KSMR Disappears
By Nick Grace
March 24, 2001
with Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX
After weeks of broadcasting, KSMR - Kentucky State Militia (KSM) Radio - disappeared on March 21st.
Although the reason for the disappearance cannot be confirmed, CDX-CRW received a report that the KSM ordered an immediate end to the station's transmissions earlier this week. The KSM, however, did not respond to a inquiry asking them to confirm or deny this report.
CDX-CRW have also learned that the operator of KSMR, 'Major' Steve Anderson, may possibly return to the air with a new station. This operation may be a militia-supported station, but may have a different callsign and fewer, if any, ties to the KSM.
KSMR broadcast nightly on 3260 kilohertz USB with as much as 800 watts. Anderson planned to relay other programmers, including the Genesis Communications Network via satellite, but the relays failed to materialize. Instead, listeners only heard Anderson's own show called "The Militia Hour." Recent programs included purported coded messages.
Regardless of any legacy left by the operation, "KSMR made history" says George Zeller, widely regarded as an authority on unlicensed broadcasting. "[T]his was the first clandestine station on short wave that has ever transmitted on a regular schedule from a USA transmitter, with a target area in the USA."
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