Editing Pirate radio (section)

{{Short description|Illegal or unregulated radio transmissions}}
{{other uses|Pirate Radio (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2022}}

[[File:Het REM-eiland, Bestanddeelnr 917-2504.jpg|thumb|[[REM Island]] was a platform off the Dutch coast used as a pirate radio station in 1964 before being dismantled by the [[Netherlands Marine Corps]].]]
'''Pirate radio''' is a [[radio station]] that [[Radio broadcasting|broadcasts]] without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 May 2023 |title=Pirate radio/television station |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pirate-radio-television-station |website=Online Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref> In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received&mdash;especially when the signals cross a national boundary.

In other cases, a broadcast may be considered "pirate" due to the nature of its content, its transmission format (especially a failure to transmit a [[station identification]] according to regulations), or the transmit power (wattage) of the station, even if the transmission is not technically illegal (such as an [[amateur radio]] transmission).  Pirate radio is sometimes called '''bootleg radio'''<ref name="Misiroglu">{{cite book |editor-last=Misiroglu |editor-first=Gina |title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-317-47728-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iICsBwAAQBAJ&q=%22pirate+radio%22+bootleg |chapter=Pirate Radio |quote=An unlicensed FM station (often run by an amateur radio operator) that manages to occupy a commercial or state-run FM band is an example of a pirate or "bootleg" radio station}}</ref> (a term especially associated with [[two-way radio]]), '''clandestine radio''' (associated with heavily politically motivated operations)  or '''free radio'''.