Jake “JT” Tremper is unique.  He wants you to take over his job for him.  Well, that’s not what makes him unique—we all want someone to do our job for us.  What makes Jake unique from all of us who want some schmuck to step into our cubicles (without losing a payday, of course) is that JT is owner and principle DJ for WYRR Pirate Radio, an Internet radio station broadcasting out of Seminole Heights.  To be exact, WYRR broadcasts from the third bedroom of his parent’s home (more on that later).

For now, I sit at work and rock the listless hours away to Ozzy Osborne, Van Halen (Van Hagar to those Diamond Dave fans out there), KISS, Aretha Franklin, “The Imperial March” from Empire Strikes Back, Gnarls Barkley, and Kansas.  This is not my personal iPod playlist, nor a mix CD given to me by my fellow dungeon masters at last week’s AD&D meeting.  It’s WYRR.  And WYRR is not your Gandy-Boulevard-based, Clear-Channel-monopolized, Rupert-Murdoch-owned, FCC-bought-off radio station.  This is Pirate Radio, and JT is the Captain Jack Sparrow of the airwaves—just a bit taller, furrier, and less effeminate.  

When I visited WYRR studios, the first thing I noticed was that this is not a commercial building but a residence.   After greeting me at the screened door, 23-year-old JT led me on a short walk, through a living room and kitchen, to the studio.  The studio itself is shag carpeted with floor to ceiling amps, guitars (one expertly constructed from a cigar box), classic rock memorabilia, CPU towers, CDs, and miniature shrines to USF allegiance.  “WYRR studios” is really the sunken third guest bedroom in JT’s parent’s house.

A self professed “music guy,” JT is the Music Director for the University of South Florida’s radio station, WBUL, 1620 AM.  Bearded and tempered like George Lucas, he has a dry wit and a low-key manner that can be clinical at times, but all of that is thrown out the window as soon as he steps up the to the microphone to announce a live on-air contest centered around identifying the pop artist who has dabbled in acting and wrote the theme song to “Back to the Future.”  (Triple word score to anyone under 21 who knows this answer).  Once live, JT’s voice turns as smooth and fluid as a strip club DJ announcing “Candy is on stage with Amber on deck.”  He’s a natural performer. 

For JT, the premonition of his own Internet radio station began six months ago.  Like an obsessive compulsion to check the knobs on the oven, he could not shake the idea that he could, and should, start WYRR.  His girlfriend provided the name, which is a pun on Tampa’s buccaneer history and classic pirate call of “Yarrr!”  A software company provided a beta version for the “engine” WYRR runs on, and his fellow USF students helped construct the website.  With so much help from friends excited over WYRR, JT became even more convinced that Tampa needed an independent radio station.  His ultimate goal is to continue WYRR’s growth and run a sound production house from… well, his parent’s house.  

This is no surprise to anyone who knows JT.  Music has been his passion since elementary school when a friend challenged him to break into the neighborhood’s only abandoned home.   What started as a challenge turned into the first step down a journey into rock after the discovery of a Jimi Hendrix tape inside the derelict house.  JT listened to that tape repeatedly, until the plastic casing literally broke under the weight of its own rockitude.  A love for Hendrix and classic rock is apparent in JT’s current daytime show, which balances newer indie tracks with such 1970’s arena rock luminaries as Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  “I like indie music, but I’m not going to play it just because it’s indie.  I don’t care what promotional machine is behind it,” JT plainly says.  “Good music is good music.” 

It’s appropriate for Pirate Radio to be hosted from a house replete with Sears family portraits and Precious Moments figurines.  It is this “home and hearth” hospitality that emanates from WYRR’s broadcast, even off a cold computer monitor at work.  Under the warm glow of his “On-Air” lamp, JT explains, “Good radio sounds like someone is taking you on a tour of their record collection.”

As progressive as JT is with Pirate Radio’s song selection, his views toward the medium itself are a throwback to the nascent days of radio, of Marconi and Edison, where the belief was that the citizenry, not corporations or government, owned the airwaves.  This may sound like a fairy tale now, but once upon a time, DJ’s ruled the radio landscape.   Like rock n’ roll Jedi Knights, they chose their own set lists and wielded their power for good—that is, to bring fame and adulation to deserving artists.  Then Clear Channel came and stole the souls of all five members of the Federal Communications Commission.  A black cloud smothered the land and ushered in an epoch of evil, an era of Britney, Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit, Beyonce, Jay-Z (new Jay-Z, not Biggie-era Jay-Z), continuing today with Los Lonely Boys, Nickelback, and the All American Rejects.

And this is the part of the story where you come in.  JT needs you to take over his job and reclaim the power of the DJ.  With a little help from USF’s computer science majors, WYRR will have the capabilities to host remote DJ’s from their own home.  Akin to logging onto a secure website, WYRR’s bedroom DJ’s can load up their own set list, and with merely a basic microphone, have the ability to go all Wolfman Jack on Tampa Bay.

JT is looking to expand more than just his “on air” talent.  With each new DJ comes a new catalogue of music that publishing houses (law firms responsible for collecting music royalties) seek compensation for.  These royalties can hamstring the budget of an average AM terrestrial station, let alone one that resides within 50 square feet of guest bedroom.  This is where federal regulation actually helps JT; WYRR just obtained its own license for ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange (RIAA), all the major music publishing associations.  Fortunately, under the rules of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, royalties for Internet stations are calculated based on station income, expenses, and listeners.  This means that “little guys” like WYRR can obtain blanket licensing through a licensing service and not break the bank. 

WYRR will be able to legally broadcast (and podcast) basically any recording that's ever been released in the United States.  Of course, there are royalties to be paid, but licensing makes it possible to generate revenue through advertising.   This is one major step for Jake to realize his dream. “Picture it... independent, grassroots, DJ-driven WYRR,“ he says, “with a real budget!”

The theory of New Capitalism is that mainstream success is becoming increasingly difficult to attain.  The masses have become too fickle and adept at recognizing overt advertising blitzes.  To appeal to that many people one must dilute one’s message exponentially.  This is what is referred to as “appealing to the lowest common denominator,” and despite the inexplicable success of Michael Bay’s career, it has huge financial risks.  For true success in today’s free market of ideas, one has to discover a new niche and rely on smaller pockets of loyal customers or listeners.  If JT and WYRR have an identifiable niche, it’s the unadulterated love for the risky unknown; the willingness to allow your local DJ to captain you away on a journey where only he knows—or doesn’t know—where it will end.  This is a niche I could get comfortable in.

To join the DJ ranks of WYRR, or for just simple workplace procrastination listening pleasures, go to  HYPERLINK "http://www.wyrr.org" www.wyrr.org.