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Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio

Date: Dec 17 2007

Themes: Hobbies, Music, Tech

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Have you ever wanted to have your own radio station? Though it’s highly illegal, it’s actually not that hard to do. With the right equipment, you can just broadcast over whatever your least favorite station on the dial is. That’s called pirating the signal.

Pirate radio is popular in the United States among people who listen to music that’s more unusual than what you normally hear on the airwaves. Tune in to Jason and Beren’s chat about pirate radio.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Beren

Beren

Jason:  Have you ever tuned in to 95.9?

Beren:  Uh-uh. What’s that?

Jason:  It’s pirate radio.

Beren:  Really?

Jason:  Yeah, it’s so cool. I mean, like, cause radio, for the most part, is pretty lame. Wouldn’t you agree?

Beren:  Mostly, yeah. I listen to NPR but never anything music-wise.

Jason:  Yeah, because all the radio stations are owned by two companies and they have really boring programming. But pirate radio is…I don’t know how they’re doing it, I guess sometimes they drive around in a van and they broadcast from it so you can’t find them…

Beren:  Whoa.

Jason:  ...Or they just broadcast from someplace you would never expect, like a house or something.

Beren:  No totally. Actually, I haven’t listened to it here, but it was really big in the town I moved here from and I knew most of the DJs, and you were never supposed to tell anybody that they worked for pirate radio because they would get shut down. And I would tune in to that…like all my friends’ shows on pirate radio. And one of my really good friends, he got kicked out of boarding school because he built his own transistor and had his own radio station.

Jason:  Really?

Beren:  Yeah.

Jason:  And he just overpowered whatever radio station…

Beren:  Yeah and he was playing like Sex Pistols and stuff and was like 15. Yeah pirate radio is huge in, like, the UK also.

Jason:  Really?

Beren:  Yeah, really huge. They have like…that’s kind of…Not really dancehall, but they have these weird mix tapes that they do where the DJ will rap over the music he’s playing.

Jason:  On pirate radio?

Beren:  Yeah totally. It’s like mixing and rapping.

Jason:  Gives me hope for radio, pirate radio.

 

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Discussion

Jason asks Beren if she’s listened to the local pirate radio station before. He’s really excited to find something different on the radio since two companies, Clear Channel and Cumulus Media, own the majority of radio stations in the country and only play a very limited selection of music on them.

Jason explains that since pirate radio stations are illegal, they have to broadcast from a van or from a house. Beren says that she had some friends who worked in pirate radio but she was sworn to secrecy about it, since the station could get shut down if the police found out who ran it.

Beren also had a friend in boarding school who made a transistor and played punk rock over the air. He got kicked out of school for it.

In England, pirate radio DJs sometimes rap live on the air over the music they’re playing. Have you ever heard anything that cool on the radio? Sounds like you need to start a pirate radio station!

 

Comments

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hotstick

hotstick

Philippines

in the philippines we have radio companies operating in rural areas. Mostly these radio stations are bit smaller compare to those radio stations in the cities. One example of this is MBC's Radyo Natin.

12:27 PM Dec 18 2007 |

hotstick

hotstick

Philippines

is this really happening somewhere? This is not allowed in democratic countries.

12:24 PM Dec 18 2007 |

renanski

Philippines

i never heard such radio station here in the philippines all i know is just we have local radio stations that plays nothin' but great music top count down list of the week.which includes variety of music fun on the air such that playing along with mix and rap. what i been observing here in the Philippines is we love to hear African song and hip hop all the down to rock alternative  ...

 

 

09:41 AM Dec 18 2007 |

whiterose7685

Viet Nam

Hic…hic…help me please! I want send messenger for my friend but i can't, because i don't find comment.

07:40 AM Dec 18 2007 |

whiterose7685

Viet Nam

The first i hear Pirate Radio

07:18 AM Dec 18 2007 |

glen490189718

China

the voice is pretty good …......................我顶。。。。。。。。。。。

07:07 AM Dec 18 2007 |

leonardoo15

Russian Federation

ppppppppppppppppp

05:32 AM Dec 18 2007 |

王靖

王靖

China

Me too  .I have never heard  Pirate Radio  .

03:09 AM Dec 18 2007 |

Robin-Lu

Myanmar

I've never heard what's Pirate Radio, but now i know, thanks for sharing this usefull message!

12:59 AM Dec 18 2007 |

McTehdiT

Turkey


Get N3wBaBY chat group | Goto N3wBaBY website

12:44 AM Dec 18 2007 |

naddito

naddito

Saudi Arabia

pirate radio!!!

whats that ?is it specialized in music or what ??

i cant get itUndecided

12:09 AM Dec 18 2007 |

raulo

raulo

Argentina

yes realy goodSmile

07:08 PM Dec 17 2007 |

poopypens

poopypens

Russian Federation

Well,there's a story abt this topic! Im a radio electronic engineer,and when i was 18 i created a station set on 100 FM (usual wave on our recivers),and i broatcasted my favorite tape.It was an old cassete with music i so liked,i just wanted to share my records i had,and a thought about being a DJ just drove me insane!!! This is what said my friends when they got to know what i did:IT'S ILLIGAL MAN,YOU'RE CRAZY!!! But it wasn't powerfull station anyway,and to tune in my new brand chanel 100FM could people from my hood only.But what a delight i had when i saw my friend listening my own station outside)))

06:38 PM Dec 17 2007 |

hands_1411

hands_1411

Viet Nam

I've never heard of a pirate radio station but when I first read the title of this lesson, I have the feeling that it's real, even in some other countries. 

Yes maybe at this time it's hard for the DJ or the rapper underground to perform publicly so that's why they have to find somewhere else. And the youth still love to listen to it instead of airwaves, but that's maybe a conflict.  

04:37 PM Dec 17 2007 |

Thanh Thanh Pham

Viet Nam

it likes the radio which Harry Potter waited for when he was hiding from Vondermort and his accomplices?

04:29 PM Dec 17 2007 |

recall

China

Pirate radio is too hard,it is beyond me,I don't read the all lesson,I feel headache when I read a half of the article

 

12:13 PM Dec 17 2007 |

brook-guo

brook-guo

China

it`s really appealing to me even i don`t understand the meaning completely.As the computer is used widly,the radio is ignored gratually.However, lestening to radio is still a fun in my life.In china,there are lots of interesting radio programs,so it`s not essensial for us to make pirate radio,but it`s actually a good job.

10:19 AM Dec 17 2007 |

jungee

Nepal

actually i have never come  across a radio like pirate radio i  wonder how wonderful it would be to have it even being prohibitied as it really sounds interesting.

09:52 AM Dec 17 2007 |

cybernaut1986

China

i like music,pop music

09:22 AM Dec 17 2007 |

zyy527117

China

that's bad !i can't listen to ..

09:19 AM Dec 17 2007 |

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