Allan Weiner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Allen Weiner (born June 12, 1953, Yonkers, New York) is a long-time pirate radio operator and activist, and currently the owner/operator of WBCQ, a licensed shortwave station broadcasting from Monticello, Maine.
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[edit] The Falling Star Radio Network
Becoming fascinated with radio at an early age, Wiener began building radio transmitters as a teenager. Weiner was operating an unlicensed station that he called WKOV, when he was contacted by a fellow teenaged radio pirate, Joseph Paul Ferraro. Ferraro's station shared time with Weiner's, with the two stations alternating back and forth on the channel. The stations were renamed "WFSR", for the Falling Star Radio Network. Later, two FM stations were added to the network: Weiner's WXMN and Ferraro's WSEX. The network was renamed the American Radio Broadcasting System, and was the subject of an article in Rolling Stone. After the network was raided by the FCC twice in 1971, Weiner and Ferraro penned a letter of protest to the FCC, stating in part:
- ...we went about a year ago ... to apply for a license. Our attempt proved quite humorous to your employees, who sent us away with word of "Forget it." Further investigations showed us why our attempt was then so comical. Licenses were so expensive and hard to get that even small stations were being sold for millions. Broadcasting was reserved for power men.
- ...We are not disputing, however, your right to assign channels and set aside bands for the prevention of interference. We certainly, however, are disputing your right to reserve broadcasting for the well-to-do only.
[edit] Ships Ahoy
Weiner and Ferraro continued throughout the 1970s and 80s with various unlicensed stations. Some projects were operated separately from one another, but others saw the duo collaborating as they did on Radio Newyork International, which operated from a ship, the M/V Sarah in international waters off the Long Island coast. Again raided by the FCC, Weiner and Ferraro began purchasing airtime occasionally on licensed shortwave station WWCR.
Another attempted shortwave station operated from a ship at sea, this time from aboard the M/V Fury and operated from off the South Carolina coast, was raided before the ship had left the harbor when the FCC claimed to have monitored test transmissions coming from the ship. The South Carolina operations were to be funded partially by controversial fundamentalist preacher Brother Stair, whose broadcasts would also be carried from the ship. The ties to Stair, whose views stood in sharp contrast to Weiner's, led to accusations that Weiner had "sold out" his long held beliefs in pacifism and agnosticism. Stair frequently clashed with Weiner and especially Weiner's engineer Scott Becker during the abortive project.
[edit] License granted
After the M/V Fury fiasco, Ferraro purchased a small licensed AM station, WHVW in Hyde Park, New York.
In 1998, after a decade of lobbying and another threatened off shore broadcasting effort, Weiner was granted a license for shortwave station WBCQ and AM station WREM in Monticello, Maine.
Programming on WBCQ is an eclectic mix of music, plus brokered religious and political programming. Some former radio pirates produce shows on WBCQ as well. WREM currently operates as a simulcast station for talk radio outlet WEGP in nearby Presque Isle, Maine. [1]
Having received a license after years of battling the FCC has brought more criticism from pirate radio enthusiasts. Also criticized has been Weiner's decision to sell airtime on WBCQ to extremist right wingers such as Hal Turner and Brother Stair.
WBCQ's operations on the frequency of 7415 kHz are another sore spot with radio pirates, as that channel had previously been the most popular frequency for shortwave pirates to use in the 1990s.
In January 1997, Weiner published his autobiography, Access to the Airwaves: My Fight For Free Radio which was published by Loompanics Unlimited.
[edit] External links
- Article on Weiner's early broadcasting Includes the complete text of his 1971 letter to the FCC.
