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Rating: 
Summary: Who owns the air?
Review: 40 Watts From Nowhere is a human interest story where the protagonist loses the game, but still gets a lovely consolation prize- the experience of having created a thriving community. A loyal following consisting of the media, musicians, and like-minded individuals, simply by providing music to a small core of ravenous music lovers. The only problem? It was against the law. The FCC caught up with 'Paige Jarrett' and put a stop to her unauthorized distribution of free music. No, this is not the story of yet another copyright infringing youth downloading music for free from the internet. This is the unusual success story of low-power, Pirate Radio in one of America's largest cities- Los Angeles.In an attempt at curbing the boredom of a 9 to 5 job as a receptionist, Sue Carpenter decided to purchase a small transmitter and set up shop in her apartment, eventually enlisting a small army of 25 or so volunteer disc jockeys playing everything from folk to punk. Pirate radio, notorious for broadcasting radical fringe political views is an unusual forum for music Carpenter discovered as she enlisted the help of many of the radio underground's key players for technical advice. For nearly 3 years, KBLT (yes, named for the sandwich), operated freely, almost so publicly that they would enlist artists such as Mazzy Star for a benefit concert, host Red Hot Chili Peppers for an in-studio impromptu performance, and even gain the services of punk rock legend Mike Watt to do his own KBLT radio program. Eventually, this cavalier attitude and a more powerful antenna location would spell KBLT's demise, being shut down permanently by the FCC. This story will delight anyone, such as myself who have worked in radio outside of the commercial realm. People who understand the power of music on its own terms, without playlists and big money commercial programming or rules. KBLT had the spirit of good College Radio, only without the college to go along with it. Anybody who lives on the left end of the dial will understand. Should anyone but the people themselves own the airwaves? In a country that brags of free speech, it's an interesting question...
Rating: 
Summary: Very good but a little dry
Review: The narritive is wonderfully honest and sufficiently detailed but also a bit dry. For all her counter-culture bravado (on the outside she is a leather-clad, motorcycle-riding radio pirate with a junkie boyfriend) she frankly says that inside she thinks of herself as the nerd from high-school that never quite made it to the cool level. The problem I had with the book was that she never really delves deeply into how she feels about things. Her reasons for starting the station are vague, and when you get right down to it, what she really did was play mama to the project and put her ass on the line as the one responsible if the FCC came knocking. She only learned as much as she needed to in order to operate the equipment, she only DJ'ed a few hours a week, and most of the time WBLT was on the air she was living at her boyfriend's while letting a series of kleptomanical strangers have full run of her apartment where the studio was located.
Her "hilarious" scenes are not really set up well enough to generate a great deal of humor, and she could do a much better job with her dialog, but on the whole the story carries well. What would have put this book over the top for me would have been a series of interviews with DJ's, famous guests, and loyal listeners. That would have given the reader an outstanding perspective on the project.
If you are at all interested in underground radio, or had experience listening to KPBJ or KBLT in the 1990's, or just want to get an extremely honest insight into what it's like to be a leader of a group of vacuous leftist misfits, don't miss this book.
Rating:
Summary: How this book kicks ass, and other pirate booty...
Review: I HATE cryptic reviews so i thought i would add my own 2 cents. I loved this book! The author comes across as so honest and forthright that you feel like you are in her inner circle while the story unfolds. The story is funny, tragic, and all too real if you live in L.A. Who would have thought that running a pirate radio station would be sooo much work? I love the idea that one person (with the help of some friends) could make all of this happen. It's a very empowering story. Quite honestly, i couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Highly principled music fanatic
Review: I read a blurb on this book in Rolling Stone last week and bought the book the next day. I read the entire thing in one 9-hour sitting. It tells an interesting story about a cat-and-mouse game with the FCC, but more importantly, one person's drive to create a true alternative radio station where the DJs have total control over what they play. Ironically, before creating her pirate radio stations, the author wasn't actually a huge alternative music fan and mentions attracting all sorts of semi-famous musicians to the station,without being all that steeped in their music. Clearly, this woman was unpretentious. She mentions the sacirfices she made to keep the station going. There's a blatant honesty to this story that just kept me reading. If you're a fan of alternative (oooh! there's those incredibly overused word again) music and sub-culture, then this is for you. If Celine Dion is more your cup of tea, then you may not appreciate why she bothered in the first place to risk jail in order to liberate the airways, even if it was for the benefit of a small radius of listeners around her house.
Rating:
Summary: Highly principled music fanatic
Review: I read a blurb on this book in Rolling Stone last week and bought the book the next day. I read the entire thing in one 9-hour sitting. It tells an interesting story about a cat-and-mouse game with the FCC, but more importantly, one person's drive to create a true alternative radio station where the DJs have total control over what they play. Ironically, before creating her pirate radio stations, the author wasn't actually a huge alternative music fan and mentions attracting all sorts of semi-famous musicians to the station,without being all that steeped in their music. Clearly, this woman was unpretentious. She mentions the sacirfices she made to keep the station going. There's a blatant honesty to this story that just kept me reading. If you're a fan of alternative (oooh! there's those incredibly overused word again) music and sub-culture, then this is for you. If Celine Dion is more your cup of tea, then you may not appreciate why she bothered in the first place to risk jail in order to liberate the airways, even if it was for the benefit of a small radius of listeners around her house.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Bad The Girl Won't Live....
Review: It dawned on me that I might be reading a story about cops on a roof in LA, telling the 4th year skin-job what time it is. What happens when the veil is lifted, but the beginning of the end.
The slow Mercedes represents the fires of orc. The Chief Engineer is J.F. Sabastian.
They are so dismissable, Aren't they? I really want to read your story in the future Ms. Carpenter.
Please show your face and tell us what happened in 1981/82 to you.
The book might not sell as many copies but it could reveal that part in all of us that wants to be free.
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