The term “pirate radio” refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmissions and is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, However, pirate radio could have different meanings to different people, implying some licensing procedure has been violated somewhere within the reach of the signal. Unlike “clandestine” stations, pirate radio stations are seldom political in nature and are more hobbies of pirate broadcasters operated just for fun and enjoyment.

Prior to the late 1970s, just a handful of unlicensed, “pirate” broadcasters existed in United States and Canada. Most operated on the AM and FM bands and were seldom heard outside their respective local areas. In the late 1970s, inexpensive used ham radio transmitting gear suitable for pirate broadcasting became widely available. Another factor was a growing inability of the Federal Communications Commission, along with Canada’s Department of Communications, to enforce regulations against unlicensed broadcasting. Soon after cracks started appearing in the “dam” of regulations, it broke; it is not uncommon now to have over a dozen pirate broadcasters active on shortwave from the United States and Canada in a single weekend.

Bay Area resident Rick Crandall is the founder and creator of MusicTampaBay.com, an on-line internet only radio station that plays only original music by local Bay Area musicians.   He brings to this task, a unique background going back to his days as a pirate radio DJ, but unlike anything ever heard of in North America.  Rick was one of 4 American DJs on a ship anchored off the coast of England in the mid 1960s with two high powered AM radio stations – Swingin’ Radio England and Britain Radio.  His wealth of knowledge from that experience, and a lifelong broadcast career that followed, has helped him in the early development of Music Tampa Bay.  MTB plays, on average per day, more than two hundred songs, from out of a library approaching a thousand different tracks by Bay Area musicians. Bay Area Beat recently met with Rick and, without reserve or hesitation, brings you yet another stalwart Shaker and Mover in our music community that definitely warrants recognition for his effort to promote the local music scene.

BAB- What exactly is MTB Music Tampa Bay)?

RC – Music Tampa Bay is an on-line internet only radio station that plays all original music by local Bay Area artists, exclusively.

BAB- You’ve taken on quite a difficult task in an overly competitive industry. You must feel passionate about local talent, especially when promoting the music in your own back yard?

RC – For many years I’ve felt a need for Bay Area artists to gain access to media outlets. I think they should enjoy the exposure that national musicians experience on broadcast radio.  My initial goal was to create a prototype program web format that could be easily be adopted by an on-the-air station.  However, with the development of wireless internet such as Wi-Fi, and hand held listening devices that operate off the internet, access is rapidly becoming universally available.  I’m less focused now on acquiring a spot in old-school media because new school media offers such promising and exciting opportunities.

BAB –You’re in the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. I didn’t know such a Hall of Fame existed! Could you please explain this?

RC – The Hall of Fame in this case is just a compilation of all the different people who were somehow involved in on-air operations from unlicensed, offshore radio stations in that part of the world, mostly during the 60s, but also in some rare cases on into the 70s and even later.  It didn’t take any talent to get in the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame – just being there was good enough.

BAB- How did this opportunity present itself? You know, how were you involved with the “Pirate Radio DJ team”, so to speak?

RC – I was hired over the telephone while on the radio in Montana, where my civilian broadcast career began while I was still in uniform with the US Air Force, and where I remained for about a year after my discharge.  I immediately flew to Miami where the ship was being outfitted and spent 3 weeks there before sailing on the ship from there to England, stopping in the Azores and Portugal along the way.

My first memory after we dropped anchor in the North Sea was realizing that pirates have no qualms about stealing from each other.  It was quite a surprise – just days after we began broadcasting, we discovered other pirate ships in the area were recording, splicing and reusing our jingles on their stations.  From that moment, I understood that there were no rules governing the English Channel, though for the most part I believe such tactics were generally harmless, and indeed the source of quite a few jokes.

BAB- So you’re a Pirate in your own right, invading Tampa Bay with MBT. How did all this turn out for your career?

RC- After about a half year of working in England, I returned to America to make a fresh start at completing my college education.  I came back to the Bay Area, where I had lived before with my family and graduated from high school (Dixie Hollins in St Pete) before joining the military. I enrolled at the local junior college (then SPJC), but also resumed my career in radio at what was then known as WLCY Radio – “Fun Radio on Great Tampa Bay”.  After that, I moved around a lot in radio, working at too many radio stations in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado and California, in addition to a number of other local stations, including WFLA, WTAN, WGUL, etc.  My on-air career ended in the early 90’s when I assumed administrative duties at what was then 102.5 The Point 102.5 and several other stations as well.  I was then transferred to television, and retired last year at what is now known as the ION Television Network. After being involved in on-air programming at more than 2 dozen radio stations in my career, I think I can say the one thing they all had in common was how they ignored local musicians, and only played the same old worn out songs all day long, day after day, year after year – and they’re still doing it.  There is a wealth of talent in and around the Bay Area with really good, and sometimes great music, that is rarely, if ever heard on local radio.  Music Tampa Bay is an effort to change that, and provide a public listening platform the will not play the same old songs heard everywhere on radio.

BAB-Do you have an interesting experience you’d like to share with our readers? Has your experience in the broadcast industry influenced your involvement in promoting local music on your internet radio station?

RC- Imagine, if possible, a day spent with the Rolling Stones - watching a rehearsal for a nationally telecast performance, then spending a half hour or so with them in their dressing room, shoving a recorder in their faces, gathering comments and one liners on tape, and then afterwards watching the whole show that had just been rehearsed again, but this time with live cameras and audience in a show televised to a national audience in England.  That was just one experience on one day during shore leave in London. You might say Internet radio is becoming the new pirate radio of the 21^st centaury – certainly not for “stealing” copyrighted music from illegal downloads, or anything like that, but simply because the internet itself is changing the way we listen to music, and even create our own radio stations.  In a sense, Music Tampa Bay, in its current form, is another form of pirate radio. MTB recognizes the Bay Area’s best local talent, and has discovered a great mix of music now heard 24/7.

For more information or to contact Rick, please go to www.MusicTampaBay.com