Pirate radio in North America Pirate radio in North America The strict definition of a "pirate radio" station is a station that operates from sovereign territory without a broadcasting license, or just beyond the territorial waters of a sovereign nation from on board a ship or other marine structure with the intention of broadcasting to that nation without obtaining a broadcasting license from that nation (such as Radio Caroline before its present incarnation). Unlike the sanctioned and fully licensed transmissions by the United States government, a number of groups in exile, mainly based in Florida, have attempted various offshore radio broadcasts to Cuba, from time
Radio Mercur ship. It broadcast to the southern province of Sweden, Skåne and was run by a young man, Nils-Eric Svensson, who had studied radio and TV in USA and had worked at the government run Swedish Radio for a very short time Radio Mercur was probably the first commercial offshore radio station in the world and gave inspiration to a whole number of offshore radios or pirate radios in Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom during the 1960s. The Danish press soon began to use the expression "pirate radio" on Radio Mercur, and a number of cartoons in newspapers and magazines