Reviews
The 1989 Pirate Radio Directory
by Paul Estev
When it comes to free communications, nothing comes close to the power of radio. And when it comes to radio, nothing is more free than pirate radio. In The 1989 Pirate Radio Directory, George Zeller provides another useful publication from Tiare Publications (makers of various handy shortwave/DX guides and directories) to aid in the search for truth. Here Zeller provides a compendium of the pirates of 1988, as well as a brief history of each one. Details include where and when they were last found as well as their most recent mail drop. This catalog of about 50 pirate radio broadcasters is meant only for the patient DX'er - these broadcasters are only on the air for a few hours at a time and frequently change their frequencies.
We know where Zeller spends his holidays and weekends: listening to "KNBS, Cannabis 41, the station with your mind in mind," the shortwave station of the California Marijuana Cooperative. Illegal stations like this have been getting out their word through the power of radio waves which may now be passing through your body as you read these words. The directory covers the not-so-secret Voice of Tomorrow, which promises a tomorrow without Blacks, jews, or capitalists, and praises the work of Nazis. To catch them try 7410 or 6240 KHz and listen for the sounds of a howling wolf over a drum beat (no fooling).
On September 10, you could have caught "WFIX, where we fix your radio over the air" and listened to Fix-It Bob and Fix-It Bill from Lake Erie. Other stations included are: Radio Garbanzo, Radio Lymph Node International, Radio Comedy Club International, Radio Clandestine, CBOR (busted by the FCC last November), The Crooked Man (a sort of Dr. Gene Scott of shortwave), Voice of Bob (representing the satirical "Church of the SubGenius").
Many of the stations listed are small fly-by-night operations, that may have provided only one broadcast in 1988. Others, like Radio Newyork International, have had a more notorious history. The 1989 Pirate Radio Directory provides a good start in the search for new, unlicensed voices from beyond.
The 1989 Pirate Radio Directory, 55pp. from:
Also available from Tiare: Los Numeros - The Numbers Stations Log by Havana Moon. This is an extensive list of frequencies of the mysterious numbers stations from around the world. Tune in to hear cryptic sequences of numbers being read aloud in German, Spanish, English, French, and Russian.
The New "TAP"
by Emmanuel Goldstein
Ever since we began printing 2600, people have been asking us whatever became of TAP, the telephone/anarchy newsletter founded by the Yippies in 1971. After five years, we finally seem to have convinced people that TAP is defunct and that we had nothing at all to do with them. Now it appears another chapter in the saga is unfolding.
Since TAP stopped publishing in 1984, there have been at least a dozen attempts to take over or restart the former Yippie publication. Now, out of Kentucky, an organization has emerged that calls itself TAP and has actually put out and issue. They claim to have a new staff and a new lease of life. It's up to the hackers of the world to decide whether this is really TAP reborn or just another opportunistic attempt to cash in on the name.
A glance at the first issue reveals a format practically identical to the old magazine. Two sheets of paper (unattached) with the old TAP logo, a couple of news clippings, a brief explanation on how to make an unstable explosive in three steps (for the "home anarchist"), and an article explaining BITNET. The article takes up about half the issue.
Yes, it looks like the old TAP. And it even reads like the old TAP. But a lot has happened since TAP last came out. Can this new newsletter simply pick up where the old one left off? We'll know soon enough.
Cheshire Catalyst, the old TAP's last editor, says he would have preferred it had TAP been allowed to rest in peace. He complained of a lack of imagination in the new TAP, particularly in the way they use the old logos. "It's time to move on and do something different." he said.
Other hackers say that Cheshire has no exclusive right to TAP and that anybody can start it up again if they want to. That's just the way it is with a newsletter like TAP.
But had the publishers simply chosen a new name, a lot of the doubts being expressed in the hacker community simply wouldn't be there. Considering that nobody involved in the new TAP appears to have been involved in the old TAP, are they justified in using the same name? What about those people who lost money to the old TAP? They're likely to pin the responsibility for this on the people of the new TAP. By taking on the name of TAP, the publishers may actually be putting their newsletter at a disadvantage.
There's plenty of room in the hacker community for innovative newsletters and magazines. An electronic hacker newsletter called Phrack is one that built a strong following by doing something different; collecting hacker files and articles and distributing them in a "package" to bulletin boards all over the world. One of their regular articles, Phrack World News, is a must-read for many hackers.
The best publications are the ones that tread on new ground and make, not take, a name for themselves. We hope to see the new TAP succeed for being new and different.
At press time, there was one issue of the new TAP know as Issue #92. However, the old TAP also had an Issue #92 which was its last and was not widely distributed.
To get a sample of the new TAP, just send them a 25 cent stamp. Their address is: