40 Watts from Nowhere

“Back in the day, corporate rock radio stations only played what they wanted you to hear. But in the mid-‘90s a group of punk rock legends and local kids from an L.A. neighborhood took matters into their own hands, took over the airwaves and played whatever the hell they wanted. It was against the law, it was against the grain, and it was run out of an apartment closet—but it was the best goddamn music you could hear on the FM dial!” —Jack Black, Executive Producer

Frustrated by what she was hearing on commercial radio, Sue Carpenter built a 40-watt FM station in 1995 and ran it out of her apartment in Los Angeles, exploiting a legal case that allowed hundreds of low-power illegal radio operators to proliferate throughout the country and gave birth to the legal LPFM movement. Carpenter was 28 years old, a secretary and an aspiring journalist when she first set up KBLT and invited strangers into her house to spin whatever the hell they wanted. It soon took on a life of its own, drawing Mazzy Star to headline a benefit concert and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play live in her living room.