Radios: A story of pirates, Russian spies, and love.

All your base are belong to us.

In 1993, there was an unknown station in England broadcasting the scene "All your base are belong to us" from Zero Wing. The broadcaster was tracked down by the FCC and Royal Guards, and charged $40.00 for operating this TV station illegally. When questioned, he explained that he was using the signal to broadcast his love for the scene.

Max Headroom Incident

on November 26, 1987, two stations were hi-jacked, and broadcasted a clip of a man in a Max Headroom mask, doing peculiar things for 90 seconds. Whoever hi-jacked these stations did so by transmitting closer (and therefore making a stronger signal, overriding the broadcaster) to the station's transmittor. The people who hi-jacked these stations have yet to be identified.

If you want to watch the video of the incident, here it is, but be warned; bubbly butts are smacked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj1mUk04_ho

Captain Midnight

John MacDougall (AKA "Captain Midnight") jammed HBO's signal broadcasting "The Falcon and the Snowman", and broadcasted a text message questioning the price of HBO subscription. The broadcast lasted for about 6 minutes. the FCC received a tip from an accountant who overheard John MacDougall bragging about the event on a payphone. He was charged $5,000 and given a year of probation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbruOe6Yii0

Buddy Christ, Live on Channel 7!

On January 3, 2007, Australian Network "Seven Network" was broadcasting the television series "Mayday". During the broadcast, an audio loop of a man speaking with an American accent says "Jesus christ, help us all, lord. fuck", and this repeats on for 6 minutes. One of the network's spokeman says it was a glitch, and the actual phrase was "Jesus Christ one of the Nazarenes". The audio loop was later identified as part of a news broadcast of a civilian truck being ambushed in Iraq. To this day, it is unsure whether or not this was an attack, or a genuine glitch.

You could watch a horrible recording of the event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mo0koQe5U

The Squeaky Wheel

Like most number stations, little is known about this station. Up until 2008, the station would broadcast a distinctive sound, which would be described as a "squeaky wheel". Now, it plays 2 sequential tones. It broadcasts on frequencies 3828 kHz(day), and 5473 kHz(night).

Here is a recording of the broadcast(avoid if you are scared of 2-tone patterns!!1): http://priyom.org/media/53331/s32_sample.ogg

UVB-76, AKA "The Buzzer"

This is a Russian broadcast, which constantly broadcasts at the frequency 4625 kHz. It usually broadcasts a buzzing tone, which repeats 25 times in a minute. Occasionally, the transmission of the buzzer is interrupted, and a Russian voice broadcasts a cryptic message. Once the voice stops, there is an interval of silence, and the buzzing typically restarts its loop. There is not much public knowledge of this station, but it's believed the buzzing is used as a 'Stay-Alive' flag for whomever the broadcast is for.

Here is a recorded broadcast of UVB-76 (don't worry, it's not scary): https://soundcloud.com/djoutcold/uvb-76-aug-23-2010-9-32ampst

The Backwards Music Station

Little is known about this station. It broadcasts on multiple frequencies, and has no specific schedule as to when it is broadcasted. Sometimes, it even stops for long intervals. It has two points of transmission: one in America, and another in Europe. Some believe this is used by U.S. naval bases, since the frequencies used are close to naval frequencies.

Here is a recorded broadcast of the Backwards Music Station (If you can handle man-made radio transmissions):
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Conet+Project/_/The+Backwards+Music+Station