
'Lords' and 'Knights' defy Soviet authority, 'pollute' the airwaves (1984) - pionerkotik
https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0118/011818.html/(page)/2
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arbuge
"the operators go out on the air using strong transmitters built from bits and
pieces of equipment stolen from factories or bought on the black market....
Under Section 206 of the criminal code, officials confiscate their equipment
and impose fines of up to one month's salary."

Unauthorized radio transmissions are not exactly welcome in Western societies
either:

[https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/unauthorized-radio-
oper...](https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/unauthorized-radio-operation)

~~~
gwbas1c
In the 1980s, the difference is that, in the US, the media had much more
freedom to stay what they want and criticize the government. (Except for the 7
words, but you can pretty much communicate any idea without those 7 words.)
The radio stations could play pretty much any music they wanted, as long as
they edited out the 7 words or weren't too sexually explicit. There was no
censorship, but stations had clear market pressure to provide programming that
people liked.

Individually, an American could send letters into newspapers.

US pirate radio was a hobby, or an act of rebellion against privatization of
airwaves. It didn't have the same political connotations that Soviet pirate
radio had.

~~~
JadeNB
> (Except for the 7 words, but you can pretty much communicate any idea
> without those 7 words.) The radio stations could play pretty much any music
> they wanted, as long as they edited out the 7 words or weren't too sexually
> explicit.

Not that I really think that the American marketplace of ideas was more
repressive than the Soviet one—I don't—but, if you need that many qualifiers
to assert freedom of speech, then you don't really have it. ("You must avoid
these words, but we're sure you can manage to say what you want without them"
certainly sounds positively Soviet.)

~~~
MS90
I see what you're getting at, but it should be mentioned that the words were
"vulgar" language that had nothing to do with anything political. Anyone who
wanted to keep up even the most minimal appearance of professionalism and be
taken seriously, even today, likely wouldn't use one of the "seven dirty
words" (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits).

And no KGB type entity would whisk you away in the night for saying any of
them. It's even vague whether or not the FCC ever even enforced it at all.
Hell, it's kinda vague on whether or not it was even a rule before George
Carlin's comedy bit. The Supreme Court later even ruled it as...too vague.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words)

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matthewjpo
Anyone know if any of these guys are still out there? Would love to hear what
that arrested high-schooler from Tashkent did with his life

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vkou
If you think that you can run a pirate radio station in 2019, the FCC would
like to have a word with you. You will, after all, be getting in the way of
commercial interests.

