How Spam Was Done 70 Years Ago

bitrex writes "Modern Mechanix recently ran a reprint of a 1934 article describing the problem of offshore pirate radio stations broadcasting advertisements and drowning out local, licensed radio programs. 'The primary purpose of the unlicensed broadcast station was to advertise the gambling, liquor, and other dubious pleasure activities of the ship upon which it was built ... they found other sundry rackets, such as a fortune telling program ... After numerous unsuccessful attempts of a local nature, the floating broadcasting establishment was silenced, but only after the state department at Washington, D. C, had made diplomatic representations which forced a Central American country to cancel the ship's registry.' The article also has a great artist's conception of what might be called a machine age 'data haven' bobbing in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico."

And before that

[elrous0]

...it was done with printed playbills. That's why so many cities had to pass playbill laws to keep every huckster from posting flyers on every surface (you can still see the fading "Post no bills" paint on many old city walls).

There is nothing new under the sun. You can always find "people being people" throughout history. And bad people are always looking for some angle to exploit the masses.

That's not spam

[sm62704]

Unlike spam, It's not written. Unlike spam, it cost them money to do. Unlike spam, it was illegal.

Junk snail mail is more spam-like than what the article is about.

-mcgrew

Complete with piano and lounge!

[LoadWB]

Screw the technology of broadcasting, I want to know how these pirates steadied a piano and a full lounge on a floating radio station. This design would not "float" these days: no cubicles and no manager's office.

I notice that there are also no engineer or crew quarters. Fun lot, these pirates! And what, no Marconi and cross-bones flag?

This seems as outlandish as some of the scare tactics used now to "warn" us about terrorism. I bet people were just as gullible then as they are now. Really, just stick to the facts, and stop making sh!t up, please.

Not to mention the method of nailing domestic "radio pirates." The pirates claim that their meager 5w output does not cross state lines. The government uses super-high-sensitivity detection equipment to prove that the signals do indeed cross state lines. Seems a bit nit-pickish to me, as the average Joe Radio would pick up more powerful stations. But, as Bureaucrat Number 1.0 says, "you are technically correct - the best kind of correct."