Pirate radio in Asia

An introduction to the subject of Pirate Radio can be found under that heading.

= China (From International Waters) =

A number of offshore radio stations have reportedly operated from the South China Sea, mainly for political purposes and these include Voice of the People's Liberation Army; Radio Flash; The October Storm; Redifussion Central; Popular of Peking. In 1990-1991, two other offshore radio stations intended for a Chinese audience made news in the world's press.

One of them was Radio Tiananmen, a station that was to be based aboard the MV "Sarah" ("Lichfield I") to be renamed "Liberty" that had been the former home of Radio Newyork International that broadcast briefly during two consequetive years in late 1980s from an anchorage off Jones Beach, New York. The idea was to anchor the ship in international waters off the Northeast coastline of the USA and to broadcast on behalf of the thousands of Chinese students studying in the USA in support of their fellow students who had demonstrated in Tiananmen Square. The idea faltered when the backers were told that the United States government would oppose an independent political station of this type.

The other station was created in France and sponsored by "Actuel", a French magazine and "The Face", a British magazine together with support from contributors in Hong Kong. The group called themselves "Federation for Democracy in China" and they purchased a ship which they painted with prominent signs under its new name: Goddess of Democracy, which appeared to be both the new name of the ship and the working name of the proposed station. When the vessel sailed from La Rochelle, France it was intended for the ship to dock and that is where studios, transmitters and radio antenna would be installed. However, the project ran into one political problem after another and after several ports of call the would-be radio ship ended up as a financial liability headed for the scrap yards.

Hong Kong

In 2006, Citizen's Radio was founded by a group of pro-democracy activists, including Tsang Kin-shing and legislator Leung Kwok-hung, also known as "Long Hair". It broadcast on weeknights from Wan Chai on 102.8 MHz FM.

Taiwan

In reference to unlicensed land-based stations, the term "underground radio" is in common usage in Taiwan. The World United Formosans for Independence reportedly studied the possibility of broadcasting from the Philippines, but no concrete action materialised.

The underground radio movement began in the liberalising political milieu following the lifting of the decades-long martial law. Historically most of the stations have opposed, in some manner, the political establishment represented by the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Republic of China (ROC) framework, in favour of the then opposition movement broadly consisting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and allied social movements. These so called pan-green radio stations are mostly based in central and southern Taiwan with most listeners being hard-core pan-green supporters who despise Kuomingtang rule and the potential for reunification with China. A few stations positioned themselves on the opposing end of the political spectrum, generally favouring the ROC status quo advocated by the New Party and "non-mainstream factions" within the Nationalist Party. With the DPP currently in power, and ultimate Taiwan independence and sovereignty being the stance taken by most underground radio stations, it makes Taiwan one of the rare examples in the world of underground radio stations being pro-government.

Programming generally is of a vertical blocking format, with live call-ins taking up a good portion of air time. On some stations slots are allocated to local community and activist groups. The most prominent segment of the audience comes from rural working class, males usually middle aged and beyond. Although Mandarin and, much less frequently, Hakka are used on the air, Taiwanese is by far the most commonly used language. Underground radio stations cover their expenses by selling unorthodox drugs or medicine in a humorous and entertaining manner to keep the listeners hooked between actual programming.

Most if not all underground stations favour a mechanism to gain legal status but many balk at the costly requirements, which they believe to favour corporate and Nationalists-owned broadcasters. Government policy has always treated underground radio as an illegal enterprise, even after the DPP came to power. Official responses have been more varied, alternating between levying fines and confiscating equipment to tolerating their presence. Most stations are able to set up backup broadcast points within days of government raids. Commercial stations are known to file official complaints against pirate stations, whose signals are said to interfere with legal broadcasts.