40 Watts From Nowhere
Published February 29, 2004
This is the amazing, hilarious and true story of Sue Carpenter, a woman who gave corporate radio and the FCC the big 'ef U' by starting her own pirate radio station - right out of her apartment atop a hill in San Francisco.
A career opportunity (writing for a magazine) and first attempt at junkie-boyfriend escape causes Carpenter to move KPBJ (yea, like the sandwich) to Los Angeles where her bedroom/closet station resurfaces as KBLT (yea, like the sandwich).
Now the real fun begins.
How many people can say that they've had the Red Hot Chili Peppers do an acoustic show from their apartment? That they've had Mike Watt and Sylvain Sylvain (to name just a couple) DJ on their radio station? That Mazzy Star performed a show at a benefit for their station?
I'm not saying that everything Carpenter went through was all rock romance (far from it), but she definitely put her ass on the line for something she believed in. A pretty danged rare commodity if you ask me.
KBLT's first big era came to an end not in glamorous Pump Up The Volume-style but with a few FCC agents confiscating some equipment on an LA rooftop.
That's OK though as the spirit of pirate radio lives on (check out Mike Watt's The WATT from Pedro Show on the Internet).
Anybody interested in indie music and the washed-out state of commercial radio should check out 40 Watts To Nowhere
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- 40 Watts From Nowhere
- Published: February 29, 2004
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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Comments on this articleComments
And what exactly did Suzy believe in that deserves the word Pirate?
Yeah, I'm a parking meter Violator because I believe in saving a quarter.
Every dime that station spent came from the pockets of hard working writers, entertainers and producers plus other folks from the community.
What exactly has big daddy FCC taken from us that we "Pirate" the very thing that belongs to us in the first place? Nothing!
I would spend 20 hours on my motorcycle, round tripping SF-LA to make sure the exciter drive level, antenna tuning, power amp and cooling system would stay working and this woman uses the word Pirate?
Gimme a break.
Suzy, you're so cool. Let me worship your belief in nothing and in no one while I stand in a bookstore for 3 hours glossing through your good-girl writing like you were a victim, wishing this book of yours was used so I could buy it.
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buy the f-ing book. great story of why there is such crap out there in radio land and how the FCC plans to keep it that way. makes me want to start my own damn radio station. just glad that ms. carpenter stuck it to the FCC for a good run all the while promoting music by musicians outside the major labels.