Radio Exhibit

There is a nice exhibit on display right now at the collection of historical instruments. It is called Radio contact. The following two panoramas can give a glimpse of the exhibit currently on display in the science center:

By the way, I was in love with electronics during high school. Like for this hardware hack. I had also been the technician for a small pirate radio station of ours in 1980 called "Radio Tutti Frutti":

1980 (the picture, seems actually from 1981), Oliver (Olli) to the right. Click for larger picture.

Memorial plate 30 years later
(photographed 2012). In 1980/1981, we had cemented it well into that rock.

The vandalism indicates that not everybody appreciated the statement (yes, we had 6 hour per week Latin classes at that time. The B.M.M.O stands for Beat Merz, Matthias Ackeret,Matthias Knill,Oliver Knill):

"At this holy location, Radio Tutti Frutti sacrificed itself for the freedom of the Aether. Shall the remembrance for this heroism be eternal. Fortes Fortuna (Terenz), B.M.M.O, Kalendis Octobribus, MCMLXXXI".

A comic from 1981 [PDF] (created by Beat Merz and Matthias Ackeret), narrates the actual pirate story: broadcasting from the Cholfirst (Map) near Schaffhausen, the sender got raided but we could escape. The radio equipment (including the electronics and antenna on top of a tree) was lost.

With many Radio stations appearing like that (of course, others were more professional) the pressure grew. It eventually led to a drop of the radio monopoly in Switzerland, and private radio stations got allowed. The biggest radio pirate at that time was Radio 24, which broad casted from Italy. About the history of radio 24 of in German and Youtube. Also the clip to the right appears in that movie "Jolly Roger, ein Kapitel Mediengeschichte" (2004).

Direct Media Links:
Webm, Ogg Quicktime.

Matthias Ackeret tells the story in the documentary movie: Jolly Roger, "A chapter of media history", produced by the Swiss film studio Mesch & Ugge, AG, (2004). Trailer. The DVD of the movie can be ordered here.

Update: March 2021:

An article in the Andelfinger newspaper (Switzerland).

Back to random and silly pages, Oliver Knill, March 2016,