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Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio

Date: Dec 17 2007

Themes: Hobbies, Music, Tech

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Have you ever wanted to have your own radio station? Though it’s highly illegal, it’s actually not that hard to do. With the right equipment, you can just broadcast over whatever your least favorite station on the dial is. That’s called pirating the signal.

Pirate radio is popular in the United States among people who listen to music that’s more unusual than what you normally hear on the airwaves. Tune in to Jason and Beren’s chat about pirate radio.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Beren

Beren

Jason:  Have you ever tuned in to 95.9?

Beren:  Uh-uh. What’s that?

Jason:  It’s pirate radio.

Beren:  Really?

Jason:  Yeah, it’s so cool. I mean, like, cause radio, for the most part, is pretty lame. Wouldn’t you agree?

Beren:  Mostly, yeah. I listen to NPR but never anything music-wise.

Jason:  Yeah, because all the radio stations are owned by two companies and they have really boring programming. But pirate radio is…I don’t know how they’re doing it, I guess sometimes they drive around in a van and they broadcast from it so you can’t find them…

Beren:  Whoa.

Jason:  ...Or they just broadcast from someplace you would never expect, like a house or something.

Beren:  No totally. Actually, I haven’t listened to it here, but it was really big in the town I moved here from and I knew most of the DJs, and you were never supposed to tell anybody that they worked for pirate radio because they would get shut down. And I would tune in to that…like all my friends’ shows on pirate radio. And one of my really good friends, he got kicked out of boarding school because he built his own transistor and had his own radio station.

Jason:  Really?

Beren:  Yeah.

Jason:  And he just overpowered whatever radio station…

Beren:  Yeah and he was playing like Sex Pistols and stuff and was like 15. Yeah pirate radio is huge in, like, the UK also.

Jason:  Really?

Beren:  Yeah, really huge. They have like…that’s kind of…Not really dancehall, but they have these weird mix tapes that they do where the DJ will rap over the music he’s playing.

Jason:  On pirate radio?

Beren:  Yeah totally. It’s like mixing and rapping.

Jason:  Gives me hope for radio, pirate radio.

 

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Discussion

Jason asks Beren if she’s listened to the local pirate radio station before. He’s really excited to find something different on the radio since two companies, Clear Channel and Cumulus Media, own the majority of radio stations in the country and only play a very limited selection of music on them.

Jason explains that since pirate radio stations are illegal, they have to broadcast from a van or from a house. Beren says that she had some friends who worked in pirate radio but she was sworn to secrecy about it, since the station could get shut down if the police found out who ran it.

Beren also had a friend in boarding school who made a transistor and played punk rock over the air. He got kicked out of school for it.

In England, pirate radio DJs sometimes rap live on the air over the music they’re playing. Have you ever heard anything that cool on the radio? Sounds like you need to start a pirate radio station!

 

Comments

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alanzheng

alanzheng

China

Sounds Coool!...Laughing

08:27 AM Dec 17 2007 |

kaushalyats

Sri Lanka

I like pirate radio because i can listen to more good songs than normal radio channel.this veterant channels are playing more ads than music and pirate channels play selected music without any ads inbetween songs

08:26 AM Dec 17 2007 |

kaushalyats

Sri Lanka

I like pirate radio because i can listen to more good songs than normal radio channel.this veterant channels are playing more ads than music and pirate channels play selected music without any ads inbetween songs.

08:25 AM Dec 17 2007 |

Glenn

China

i am en electric engineer, and good at radio system. in China , it's the same situation as this article said.

08:18 AM Dec 17 2007 |

sahery

Pakistan

i not read the all lesson bcoz i don,t listen radio and what is it i really don,t know.

07:52 AM Dec 17 2007 |

li xu

li xu

China

Pirate radio is also something that I have't heard before  though it's forbidden now but it can do good to built a stage to share your thoughs  to tell your worries  to make friends to show your personality and so on!more important nowadays cause huge stress from society so I advorcate

06:23 AM Dec 17 2007 |

smiyia

smiyia

China

I think in this modern society, many pepple are more likely to  enjoy serfing on the net, they can search imformation whatever they want, and listen to music , see movies,  talk and make friends, and so on ,  a much greater fun on net,. So fewer and fewer people  listen radio now, not mention about priate radio. Of course,i don't know it ,either.

03:57 AM Dec 17 2007 |

mahmoudjeexaa

Somalia

Uh, I have never heard this PIRATE OF RADIO before lool it's funtastic and illegal way.

Shame on you if you are Americans and Great britain they are wealthy countries then using to illegal radio that means they don't have much money kkk.

I'm in EAST AFRICA, Hargeisa city I listern legal and fabulous radio music,news etc.

03:54 AM Dec 17 2007 |

chenlin838588

China

i felt it is hard to understand!

03:26 AM Dec 17 2007 |

saveplayer

saveplayer

India

from english baby we do chat easily in english n help each others.this is the best way to learn /improve our english,bcoz english is the international language so we have to learn like necessity.

03:14 AM Dec 17 2007 |

fuwenhaozhonghao

China

i have never heard about too.the article is interesting.i think it is useful for many djs that they dont have the right way to release their albums .or their talant didnt make other people find out .and they can practise and improve their art feelings.but it is illegal.because legal radio company  in usa only have two companies.i think it is truely  boring about that .only two companys .their programs must be boring.

i dont know if my understanding is right.

 

03:02 AM Dec 17 2007 |

molisameng

China

I have never heard about pirate radio but it sounds interesting. Although it is illeagle, it looks like appealing to many people acording to the lesson. I'm wondering why they don't find a way to make it leagle 

02:45 AM Dec 17 2007 |

MGLN

MGLN

Mongolia

i don't know about pirate radio and it's intersting

02:13 AM Dec 17 2007 |

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