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PIRATE RADIO (American Style)

Ultimately the station didn’t succeed, but at least Scott Shannon gave us radio folks a heckuva ride.

To support the illusion of a true pirate operation, their TV commercials were filled with static — and interrupted other, real commercials. That is, they paid real advertisers to allow them to air a few seconds of their commercials, which then would be “hijacked” by the fuzzy, static-y Pirate Radio spots.

The most inspired moment was when they invited listeners to write in with their comments. KQLZ’s studio was in Culver City (Los Angeles County), a densely populated business area.

But the recorded announcement instructed listeners to send their comments to “Pirate Radio c/o General Delivery, Catalina Island, California.”