The Curious Story of Radio New York International

Jeff: Allan Weiner is well-known today as a broadcaster, transmitter engineer and owner of shortwave WBCQ ‘The Planet’ in Monticello, Maine. He has spent a lifetime promoting alternative ‘free speech’ radio, and has a history of involvement in various landbased pirate operations in the New York City area as far back as the early 1970’s. However, one of his more colorful ventures was that of Radio New York International, an offshore station that broadcast from the M.V. Sarah over several transmitters, including shortwave, in the late 1980’s. Here’s Ray Robinson in Los Angeles with that story.

Ray: Thanks, Jeff. As far as I can see, we’ve never covered this story before on Wavescan, and it is quite a curious one.

In the mid-1980’s, the FCC would not license any new stations on either AM or FM for New York City, citing lack of frequencies, and the only way to get on the air with a legally licensed station there was to buy an existing one, for tens of millions of dollars – which for Allan Weiner was out of the question. But on a trip to the UK in 1985, he was able to visit Radio Caroline’s Ross Revenge, and talk to those onboard. Caroline at that time was operating in the Thames estuary alongside Laser 558’s M.V. Communicator, both pumping out unlicensed high-power commercially-supported music programming for London and the southeast. And of course, Abie Nathan’s Voice of Peace was also broadcasting then from ‘somewhere in the Mediterranean’. So, seeing the success of those stations and their apparently viable legal footing, he began to think, why couldn’t the same be done back home? On his return, inspired by those stations, Allan did indeed set about creating his own ‘free-form’ offshore rock music station for the New York City area.

Of course, the first step was to raise money, and assuring backers that what he wanted to do offshore was 100% legal, and citing the examples of Radio Caroline and Laser 558, Allan managed to secure funding, and bought a former refrigerated cargo ship called the Litchfield I for about $50,000. He fitted her out as a radio ship in Boston harbor, beginning by installing a 103′ tall aerial mast in September 1986. He renamed the ship M.V. Sarah, which various stories say was a tribute to Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac who both wrote songs called ‘Sara’, but it also was the name of his ex-wife.

In the spring of 1987, a surplus 5,000 pound battleship anchor was purchased, and in May 1987, the ship was allegedly registered in Honduras. Five transmitters were installed in the hold, including a 10kW FM stereo one on 103.1, and a 5kW MW one on 1620 kHz, just off the end of the MW dial – remember this was in the era before the X-band expansion, which didn’t come until 1996. There was also a standby 1kW medium wave transmitter, and low power transmitters on 6240 kHz shortwave and oddly, 190 kHz longwave. This was all powered by a 60 kW generator. The broadcast equipment was said to have cost a further $20,000.

Beginning on Monday 20th July 1987, flying the flag of Honduras, the Sarah was taken out of Boston harbor, through the Cape Cod canal, to an anchorage 4½ miles off the coast of Jones Beach, on Long Island, New York. At that time, U.S. territorial waters only extended three miles offshore, so the ship was then in international waters where the FCC supposedly had no jurisdiction. The operation had taken about 12 hours, and upon arrival, the 5,000 pound anchor was duly dropped.

The first test broadcast was heard on the evening of Thursday 23rd July, 1987. The name of the station, Radio New York International, was abbreviated to RNI, in part so that old jingles of the North Sea pirate by that name from the 1970’s could be used. Here are some clips of Allan Weiner on that first evening, expressing his hopes for what the station would become.

< Audio Clip – 1987 07 23 Thu 2140-2152 R Newyork Int’l (1620kHz) – Ivan Jeffries & Al Chandler (aka Allan Weiner) – test (edits, 2 mins)

The tests continued for five evenings, from 23rd-27th July 1987, from 6pm to 12 midnight. Reception reports were requested, and FCC monitoring stations began hearing them as far away as Michigan. The 1620 kHz AM outlet was the most far reaching, with reports being received from Florida to Oregon. In the Washington, D.C. area, the signal after dark was said to be as strong as the local AM stations.

But then early on the morning of Tuesday 28th, the FCC supported by the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the Sarah at gunpoint and over about 7 hours proceeded to dismantle and disassemble as much of the broadcast equipment as they could. They didn’t damage or remove any equipment, but they did cut many cables, including the transmission lines. Apparently the U.S. State Department had contacted the Honduran government and received their permission to carry out enforcement of what they regarded as illegal activity by U.S. citizens.

They tried to raise the anchor to tow the Sarah back into port where the equipment could be offloaded, but found the winch on board the Sarah wasn’t strong enough to lift it. So for the time being, the ship remained at its offshore anchorage. Eventually, a tug with stronger lifting equipment was brought out, and the Sarah was towed back to Boston harbor in mid-August.

Allan Weiner was charged with operating an illegal station, which carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $25,000 fine. But eventually all charges were dropped, and the FCC issued what they called an “extremely strong warning” instead. Allan was left in possession of the ship and the equipment on board. So, in 1988, he proceeded to painstakingly reinstall all the equipment.

Finally, over a year after the first test broadcasts, a second attempt to launch the station was made in October 1988, this time with the ship registered in the Principality of Sealand. Once again, she did get to broadcast test transmissions for a few days, from 15th-18th October 1988, but ultimately the station was met with the same fate as the first time, and was forced off the air by the FCC. And now, there was to be no return. In 1993, after the broadcast equipment had been removed, the Sarah was sold to MGM Studios and was used in the movie ‘Blown Away,’ in which she was indeed blown up. After that, she was scrapped.

Perhaps the FCC raids against the M.V. Sarah were what inspired the Dutch authorities to raid the Panama-registered Ross Revenge in August 1989? Anyway, it’s interesting that this whole saga did not disqualify Allan Weiner from eventually receiving an FCC license. He is now the legally licensed operator of WBCQ ‘The Planet’ in Monticello, Maine, with several shortwave and FM transmitters ranging from 50-250 kW, and he has the only massive steerable Ampegon shortwave antenna in North America.

Back to you, Jeff.

From: Wavescan N903. June 14, 2026