Episode 8: Pump Up the Volume and Pirate Radio (Piracy of the Airwaves)

Hoist anchor and keep an eye on the cockswain. It's the age of piracy, but Johnny Deep need not apply this time around. Instead of buccaneers traversing the Caribbean in search of plunder, these pirates steal the public airwaves and hijack them to play rock and roll.In this episode we discuss two films about broadcast piracy: PIRATE RADIO (aka THE BOAT THAT ROCKED) starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, and Nick Frost; a fiction about a real time in history when British airwaves were conquered by radio stations broadcasting from boats in international waters.Following that, the sleek and sexy Christian Slater vehicle that defined the early 90's, PUMP UP THE VOLUME. A film that was oddly prophetic about a teenager taking to the air in order to fight against a corrupt school system, and to lay down some sick Leonard Coen tracks.