DJ David Letterman Prank Call on Ball State "Pirate" Radio, 1969

The ever-entertaining and seemingly bottomless Archive.org offers a rare 1969 recording of college twerp Dave Letterman's radio hijinks back when he was a student at Ball State University in Muncie.

Listen to it with this handy widget courtesy of the Archive.org folks:


The clip was recorded by during the 11PM - 12 Midnight hour on April 1, 1969 when Letterman was a DJ on WAGO-AM 570 (known as "WAGO BossRadio 57"). WAGO was a "carrier current" station that, according to former BSU student Julie K. Elliott, "broadcast from a broom closet in the men's dorms." (Today, WAGO is an FM station in Snow Hill, North Carolina.)

The original source of the recording is one Tom Corbett, who was also a DJ on WAGO at the time. Corbett later went on to co-found, in 1972, the Corbett-Kirby Corporation, an Indianapolis-based jingle company that also produced a radio series called Wongo, the Norwegian Scab Camel, written by Letterman. At last report, Corbett is now a cabinet maker in Nashville.

As Corbett explains:

"The voice of Lyla Whip is Letterman's former wife, Michelle, who he calls at their apartment. The Pixie was a sleazy 24-hour diner in Muncie that provided an ample supply of grease after a night of drinking and was also frequented by colorful locals. The top-of-hour ID is voiced by Don Worsham of the Media Preservation Foundation."

According to Wikipedia, carrier current is a type of low-power radio broadcasting (AM or FM) that does not require a license, and is governed by Part 15 of the FCC regs, which limits their range to no more than 200 feet.

You can learn more about "Part 15" and low-power broadcasting at the FCC site, and the Radio Brandy site has info and links to equipment providers for "Part 15" broadcasting for both AM and FM. Also, a carrier current AM transmitter can be had from Radio Systems in New Jersey.