PunkRadioCast: A Haven for Free Speech and Punk Rock Music

Tired of listening to Mix96 and CHOM? Sick of hearing tons of commercials? PunkRadioCast (PRC), a Canadian online radio station offers an alternative for those fed up with commercial radio.

Back in the summer of 1999, two long-time friends, Danny Keyes and Mark Sadler, decided after a discussion during a fishing trip that they were tired of commercial radio and were going to start something of their own. Their original plan was to create a radio station where they could play more underground music and where free speech would reign.

According to the information section on their current website, they wanted to do “interviews, play music, talk, rant and basically do whatever [they] want[ed] to do through an Internet medium where nobody can censor [them].” By being an independent radio station they do not face any corporate pressure, and are able to decide the music and content aired.

The duo first started off by doing a nightly three hour radio show, broadcast on the Internet. Yet certain problems arose, which led to reformatting the show and the content of their website.

Today, PRC, which is broadcast out of Brampton, Ontario, has grown tremendously. They now have nine dj’s on staff, and anyone can tune in through their website 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Due to the fact the station is independent, they rely on various sponsors, as well as word of mouth, to keep them going. Keyes, who is the owner of PRC said in a recent interview with Alternative Press “we can’t give away cars and trips every morning, but you can listen to good music in its raw environment. We are what AM and FM radio set out to be, but failed trying.”

In addition to playing punk rock music, throughout the years the team of PRC has conducted over 100 live audio interviews with bands such as Anti-Flag, Strung Out, Poison The Well, Thursday and so on. All the interviews as well as links to punk sites, record labels and online communities can be accessed by visiting their website.

According to Keyes, people do need radio and without it, “the world would definitely be missing out on something,” he said in Alternative Press. Even if they do not have a place on the AM or FM band, PRC has still been able to generate a lot of buzz.

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