W R F N RADIO FREE NAPTOWN
Bootleg Radio . . . a true story

FRIENDS

WRFN had many loyal friends, even among the local broadcasters and the FCC. They warned of impending raids, helped provide music, and spread the word on the time and date of the next broadcast. Remember, this was a time before social media, so flyers, phone calls, and word of mouth kept everyone up to date.

    

August, 1970
The Indianapolis Free Press printed a lengthy story about Radio Free Naptown. Titled Guerilla Radio, the article stated, "for a change, Indianapolis radio (has) entered the 20th century....by presenting underground music in a straightforward, gimmickless, flashless and mature manner, a quality painfully absent from the two Indianapolis radio stations which claim to program to the new generation."

By 1971, telephone requests using payphones were used. A group of 6 payphones located inside Weir Cook Airport were answered by volunteers who would run requests back. In a two hour period over 200 hundred calls were taken. These phones were reported to ring day and night, long after the volunteers had left.

But the most stunning was the listenership of RFN, which was estimated at over 10,000, placing the station 4th in an 18 station market.

 

Contact Jolly Ollie
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