S2 THE DIVIDED DIAL EPISODE 3: World's Last Chance Radio

Summary

Podcast Summary: On the Media - S2 THE DIVIDED DIAL EPISODE 3: World's Last Chance Radio

Introduction

On the Media, hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger, delves into the intricacies of media production, free speech, and the underlying political narratives shaping our information landscape. In Season 2's third episode of The Divided Dial, titled "World's Last Chance Radio," host Katie Thornton explores the evolution of shortwave radio from a utopian communication experiment to a platform increasingly dominated by extremist and far-right voices.

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The Rise and Transformation of WBCQ

The episode begins with a historical overview of Alan Weiner, a former pirate radio operator who transitioned to licensed broadcasting. Initially, Weiner launched Radio New York International in 1987 from a derelict freighter off Long Island, aiming to spread peace, love, and rock music. Despite being shut down by the FCC after just four days (04:13), Weiner persisted, eventually securing a legitimate license in 1998 to establish WBCQ in Monticello, Maine.

"Radio New York International broadcast for listeners up and down the east coast... WBCQ was just getting started." (06:10)

WBCQ distinguished itself by offering affordable airtime—$50 per hour—attracting a diverse range of content creators. However, this openness soon led to the station becoming a haven for extremist voices.

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Embracing Extremism: The Shift in WBCQ's Content

As WBCQ expanded, Alan Weiner's commitment to free speech opened the doors to extremist and hate-driven programming. Early adopters included groups like the American Nazi Party and individuals such as Hal Turner and RG Stair, who used the platform to propagate hateful and violent rhetoric.

"The American Nazi Party... they came to us, oh, free speech right on the air. I said, yep, no problem." (15:21)

Despite Weiner's personal background—raised Jewish and identifying as a free thinker—the station's laissez-faire approach allowed hate groups to thrive on the airwaves. Efforts to curb this included implementing a self-imposed hate speech policy, which ultimately failed to prevent the influx of extremist content.

"If you get on the air and encourage people to go out and hurt and harm other people, we're gonna give you a warning... And if they don't." (16:30)

The cancellation of shows like American Dissident Voices hosted by Bill Cooper sparked controversy, with Cooper arguing that Weiner was acting as "judge and jury" without due process (17:03). Despite policy changes, extremist voices continued to dominate WBCQ's programming.

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Financial Struggles and the Arrival of World's Last Chance Radio

By the late 2010s, WBCQ faced financial challenges exacerbated by the rise of the internet. To sustain operations, Weiner sought new funding sources, leading to a significant partnership with World's Last Chance (WLC), an ultra-conservative Christian End Times ministry founded by Galal Das.

"World's Last Chance was started in 2004 by an Egyptian cosmetics and food magnate turned religious leader named Galal Das." (28:02)

This alliance brought a $30,000 initial investment, enabling the construction of a massive 500-kilowatt antenna in Monticello, Maine. The new infrastructure allowed WBCQ to broadcast globally with unprecedented power, transforming it into one of the most potent privately owned shortwave stations.

"The antenna weighs 200 tons and is gigantic at its base... fully rotatable, sitting on a gargantuan ring bearing that can be turned to point in any direction." (26:42)

While this expansion secured WBCQ's future, it also deepened its association with extremist and conspiratorial programming, further alienating any remaining moderate or positive content creators.

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Impact and Global Reach

WBCQ's enhanced broadcasting capabilities extended its reach to listeners across continents, including remote areas like Antarctica. Despite the station's problematic content, it garnered a global audience appreciative of its unfiltered access to diverse viewpoints.

"Listeners from Australia, Russia, and even Antarctica reached out, expressing their enjoyment of the programming." (37:15)

However, the proliferation of hate speech and extremist content raised significant ethical concerns about the role of shortwave radio in spreading harmful ideologies.

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Listener Perspectives and Criticism

The episode juxtaposes WBCQ's extremist content with voices from the shortwave community seeking more diverse and positive programming. Many listeners appreciate shortwave radio for its ability to break free from mainstream media bubbles and offer alternative perspectives. However, the dominance of hate speech on stations like WBCQ undermines this potential.

"Shortwave is a way to get out of your media bubble, to get out of the US and Western-centric news cycle." (40:16)

Listeners expressed disappointment with the lack of cultural and balanced programming, emphasizing the need for content that fosters understanding rather than division.

"There has been a welcome change of content... we don't have a lot of cultural programming anymore on shortwave radio." (40:45)

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Conclusion and Future Outlook

As The Divided Dial series progresses, the final episode promises to explore the ongoing battle for control over shortwave frequencies between pirate broadcasters with idealistic visions and Wall Street profiteers seeking to capitalize on its value. The narrative underscores the tension between maintaining free speech and preventing the spread of extremist ideologies on public airwaves.

"The Divided Dial is written and reported by me, Katie Thornton... the battle playing out right now for our shortwaves between the pirates and the profiteers." (41:32)

Ultimately, the episode raises critical questions about the future of shortwave radio in the digital age and the responsibilities of broadcasters in shaping public discourse.

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Notable Quotes

• "Radio New York International broadcast for listeners up and down the east coast." — Katie Thornton (06:10)
• "World's Last Chance was started in 2004 by an Egyptian cosmetics and food magnate turned religious leader named Galal Das." — Michael Olinger (28:02)
• "We're a free speech radio station on shortwave and we lease airtime to anyone. 50 bucks an hour." — RG Stair (14:10)
• "People need to hear even the most hateful speech so that they can understand it and resist it." — Alan Weiner (34:11)

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Timestamp Guide

• 00:00 - 05:08: Introduction and History of Radio New York International
• 05:08 - 16:50: Transition to WBCQ and Initial Challenges
• 16:50 - 23:19: Emergence of Extremist Programming
• 23:19 - 28:02: Financial Struggles and Attraction of Extremist Figures
• 28:02 - 41:57: Partnership with World's Last Chance and Antenna Construction
• 41:57 - 44:35: Listener Feedback and Final Thoughts
• 44:37 - End: Conclusion and Teasers for Upcoming Episodes

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This summary aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the episode, highlighting key discussions, insights, and conclusions. For a deeper understanding, listening to the full episode is highly recommended.

Transcript

[Sponsor Announcer]

Onthemedia is supported by the New York Community Trust. These days it's hard to know what the future will hold. Thankfully, there is a powerful way to ensure the causes you care about are supported for decades to come. Join the New York Community Trust to support affordable housing, provide opportunity, improve education, nurture the environment, and more. A team of experts can connect your generosity with nonprofits making a lasting difference. You can turn retirement funds, appreciated securities, real estate and other assets into a force for good. Amplify your impact with community powered giving. Contact the New York community trust at GiveTo NYC. That's GiveTo NYC.

[Michael Olinger]

Hey, you're listening to the on the Media Midweek podcast. I'm Michael Olinger. If you've been following along for the past couple weeks, you know that we've been airing the second season of our Peabody Award winning series, the Divided Dialogue. This season it's all about Shortwave Radio. Episode one was a deep dive into the role shortwave played as a propaganda tool in the 20th century, first in the Second World War and then throughout the Cold War. Episode two was a close look at what happened in the early 90s when the end of the Cold War led to a vacancy on the airwaves. Host Katie Thornton explained how the rise of the militia movement was tracked by an unlikely duo in Costa Rica who listened in on shortwave radio as the militias were first getting off the ground. If you haven't heard those episodes, I highly recommend pausing this one and catching up first in this week's new installment. Katie's adventures take her to some very unexpected places. The story starts almost 40 years ago. Here's Katie.

[Katie Thornton]

It was July of 1987 on a hot muggy Thursday in New York City. Temperatures had been climbing into the 90s all and as people all over the city ran, fans in their windows, wrapped wet towels around their necks and hit the beach. A 34 year old man named Alan Weiner from Yonkers was out on the water on a ship, a 200 foot long freighter.

[Michael Olinger]

Then it's not a gleaming clipper ship, but a broken down bucket which has drawn the attention of the federal government.

[Katie Thornton]

It drew the Fed's attention because of what was happening on board.

[Michael Olinger]

There's a new rock station in town. Well, not really in town, really in the water. And it may be illegal.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan was a tech savvy hippie with round glasses and a long bowl cut in the style of Johnny Ramone and together with his comrades, Allen had launched a pirate radio station.

[Michael Olinger]

The only people that have radio stations in New York are Gigantic corporations. This is the only other way to do it. Especially if you don't have much coin.

[Katie Thornton]

This was not Alan Weiner's first time hijacking the airwaves. He'd been illegally broadcasting for half his life. First getting a knock on the door from the FCC when he was just a teenager. But this was by far his most ambitious effort.

[Michael Olinger]

Radio New York International they call themselves with a rock and roll accent and.

[Katie Thornton]

A pacifist beat with the stated goal of spreading peace, love and understanding. And some good ol American rock music. Radio New York International broadcast for listeners up and down the east coast. And artists sent in records for them to play on the air.

[Michael Olinger]

All right, that's the Ramones here at rnel.

[Katie Thornton]

Jeffrey as for the news media, they pulled out all the stops to cover the story.

[Michael Olinger]

Channel 5 News has spared no expense in tracking down these pirates. We've added this vessel to our investigative fleet. It's a duplicate of the one used on Miami Vice. With us is our Captain Fred Shaw. Fred.

[Katie Thornton]

From their first broadcast, Radio New York International taunted the Federal Communications Commission kicking off their transmission with a topical song from the 1960s. Come on down to my folks baby Come on down where we can play. But after only four broadcast days, just as Allen and his first mate were starting to get their sea legs.

[Michael Olinger]

Good evening. Some defiant DJs who wanted to thumb their noses at Washington have instead gotten an FCC fist in the face.

[Katie Thornton]

Federal agents did come on down to their boat.

[Michael Olinger]

Shortly before 5:30 this morning, the Coast Guard and FCC engineers moved in. The FCC dismantled the radio equipment and the Coast Guard arrested the two RNI staffers on board. Ivan Rothstein and Alan Weiner.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen was incensed as they took him off the ship in bracelets.

[Michael Olinger]

We weren't breaking any laws whatsoever. We feel we were completely illegal station and now free, you know, free form. Rock and ROL has been stuffed out.

[Katie Thornton]

They had anchored the boat just over four miles off the coast of Long island, which per Allen's interpretation of the law, was international waters. But the government said that international waters started much further out.

[Michael Olinger]

Wiener and another man have now been charged with illegally broadcasting rock and roll music and peace chatter.

[Katie Thornton]

Radio New York International was dead.

[Michael Olinger]

The men who wanted your ears were chained, taken away and could spend years in jail. You know how many robberies there were in this town last year? Murders burglari but two pirate DJs won't bother you anymore.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen ended up avoiding jail time for this stunt, in part thanks to the ACLU coming to his defense. But after years of trying to skirt around the fcc. This arrest did change something for Allen. It made him realize that if he wanted to get on the air for good, he'd have to go legit. Allen set out to get his own licensed station. The FCC dragged its feet for years, saying in the official record that it didn't want to give a license to Captain Hook. But in the late 1990s, what many people in the radio business consider to be the impossible happened. Alan the pirate won. And in 1998, he launched WBCQ.

[Michael Olinger]

The free speech sound heard the whole world round. WBCQ, you're on the planet.

[Katie Thornton]

It wasn't in the coveted corporatized market of New York City. It was in the 800 person blink and you'll miss it. Town of Monticello in far northern Maine. That was all right though, because Alan wasn't going for a local audience. He was going to use the short waves to bring the freeform peace and love mission of his pirate ship out to the world. This is season two of the Divided Dial from On the Media. I'm your host, Katie Thornton. This season is all about shortwave radio. How it went from a utopian experiment in global communication to a tool of government and far right propaganda. And what a little known battle playing out on the shortwaves today means for the future of our public airwaves. This episode, the story of one station and one man that tells us a lot about shortwave in the Internet era. Last episode, we learned how shortwave took a hit when the Internet came around, lots of stations closed, but WBCQ was just getting started. Today, it's one of the highest powered privately owned broadcasting facilities on earth. So how did Alan Weiner pull it off? The answer has to do with an absolutely giant antenna that reaches every continent. And how that antenna came to be up there in rural Maine and what it broadcasts. That was one of the most unexpected stories I dug up on my journey into the shortwaves. Because at WBCQ today, it's not all peace and love, man. Far from it.

[Michael Olinger]

Hello?

[Katie Thornton]

Early last year, I reached out to Alan Weiner. Hi, Alan, it's Katie calling.

[Michael Olinger]

Hello, Katie.

[Katie Thornton]

And he mentioned that he and some of his engineering buddies would be gathering for last April's solar eclipse, which happened to pass directly over wbcq. Offhandedly, he invited me along.

[Michael Olinger]

Yeah, sure, come on up. You can't miss the station. It's got a ginormous antenna.

[Katie Thornton]

Other than a friend of mine who told me about the station, no one I knew had ever even Heard of WBCQ and I know a lot of radio freaks. I really wanted to know more, so I took Alan up on his offer. One mile ahead, two miles ahead and one mile right. So if I look north northe least I should see the tower.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Turn right onto Britain Road.

[Katie Thornton]

Okay.

[Michael Olinger]

Holy.

[Katie Thornton]

Well, he was not lying when he said, you can't miss it. One of, if not the most powerful commercial broadcast stations in the world. No one's ever heard of it. No one even knows it's here. And I am closing an eye.

[Michael Olinger]

Now during totality, I'll remove the solar filter from the telescope. You can look at it in totality without the filter.

[Katie Thornton]

When I arrived at the station, Alan was there with his wife Angela, some friends, a farmer neighbor and the station's engineer. They were warm and friendly. They'd lugged an assortment of wooden and plastic chairs out to the station's small parking lot and had an extra ready for me. They offered me sunscreen and eclipse proof glasses.

[Michael Olinger]

We got 55.

[Katie Thornton]

It was brisk. There was snow on the ground, but the skies were this perfect blue.

[Michael Olinger]

Three minutes. Oh, there's barely anything left. It's a pinhole sun. Yeah, pinhole sun. Rest in peace, Chris Cornell. What a beautiful man.

[Katie Thornton]

At one point, as it started to get darker, the automatic floodlights came on in the parking lot where we sat.

[Michael Olinger]

Oh look, the lights just come on.

[Katie Thornton]

Oh shit.

[Michael Olinger]

Yeah, turn them off would. Oops.

[Katie Thornton]

That was the sound of a station employee's handgun falling to the ground out of his back pocket when he got up to turn the lights off. One of the guys who came up for the big event was named Tim. He has a long running weekly show in WBCQ playing mostly rock and roll. Sprinkled in with some funny skits and stories. Like Alan, he had long gray hair, though Tim's was notably more unkempt. And also like Alan, Tim got his start in pirate radio a long time ago.

[Michael Olinger]

I was with my buddy and thought, hey, why not? Each of us popped a tab of acid and we're starting to trip our brains off. So I ran next door and I grabbed a bunch of records and other stuff and a reel to reel. Tape machine and patch cables broadcasted on shortwave. I called it Radio Timtron Worldwide. It was just a goof.

[Katie Thornton]

Another friend of Allen's had been an engineer at the US based Christian Science Monitor shortwave station which used to broadcast news and information to Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

[Michael Olinger]

When the Berlin Wall came down, we got quite a few letters in thanking us for broadcasting. Makes me Feel like I helped tear.

[Katie Thornton]

Down the Bruin wall at wbcq. I got the full range of shortwaver's aspirations. Some of them wanted to use the power of this megaphone to promote democracy, others just to have a little fun. But for the time being, our focus was elsewhere, on the sky and the sun and the moon that was rapidly stepping into its path. Finally, the moment we'd been waiting for was here. And it was breathtaking.

[Michael Olinger]

You can look at it.

[Katie Thornton]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Olinger]

Now look at that. The eye of God. How cool is that? That is it. I believe you can see the star. Yeah, it looks like John Bonham's bass drum insignia.

[Katie Thornton]

Yep, the morning after the eclipse. Just woke up in the back of the minivan in the Walmart parking lot here in Halton. I don't know if you all know this about solar eclipses, but it's impossible to find a cheap hotel. It's impossible to find any hotel, especially all the way up here, 12 miles past the northern terminus of Interstate 95, which runs from Maine to Florida. I knew all this going into the trip, and I'd booked an RV with a heater, but it canceled on me at the last minute. So I rented a minivan from some guy in Boston and threw an air mattress in the back. It was like 20 degrees last night. It was really cold. Made it, though. I decided to go back to WBCQ because something wasn't adding up. During the eclipse, we sat in the shadow of this huge, shiny new antenna. But elsewhere on the property, radio equipment clanked away inside various trailers and falling down shacks. There were lots of old school buses and World War II era radar devices. Alan told me he uses them to search the skies for extraterrestrial life. A massive anti aircraft gun was parked at one of the station's driveways. That big new antenna was just so out of place with the rest of the station, I wanted to know how it all came to be. So Alan and I chatted as he showed me around.

[Michael Olinger]

We're a free speech radio station on shortwave and we lease airtime to anyone. 50 bucks an hour. Yeah, and that's what we were charging when we went on the air.

[Katie Thornton]

From the time WBCQ launched in 1998, anyone could buy airtime, buy an hour every month, every week, every day you pay, Alan will beam it out. And that $50 an hour rate, it's kind of insanely affordable. For reference, I used to work at a small community radio station that charged $50 for a 30 second underwriting announcement. You know, those programming is supported by messages you hear. When WBCQ started, the exodus from shortwave was well underway. About a fifth of Americans were already on the Internet. But despite that, there was still demand for affordable airtime. So WBCQ started adding more frequencies. This was all happening before they got the big new antenna, but the station could still reach pretty far. South America, even Antarctica. Folks bought airtime to play niche music shows, classic rock, deep cuts, even old wax cylinders and 78s. But as Alan quickly discovered, when you advertise yourself as a haven for free speech on a medium that was already home to militia leaders and extremists, that's who shows up.

[Michael Olinger]

The American Nazi Party. Do you know they were one of the first people to sign up with us? They came to us, oh, free speech right on the air. I said, yep, no problem.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan's father was Jewish, and Alan was mostly raised Jewish, though his mother was Roman Catholic. But Allen thought of himself as a free thinker, a First Amendment warrior. And having Nazis as paying customers posed no ethical dilemmas for him, at least not at first.

[Michael Olinger]

We had a programmer that kept getting on the air and telling people to go out and kill the Jews. And I kept calling him up and going, look, you can't encourage people to go out and kill people. You know, if that happens, you're going to go to jail. I'm going to go to jail because, you know, we'd be complicit and you can't do this. They wouldn't listen. Even my father heard that.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan's father did not like tuning in and hearing Nazis.

[Michael Olinger]

He, he says, son, what are you. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm gonna fix it.

[Katie Thornton]

After multiple warnings about the Nazis, explicit calls for violence, Allen polled the broadcast citing the station's self imposed hate speech.

[Michael Olinger]

Policy, which basically says, if you get on the air and encourage people to go out and hurt and harm other people, we're gonna, we're gonna give you a warning. We're gonna say, don't do that. And if they don't.

[Katie Thornton]

The Nazi show was called American Dissident Voices, and when Allen cut it, it caused a stir deep in the archives of one popular short wave show. I found a call in that dealt with the cancellation head on.

[Michael Olinger]

We're talking about American dissident voices being booted off of wbcq.

[Katie Thornton]

The host was Bill Cooper. He was a hugely influential thought leader in the conspiracy and militia movements of the 90s. We heard some of his show on the last episode.

[Michael Olinger]

Good evening. You're on the Air. Yeah, this is Mike in South Florida. Good evening, Bill. Hi, Mike. I don't agree with the person of WBCQ because he became judge and jury with no due process. If the radio station makes a claim that they will broadcast anybody's opinion, they should honor that. I lost a lot of respect for Al Wiener by him not honoring his promise. And now in Wiener's case, he simply pulled the plug. Yeah, he. Sure. And he did that.

[Katie Thornton]

And then.

[Michael Olinger]

Good evening. You're on the air. Hi, Bill. It's Alan Weiner.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen called in.

[Michael Olinger]

Hi, Alan. Well, you know, I think a lot of people out there are glad you called. I hope you understand this is not.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan told listeners that he alone was responsible for the decision, but that axing the show violated every principle he held.

[Michael Olinger]

Dear, that everyone has a right to speak on the radio and everyone should be given that right. However, I did change the way I felt on that one specific program because I did get some input from a lot of other people. And the day I decided to pull it off, I knew it was a no win situation. And to all the listeners out there that hold me to my principles of allowing all voices on the air, I apologize and I am sorry. But in this one instance, and I plan to make it the last instance, I had to do it.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen did indeed make it the last instance. Hate groups kept coming to wbcq, and Allen kept selling them airtime.

[Michael Olinger]

The KKK contacted us.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen told me about this on my.

[Michael Olinger]

Visit, and they were really pleasant and nice, and I said, sure, we'll put you on the air. And they were very, very impressed.

[Katie Thornton]

Maybe it was his own crystallizing free speech absolutism. Or maybe it was the fact that it didn't take long for WBCQ to start feeling the economic squeeze of the Internet era. But Allen was quickly entering the business of shortwave extremism. Within a few years of launching, he welcomed a guy named Hal Turner, who used the shortwaves to call for violence.

[Michael Olinger]

I advocate shooting and killing these Mexicans as they cross the border.

[Katie Thornton]

Turner also called for the murder of Jews, black Americans, LGBTQ people, and politicians.

[Michael Olinger]

We don't want to have to kill you. We hope to not have to kill you. But we can kill you. And if need be, we will kill you.

[Katie Thornton]

Hal Turner first made a name for himself as a frequent caller to Sean Hannity's show on the big AM station WABC in New York. But Hal went to shortwave because he felt AM&FM conservative talk had grown soft on short wave. He said whatever he Wanted.

[Michael Olinger]

There are approaching on the horizon situations where killing elected officials may be necessary. Well, what are a few lives in the grand scheme of liberty? Not a big deal.

[Katie Thornton]

But Allen's assortment of extremist talk shows and the occasional esoteric music program was far from a cash cow. Allen needed people to buy more time. He offered big discounts for hosts who bought airtime in bulk. A few, including Hal Turner, came to buy several hours, most every day. At one point, Allen was even in talks with Radio Sputnik.

[Michael Olinger]

It's Russia. And they almost leased one of our.

[Katie Thornton]

Transmitters to take a whole frequency. 24, 7. Yeah. What happened with those Radio Sputnik conversations?

[Michael Olinger]

They decided not to go. I don't know why? Because we really made them a good deal and we can see we can get people on.

[Katie Thornton]

One man did have a round the clock presence on one of WBCQ's frequencies. His name was Ralph Gordon Stair, also known as rg also known as Brother Stair.

[Michael Olinger]

And I don't believe there's a man on the face of the earth that is higher in spiritual authority in the kingdom of God than I am. I don't believe that.

[Katie Thornton]

Stair was a self proclaimed prophet who preached an ultra conservative, homophobic and misogynistic Christian ideology. He bought airtime on other shortwave stations too. And he didn't just use his show to preach. He also used it to recruit listeners from as far away as New Zealand to live with him on his farm in South Carolina. At the farm, the men wore long beards and the women always wore full coverage skirts and had their hair in tightly wound buns. People who visited have said that there were radios and loudspeakers set up in every one of the compound's buildings and on the fields so that followers would hear Stair's preaching even as they worked his land. Stair's flock took a pledge of poverty when they joined, giving their money to his Overcomer ministry, the Overcomer radio broadcast. At one point, stair was spending $100,000 a month on shortwave and local radio.

[Michael Olinger]

Broadcasts turn around seven days a week, 24 hours.

[Katie Thornton]

In 2017, video surfaced of Stair molesting a 12 year old girl during a sermon. More women came forward with reports of abuse stories and court cases from years prior came to light alleging everything from fraud to the improper burial of babies who died, apparently after Stair encouraged mothers to forego modern medical care in favor of faith healing.

[Michael Olinger]

You're dealing with a doctor. He won't tell you the truth.

[Katie Thornton]

You better get away from him. Multiple people who escaped the Overcomer Ministry said RG Stair was running a cult deal with truth.

[Michael Olinger]

It's this deceit, this lying, this past two.

[Katie Thornton]

Thanks to survivors who spoke out, the FBI and local law enforcement investigated Stair and later that year they raided the farm.

[Michael Olinger]

More victims brought their stories to police. Stair facing more charges of criminal sexual conduct, this time many involving children.

[Katie Thornton]

Stair's show was dropped from a bunch of local stations. But in Alan and his wife Angela's eyes, he still had a right to the airwaves. And yeah, Stair bought lots of time on wbcq, but it wasn't like he was making the station rich. Alan still couldn't always afford to repair or maintain equipment. He'd let go of staff.

[Michael Olinger]

You know, the 50 bucks we get here and there, that doesn't pay the bills. It doesn't.

[Katie Thornton]

For WBCQ and a lot of shortwave stations that survived into the Internet era, this was the play offering a megaphone to religious extremists and the far right while still barely scraping by. But in 2018, everything changed at WBCQ. Coming up, Alan gets a huge leg up and that powerful new antenna from an unexpected source. This is season two of the divided dial from on the Media.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Onthemedia is supported by the New York Community Trust. These days it's hard to know what the future will hold. Thankfully, there is a powerful way to ensure the causes you care about are supported for decades to come. Join the New York Community Trust to support affordable housing, provide opportunity, improve education, nurture the environment and more. A team of experts can connect your generosity with nonprofits making a lasting difference. You can turn retirement funds, appreciated securities, real estate and other assets into a force for good. Amplify your impact with community powered giving. Contact the New York community trust at GiveTo NYC. That's GiveTo NYC.

[Katie Thornton]

This is the divided dial from on the Media. I'm Katie Thornton. Right before the break I was telling you about how WBCQ was struggling financially. But in 2018, that all changed.

[Michael Olinger]

That summer was great.

[Katie Thornton]

WBCQ got a many million dollar cash injection and that massive new antenna, it can pump out 500 kilowatts of power. 10 times as much as WBCQ's other signals. The town's electric system wasn't even powerful enough to support it. So Alan offered to split the cost of rewiring with the local government.

[Michael Olinger]

They're rewiring the town. You know, I'd walk into the town office. Well, thank you. You know, we're getting, we're getting all new power, you know, here for business and stuff. Thank you so much. You know, you're welcome. You're welcome. Welcome.

[Katie Thornton]

The antenna weighs 200 tons and is gigantic at its base, like one of those redwood trees that you can drive through. Except the electromagnetic frequencies this beast emits are known to jam up cars, computer systems and stall them out so you can't drive even near it. To anchor the antenna, they had to get a host of cement trucks to come in and put a footing down. 40 by 40ft wide and 12 solid feet deep. The antenna is fully rotatable, sitting on a gargantuan ring bearing that can be turned to point in any direction, beaming shortwave radio signals to any continent on Earth.

[Michael Olinger]

Oh, I hear the motors.

[Katie Thornton]

There it goes.

[Michael Olinger]

Oh, there it goes. There it comes. Quite something wild. Oh, my goodness.

[Katie Thornton]

It's like watching a skyscraper spin.

[Michael Olinger]

If I listen to it, it's like a fine watch. They're going to the UK now. I think this is the only privately owned 500 kilowatter in the world because most of the 500 kilowatters that I know are either owned by the Catholic Church, the Vatican or governments. By the time we got done with it, it was. It cost about $8 million. Was it 8 million? Yeah, I think it was 8 million.

[Katie Thornton]

Wow. When the windfall came, WBCQ also got a bespoke new studio and transmitter building outfitted with an apartment for a live in engineer. People in the shortwave world had one question. Who paid for this? I mean, how did WBCQ with their transmitters in falling down shacks and broadcast studio in a single wide trailer become a swanky wall world class, enormously high powered shortwave station? It turns out Allen's new backer was a group called World's Last Chance.

[Sponsor Announcer]

This is WBCQ bringing World's Last Chance Radio to you from Monticello, Maine, usa.

[Katie Thornton]

They're an ultra conservative Christian End Times ministry and they preach, among other things, that the Earth, Earth is flat.

[Michael Olinger]

We are talking flat earth in the Bible. The Earth is flat and God tells you so.

[Katie Thornton]

World's Last Chance was started in 2004 by an Egyptian cosmetics and food magnate turned religious leader named Galal Das. At first, even Alan didn't think World's Last Chance was on the level.

[Michael Olinger]

They came to us, but they wanted superpower. We really want to be with your station because you're free speech. I said, well, we can get you on the air. It's 50 kilowatts, blah, blah, blah. I said, no, we don't want that. We want more power. I said, well, how much more Power, you know, at least 500,000 watts. I said, we'd have to build that and you know, we'd have to charge you for it and all that, you know, I mean that's millions of dollars, you know, I mean, they said fine. Well that afternoon they wired me $30,000. I said, okay. These people are serious.

[Katie Thornton]

Some of what the ministry preaches is just downright strange or really in the weeds about doctrine, cosmologies and cosmogonies.

[Michael Olinger]

Scholars have always known the truth, but it's been hidden for a while.

[Katie Thornton]

World's Last Chance believed that Pope John Paul II was going to come back as the Antichrist.

[Michael Olinger]

Shocking truth emerges.

[Katie Thornton]

They also follow a strange combination. Lunar solar calendar, not the Gregorian calendar. So their Sabbath falls on different days from week to week.

[Michael Olinger]

That Yahushua could not have been crucified on a Friday and most certainly was not resurrected on a Sunday. So we've got a conundrum.

[Katie Thornton]

In 2018, they took out full page text only ads in places like People magazine and USA Today saying demons were going to come to Earth disguised as aliens to deceive Christians. But other things they broadcast have more clear overlap with the conspiratorial right. They are staunchly anti establishment, especially since COVID Well, let's be honest, I mean.

[Michael Olinger]

We shouldn't be surprised that the church has failed to stand up to government dictates. I mean the closer we get to the end, the more the fallen churches will spout the serpent's agenda.

[Katie Thornton]

And they even link their flat earth beliefs not just to extreme biblical literalism, but to their anti globalist agenda.

[Michael Olinger]

The only kind of circumnavigation which could not happen on a flat earth is north southbound. Both the North Pole and Antarctica are military enforced. No fly and no sail zones due to restrictions originating from none other than the United Nations.

[Katie Thornton]

World's last chance is very dubious, but it's not exactly a cult. Though they do sometimes encourage their members to quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to of the ministry. They don't appear to take money from their followers. They've never had what they refer to as an earthly headquarters, as in no sketchy farm. They say their members are spread literally over the four corners of the world. They bill themselves as a web based ministry and they have this janky website that looks straight out at the early Internet. We're talking retro futuristic graphics and pictorial backdrops with text heavy blocks and a left hand column of like 40 hyperlinks. But if World Chance's website is less than convincing, their shortwave radio Broadcast is top tier. It's super listenable, well produced and among the slickest broadcasts on American shortwave today. Alan will be the first to tell you it's the religious programming that pays the bills. World's last chance as doomsday ministering is the key to it all. The ministry's payments, more or less bankroll WBCQ's original operation. All the other frequencies with the free speech programs that still roll in at 50 bucks a pop.

[Michael Olinger]

Well, all right, what's on the air now? This is on the air. That's on the air. Radio Trump International is on the air. You know, the polls came out.

[Katie Thornton]

Radio Trump International was one of Allen and Angela's shows which they ran leading up to the 2024 election.

[Michael Olinger]

We're Trump supporters, we are. And we've decided to take one of our channels, 5130 and we broadcast Radio Trump International 24 hours a day because we can.

[Katie Thornton]

Having a backer like World's Last Chance has also made it easier for Allen to keep broadcasting. People like Brother RG Stair, a man he and Angela came to consider a friend.

[Michael Olinger]

What the government did to the beautiful people at the Overcomer, they raided the place like it was a Ruby Ridge.

[Katie Thornton]

Allen and Angela told me they don't believe the well documented allegations of sexual assault.

[Michael Olinger]

A bunch of farmers, a bunch of cattle raising, goat raising, Christian people, you know, tilling the soil. And they pretty much went in there and terrorized everyone.

[Katie Thornton]

Stair is dead now. He died in 2021 while awaiting trial. But his followers still live at the compound and they still send the preacher's reruns to Allen to broadcast around the world all day, every day.

[Michael Olinger]

Brother Starer, he helped us keep BCQ on the air expand and I always promised that we would keep him on the air no matter what, even if they didn't have money.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan knows that a lot of people would have considered him liberal in his early years. He knows that in some people's eyes he's made a shocking transformation from his days as a peacenik rock and roll pirate. For Allen's part, he says that his philosophy is the same today as it's always been, that people need to hear even the most hateful speech so that they can understand it and resist it.

[Michael Olinger]

My political science professor used to say that if you let things fester in the dark, they will fester and grow. But if you shine the light on them, the light will help expunge it and bring it out so people can say, hey, this is wrong. We don't agree with this, you know, you shouldn't do this.

[Katie Thornton]

Were you all concerned about having those voices on the air, that it could lead to harm?

[Michael Olinger]

Well, we were, but we felt people need to have a right to know. You know, I mean, it's shedding light, you know, I mean, you really got to shed the light.

[Katie Thornton]

But I don't think that whole shedding the light thing really worked. Several of the hosts Allen has been running on WBCQ since the early days are still spewing racist, violent rhetoric like Hal Turner. Even though Allen says that Hal's toned it down since his days advocating that people kill immigrants, Hal's still on WBCQ five days a week. And anyway, Allen says Hal's show gets you thinking.

[Michael Olinger]

He gets you thinking without being specific.

[Katie Thornton]

Here's Alan with Angela on their radio show just last month, recycling tired critiques of rap music.

[Michael Olinger]

There are some cultures and maybe even races that are steeped in violence and proud of it. The kind of music, I believe it makes people angry. I mean, free speech, peace, love and understanding, you know, we talk about the understand has gone too damn far. Whoops. Too, too far, too far. It has the understanding kind of just gone too far. Because everything in the world except for the love of God.

[Katie Thornton]

In some ways, Alan's transformation is not that remarkable. There are plenty of hippies who aged into libertarians or right wingers, and it's not surprising that a lot of these guys use speech as a cover for people to say whatever they want without any regard for truth or for consequences. To me, though, the remarkable part of Allen's story is that with shortwave, he's been able to get these hateful voices out to the far reaches of the globe. No board, no meaningful oversight from the fcc, just him at his discretion, thanks in part to Alan Weiner. The demonstrably false, fatalistic and paranoid programming of World's Last Chance. The hateful rhetoric of Hal Turner, the cultist preachings of RG Stair. That's a huge part of what shortwave listeners around the world hear as the voice of American broadcasting. And people are hearing this stuff almost every day. Alan gets letters or emails from listeners around the country and around the planet.

[Michael Olinger]

Just got one from China. Came in this morning. Yeah, on. On email. They. They picked up the station. They really like the programming.

[Katie Thornton]

Wow. So this one came in from Australia. Dear sir, madam, hope you had a nice Christmas holiday this year. I have Christmas alone, but listen to your program. Makes me happy.

[Michael Olinger]

From Antwerp. Network signal was nice and clear.

[Katie Thornton]

They have New York, Philadelphia, Australia.

[Michael Olinger]

Got a Bunch of Russian listeners too. And here's one from Buffalo, New York, in Antarctica at the Scientific Center. Dear sir, on Saturday, September 23.

[Katie Thornton]

And people are still coming to Allen for a platform too. Within an hour of me first arriving at wbcq, Allen's phone rang nowhere.

[Michael Olinger]

So we pay attention to lightning.

[Katie Thornton]

Yeah, okay, here, go ahead.

[Michael Olinger]

Hello?

[Katie Thornton]

As he disappeared out the door, I could hear Alan explaining his simple, well worn policy to the shortwave curious caller. Free Speech Radio. Yeah, we'll get you on the air. It's 50 bucks an hour. WBCQ is just one station. There are about a dozen privately run shortwave stations operating out of the US today, and they're almost all owned or operated by religious groups, mostly the Christian right. There's one station out of Tennessee that seems to still mostly play sermons by Pete Peters. He was the white supremacist preacher you heard last episode who helped bring together the far reaches of the right in the 1990s. Like RG Stair. He's dead now too, though you wouldn't know it on shortwave. But while these fanatical voices might be some of the loudest on shortwave radio, today, there are at least some shortwave listeners who want something else. We know because we asked hello to.

[Michael Olinger]

The people at wnyc.

[Katie Thornton]

For several months we've been running this show on the media on wrmi. It's a shortwave station out of Florida and one of the few that isn't owned by a religious group. And in the breaks, we've been asking people to get in touch to tell us about their shortwave experience.

[Michael Olinger]

As a little boy, I'd often run in to tell my mom and dad about something that they didn't read about until the next day in the paper when it broke. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, first in Micronesia, then in Sri Lanka. I listened to shortwave radio doing both tours. And I have listened to shortwave radio ever since. There's something about tuning through the static and landing on real broadcasts from halfway across the world that just feels cool.

[Katie Thornton]

We did get emails from people all over the world, but for the most part, the voicemails we received were from North Americans. And over and over again they told us the same thing. Shortwave is a way to get out of your media bubble, to get out of the US and Western centric news cycle.

[Michael Olinger]

It's a way to stay connected to the world, hear different perspectives. I regularly listen to Radio Dabanga out of Sudan. I love shortwave because of what it offers to people. The ability to freely access information no matter where you are in the world.

[Katie Thornton]

And often they said the broadcasts they hear most don't represent what they love about the medium.

[Michael Olinger]

So what do you have today? Mostly you've got a lot of religion. Unfortunately, today on short wave radio I feel just too much religious programming these days. It falls into two categories, Christian preaching and far right political talk radio type programming. I don't really like any of that. Thank you for broadcasting your program. I did enjoy listening to your program a couple evenings ago. That's the kind of content we need today on radio, period, let alone shortwave radio. There's been a welcome change of content versus the typical release religion and talk radio that you hear on shortwave. You have the freedom to do that, but you know, we don't have a lot of cultural programming anymore on shortwave radio. I don't always agree with your political views, but I still thought it was a very, very cool thing to find you guys. In fact, it made me appreciate the whole thing even more.

[Katie Thornton]

Next time on the Divided Dial it turns out on these hollowed out frequencies, pirate broadcasters have been hijacking the airwaves in droves with a more idealistic vision for shortwave. But that vision is getting pushback from a very unlikely source. Not the Federal Communications Commission, but a handful of finance bros who want to wrestle the airwaves away from the public.

[Michael Olinger]

Who would have thought that shortwave is now fabulously valuable to Wall Street? The fact is, now Wall street is deeply invested in it. And so the question what is the FCC going to do about all of this?

[Katie Thornton]

On the final episode of this season, it's the battle playing out right now for our short waves between the pirates and the profiteers. The Divided Dial is written and reported by me, Katie Thornton, and edited by OTM's executive producer, Katya Rogers. Music and sound design is by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Fact Checking by Graham Hacha this series is made possible in part with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Special thanks this week to documentarian Joe Lewis for talking with us about his time at the Overcomer. And special thanks, enormous thanks to everyone who responded to our call out on wrmi. It was great to hear back from the shore waves. We'll catch you next week.

[Michael Olinger]

That's it for the midweek podcast. On the big show this weekend, I'll be taking a look at the conspiracy theorists within the Trump administration who are now tasked with holding the MAGA media at bay. In the meantime, consider following the show on Blue sky, Instagram and TikTok just search on the media I'm Michael Owinger.

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[Katie Thornton]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday.

[Michael Olinger]

For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for.

[Katie Thornton]

Curious people by covering everything from the.

[Michael Olinger]

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[Katie Thornton]

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[Michael Olinger]

Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.