> 00:20:49.210 tendencies on a lot of alternative radio stations, 00:20:49.269 --> 00:20:51.640 but you'll never hear that version That's right. 00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:54.539 Well, I will take this moment to tell you what 00:20:54.539 --> 00:20:58.160 hooked me onto the station I was stopped at a 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.220 light and I was just doing your classic Scrolling 00:21:01.220 --> 00:21:03.619 through the stations as I you know, we sometimes 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:10.140 still do that I do and I heard this moog song 00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:13.839 and I'm like this sounds really familiar and 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:19.990 it was kind of like almost like Muzak, and it 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:25.990 was Basket Case by Green Day. The Moog Cookbook 00:21:25.990 --> 00:21:29.029 version. The Moog Cookbook. And I finally found 00:21:29.029 --> 00:21:31.450 out, yeah, it was Daniel that was responsible 00:21:31.450 --> 00:21:33.569 for that. And anyway, that's what hooked me in. 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:36.309 I'm like, I'm all about this station. And so 00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:38.269 I kept listening and there were more great songs. 00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:43.349 And anyway, yeah, so that is the beauty of Public 00:21:43.349 --> 00:21:46.230 radio. It's why I'm here. It's why you know, 00:21:46.269 --> 00:21:49.869 I think you heard that's kind of what Why Daniel 00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:53.670 started all of this is that you you can listen 00:21:53.670 --> 00:21:58.089 to? Pirate cat radio and if you listening if 00:21:58.089 --> 00:22:01.210 you listen to it all day long, which I did recently 00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:04.279 because I was laid up after an accident. I listened 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:06.960 to every single show. I didn't want to watch 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:09.400 your hell hostage by the radio. All I could do 00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:11.960 is sit in this brace that I'm still wearing today 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:15.359 and just listen. And I listen to everybody's 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:19.160 show and I love them all. I really did. There's 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:21.680 and it's just so diverse. And that's kind of 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.559 that's my whole show is the Sonic Smorgasbord. 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.400 I play anything and everything. And so anyway, 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:31.819 just a little. little side note listen to all 00:22:31.819 --> 00:22:34.980 of the shows on on kpc and folks you know jeff 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:36.440 is sitting here right now and he was he was in 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.880 a tragic accident a few weeks ago and he looks 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:42.019 like the six million dollar man right now and 00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:44.539 that doesn't mean he has like five teslas but 00:22:44.539 --> 00:22:47.349 it's like He is well equipped right now. Like, 00:22:47.470 --> 00:22:49.730 if you came and tried to fight this guy, he's 00:22:49.730 --> 00:22:53.950 just like, he's all in armor. Yes, this this 00:22:53.950 --> 00:22:56.509 girdle I'm wearing, it's supporting my my broken 00:22:56.509 --> 00:22:59.130 back right now. Yeah. All right. We're going 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:01.250 to get back into the interview. If you're just 00:23:01.250 --> 00:23:05.279 tuning in, we are. doing a special Sonic Smorgasbord 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:08.660 show today. I'm your host DJ Not -So -Jazzy Jeff 00:23:08.660 --> 00:23:13.339 and today we're interviewing the founder of KPCR 00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:16.339 Pirate Cat Radio Daniel Roberts and the first 00:23:16.339 --> 00:23:18.579 part of this interview we talked about how he 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:24.029 got started in public radio which was he Founded 00:23:24.029 --> 00:23:26.309 his own pirate cat radio the original pirate 00:23:26.309 --> 00:23:28.890 cat radio when he was still in high school And 00:23:28.890 --> 00:23:31.009 if you've been listening this long you are brave 00:23:31.009 --> 00:23:35.650 space Thanks for listening Yes, so we're talking 00:23:35.650 --> 00:23:38.589 about how when he got caught and then how he 00:23:38.589 --> 00:23:41.950 did a ride -along With the FCC guys and that 00:23:41.950 --> 00:23:45.309 just got him more excited to to keep it going 00:23:45.309 --> 00:23:49.990 and which he did And so my next question is so 00:23:49.990 --> 00:23:55.130 legend has it you got caught again and then went 00:23:55.130 --> 00:23:59.170 on the run. Can you please elaborate on this 00:23:59.170 --> 00:24:01.549 story a little bit because it's pretty exciting. 00:24:01.789 --> 00:24:03.509 Do I sell into the myth or do I just tell you 00:24:03.509 --> 00:24:07.869 the true story? You can you can embellish to 00:24:07.869 --> 00:24:10.809 make it. You know more radio -friendly or you 00:24:10.809 --> 00:24:15.529 can just tell us like it is So I became a international 00:24:15.529 --> 00:24:17.829 man of mystery interpol was following me around 00:24:17.829 --> 00:24:19.650 because of all the radio stations I had set up 00:24:19.650 --> 00:24:21.910 especially those FARC rebel groups in in Central 00:24:21.910 --> 00:24:24.890 America Yeah, you know and when you when you 00:24:24.890 --> 00:24:27.490 start setting up transmitters for the Taliban 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:29.849 for you know They just come after you wherever 00:24:29.849 --> 00:24:33.289 you are So, you know travel lived on an island 00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:35.630 for a while, you know ran out of coconuts left 00:24:35.630 --> 00:24:38.119 went to another island ran out of pine apples 00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:40.900 went to another place and ended up finding myself 00:24:40.900 --> 00:24:44.460 in Belarus of all places and you know just realized 00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:46.819 I didn't like potatoes so I left and went to 00:24:46.819 --> 00:24:52.640 the UK okay but now the truth is the truth of 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.599 the story is no you know Jeff it was ridiculous 00:24:56.599 --> 00:25:00.380 so you know back in the day I used to run a place 00:25:00.380 --> 00:25:02.960 called pirate cat radio cafe in the Mission District 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:06.059 of San Francisco over on 21st in Florida and 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:11.500 that whole concept was I knew very well and clear 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:14.900 that we were operating without a license. We 00:25:14.900 --> 00:25:17.779 were creating radio content and it wasn't necessarily 00:25:17.779 --> 00:25:20.279 myself who was broadcasting at that point, but 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:22.279 other people who really enjoyed what we were 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:24.460 doing had transmitters in different parts of 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:26.319 the world and would rebroadcast all the content 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.299 coming out of the station. Somebody just happened 00:25:28.299 --> 00:25:32.779 to continuously have it on 87 .9 FM in San Francisco. 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:37.839 Thank you to that person. But what I wanted to 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:43.059 do was I had found a clause from World War II 00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:45.319 that said it was our civic duty as U .S. citizens 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:47.259 to keep communications with each other by all 00:25:47.259 --> 00:25:50.640 means possible during times of war. That's a 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.039 really interesting clause when you think about 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.579 it because times of war need to be declared not 00:25:54.579 --> 00:25:56.759 just by the president but also by Congress. Congress 00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:59.819 needs to finalize and declare war, that the U 00:25:59.819 --> 00:26:02.180 .S. is engaged in war. Well, at the time, George 00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:05.039 Bush was our president, and he had the war on 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:07.660 terror, the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy, 00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:12.180 the war on poverty, dare I name more. So I took 00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:15.720 that clause and formulated a well -written letter 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:18.299 that stated all these different wars that I can 00:26:18.299 --> 00:26:21.059 find evidence of George Bush ever announcing 00:26:21.059 --> 00:26:24.519 or declaring, and cited that wartime act and 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:26.539 sent that to the FCC, letting them know that 00:26:26.539 --> 00:26:29.880 I'd be operating potentially. on a frequency 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:34.519 in San Francisco. And they didn't bother me for 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.220 a very long time. About eight years after that, 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:44.359 I was in the cafe, Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. Now, 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.660 I'm gonna just leave that there. So that allowed 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:48.400 me to open Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. It was the 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.700 fact that we were on the air doing this thing. 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:55.119 Other people, I say in air brackets, were rebroadcasting 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:58.529 the station with their transmitters. But I wanted 00:26:58.529 --> 00:27:01.089 to get us out of the face of, out of the concept, 00:27:01.289 --> 00:27:04.829 change the concept of being this pirate elitist 00:27:04.829 --> 00:27:07.369 radio station. Like, oh, we wear a mask and we've 00:27:07.369 --> 00:27:09.410 got patches over our eyes and we must be like 00:27:09.410 --> 00:27:11.789 the most dubious people in the world. And while 00:27:11.789 --> 00:27:14.349 we were the most dubious people in the world 00:27:14.349 --> 00:27:16.849 and some people coming in high and drunk to do 00:27:16.849 --> 00:27:19.690 radio shows, I wanted to put that all in the 00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:24.029 forefront of the public. So I leased out a commercial 00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:26.960 space in San Francisco. opened a cafe in it, 00:27:27.140 --> 00:27:29.420 built half cafe, half radio studio so people 00:27:29.420 --> 00:27:32.359 could come inside and see this illegal radio 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:34.740 station operating while they buy a cup of coffee 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:37.220 and support that illegal activity operating. 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:39.420 And also pick up a microphone and talk on air 00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:42.460 and be complicit in breaking the law with everyone 00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:45.619 else who is broadcasting illegally and was doing 00:27:45.619 --> 00:27:51.220 that for roughly five years. So by the time one 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:54.299 day I'm up above the studio, because in the studio 00:27:54.299 --> 00:27:56.140 I had this little crawl space that I built out 00:27:56.140 --> 00:27:58.440 and we had a melt crate there where all of our 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:00.240 music submissions would come and pile up into 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.299 this melt crate and was overflowing with CDs 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:04.940 that people would mail in. Digging through it 00:28:04.940 --> 00:28:07.900 one day and I find this letter from the FCC that 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.319 apparently somebody had put up there at least 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:16.069 two months before. I pull it up like. Oh, what's 00:28:16.069 --> 00:28:19.269 this? I say with an expletive and open it up 00:28:19.269 --> 00:28:21.410 and I find that, you know, it's it's titled to 00:28:21.410 --> 00:28:23.529 me. It has all of my radio aliases I've ever 00:28:23.529 --> 00:28:28.769 had. And basically saying that I have formally 00:28:28.769 --> 00:28:32.289 been fined ten thousand dollars and I'm facing 00:28:32.289 --> 00:28:36.309 five years of jail time for operating an illegal 00:28:36.309 --> 00:28:40.690 radio station in San Francisco. Oh, like a man. 00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:44.920 Who left this up here? This is important. So 00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:50.819 ended up going out. You know, one of our DJs 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:54.000 was a bartender, had some martinis and was like, 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:59.000 I think I'm in trouble and went home and made 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:01.900 some phone calls called Alan Korn, very famous 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:06.019 broadcast attorney. who works a lot with the 00:29:06.019 --> 00:29:09.720 unlicensed broadcasters, and then he referred 00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:12.720 me to a guy named Michael Cousins, who was the 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:16.180 older hippie version of him. He was one of the 00:29:16.180 --> 00:29:19.140 rainbow people. That means a very certain thing, 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.619 the rainbow people, not the LGBT rainbow thing, 00:29:21.700 --> 00:29:23.640 but like the hippie rainbow people, like the 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:26.559 folks who would go and stare through stained 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:28.740 glass, if you get my reference there. Lots of 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:32.200 sugar cubes involved. Yeah, so Michael Cousins 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.630 took my Case Pro Bono, He told me I should write 00:29:34.630 --> 00:29:37.150 a book, which I have tried several times and 00:29:37.150 --> 00:29:39.650 thrown away. I should probably do that one day. 00:29:39.730 --> 00:29:44.650 But he also took the case pro bono and basically 00:29:44.650 --> 00:29:48.769 found that in the FCC's evidence of when they 00:29:48.769 --> 00:29:51.690 cited me for broadcasting illegally, the only 00:29:51.690 --> 00:29:54.769 evidence they had was of me operating an espresso 00:29:54.769 --> 00:29:57.789 machine at the Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. Never of 00:29:57.789 --> 00:30:00.710 me operating a transmitter. Never of me being 00:30:00.710 --> 00:30:03.289 on air. Just that of me operating an espresso 00:30:03.289 --> 00:30:07.220 machine. So Michael Cousins put that in his brief 00:30:07.220 --> 00:30:10.960 to the FCC, citing why they should drop all charges. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:13.500 And it was pending for a long time, but eventually 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:15.599 it was all dropped because they didn't have any 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:19.859 evidence of me doing anything illegal. So did 00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:22.599 I leave the country afterwards? Yeah, I sold 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:25.440 the cafe, and that guy did something crazy with 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:28.859 it and gave it away to somebody else. And I decided 00:30:28.859 --> 00:30:30.839 to go to law school in the UK. I went to the 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:33.099 UK, went to the University of Law in Bristol, 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:37.880 did a graduate diploma in law there, only to 00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:41.740 realize that I got absorbed working in tech again 00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:45.859 and was working on music. Services for for Nokia 00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:47.700 for some really advanced music applications. 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:49.720 I had way back when of course, this is like, 00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:53.579 you know back in 2010 2011 something like that, 00:30:53.579 --> 00:30:56.279 but just got stuck doing that and lived in Europe 00:30:56.279 --> 00:31:03.160 for Yeah, gosh a really long time Very cool that 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:06.880 that is a very exciting story and thanks for 00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:11.720 For elaborating on that, I love the initial story, 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:16.099 too. I did love sitting in Europe, whether I'm 00:31:16.099 --> 00:31:18.500 in Germany or somewhere else, and reading papers 00:31:18.500 --> 00:31:21.119 in the Bay Area about the crazy things Monkey 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:22.980 Man is doing from abroad. I was like, wow, I 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:25.180 became this tabloid character now. This is really 00:31:25.180 --> 00:31:29.470 cool. Apparently, I was selling... Concert tickets 00:31:29.470 --> 00:31:32.809 for some radio station that were giveaway tickets. 00:31:32.809 --> 00:31:36.150 I don't know whatever all kinds of like really 00:31:36.150 --> 00:31:38.849 Bogus stories out there about me and just like 00:31:38.849 --> 00:31:40.849 kind of basking anything like this is cool. Everyone 00:31:40.849 --> 00:31:43.670 thinks I'm like Snyder Lee whiplash from boiling 00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:46.089 goal or something doesn't do rights the enemy 00:31:46.089 --> 00:31:49.089 Well, that's what this interview is for today. 00:31:49.089 --> 00:31:52.150 It's to clear up all the rumors to find out what 00:31:52.150 --> 00:31:56.950 really happened and We are now at the point in 00:31:56.950 --> 00:32:01.420 this interview with where you had a turning point. 00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:07.720 So at what point did the outlaw broadcaster decide, 00:32:07.779 --> 00:32:11.140 I'm going to build something legal and lasting? 00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:15.839 Yeah, I mean, I, again, I never had the intent 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:19.519 of doing anything illegal. In fact, like operating 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:23.839 Pirate Cat Radio's inception station, I don't 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:26.319 see as being legal or illegal. It's extra legal. 00:32:27.769 --> 00:32:30.890 So I'm more of a radio maverick, as a reporter 00:32:30.890 --> 00:32:34.029 put it once, than that of the pirate radio guy. 00:32:34.369 --> 00:32:36.410 I was making sure that we were following this 00:32:36.410 --> 00:32:39.990 wartime act and trying to do something that was 00:32:39.990 --> 00:32:43.869 beneficial for alternative community radio through 00:32:43.869 --> 00:32:48.630 and through. It was when I was talking to Michael 00:32:48.630 --> 00:32:50.529 Cousins, and Michael Cousins, rest in peace, 00:32:50.549 --> 00:32:54.779 he passed away a few years ago, he... He helped 00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:58.279 me acquire my first license for a radio station 00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:00.559 from a group that didn't know what to do with 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:02.599 their license. So I helped get them on the air. 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:04.980 I put in some time, some investment, and eventually 00:33:04.980 --> 00:33:10.920 handed it over to them. at the same time found 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:13.380 how it was possible to apply for radio licenses. 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:16.960 And did that, applied for radio licenses, acquired 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:19.359 licenses from other defunct community groups, 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:23.079 and helped set those up. In fact, there's a station 00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:25.660 up in Boulder Creek. That radio station up there 00:33:25.660 --> 00:33:29.220 exists because of a license that I salvaged and 00:33:29.220 --> 00:33:31.079 was supposed to put on the air, but never did. 00:33:31.220 --> 00:33:33.319 And now they have a thriving radio station up 00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:36.259 there in the mountains. So that that's from a 00:33:36.259 --> 00:33:40.859 long time ago, but you know it was in 2019 where 00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:44.380 I found there was a license again that I had 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:49.000 applied for and it came to fruition and It was 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:51.319 my time to to take that and grapple and bring 00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:53.500 it on air and that license just happened to be 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:59.289 KPCR on 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz Also, we were 00:33:59.289 --> 00:34:02.349 just in the midst of a pandemic that happened. 00:34:02.890 --> 00:34:05.349 So this pandemic was in place. Nobody could go 00:34:05.349 --> 00:34:07.230 out. Everybody's wearing masks. I'm stuck in 00:34:07.230 --> 00:34:11.869 Europe. I can't fly to North America. And I'm 00:34:11.869 --> 00:34:13.630 like trying to figure out how do I get this station 00:34:13.630 --> 00:34:16.849 on the air without actually being over there? 00:34:17.269 --> 00:34:19.650 Well, that's when all the alumni of Pirate Cat 00:34:19.650 --> 00:34:23.070 Radio came together. Some really key folks got 00:34:23.070 --> 00:34:27.619 together and I organized them to... Go and get 00:34:27.619 --> 00:34:29.780 a metal pole go and get this antenna go and pick 00:34:29.780 --> 00:34:31.820 up this transmitter that I had shipped from eBay 00:34:31.820 --> 00:34:34.500 and Take it to this place that I found on Google 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:36.940 Maps where this crazy ham radio guy saying it's 00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:39.920 okay to put a transmitter an antenna here and 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:42.780 Wrangled all that from where I was in, Lithuania 00:34:42.780 --> 00:34:46.719 Got everyone on this side organized actually 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:48.639 put this transmitter on the air and there we 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:53.239 were in the middle of a pandemic August of 2020 00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:56.050 broadcasting some type of content that I had 00:34:56.050 --> 00:34:59.849 coming from a server set up in Lithuania and 00:34:59.849 --> 00:35:01.949 was at that point thinking, okay, this is great. 00:35:02.349 --> 00:35:04.230 We're broadcasting to Santa Cruz. What do we 00:35:04.230 --> 00:35:08.349 do next? That's awesome. All right. You're listening 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:11.389 to KPC, our pirate cat radio. We're interviewing 00:35:11.389 --> 00:35:14.510 Daniel Roberts. He is the founder of this station. 00:35:14.570 --> 00:35:18.590 If you couldn't figure that out by by the questions 00:35:18.590 --> 00:35:20.510 and answers that we had going on, we're going 00:35:20.510 --> 00:35:22.760 to take some time right now we're gonna play 00:35:22.760 --> 00:35:25.420 some more music from Daniel's playlist that he 00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:28.800 brought in and we'll be back with some more questions 00:35:28.800 --> 00:42:23.719 thanks for listening You know, you think there's 00:42:23.719 --> 00:42:25.440 like a whole minute left in that song and you 00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:27.639 realize it's just this like sweet voice saying 00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:34.739 look take your medicine All right, that was that 00:42:34.739 --> 00:42:43.500 Moon over Marin and yeah and Tell us about that 00:42:43.500 --> 00:42:48.079 song you put it on the playlist and Yeah, you 00:42:48.079 --> 00:42:50.440 know, how can I put together a playlist for a 00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:52.039 show and not play something by the Dead Kennedys 00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:54.059 with Jelly Be Offra in it? I mean, you know, 00:42:54.179 --> 00:42:55.760 Jelly Be Offra is one of my heroes growing up 00:42:55.760 --> 00:43:00.099 as a kid. His lyrics, what he did with Dead Kennedys, 00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:03.800 what he did later with bands like Lard, all super 00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:05.699 influential to the things that I picked up and 00:43:05.699 --> 00:43:08.780 just basically got accustomed to and wanted to 00:43:08.780 --> 00:43:11.880 play on air as well. Like, dude, one time I got 00:43:11.880 --> 00:43:14.920 to meet Jelly Be Offra and the first time I got 00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:17.579 to meet Jelly Be Offra. It was right after Obama 00:43:17.579 --> 00:43:19.320 became president or was elected president. So 00:43:19.320 --> 00:43:22.739 I had the offer on there He came to the pirate 00:43:22.739 --> 00:43:26.079 cat radio cafe. I had him in and man. I was such 00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:28.940 a fanboy I was like, oh, you're so cool. Jello. 00:43:29.500 --> 00:43:32.300 Oh This song is so great. Yeah. Oh man. You're 00:43:32.300 --> 00:43:35.539 like my hero I learned so much from you and he's 00:43:35.539 --> 00:43:42.130 like, yeah, I'm really profound, huh? Yeah Do 00:43:42.130 --> 00:43:43.889 you want to leave the studio and just let me 00:43:43.889 --> 00:43:46.090 take over? Like, oh yeah, Jello, anything you 00:43:46.090 --> 00:43:49.130 want to do? Yeah, sure, sure. It's a total geek. 00:43:49.969 --> 00:43:54.130 Like, I lost it. But Jello is a really cool guy. 00:43:56.030 --> 00:43:59.389 Eventually, you learn to get over your fandom 00:43:59.389 --> 00:44:03.030 and just realize, hey, these are just people 00:44:03.030 --> 00:44:04.750 like you. They just have a different take on 00:44:04.750 --> 00:44:07.429 things. But yeah, that was a really big moment 00:44:07.429 --> 00:44:09.349 for me to have him in the studio. And I felt 00:44:09.349 --> 00:44:11.820 like I had. kind of accomplished a lot and just 00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:13.300 could stop doing radio at that point. It was 00:44:13.300 --> 00:44:17.579 like, this is it. I'm done. Yes. No. Yeah. Dead 00:44:17.579 --> 00:44:21.900 Kennedy is influential for many of us. Before 00:44:21.900 --> 00:44:26.579 that, we heard Salad Days by Minor Threat. Another 00:44:26.579 --> 00:44:29.820 great song. Tell us about that and why it's on 00:44:29.820 --> 00:44:33.159 your list. I mean, Minor Threat. So I don't know. 00:44:33.380 --> 00:44:36.119 Most people probably don't know or a lot of you 00:44:36.119 --> 00:44:38.519 do know. But some people don't know Minor Threat 00:44:38.519 --> 00:44:41.400 was the first what's called a straight edge band, 00:44:41.639 --> 00:44:44.099 meaning you don't drink, you don't do drugs, 00:44:44.159 --> 00:44:45.940 you don't have sex, you are a straight edge. 00:44:46.619 --> 00:44:50.099 People even took that to being vegan even. But 00:44:50.099 --> 00:44:53.219 Minor Threat, the philosophy aside, which you 00:44:53.219 --> 00:44:56.079 hear in a lot of Ian McKay's lyrics about being 00:44:56.079 --> 00:44:58.639 straight edge is really kind of profound and 00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:03.099 quite thoughtful. But as a band and their musicianship 00:45:03.099 --> 00:45:06.110 is something that's really quite stellar and 00:45:06.110 --> 00:45:08.710 pretty I think groundbreaking for an American 00:45:08.710 --> 00:45:13.409 punk band and you know the just in general like 00:45:13.530 --> 00:45:15.929 Even when he got to, like, Fugazi, Ian McKay's 00:45:15.929 --> 00:45:18.710 other band after Minor Threat, he kind of carried 00:45:18.710 --> 00:45:21.170 that same ethos. And, like, really, like, Fugazi 00:45:21.170 --> 00:45:23.329 was supposed to be their breakthrough band that 00:45:23.329 --> 00:45:24.489 was supposed to get signed to a major record 00:45:24.489 --> 00:45:26.630 label. But he always kept things true. It's like, 00:45:26.730 --> 00:45:28.389 people shouldn't pay more than $5 to come see 00:45:28.389 --> 00:45:31.590 us. If not, they're coming for free. They never 00:45:31.590 --> 00:45:33.750 sold merch. He didn't sign for a big record label 00:45:33.750 --> 00:45:35.949 or anything. He really, like, kept to his guns. 00:45:36.070 --> 00:45:37.849 So I really respect Ian McKay and everything 00:45:37.849 --> 00:45:41.190 he's done. But as well, that song, Salad Days, 00:45:41.369 --> 00:45:43.849 most people, like, if you listen the NPR All 00:45:43.849 --> 00:45:46.130 Things Considered in the afternoon, you might 00:45:46.130 --> 00:45:48.630 hear a very familiar guitar riff in between segments 00:45:48.630 --> 00:45:51.449 from time to time. I just learned this people, 00:45:51.670 --> 00:45:54.090 if you are learning it too for the first time, 00:45:54.469 --> 00:45:58.309 that's just one of those, I was this many years 00:45:58.309 --> 00:46:03.489 old when I, one of those moments. You are listening 00:46:03.489 --> 00:46:09.030 to KPCR Pirate Cat Radio. KPCR LP 92 .9 FM in 00:46:09.030 --> 00:46:13.849 Los Gatos, KMRT LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz, and 00:46:13.849 --> 00:46:19.349 KVBELP 91 .1 FM in Portland. This is the Sonic 00:46:19.349 --> 00:46:22.489 Smorgasbord. I'm your host, DJ Not -So -Jazzy 00:46:22.489 --> 00:46:25.969 Jeff. I'm on every Friday from 12 to 2. I usually 00:46:25.969 --> 00:46:30.070 play some... Different music and it's usually 00:46:30.070 --> 00:46:32.869 based on a theme or sometimes I'll just focus 00:46:32.869 --> 00:46:37.210 on a on a subgenre of music But today we have 00:46:37.210 --> 00:46:40.489 been interviewing the founder of KPC our pirate 00:46:40.489 --> 00:46:44.409 cat radio Daniel Roberts learning about the origins 00:46:44.409 --> 00:46:49.269 of the station where it all began how he got 00:46:49.269 --> 00:46:53.929 shut down how he came back on the air and We 00:46:53.929 --> 00:46:58.320 are at the point now where We're talking about 00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:04.179 how he started the station yet again, and I'm 00:47:04.179 --> 00:47:08.079 gonna ask, how did your pirate background shape 00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:11.860 the culture of the public radio station that 00:47:11.860 --> 00:47:15.340 everyone's listening to right now? We got a name 00:47:15.340 --> 00:47:21.639 out of it. No, look, you know, they, yeah, okay. 00:47:23.279 --> 00:47:26.099 Jokes aside, yeah, KPCR, obviously, you know 00:47:26.099 --> 00:47:28.300 what the K, what the PCR stands for now, pirate 00:47:28.300 --> 00:47:30.840 cat radio. The name all comes out of like, you 00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:32.619 know, running a radio station without a license 00:47:32.619 --> 00:47:34.559 in Los Gatos, Los Gatos being Spanish for the 00:47:34.559 --> 00:47:41.300 cats, pirate cat radio, get it? But when I, when 00:47:41.300 --> 00:47:44.420 I had the opportunity to get 101 .9 on the air 00:47:44.420 --> 00:47:47.909 in Santa Cruz, A lot of people don't know this, 00:47:48.110 --> 00:47:51.170 but Los Gatos is split on Summit Road between 00:47:51.170 --> 00:47:54.670 Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County. So 00:47:54.670 --> 00:47:56.829 you have this unincorporated part of Los Gatos 00:47:56.829 --> 00:48:00.050 that is not officially Los Gatos, but is Los 00:48:00.050 --> 00:48:03.710 Gatos a name, basically. Cool part of the world. 00:48:03.789 --> 00:48:09.079 Go check it out. Nonetheless, I got the station 00:48:09.079 --> 00:48:11.239 on the air from that point. I was like, we are 00:48:11.239 --> 00:48:13.820 in Los Gatos, and I would even say in Los Gatos 00:48:13.820 --> 00:48:19.780 at the time. I lost my train of thought here 00:48:19.780 --> 00:48:22.440 because my phone started buzzing in my hand. 00:48:22.619 --> 00:48:25.019 I'm like, go away phone, stop calling me. Thanks 00:48:25.019 --> 00:48:31.659 Tim from the Lions Club, hi. I wanted to get... 00:48:31.789 --> 00:48:34.849 what I started in Los Gatos back on the air legally 00:48:34.849 --> 00:48:37.550 over here. So, you know, keeping a name I think 00:48:37.550 --> 00:48:39.349 was really important and keeping that call sign 00:48:39.349 --> 00:48:42.829 KPCR really, really important to me to help kind 00:48:42.829 --> 00:48:46.630 of like for myself say I'm back to where I started 00:48:46.630 --> 00:48:49.690 from and this time doing it again. But everything 00:48:49.690 --> 00:48:53.789 that I had learned from the, you know, 15 years 00:48:53.789 --> 00:48:58.659 of running Pirate Cat radio and 87 .9 FM via 00:48:58.659 --> 00:49:01.280 other people's transmitters that extra legal 00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:03.639 radio station I wanted to take that and bring 00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:06.239 that into a more I think structured and formal 00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:08.380 setting versus the kind of renegade mess we had 00:49:08.380 --> 00:49:11.340 back then which you know it was really hard to 00:49:11.340 --> 00:49:13.260 write to herd cats and wrangle a bunch of people 00:49:13.260 --> 00:49:15.980 together, but there's so much that I learned 00:49:15.980 --> 00:49:21.500 from that period of life of How impactful radio 00:49:21.500 --> 00:49:25.030 is what? how you can influence other people, 00:49:25.329 --> 00:49:27.869 how you can help share factual information, how 00:49:27.869 --> 00:49:29.989 you can help expose people to things they don't 00:49:29.989 --> 00:49:31.670 know. That's why like, you know, you might hear 00:49:31.670 --> 00:49:33.710 a lot of older punk music on the station from 00:49:33.710 --> 00:49:36.070 time to time or older music, but there's so many 00:49:36.070 --> 00:49:38.190 people that don't know about it. So keep sharing 00:49:38.190 --> 00:49:41.900 it with them. You know things like that like 00:49:41.900 --> 00:49:46.179 so much to come from that past of running a radio 00:49:46.179 --> 00:49:49.559 station in that cafe with the the crazy folks 00:49:49.559 --> 00:49:52.280 of people that decided to volunteer and join 00:49:52.280 --> 00:49:57.420 as shaped what we're doing here today and You 00:49:57.420 --> 00:49:59.400 know Jeff as a volunteer the station you you 00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:01.920 probably see like you have a very strong part 00:50:01.920 --> 00:50:03.960 in the station You're organizing our concert 00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:06.420 ticket giveaways and liaising with with venues 00:50:06.420 --> 00:50:10.480 for us you know, that role is something that 00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:14.119 I shaped in the past with other volunteers at 00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:16.159 the, you know, the extra legal radio station. 00:50:16.659 --> 00:50:20.619 And, you know, I think having you do it the way 00:50:20.619 --> 00:50:22.579 you're doing it now has been really successful. 00:50:23.239 --> 00:50:27.699 And also, you know, my ability now of what I 00:50:27.699 --> 00:50:31.139 learned then to better delegate and step away 00:50:31.139 --> 00:50:33.349 and just say like, Cool, you're doing it, man. 00:50:33.409 --> 00:50:35.210 You're doing it. Keep going. Like, you know, 00:50:35.210 --> 00:50:36.690 as long as you're doing it, I don't have to do 00:50:36.690 --> 00:50:40.050 anything. It really comes from from running all 00:50:40.050 --> 00:50:42.369 that. So I guess personally, there's a lot of 00:50:42.369 --> 00:50:43.889 personal growth in there and learning how to 00:50:43.889 --> 00:50:48.590 manage and collaborate with volunteers in a community 00:50:48.590 --> 00:50:52.210 radio setting versus what happened before. So 00:50:52.210 --> 00:50:55.110 to answer your question in short, like all the 00:50:55.110 --> 00:50:57.269 just all the learnings and personal takeaways 00:50:57.269 --> 00:51:01.880 came came into play. Now here. The other part 00:51:01.880 --> 00:51:04.719 of it is, if it wasn't for what I was doing back 00:51:04.719 --> 00:51:07.260 then, I wouldn't know how to spread us out and 00:51:07.260 --> 00:51:09.860 get us other licenses. So we've got KMRT now, 00:51:09.980 --> 00:51:12.119 101 .9 FM Santa Cruz to pick up where we moved 00:51:12.119 --> 00:51:16.139 away from when we came to 92 .9 and 91 .1 FM 00:51:16.139 --> 00:51:22.139 in Portland. Where do you see Pirate Cat Radio 00:51:22.139 --> 00:51:26.599 growing? that is you know, what are some of the 00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:29.219 areas that you would like to expand coverage 00:51:29.219 --> 00:51:32.699 and What are some of your goals just long -term 00:51:32.699 --> 00:51:36.579 goals for? For this entity. I think we need to 00:51:36.579 --> 00:51:40.230 cover more of Tesslandia So do you need more 00:51:40.230 --> 00:51:43.510 here here in test landia? Even though your test 00:51:43.510 --> 00:51:46.130 landia radios may have a hard time picking up 00:51:46.130 --> 00:51:47.989 the station because musk is not really a fan 00:51:47.989 --> 00:51:50.849 of ours You know there there are some tricks 00:51:50.849 --> 00:51:54.030 up up our sleeves still to get better signal 00:51:54.030 --> 00:51:59.250 coverage on 92 .9 FM and You know if the waz 00:51:59.250 --> 00:52:01.679 is listening the waz is listening And we'll leave 00:52:01.679 --> 00:52:04.440 it at that. But there are some ways that we can 00:52:04.440 --> 00:52:06.039 expand coverage. So I really do want to make 00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:08.920 sure that our home base is covered first coverage 00:52:08.920 --> 00:52:11.539 wise and that we're getting the reach. So we 00:52:11.539 --> 00:52:13.280 have more listeners. And so our current listeners 00:52:13.280 --> 00:52:16.159 as well can can listen to us with greater ease. 00:52:17.460 --> 00:52:19.639 Same thing goes for the Monterey Bay area. Like 00:52:19.639 --> 00:52:21.980 I want to make sure that we're solidifying ourselves 00:52:21.980 --> 00:52:25.059 in these two spots and our new home in Portland. 00:52:26.539 --> 00:52:28.980 I also want to make sure that just these. in 00:52:28.980 --> 00:52:31.400 that kind of priority order even, that even Portland 00:52:31.400 --> 00:52:34.280 is a ground base for us so we can start doing 00:52:34.280 --> 00:52:40.079 more things. I see the one thing that this station 00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:45.179 needs in order to grow though is content. And 00:52:45.179 --> 00:52:47.460 to do that, we need more people like yourself, 00:52:47.539 --> 00:52:49.619 Jeff, and like our listeners right now who want 00:52:49.619 --> 00:52:51.920 to create radio content. The station doesn't 00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:54.539 thrive. It doesn't grow. It stays stagnant without 00:52:54.539 --> 00:52:56.440 people like you and without other folks listening 00:52:56.440 --> 00:52:58.820 who want to come and do radio shows of some kind. 00:52:58.820 --> 00:53:02.059 So if you're out there right now, doors wide 00:53:02.059 --> 00:53:06.739 open, Jeff will train you. I am still in training, 00:53:06.739 --> 00:53:09.300 but I will I will train you to the best of my 00:53:09.300 --> 00:53:13.679 ability. We're so lucky here. So I volunteered. 00:53:13.929 --> 00:53:17.610 I first found out about the station you know 00:53:17.610 --> 00:53:20.110 I heard it on the air like I mentioned earlier 00:53:20.110 --> 00:53:24.230 and then what what really got me wanting to be 00:53:24.230 --> 00:53:28.309 part of this is I heard that a band that I know 00:53:28.309 --> 00:53:31.590 local band Ska band monkey if you're into Ska 00:53:31.590 --> 00:53:33.530 you you know who monkey is they've been around 00:53:33.530 --> 00:53:37.889 forever cool cool guys and they were playing 00:53:37.889 --> 00:53:43.820 here at the station and I'm like how cool you 00:53:43.820 --> 00:53:46.380 know Los Gatos isn't known as being a and you 00:53:46.380 --> 00:53:50.400 were wearing an Omnigon cool This guy needs to 00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:55.280 have a radio show I wear I I have a lot of concert 00:53:55.280 --> 00:53:59.199 a lot of concert tees how many black concert 00:53:59.199 --> 00:54:03.739 tees does one man need the answer is It's never 00:54:03.739 --> 00:54:08.840 enough anyway, so I came down here to check out 00:54:08.840 --> 00:54:13.329 monkey and support the cause. And then I met 00:54:13.329 --> 00:54:17.050 Daniel and just started talking about, hey, I'd 00:54:17.050 --> 00:54:20.010 love to volunteer here. What can I do? And here 00:54:20.010 --> 00:54:24.429 I am. I want everyone to know that we just lost 00:54:24.429 --> 00:54:29.239 Daniel for a little bit. because this is public 00:54:29.239 --> 00:54:32.159 radio. We're volunteers and we actually have 00:54:32.159 --> 00:54:35.260 day jobs and he has to do a work call right now. 00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:41.639 But I prepared for that. I actually have all 00:54:41.639 --> 00:54:46.380 sorts of content to keep presenting here. One 00:54:46.380 --> 00:54:49.780 of the things is And one of the things that we 00:54:49.780 --> 00:54:52.440 would train you, if you are a new DJ here, is 00:54:52.440 --> 00:54:54.579 that at the top of the hour, we need to do our 00:54:54.579 --> 00:54:57.099 legal ID, which I did not that long ago, but 00:54:57.099 --> 00:54:59.139 I'm gonna do it again. You're listening to Pirate 00:54:59.139 --> 00:55:06.519 Cat Radio, KPCR LP 92 .9 FM in Los Gatos, KMRT 00:55:06.519 --> 00:55:15.239 LP 101 .9 FM in Santa Cruz, and KVBELP. 91 .1 00:55:15.239 --> 00:55:19.519 FM in Portland. Yes, that Portland where Daniel 00:55:19.519 --> 00:55:23.659 now lives. So we are very fortunate to have him 00:55:23.659 --> 00:55:26.320 in the studio today because he's visiting his 00:55:26.320 --> 00:55:31.420 hometown. And I nailed him down to this time 00:55:31.420 --> 00:55:34.320 and he was able to do it even though he still 00:55:34.320 --> 00:55:37.619 has to do work. Alright, we're going to get back 00:55:37.619 --> 00:55:40.980 into playing a little more music from Daniel's 00:55:40.980 --> 00:55:43.920 playlist. Thanks for listening to Pirate Cat 00:55:43.920 --> 01:01:19.400 Radio. freedom of choice. You are listening to 01:01:19.400 --> 01:01:24.039 Pirate Cat Radio, KPCR LP 92 .9 FM Los Gatos, 01:01:24.340 --> 01:01:30.340 KMRT LP 101 .9 FM Santa Cruz, and KVBE LP 91 01:01:30.340 --> 01:01:34.880 .1 FM in Portland, and you're listening to the 01:01:34.880 --> 01:01:37.860 Sonic Smorgasbord Show. I'm your host DJ Not 01:01:37.860 --> 01:01:41.119 -So -Jazzy Jeff. I'm here every Friday from 12 01:01:41.119 --> 01:01:45.150 to 2 p .m. Normally, I will... play a show that's 01:01:45.150 --> 01:01:47.670 just a mishmash of all different types of music 01:01:47.670 --> 01:01:51.329 usually based on a theme sometimes based on a 01:01:51.329 --> 01:01:54.429 genre of music but today is extra special we 01:01:54.429 --> 01:01:57.769 have the founder of kpcr pirate cat radio in 01:01:57.769 --> 01:02:01.090 the studio with us doing a live interview and 01:02:01.090 --> 01:02:03.909 we're learning all about the station what we've 01:02:03.909 --> 01:02:06.570 talked about so far if you're just tuning in 01:02:06.570 --> 01:02:10.110 is the origins of the radio station daniel started 01:02:10.110 --> 01:02:14.489 this thing when he was in high school, got caught 01:02:14.489 --> 01:02:18.289 by the FCC because he was pirating airwaves. 01:02:18.309 --> 01:02:24.809 He learned more about how radio works from the 01:02:24.809 --> 01:02:29.230 kind FCC guys who caught him and let him learn 01:02:29.230 --> 01:02:33.989 more from them. Thanks, guys. And then he started 01:02:33.989 --> 01:02:37.190 another pirate radio station up in San Francisco. 01:02:37.730 --> 01:02:43.429 He had the pirate cat Radio Cafe that he operated 01:02:43.429 --> 01:02:48.309 out of in the mission. And he got shut down again. 01:02:48.309 --> 01:02:51.670 And we are at the point now where we're talking 01:02:51.670 --> 01:02:58.329 about how he where we are today, which is what 01:02:58.329 --> 01:03:02.429 you're listening to a legal, legitimate public 01:03:02.429 --> 01:03:06.349 radio station. And my next question for you, 01:03:06.349 --> 01:03:11.030 Daniel, is what makes this station, Pirate Cat 01:03:11.030 --> 01:03:15.010 Radio, different because of your journey, and 01:03:15.010 --> 01:03:19.170 what still carries that original spark? Huh. 01:03:19.849 --> 01:03:22.809 What makes this, what makes it different? Well... 01:03:22.800 --> 01:03:26.539 I can't play Teenage Enema Nurses and Bondage 01:03:26.539 --> 01:03:29.260 over and over again to start. That used to be 01:03:29.260 --> 01:03:32.099 our Thanksgiving Day thing. I also can't play 01:03:32.099 --> 01:03:34.559 the full unedited version of William Burroughs 01:03:34.559 --> 01:03:38.179 Thanksgiving Day Prayer. So, you know, a few 01:03:38.179 --> 01:03:42.170 little things that make it a bit different. Hey, 01:03:42.489 --> 01:03:47.690 if it weren't for the FCC and our license rules, 01:03:48.170 --> 01:03:50.269 our antenna would be much higher and putting 01:03:50.269 --> 01:03:52.909 out much more power than it does right now. So 01:03:52.909 --> 01:03:55.489 Tesslandia could hear us. Hello, Tesslandia. 01:03:58.230 --> 01:04:02.969 So the original Spark, obviously we already talked 01:04:02.969 --> 01:04:07.190 about that. And now we're doing a legitimate 01:04:07.190 --> 01:04:11.849 public radio show on a legitimate public radio 01:04:11.849 --> 01:04:18.070 station, and we have to adhere to the FCC rules, 01:04:18.369 --> 01:04:23.130 but we're still doing things the way that you 01:04:23.130 --> 01:04:30.130 envisioned us doing. Let's talk about that high 01:04:30.130 --> 01:04:35.250 school pirate. If he could see, 15 -year -old 01:04:35.250 --> 01:04:39.340 Daniel could see what you've built now. This 01:04:39.340 --> 01:04:42.300 legitimate public radio station serving the community. 01:04:42.420 --> 01:04:45.239 What do you think he'd say? Gosh, you just played 01:04:45.239 --> 01:04:47.699 the slaughterhouse by a slogan which is all about 01:04:47.699 --> 01:04:51.400 that What would I do if the older version of 01:04:51.400 --> 01:04:54.539 me could see me view these be five minutes ago? 01:04:55.380 --> 01:05:00.599 You know man if So is it what would the teenage 01:05:00.599 --> 01:05:03.480 version of me think about today, or vice versa? 01:05:03.599 --> 01:05:06.440 Yeah, what would that 15 -year -old think about 01:05:06.440 --> 01:05:11.219 this new, legitimate radio station that's legal, 01:05:11.699 --> 01:05:15.179 and you have a team of volunteers, and we have 01:05:15.179 --> 01:05:18.099 to adhere to FCC rules and regulations? I still 01:05:18.099 --> 01:05:20.139 hope that 15 -year -old would see it and think, 01:05:20.460 --> 01:05:25.059 oh, man, I better go a different route. So there's 01:05:25.059 --> 01:05:27.019 a funny old saying, and this one I can get away 01:05:27.019 --> 01:05:29.489 with saying on air, and it's brutal and it's 01:05:29.489 --> 01:05:31.650 blunt and some people might be offended by it 01:05:31.650 --> 01:05:33.750 so please don't take offense nothing personal 01:05:33.750 --> 01:05:36.590 but it's better to tell your mother that you 01:05:36.590 --> 01:05:39.110 play piano in a cat house than work in radio 01:05:39.110 --> 01:05:41.730 and you know there's a really good reason for 01:05:41.730 --> 01:05:44.150 that nobody's interested in the guy playing piano 01:05:44.150 --> 01:05:49.309 and radio is really a effort of love especially 01:05:49.309 --> 01:05:52.760 you know Jeff, you you you understand the economics 01:05:52.760 --> 01:05:56.539 here in Teslandia of real estate and buying a 01:05:56.539 --> 01:05:58.480 home and how things come into play at that. You 01:05:58.480 --> 01:06:00.340 know, a career radio is not going to be the thing 01:06:00.340 --> 01:06:03.639 that that gets you. comfort in a lot of places 01:06:03.639 --> 01:06:07.039 these days. So it's something you need to change 01:06:07.039 --> 01:06:10.639 your mind on and shift and focus on is not just 01:06:10.639 --> 01:06:13.420 a hobby, but as something that is really philanthropic 01:06:13.420 --> 01:06:16.760 and do it in addition to what your regular day 01:06:16.760 --> 01:06:19.360 is. So I do take offense to people who say that 01:06:19.360 --> 01:06:20.679 what I'm doing here is a hobby. What I'm doing 01:06:20.679 --> 01:06:24.159 here is a philanthropic venture. It's something 01:06:24.159 --> 01:06:27.019 that I think people like yourself and our listeners 01:06:27.019 --> 01:06:31.760 and others gain from. My 15 year old self wouldn't 01:06:31.760 --> 01:06:34.719 understand that he wouldn't have the life experience 01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:36.599 to understand. Like he might think, Oh, that's 01:06:36.599 --> 01:06:38.440 cool. I'm going to do everything the same way 01:06:38.440 --> 01:06:40.159 to get to that point. But you wouldn't understand 01:06:40.159 --> 01:06:43.079 that it's something that is philanthropic and 01:06:43.079 --> 01:06:45.320 done out of love. And that there are a lot of 01:06:45.320 --> 01:06:47.519 other things in life that you need to focus on 01:06:47.519 --> 01:06:52.360 and do so that you can sustain and keep an organization 01:06:52.360 --> 01:06:55.940 like pirate cat radio alive. So Hey, 15 year 01:06:55.940 --> 01:06:58.710 old me. Uh, go to law school or something, I 01:06:58.710 --> 01:07:04.170 don't know. Yes, I think the 15 year old me would 01:07:04.170 --> 01:07:09.010 feel the same way, the 15 year old me who discovered 01:07:09.010 --> 01:07:15.110 a minor threat on KFJC and was like, wow, I didn't 01:07:15.110 --> 01:07:22.289 know that this world was out there. I fully embrace 01:07:22.289 --> 01:07:25.650 that sentiment. I would feel the same way. And 01:07:25.650 --> 01:07:29.530 now, being a volunteer here, and we're going 01:07:29.530 --> 01:07:33.050 to plug being a volunteer here once again, I'm 01:07:33.050 --> 01:07:34.889 going to tell you just from my experience, it 01:07:34.889 --> 01:07:37.750 feels good to be part of this. It feels good 01:07:37.750 --> 01:07:40.809 to give back to your community. I wanted to do 01:07:40.809 --> 01:07:44.030 community service. And I was looking for something 01:07:44.030 --> 01:07:47.650 to do that was meaningful. And then this just 01:07:47.650 --> 01:07:51.250 kind of fell in my lap. And I can tell you, yeah, 01:07:51.269 --> 01:07:54.079 it's not just Having a radio show and playing 01:07:54.079 --> 01:07:56.199 cool songs that you want to play and having your 01:07:56.199 --> 01:07:58.539 friends listen to you and text you and say that 01:07:58.539 --> 01:08:02.400 was really cool and it's it just feels good to 01:08:02.400 --> 01:08:04.719 to make a difference and be part of something 01:08:04.719 --> 01:08:08.420 bigger than yourself and So and hey Jeff, you 01:08:08.420 --> 01:08:10.099 know if you were a university student right now 01:08:10.099 --> 01:08:12.019 or college students or even a high school student 01:08:12.019 --> 01:08:14.800 for that matter You could get course credits 01:08:14.800 --> 01:08:16.899 for being a volunteer here You can get course 01:08:16.899 --> 01:08:19.600 credits for being the person in front of the 01:08:19.600 --> 01:08:24.319 microphone. So Are kids still in school right 01:08:24.319 --> 01:08:27.359 now? If you're playing hooky right now and listening 01:08:27.359 --> 01:08:31.260 to the radio, good for you, maybe not. But you 01:08:31.260 --> 01:08:33.819 can get course credits for coming in and working 01:08:33.819 --> 01:08:36.760 with us. And hey, mom, dad, whoever you are out 01:08:36.760 --> 01:08:41.140 there, give it some thought. And also, this is 01:08:41.140 --> 01:08:46.359 a great time to talk a little bit about getting 01:08:46.359 --> 01:08:49.430 into some station business. Also, if you're a 01:08:49.430 --> 01:08:51.409 volunteer, we were talking about how we have 01:08:51.409 --> 01:08:54.630 free concert tickets to give away. Most venues 01:08:54.630 --> 01:08:58.930 will give us two pairs of tickets for every show. 01:08:59.069 --> 01:09:02.670 One is for listeners and the other pair is for 01:09:02.670 --> 01:09:04.529 the volunteers of the station because none of 01:09:04.529 --> 01:09:07.090 us get paid here. We're just doing this for the 01:09:07.090 --> 01:09:12.149 love of it. And so another good reason to volunteer 01:09:12.149 --> 01:09:16.920 free concert tickets. And we have a lot of great 01:09:16.920 --> 01:09:19.420 shows coming up. I'm going to take this time 01:09:19.420 --> 01:09:21.760 because we missed it the last time around to 01:09:21.760 --> 01:09:24.539 announce a couple of shows coming up that we 01:09:24.539 --> 01:09:28.119 have free tickets for. We already gave away tickets 01:09:28.119 --> 01:09:31.699 for tonight's English beat show at the Felton 01:09:31.699 --> 01:09:37.939 Music Hall. A lucky, lucky person. Hey, did you 01:09:37.939 --> 01:09:40.340 know, just real quick side note, the Los Gatos 01:09:40.340 --> 01:09:42.789 Chamber of Commerce. sent me this email just 01:09:42.789 --> 01:09:44.489 right now. They're doing this thing called Stars 01:09:44.489 --> 01:09:47.829 of Los Gatos Awards. Hey, go, dear listener, 01:09:48.010 --> 01:09:51.789 find it online, Stars of Los Gatos Awards, and 01:09:51.789 --> 01:09:54.310 write something nice about us. Thanks. Oh, very 01:09:54.310 --> 01:09:58.670 cool. OK, all right. Bear with me. I'm just going 01:09:58.670 --> 01:10:01.869 to read through a handful of these, because we 01:10:01.869 --> 01:10:05.069 have so many. I'm going to read through all of 01:10:05.069 --> 01:10:09.130 the shows that we have free tickets for just 01:10:09.130 --> 01:10:17.649 through the first part of March. So what's today 01:10:17.649 --> 01:10:21.329 is the 27th. It's not even March yet. It's not 01:10:21.329 --> 01:10:24.210 even March yet. So I mentioned we had tickets 01:10:24.210 --> 01:10:27.270 for the English beat at Felton Music Hall. Those 01:10:27.270 --> 01:10:31.550 actually take that back. We have one pair is 01:10:31.550 --> 01:10:34.909 gone. We still have a pair. So if you're interested 01:10:34.909 --> 01:10:42.989 in those tickets, go to KPCR. dot org slash join 01:10:42.989 --> 01:10:45.670 and become a member of the signal society for 01:10:45.670 --> 01:10:48.310 as little as five dollars a month that gives 01:10:48.310 --> 01:10:52.029 you access to free concert tickets discounts 01:10:52.029 --> 01:10:56.569 on our participating uh the businesses and restaurants 01:10:56.569 --> 01:10:59.510 um you can get discounts on records you can get 01:10:59.510 --> 01:11:03.470 discounts on beauty supplies you can get discounts 01:11:03.470 --> 01:11:08.750 on round table pizza um all right english beat 01:11:08.750 --> 01:11:12.729 tonight Felton, we have two tickets to give away. 01:11:13.529 --> 01:11:17.010 On the 28th, that's tomorrow, at the Felton Music 01:11:17.010 --> 01:11:20.149 Hall, we have two pairs of tickets to give away 01:11:20.149 --> 01:11:25.890 to Ambrosia. Yes, Ambrosia. I would totally be 01:11:25.890 --> 01:11:30.689 going to that, but I cannot go. But I would definitely 01:11:30.689 --> 01:11:34.050 go see Ambrosia, especially for free. But I mean, 01:11:34.069 --> 01:11:36.729 I would pay to go see Ambrosia at Felton Music 01:11:36.729 --> 01:11:42.500 Hall. Also, on the 28th, we have Ahi at Cafe 01:11:42.500 --> 01:11:45.199 du Nord in San Francisco, two pairs of tickets. 01:11:46.319 --> 01:11:48.720 Like the tuna. Like the tuna. On the 28th, we 01:11:48.720 --> 01:11:52.399 have Beni at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Only 01:11:52.399 --> 01:11:55.819 one pair of tickets for that. Beni is indie pop 01:11:55.819 --> 01:11:58.340 artist. Very cool. Check her out. I don't know 01:11:58.340 --> 01:12:02.260 them. Yeah, she's great. I didn't know about 01:12:02.260 --> 01:12:04.760 her either. And actually getting these free concert 01:12:04.760 --> 01:12:08.220 tickets is great because I'm learning about so 01:12:08.220 --> 01:12:10.760 many artists that I didn't know anything about. 01:12:10.899 --> 01:12:12.479 Colin, Nero Nava, Music Department, where are 01:12:12.479 --> 01:12:15.939 you guys? I check out, you know, every free show 01:12:15.939 --> 01:12:19.020 that we get, I always go check to see what the 01:12:19.020 --> 01:12:22.539 artist is and, well, mostly to see if... Are 01:12:22.539 --> 01:12:26.739 these tickets that I want? I actually don't. 01:12:26.859 --> 01:12:30.100 I am totally fine supporting all of these venues. 01:12:30.300 --> 01:12:33.079 And so I rarely take advantage of the free tickets. 01:12:33.100 --> 01:12:34.819 I'm just throwing that out there. Let's take 01:12:34.819 --> 01:12:37.140 a quick focus, though, on just the first the 01:12:37.140 --> 01:12:39.680 first start of March. What is the like the top 01:12:39.680 --> 01:12:43.640 two shows on that list? OK, I would say top two 01:12:43.640 --> 01:12:48.810 shows on on this list. Well, let's see. Those 01:12:48.810 --> 01:12:52.210 are gone. We had Margo Price at the Fillmore 01:12:52.210 --> 01:12:56.750 and our winner Dave from Felton. Grab those. 01:12:58.250 --> 01:13:02.649 Who else do we have? Good job, Dave. Drama at 01:13:02.649 --> 01:13:05.329 the Fox Theater. Only one pair of tickets for 01:13:05.329 --> 01:13:09.310 that. What kind of band is drama? Drama. Oh, 01:13:09.329 --> 01:13:11.510 shoot. I forgot. I looked them up and I watched 01:13:11.510 --> 01:13:13.430 a couple videos. I keep waiting for you to add 01:13:13.430 --> 01:13:18.850 the... Rama Rama drama Rama. It's not drama Rama 01:13:18.850 --> 01:13:26.409 drama Rama just drama We have What else do we 01:13:26.409 --> 01:13:33.050 have coming up tons of shows Band of skulls on 01:13:33.050 --> 01:13:36.850 The 17th and the ghost women not a gang of skulls 01:13:36.850 --> 01:13:39.590 a band of skulls and great American music hall 01:13:39.590 --> 01:13:43.430 and not the ghost men and not the ghost men we 01:13:43.430 --> 01:13:51.279 have Tigrin Hamasian Two nights in a row and 01:13:51.279 --> 01:13:55.880 I can tell you about this guy. It's kind of it's 01:13:55.880 --> 01:14:00.220 Experimental it's proggy. It's It's unusual. 01:14:00.220 --> 01:14:02.960 It's dancy. It's really cool He's playing two 01:14:02.960 --> 01:14:05.460 nights in a row at the Great American Music Hall 01:14:05.460 --> 01:14:09.659 on March 5th and on March 6 and we have two pairs 01:14:09.659 --> 01:14:13.260 of tickets for those shows those are just some 01:14:13.260 --> 01:14:17.029 of the Shows that we have free tickets for. I'm 01:14:17.029 --> 01:14:19.449 going to read off just a handful of venues that 01:14:19.449 --> 01:14:22.689 are our partners. Come and get them now. 408 01:14:22.689 --> 01:14:25.909 -357 -0330. Get the tickets. Call us. Tell us 01:14:25.909 --> 01:14:27.970 what tickets you want. We have tickets for shows 01:14:27.970 --> 01:14:30.210 at Great American Music Hall, the Fox Theater, 01:14:30.430 --> 01:14:34.550 Cafe du Nord, Moe's Alley. Not the catalyst. 01:14:35.449 --> 01:14:39.970 Not the catalyst. And not yet. We have tickets 01:14:39.970 --> 01:14:44.960 for the Greek theater. in Berkeley, we have tickets 01:14:44.960 --> 01:14:49.119 for the Rio theater in Santa Cruz, a whole bunch 01:14:49.119 --> 01:14:54.439 more. And the point of this is that we have free 01:14:54.439 --> 01:14:57.319 concert tickets, and you should take advantage 01:14:57.319 --> 01:15:01.000 of them as a listener. And again, go to kpcr 01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:06.159 .org slash join to find out how you can win. 01:15:06.159 --> 01:15:10.100 That's right. Okay, back to the interview. We've 01:15:10.100 --> 01:15:14.159 kind of gotten through Most of the the meat of 01:15:14.159 --> 01:15:19.100 the interview We talked about how pirate cat 01:15:19.100 --> 01:15:23.199 radio came to be and Now we're just gonna do 01:15:23.199 --> 01:15:26.600 a kind of more of a lightning round type of questioning 01:15:26.600 --> 01:15:30.140 I'm just gonna throw throw these out there to 01:15:30.140 --> 01:15:34.720 Daniel go most punk moment in your legal radio 01:15:34.720 --> 01:15:43.659 career call a friend Call a friend What What 01:15:43.659 --> 01:15:48.020 was the question for 500 Jeff Yes, the most punk 01:15:48.020 --> 01:15:51.779 moment in your legal radio career we heard about 01:15:51.779 --> 01:15:54.220 all the the outlaw stuff that you did Oh, man, 01:15:54.260 --> 01:15:59.000 that's either going to be The most punk moment 01:15:59.000 --> 01:16:01.640 or pirate moment Punk moment. Punk moment. Getting 01:16:01.640 --> 01:16:04.140 a bunch of people in LA to meet with me for brunch 01:16:04.140 --> 01:16:06.560 on a Sunday morning and take hammers to their 01:16:06.560 --> 01:16:10.420 cell phones. Ah, nice. Yeah. Plus they bought 01:16:10.420 --> 01:16:13.659 me breakfast. So that was great. What else? Getting 01:16:13.659 --> 01:16:15.699 a bunch of people to drive up to the Rock and 01:16:15.699 --> 01:16:18.079 Roll Ralph's parking lot in Los Angeles and I'll 01:16:18.079 --> 01:16:20.619 turn the radios on as loud as they could, honk 01:16:20.619 --> 01:16:22.640 their horns, flash their lights and scream as 01:16:22.640 --> 01:16:26.520 loud as they can. You know, like block the whole 01:16:26.520 --> 01:16:31.579 thing. Swearing words parking lot so that that 01:16:31.579 --> 01:16:34.819 kind of thing more recently inadvertently organizing 01:16:34.819 --> 01:16:40.100 a Anti -ice protest at the Super Bowl. Ah Tell 01:16:40.100 --> 01:16:42.180 us more about that. I didn't mean to do it. It 01:16:42.180 --> 01:16:45.840 just happened So how does something like that 01:16:45.840 --> 01:16:49.520 come to fruition? For anyone out there that is 01:16:49.520 --> 01:16:51.760 interested in doing something similar on their 01:16:51.760 --> 01:16:54.920 own. Yeah, you know, I think I don't know some 01:16:54.920 --> 01:16:57.579 some things are just you you Accidentally slip 01:16:57.579 --> 01:17:00.100 and then you find out you fell into something 01:17:00.100 --> 01:17:07.060 great and not Mr. Hankey anyway, yeah, you know 01:17:07.060 --> 01:17:11.260 that came about after after the The the good 01:17:11.260 --> 01:17:15.439 and the the pretty shootings in Minneapolis We 01:17:15.439 --> 01:17:18.560 did some on -air content here at the station 01:17:18.560 --> 01:17:21.140 Intervening people back in the Midwest about 01:17:21.140 --> 01:17:26.270 what was going on their fears, and pulling in 01:17:26.270 --> 01:17:31.810 local civil rights groups and other groups that 01:17:31.810 --> 01:17:37.140 are anti -ICE. to come on air and talk. And that 01:17:37.140 --> 01:17:42.960 led to me pulling together people to gather and 01:17:42.960 --> 01:17:45.739 broadcast what they were seeing. And that turned 01:17:45.739 --> 01:17:48.159 into a protest, a very peaceful protest, mind 01:17:48.159 --> 01:17:51.180 you. Rallied a bunch of people around outside 01:17:51.180 --> 01:17:56.359 the stadium in Santa Clara to go and show action 01:17:56.359 --> 01:17:59.100 and disdain for what ICE has been doing in the 01:17:59.100 --> 01:18:02.630 US for the past few months. Cool. Thanks for 01:18:02.630 --> 01:18:05.970 shedding light on that. I forgot that we didn't 01:18:05.970 --> 01:18:09.649 talk about the songs that we just played before 01:18:09.649 --> 01:18:13.409 I started talking about 15 minutes ago. The first 01:18:13.409 --> 01:18:18.390 song that or the last song that we we heard that 01:18:18.390 --> 01:18:21.550 you heard is a song called Slaughterhouse by 01:18:21.550 --> 01:18:25.329 Slow Gerken. They are an Asian man records recording 01:18:25.329 --> 01:18:29.060 artists. As many of you know Mike Park. the owner 01:18:29.060 --> 01:18:32.500 of Asian Man Records, is also a DJ here, volunteer 01:18:32.500 --> 01:18:37.520 DJ. Why was Slaughterhouse by Slow Gherkin on 01:18:37.520 --> 01:18:39.899 your playlist, Daniel? Was that whole question 01:18:39.899 --> 01:18:42.819 you asked me earlier about what would the older 01:18:42.819 --> 01:18:45.659 version of me tell the younger version of myself? 01:18:45.739 --> 01:18:47.239 And I felt like that was something that we would 01:18:47.239 --> 01:18:50.680 touch upon here because I've been doing radio. 01:18:51.620 --> 01:18:55.760 extra -legal or licensed radio for most of my 01:18:55.760 --> 01:18:57.739 life since I was a teenager. I mean, I'm much 01:18:57.739 --> 01:19:02.680 older now than I was in 1996. So this is something 01:19:02.680 --> 01:19:06.640 that has come with me. It's just a core part 01:19:06.640 --> 01:19:08.760 of me. When I'm not around it, I feel empty. 01:19:10.600 --> 01:19:14.140 That song I hear and I reflect on the things 01:19:14.140 --> 01:19:17.590 that I would tell myself. back then, if I could, 01:19:18.210 --> 01:19:19.729 with all the knowledge and all the expertise 01:19:19.729 --> 01:19:21.949 I have, tell myself all the things I know now, 01:19:22.090 --> 01:19:23.829 then I'm sure a lot of people feel the exact 01:19:23.829 --> 01:19:26.409 same way. But for me, because I've been doing 01:19:26.409 --> 01:19:28.189 the radio station since I was so long, and since 01:19:28.189 --> 01:19:31.069 I was in an adolescent state when I started it, 01:19:31.090 --> 01:19:33.310 I don't know if that impacts me more than it 01:19:33.310 --> 01:19:34.949 would other people when they have that thought, 01:19:34.949 --> 01:19:37.529 but it really, it really sticks with me. So that 01:19:37.529 --> 01:19:41.210 that song is one that I would go to slow gherkin 01:19:41.210 --> 01:19:43.489 shows and play on the radio when I first started 01:19:43.489 --> 01:19:46.270 the radio station. Very cool. I played a slow 01:19:46.270 --> 01:19:49.310 gherkin song on one of my shows. I can't remember 01:19:49.310 --> 01:19:53.989 which one but also a fan of the band Before that 01:19:53.989 --> 01:19:58.229 song we heard killing floor by naked aggression. 01:19:58.529 --> 01:20:03.270 Oh So, okay Kirsten patches the singer of naked 01:20:03.270 --> 01:20:08.750 aggression is a friend of mine her husband Rick 01:20:08.750 --> 01:20:11.810 We when I lived in LA we would hang out. I would 01:20:11.810 --> 01:20:14.939 go to their house. We would watch really bad 01:20:14.939 --> 01:20:17.460 movies, if not like watch things like Conan the 01:20:17.460 --> 01:20:20.020 Barbarian on DVD, but listen to the track where 01:20:20.020 --> 01:20:21.739 Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking about the making 01:20:21.739 --> 01:20:23.960 of the film the whole time, which I highly urge 01:20:23.960 --> 01:20:27.899 you to do with something to take shots of, not 01:20:27.899 --> 01:20:32.880 that being a pistol. And, you know, hearing Schwarzenegger 01:20:32.880 --> 01:20:36.220 talk about his films is kind of cringy. But, 01:20:36.340 --> 01:20:38.380 you know, I would go over, hang out with Kirsten 01:20:38.380 --> 01:20:41.960 and Rick and, you know, of course, you know, 01:20:41.949 --> 01:20:43.510 Naked aggression would come up from time to time, 01:20:43.689 --> 01:20:46.329 but I spent a lot of time with them. So Rick, 01:20:46.550 --> 01:20:48.770 Kirsten's husband, was recently diagnosed with 01:20:48.770 --> 01:20:51.989 cancer, and they're fighting it right now. They 01:20:51.989 --> 01:20:53.970 have a GoFundMe campaign going and are raising 01:20:53.970 --> 01:20:58.369 money for Rick for his procedures. I've donated 01:20:58.369 --> 01:21:02.409 money to that and highly recommend anyone search 01:21:02.409 --> 01:21:03.689 for it, because I don't have the link on me to 01:21:03.689 --> 01:21:06.350 share with you right now, but look for Kirsten 01:21:06.350 --> 01:21:12.819 Patch's cancer on GoFundMe. But yeah, it's really 01:21:12.819 --> 01:21:15.520 tragic to see an old friend of yours get hit 01:21:15.520 --> 01:21:17.079 with cancer. It makes you realize how vulnerable 01:21:17.079 --> 01:21:19.960 you are all the time. So I think Killing Floor 01:21:19.960 --> 01:21:22.619 is a really fitting song to play for that. And 01:21:22.619 --> 01:21:25.100 I really just want to say hi to Kirsten and Rick, 01:21:25.619 --> 01:21:28.640 if you guys are listening. So, that's why. Also, 01:21:28.739 --> 01:21:31.800 really proud of Naked Aggression overall for 01:21:31.800 --> 01:21:34.460 deciding not to play Punk in the Park in Pittsburgh, 01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:37.899 where it was found that the organizers are huge, 01:21:39.420 --> 01:21:41.159 gave very large amounts of money to the Trump 01:21:41.159 --> 01:21:44.439 campaign, and a lot of punk bands pulled out. 01:21:44.600 --> 01:21:47.979 Only a few bands still are in the lineup, being 01:21:47.979 --> 01:21:51.180 the Necromantics and the new version of the Dead 01:21:51.180 --> 01:21:52.859 Kennedys, not the Jelly Be Offer version of the 01:21:52.859 --> 01:21:55.819 Dead Kennedys, are still there, but a lot of 01:21:55.819 --> 01:21:57.479 bands, Majority of bands have pulled out, which 01:21:57.479 --> 01:21:58.779 looks like they're gonna have to cancel that 01:21:58.779 --> 01:22:02.140 festival. And good on them. I think it's important, 01:22:02.319 --> 01:22:05.880 you know, we don't have, as people, as Americans, 01:22:06.380 --> 01:22:08.779 as just people in general, you know, a lot of 01:22:08.779 --> 01:22:11.960 us aren't those in power. A lot of us don't have 01:22:11.960 --> 01:22:14.619 a lot of say, but the biggest thing that we can 01:22:14.619 --> 01:22:18.199 do, aside from voting, is be able to make a stance 01:22:18.199 --> 01:22:20.520 with our pocketbook. Where we spend our money 01:22:20.520 --> 01:22:24.920 says a lot to the people in power. So for those 01:22:24.920 --> 01:22:27.520 bands pulled out, and not taking money from those 01:22:27.520 --> 01:22:30.579 promoters, I think is a really, I hold them in 01:22:30.579 --> 01:22:33.180 high esteem for doing that. And for those of 01:22:33.180 --> 01:22:35.119 you who have tickets to the event and you wanna 01:22:35.119 --> 01:22:38.520 turn those tickets in, do it, do it, do it, do 01:22:38.520 --> 01:22:40.859 it, do it, so. I think I just saw something this 01:22:40.859 --> 01:22:44.960 morning that, and I might be wrong, check this, 01:22:45.079 --> 01:22:47.960 but I thought I saw something that all of the 01:22:47.960 --> 01:22:50.220 Punk in the Park dates have been canceled. Oh, 01:22:50.260 --> 01:22:53.000 awesome, wow, I missed that update. So double 01:22:53.000 --> 01:22:57.159 check that though. that's I was perusing perusing 01:22:57.159 --> 01:23:00.340 the social medias and uh that's where I saw that 01:23:00.340 --> 01:23:02.960 we're gonna play a little bit more music and 01:23:02.960 --> 01:23:05.100 then we're gonna come back and talk to Daniel 01:23:05.100 --> 01:23:08.340 some more learn more about the man the myth and 01:23:08.340 --> 01:23:11.199 uh thanks for listening to pirate cat radio you're 01:23:11.199 --> 01:31:41.510 in the brave space I'm brilliant So, funny thing 01:31:41.510 --> 01:31:43.810 is, Jeff, when I would DJ at clubs in Bristol 01:31:43.810 --> 01:31:46.390 in the UK, or you can leave that off, this is 01:31:46.390 --> 01:31:49.649 bed music. When I would DJ at clubs, that was 01:31:49.649 --> 01:31:59.489 my intro track. I would play that one before 01:31:59.489 --> 01:32:03.850 I started my whole set of the night. Wouldn't 01:32:03.850 --> 01:32:05.890 wrap up with it. I'd wrap up with baby crying 01:32:05.890 --> 01:32:07.510 and alarm bells because that would make people 01:32:07.510 --> 01:32:10.010 go home and bartenders appreciate that So they 01:32:10.010 --> 01:32:11.989 give you a little bit more of their tips. I love 01:32:11.989 --> 01:32:16.270 I always love the song at the end of the night 01:32:16.270 --> 01:32:20.149 that venues play To get people to leave and it 01:32:20.149 --> 01:32:22.170 always makes me giggle when it's just something 01:32:22.170 --> 01:32:25.170 just just god -awful and I'm always like wow, 01:32:25.229 --> 01:32:28.529 that's a great choice because We're getting the 01:32:28.529 --> 01:32:34.310 heck out of here now So, what is the name of 01:32:34.310 --> 01:32:37.050 this song? I can't remember the name of this 01:32:37.050 --> 01:32:40.510 song, actually. Oh, I'm looking at it now. Yukhermo 01:32:40.510 --> 01:32:44.449 So, which means a man of experience and wisdom. 01:32:44.810 --> 01:32:50.869 And it's by Mulatu Astatke. Yeah, you need to 01:32:50.869 --> 01:32:53.670 listen to more of him. Yeah, it's very cool. 01:32:53.930 --> 01:32:59.970 Cool, moody music. Before this, we heard Suicide 01:32:59.970 --> 01:33:04.380 Drive by... The Deep Mind. The Deep End. Yeah, 01:33:04.420 --> 01:33:06.560 Deep End. One of my best friends, Joel Marsden, 01:33:06.640 --> 01:33:09.859 Fatal, singer of that band in LA. Good guy. Yeah, 01:33:09.859 --> 01:33:13.640 we went on tour in Germany a lot with that band. 01:33:14.039 --> 01:33:16.659 So we'd go and I would manage their tour and 01:33:16.659 --> 01:33:18.579 everything else. They would just go on stage 01:33:18.579 --> 01:33:21.359 and perform, load everything up in the van, go 01:33:21.359 --> 01:33:23.399 and do the same thing again the next day. Very 01:33:23.399 --> 01:33:25.539 cool. So you were the manager for that band. 01:33:26.119 --> 01:33:28.800 Road manager, bookie manager, all kinds of crazy 01:33:28.800 --> 01:33:31.859 stuff. But yeah, we did, you know. three months 01:33:31.859 --> 01:33:35.680 in a van with the same guys it's uh not enough 01:33:35.680 --> 01:33:40.399 for breeze in the world i've always thought that 01:33:40.399 --> 01:33:46.500 um we're gonna just we're gonna do that and um 01:33:46.500 --> 01:33:50.220 i always thought that yeah if if i were to go 01:33:50.220 --> 01:33:56.079 on an extensive tour um with the band um i would 01:33:56.079 --> 01:33:59.420 want to be the only dude in the band all right 01:33:59.420 --> 01:34:04.750 uh As this happened before, Daniel has a work 01:34:04.750 --> 01:34:08.930 call. Again, this is public radio people, and 01:34:08.930 --> 01:34:12.770 we're volunteers here. We all have day jobs, 01:34:12.970 --> 01:34:16.810 and these things come up. And thankfully, I have 01:34:16.810 --> 01:34:20.029 plenty more music from Daniel's set, which you 01:34:20.029 --> 01:34:23.489 got to just sneak peek of it just now before 01:34:23.489 --> 01:34:29.250 we hit pause. We are doing a live interview today 01:34:29.250 --> 01:34:33.270 with Daniel Roberts. He is the founder of Pirate 01:34:33.270 --> 01:34:36.409 Cat Radio. And if you're just tuning in, we've 01:34:36.409 --> 01:34:38.750 already gone through kind of the whole story. 01:34:38.850 --> 01:34:42.630 We talked about how Daniel started his first 01:34:42.630 --> 01:34:45.979 pirate radio station. in high school. He was 01:34:45.979 --> 01:34:48.539 a student at Los Gatos High School when he was 01:34:48.539 --> 01:34:51.979 15 years old. He figured out how to pirate airwaves 01:34:51.979 --> 01:34:55.720 and start his own radio station. He got busted 01:34:55.720 --> 01:35:00.319 by the FCC. They came knocking on his door and 01:35:00.319 --> 01:35:03.260 they gave him a slap on the wrist. He walked 01:35:03.260 --> 01:35:06.760 outside, saw that They had a cool little van 01:35:06.760 --> 01:35:11.899 with like antennas on it and all like different 01:35:11.899 --> 01:35:15.600 equipment inside. He asked if he could go with 01:35:15.600 --> 01:35:19.239 them and they could show him like, how do you 01:35:19.239 --> 01:35:22.020 find pirate radio stations? And they said, sure, 01:35:22.140 --> 01:35:26.880 kid. And so he did that. And he that that sealed 01:35:26.880 --> 01:35:30.619 the deal. He was all in after that. He learned 01:35:30.619 --> 01:35:36.350 how to just to He just learned the ropes even 01:35:36.350 --> 01:35:43.359 more from the FCC themselves. He started up Pirate 01:35:43.359 --> 01:35:45.880 cat radio again when he was in San Francisco. 01:35:45.880 --> 01:35:49.939 He had a pirate cat radio cafe going Lots of 01:35:49.939 --> 01:35:52.399 volunteers and people were broadcasting that 01:35:52.399 --> 01:35:55.479 that that lasted for a while before he got shot 01:35:55.479 --> 01:36:00.739 shut down again This time the FCC weren't so 01:36:00.739 --> 01:36:04.539 nice and they wanted to fine him and he wasn't 01:36:04.539 --> 01:36:08.800 going to pay it and he wrangled out of that and 01:36:08.800 --> 01:36:14.109 anyway, we're We just got through and how we 01:36:14.109 --> 01:36:18.789 got back to where we are today, which is what 01:36:18.789 --> 01:36:21.930 you're listening to now, KPCR, Pirate Cat Radio. 01:36:23.319 --> 01:36:26.140 And that's where we're at before he had to run 01:36:26.140 --> 01:36:28.779 out of the room. We were going to have our lightning 01:36:28.779 --> 01:36:31.220 round of questions where I've just started peppering 01:36:31.220 --> 01:36:35.460 him with just some random things. And we're going 01:36:35.460 --> 01:36:37.939 to wait for him to get back. But this is a good 01:36:37.939 --> 01:36:42.359 time for some station business. This is your 01:36:42.359 --> 01:36:46.479 local station. No algorithms, no corporate playlists, 01:36:46.840 --> 01:36:50.000 just unique. hand -built programming you won't 01:36:50.000 --> 01:36:53.800 find anywhere else from ska and soul to climate 01:36:53.800 --> 01:36:57.119 news and queer culture pirate cat radio reflects 01:36:57.119 --> 01:37:01.079 the real bay area help us stay live and grow 01:37:01.079 --> 01:37:07.920 give us a call sometime at four zero eight or 01:37:07.920 --> 01:37:13.840 you can visit kpcr .org slash join to become 01:37:13.840 --> 01:37:17.800 a Signal Society member and what that means is 01:37:17.800 --> 01:37:21.359 you become a member of the station and what that 01:37:21.359 --> 01:37:25.760 gets you is a bunch of perks including free concert 01:37:25.760 --> 01:37:29.569 tickets like we mentioned at the last break discounts 01:37:29.569 --> 01:37:32.869 on all sorts of cool things like restaurants 01:37:32.869 --> 01:37:35.250 around town, not just in Los Gatos, but throughout 01:37:35.250 --> 01:37:39.770 the Bay Area and in Santa Cruz. And I think we're 01:37:39.770 --> 01:37:42.029 starting to expand into Portland now as well. 01:37:42.369 --> 01:37:46.409 We have Partner businesses, we have the Beauty 01:37:46.409 --> 01:37:49.090 Bar in town. You can get discounts off of services 01:37:49.090 --> 01:37:51.550 there. That's a really cool spot. Check them 01:37:51.550 --> 01:37:55.489 out. As I always mention, because I am a regular 01:37:55.489 --> 01:37:58.350 customer, Roundtable Pizza, it's worth becoming 01:37:58.350 --> 01:38:01.869 a Signal Society member to get discounts on Roundtable 01:38:01.869 --> 01:38:04.930 Pizza. As much as I love Roundtable Pizza, it's 01:38:04.930 --> 01:38:09.979 not cheap. So getting a discount off of Roundtable 01:38:09.979 --> 01:38:13.800 Pizza every single month, which costs you as 01:38:13.800 --> 01:38:16.520 little as $5 a month, it's just a no -brainer. 01:38:16.699 --> 01:38:19.979 It's totally worth doing for that alone. And 01:38:19.979 --> 01:38:22.260 then the free concert tickets. I mean, we have 01:38:22.260 --> 01:38:25.100 tickets that we'll be giving away in the coming 01:38:25.100 --> 01:38:30.340 months that are 200 bucks a piece. We're getting 01:38:30.340 --> 01:38:32.970 some really... good shows. We're getting some 01:38:32.970 --> 01:38:35.170 bigger shows at bigger venues. Like I mentioned, 01:38:35.250 --> 01:38:40.930 the Fox Theater. We are now partnering with the 01:38:40.930 --> 01:38:45.409 Greek Theater in Berkeley. And just recently 01:38:45.409 --> 01:38:50.090 we brought on board the Taub UC Theater in Berkeley, 01:38:50.170 --> 01:38:54.510 which has a ton of killer shows. So consider 01:38:54.510 --> 01:38:58.350 becoming a Signal Society member if you are not 01:38:58.350 --> 01:39:06.329 already. And again, that's KPCR. Alright, you've 01:39:06.329 --> 01:39:08.430 been listening to the Sonic Smorgasbord. I am 01:39:08.430 --> 01:39:12.949 your host DJ Not -So -Jazzy Jeff and I'm on every 01:39:12.949 --> 01:39:17.789 Friday from 12 to 2 p .m. Normally I do a show 01:39:17.789 --> 01:39:22.010 that is just a variety of music hence the name 01:39:22.010 --> 01:39:24.970 Sonic Smorgasbord. It's usually based on a theme 01:39:24.970 --> 01:39:29.149 so I'll play Songs from all different genres 01:39:29.149 --> 01:39:31.289 kind of based on a theme so the last show that 01:39:31.289 --> 01:39:33.750 I did was Friday the 13th and that was all stuff 01:39:33.750 --> 01:39:37.569 about superstition and a little bit of Friday 01:39:37.569 --> 01:39:40.970 the 13th stuff, but mostly just about superstition 01:39:40.970 --> 01:39:45.970 and That kind of thing I've done I'll do shows 01:39:45.970 --> 01:39:50.090 that focus just on a specific genre of music 01:39:50.090 --> 01:39:53.770 or subgenre so I've done indie pop I've done 01:39:53.770 --> 01:39:58.479 stoner metal I've done All country and cow punk 01:39:58.479 --> 01:40:02.119 Just kind of all over the map But today was a 01:40:02.119 --> 01:40:04.100 very special show where we're interviewing the 01:40:04.100 --> 01:40:08.439 chief the founder of kpcr pirate cat radio He's 01:40:08.439 --> 01:40:12.300 still on his work call. So I'm gonna get back 01:40:12.300 --> 01:40:15.020 into playing some more music from his playlist 01:40:15.020 --> 01:40:17.920 Thanks again for listening to pirate cat radio 01:40:41.449 --> 01:40:44.050 It's got glass tables, you can watch yourself 01:40:44.050 --> 01:40:58.810 while you are eating. Beer in the bathroom, I 01:40:58.810 --> 01:41:01.649 just can't stop it. Every Saturday you see me, 01:41:01.649 --> 01:41:04.250 you know it's shopping. But I know it's just 01:41:04.250 --> 01:43:38.600 interaction. You are listening to KPC our pirate 01:43:38.600 --> 01:43:43.359 cat radio and Just a quick song there Daniel 01:43:43.359 --> 01:43:47.399 is back. So hey, sorry I'm so truth be told dear 01:43:47.399 --> 01:43:50.619 listener and Jeff I am working one of my two 01:43:50.619 --> 01:43:53.180 full -time jobs right now. And while we're doing 01:43:53.180 --> 01:43:54.640 the radio interview I've got my computer here 01:43:54.640 --> 01:43:58.960 in front of me. I am in a work call and Just 01:43:58.960 --> 01:44:01.800 waiting and watching to see if my name gets called 01:44:02.429 --> 01:44:05.289 So, hey, who says you can't multitask? That's 01:44:05.289 --> 01:44:08.729 right. This is, yeah, you know what? You have, 01:44:09.369 --> 01:44:11.989 first of all, that's a man multitasking right 01:44:11.989 --> 01:44:15.149 there. You know, we are told that we are unable 01:44:15.149 --> 01:44:19.189 to do that. We can do that. And also this is 01:44:19.189 --> 01:44:23.229 great because it really gives you, I mean, that's 01:44:23.229 --> 01:44:26.989 like the essence of what we're doing here, right? 01:44:27.310 --> 01:44:31.600 Like this is volunteer work. Daniel's doing this 01:44:31.600 --> 01:44:35.199 for the passion of it. This is what he loves. 01:44:35.579 --> 01:44:37.939 We don't get paid. He doesn't get paid. We don't 01:44:37.939 --> 01:44:42.239 get paid. And he's doing his day job while he 01:44:42.239 --> 01:44:47.020 is is doing his fashion. And so I am a great 01:44:47.020 --> 01:44:51.020 product director, I swear. I just sort of I just 01:44:51.020 --> 01:44:53.779 make myself unavailable for these two hours every 01:44:53.779 --> 01:44:58.640 Friday. And then I get back to work as soon as 01:44:58.640 --> 01:45:01.970 I'm done. But he is working while we're doing 01:45:01.970 --> 01:45:05.350 this and that is impressive. We just heard mirror 01:45:05.350 --> 01:45:10.010 in the bathroom by the beat. And, uh, of course, 01:45:10.090 --> 01:45:12.489 you know, that's like one of my top five songs. 01:45:12.649 --> 01:45:15.770 I think, you know, anyone who likes Scott, that's, 01:45:15.890 --> 01:45:18.270 I mean, for me too, that's, that's like just 01:45:18.270 --> 01:45:21.449 one of the all time great songs period. I mean, 01:45:21.829 --> 01:45:24.449 and I remember I'm old enough to remember when 01:45:24.449 --> 01:45:29.239 it was brand new and it was just. Like nothing 01:45:29.239 --> 01:45:31.380 I had ever heard. It was just like the coolest 01:45:31.380 --> 01:45:34.239 thing. I'm like, what is this? This is and I 01:45:34.239 --> 01:45:36.539 think it was just one of those this is amazing 01:45:36.539 --> 01:45:42.119 life -changing type song so Why is this on your 01:45:42.119 --> 01:45:44.479 playlist? I think he just said it but you want 01:45:44.479 --> 01:45:47.399 to expand well, I mean, you know that one it's 01:45:47.399 --> 01:45:51.720 it's one of my all -time favorite songs and I 01:45:51.720 --> 01:45:53.300 In addition to being one of my all -time favorite 01:45:53.300 --> 01:45:56.359 songs the English beat is playing the Felton 01:45:56.359 --> 01:45:59.439 Music Hall tonight and I've got tickets to go 01:45:59.439 --> 01:46:01.520 but I may not be able to go because my wife is 01:46:01.520 --> 01:46:05.600 sick and her daughter is conjunctivitis and Yeah 01:46:05.600 --> 01:46:08.659 adulting adulting that's right. It's a bummer 01:46:08.659 --> 01:46:11.659 so much FOMO so much FOMO I've seen them there 01:46:11.659 --> 01:46:16.300 twice and it's a great shut up Jeff Shut up Jeff. 01:46:16.300 --> 01:46:20.399 It is a fun show there because and Dave is just 01:46:20.399 --> 01:46:24.479 he is still absolutely loving every minute of 01:46:24.479 --> 01:46:27.399 it and you can feel it like he is having such 01:46:27.399 --> 01:46:30.899 a great time and that's just you know what he's 01:46:30.899 --> 01:46:33.180 not doing this for the money he he's doing it 01:46:33.180 --> 01:46:35.840 because he loves it and and the band of course 01:46:35.840 --> 01:46:38.199 you're not getting into the english beat unless 01:46:38.199 --> 01:46:41.279 you're a unless you're a really good player and 01:46:41.279 --> 01:46:45.550 the band is outstanding Man, you are making me 01:46:45.550 --> 01:46:48.210 feel guilty as ever for not being able to go 01:46:48.210 --> 01:46:54.689 tonight. Well, maybe you can leave. Take a buddy, 01:46:56.010 --> 01:47:00.069 write a nice big IOU. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Daddy 01:47:00.069 --> 01:47:01.710 went away to get a pack of cigarettes and doesn't 01:47:01.710 --> 01:47:06.649 come back home. Anyway, yeah, great. That's gonna 01:47:06.649 --> 01:47:09.210 be a great show tonight. Let's see. Let's see 01:47:09.210 --> 01:47:10.489 if I make it out there. But if you do have the 01:47:10.489 --> 01:47:12.069 opportunity to go to Felton Music Hall tonight, 01:47:12.250 --> 01:47:14.600 totally check it out. absolutely phenomenal. 01:47:14.920 --> 01:47:18.619 Yep, one of the all -time greats. And yeah, so 01:47:18.619 --> 01:47:22.579 we're at the tail end of our interview. And I 01:47:22.579 --> 01:47:27.500 was going to ask Daniel, what advice to young 01:47:27.500 --> 01:47:34.020 creators like him and other creators who feel 01:47:34.020 --> 01:47:37.039 shut out of traditional systems, what advice 01:47:37.039 --> 01:47:41.789 do you have for those people? Young creators 01:47:41.789 --> 01:47:44.470 shut out of traditional systems. Well, I mean 01:47:44.470 --> 01:47:47.909 you're a creator so automatic by by default you're 01:47:47.909 --> 01:47:50.569 not conforming Don't feel like you have to conform 01:47:50.569 --> 01:47:53.850 and that goes in a lot of different ways You 01:47:53.850 --> 01:47:56.710 know you make your own path. Nobody else makes 01:47:56.710 --> 01:48:00.800 a path for you other than yourself and know that 01:48:00.800 --> 01:48:02.600 everything you do and everything that we all 01:48:02.600 --> 01:48:05.399 do is trial and error. We just end up in situations 01:48:05.399 --> 01:48:07.560 where either we're lucky or we're comfortable 01:48:07.560 --> 01:48:10.340 or find ourselves in a good pivot point where 01:48:10.340 --> 01:48:12.479 we want to extend to something else. But don't 01:48:12.479 --> 01:48:14.560 feel like there's a definitive answer of what 01:48:14.560 --> 01:48:17.920 you should do. Just keep doing, keep trying, 01:48:18.119 --> 01:48:22.350 keep striving. And definitely as a creative Don't 01:48:22.350 --> 01:48:24.529 worry about like, you know, you worry worry about 01:48:24.529 --> 01:48:25.989 feeding yourself and paying your rent, of course 01:48:25.989 --> 01:48:29.010 But like, you know making money isn't everything 01:48:29.010 --> 01:48:31.310 at the end of the day You can find a way to get 01:48:31.310 --> 01:48:33.710 through and I know that's that's hard to hear 01:48:33.710 --> 01:48:37.689 in places like, Teslandia And where rents in 01:48:37.689 --> 01:48:39.649 Santa Cruz are five thousand dollars a month 01:48:39.649 --> 01:48:43.350 for a one -bedroom apartment but you know, it's 01:48:44.060 --> 01:48:46.319 It's it's a struggle nonetheless, but don't feel 01:48:46.319 --> 01:48:48.520 like you have to really take on the path that 01:48:48.520 --> 01:48:50.460 other people have There's a lot of paths. There's 01:48:50.460 --> 01:48:52.979 a lot of ways to be This is where I should probably 01:48:52.979 --> 01:48:55.279 have cat Stevens song in here of if you want 01:48:55.279 --> 01:48:58.439 to be me be me if you want to be you be you It 01:48:58.439 --> 01:49:01.020 really holds true. So, you know, watch Harold 01:49:01.020 --> 01:49:03.819 and Maude, listen to the title track song for 01:49:03.819 --> 01:49:06.840 that, or check out Baz Luhrmann's Suntan speech. 01:49:07.520 --> 01:49:10.520 I find great solace in listening to both of those 01:49:10.520 --> 01:49:12.739 songs on a regular basis, like at least once 01:49:12.739 --> 01:49:16.340 a year, if not more, just to remind myself that, 01:49:16.380 --> 01:49:19.140 you know, the... Most interesting people you 01:49:19.140 --> 01:49:21.659 know at 30 didn't know what to do with their 01:49:21.659 --> 01:49:24.159 lives. The even more interesting people you know 01:49:24.159 --> 01:49:26.060 at 40 had no idea what they wanted to do with 01:49:26.060 --> 01:49:29.239 their lives. So just keep that in mind, resonate. 01:49:30.340 --> 01:49:34.979 Very cool. And I guess finally, this is just 01:49:34.979 --> 01:49:38.640 generic lightning round type of question, but 01:49:38.640 --> 01:49:45.930 how would you describe radio today? Effing disaster. 01:49:46.310 --> 01:49:51.409 It's a complete disaster radio is a mess You 01:49:51.409 --> 01:49:54.970 know, I don't know how many of you out there 01:49:54.970 --> 01:49:58.609 need uplifting music that you hear on K love 01:49:58.609 --> 01:50:02.329 or these other places but You know radio is just 01:50:02.329 --> 01:50:06.020 is destroyed. There's you know, there's so It's 01:50:06.020 --> 01:50:10.180 no wonder that it's a slowly fading medium. It 01:50:10.180 --> 01:50:12.699 still has its relevance. It'll still be here 01:50:12.699 --> 01:50:15.279 in times of emergencies and things like that. 01:50:16.119 --> 01:50:18.439 But yeah, you know, the powers that be have really 01:50:18.439 --> 01:50:20.420 destroyed it. So that's why folks like myself 01:50:20.420 --> 01:50:23.439 and others, like there's a guy named Todd Yurick 01:50:23.439 --> 01:50:26.039 who I do work with from a group called Common 01:50:26.039 --> 01:50:29.500 Frequencies, and just other people around the 01:50:29.500 --> 01:50:32.909 US who I collaborate with to make sure that we're 01:50:32.909 --> 01:50:35.909 able to take these meager LPFM licenses like 01:50:35.909 --> 01:50:38.390 we've got here or other, you know, community 01:50:38.390 --> 01:50:41.050 radio nonprofit licenses and make them become 01:50:41.050 --> 01:50:44.369 the thorn in the sides of broadcast corporate 01:50:44.369 --> 01:50:49.829 radio. Because I feel like what we're doing is 01:50:49.829 --> 01:50:52.729 the only way to save this medium from becoming 01:50:52.729 --> 01:50:56.529 just... Utterly useless, utterly useless. Hours 01:50:56.529 --> 01:50:59.510 of commercials, the same thing you hear everywhere 01:50:59.510 --> 01:51:07.109 else. If radio is going to have a revival, it's 01:51:07.109 --> 01:51:09.470 going to be from a community basis. It's not 01:51:09.470 --> 01:51:12.619 going to be based on what corporate... Organizations 01:51:12.619 --> 01:51:15.800 and are doing with radio today It's it's gonna 01:51:15.800 --> 01:51:20.020 be what us as volunteers as people who run radio 01:51:20.020 --> 01:51:22.859 stations from a philanthropic process Are doing 01:51:22.859 --> 01:51:25.399 to to make radio a viable thing that people want 01:51:25.399 --> 01:51:29.100 to listen to again Very cool. All right. Well, 01:51:29.119 --> 01:51:32.779 you have been listening to pirate cat radio the 01:51:32.779 --> 01:51:35.340 Sonic smorgasbord show I always think about peanut 01:51:35.340 --> 01:51:37.560 butter and jelly sandwiches when I hear smorgasbord 01:51:38.659 --> 01:51:44.520 I think I picture a a spread a spread, but of 01:51:44.520 --> 01:51:49.100 like, it's European. Ah, like the Russian Sunday 01:51:49.100 --> 01:51:51.659 brunch of like the big salmon on the table. Yeah. 01:51:51.659 --> 01:51:56.399 And like one of those horns. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 01:51:56.699 --> 01:51:58.579 That's you've got you've got you like the the 01:51:58.579 --> 01:52:02.739 American ideal of a charcuterie board. Yes. But 01:52:02.739 --> 01:52:08.739 yeah, I think. Yes, but it's all it's all oral. 01:52:09.180 --> 01:52:15.039 That's oral, not oral oral. Who's he? So thanks 01:52:15.039 --> 01:52:19.000 for listening. Hopefully you learned a lot like 01:52:19.000 --> 01:52:23.180 I did today about how KPCR Pirate Cat Radio came 01:52:23.180 --> 01:52:27.119 to be. And we want to thank Daniel for being 01:52:27.119 --> 01:52:30.600 here today and sharing the story with us and 01:52:30.600 --> 01:52:34.270 also thank him. For creating this and allowing 01:52:34.270 --> 01:52:37.270 us to all be part of it that includes me and 01:52:37.270 --> 01:52:40.890 the other volunteers and you the listeners and 01:52:40.890 --> 01:52:45.109 and all of the Live music venues that we promote 01:52:45.109 --> 01:52:48.670 all the local bands that we play And it's all 01:52:48.670 --> 01:52:51.489 an ecosystem. We're all in this together and 01:52:51.489 --> 01:52:53.689 it takes all of us to kind of make it make it 01:52:53.689 --> 01:52:56.010 all work And it's fun to be part of it. Well, 01:52:56.010 --> 01:52:58.550 thanks. Thanks for having me today jeff and thank 01:52:58.550 --> 01:53:02.399 you for all you do and being our music venue 01:53:02.399 --> 01:53:05.739 liaison and To all of our listeners out there. 01:53:05.899 --> 01:53:08.119 Thank you for listening Thank you for for keeping 01:53:08.119 --> 01:53:11.000 us on the air and and making it all worthwhile 01:53:11.000 --> 01:53:13.279 And if you want to be the person who hosts brave 01:53:13.279 --> 01:53:16.899 space get in touch All right. We'll be back next 01:53:16.899 --> 01:53:18.880 week. Thanks for listening. Thanks all