The revolution will be broadcast — whether some small town radio stations like it or not. Today, reports BuzzFeed, a community radio station in South Carolina was hijacked by a huge YG fan, or more likely (considering the majority of Americans did not vote for him), someone who really doesn’t like Donald Trump. Earlier this week, the Southern California gangsta rapper’s G-funk protest anthem “Fuck Donald Trump” was playing continuously on Sunny 107.9, which airs throughout Salem, South Carolina.
“This is NOT our broadcast!” Frank Patterson, President of the Lake Keowee Broadcasting Group, wrote in a Facebook post. “We at WFBS do not take political views! The FCC and WFBS are working to fix this situation ASAP.”
Sunny 107.9 was not the first small, noncommercial radio station to crank the Compton rapper’s viral hit, either. On January 20, Trump’s inauguration day, reports came in that El Jefe 96.7 (a Spanish-language station in Tennessee), Crescent Hill Radio (a local music station in Kentucky), an R&B oldies station in Texas, and Mother of the Redeemer Radio 103.5 (yikes) in Indiana were all unable to stop playing “Fuck Donald Trump.”
According to BuzzFeed, hacks were achieved through a Barix Exstreamer, an audio broadcast device that’s often used by small stations because of its simplicity, but that isn’t secure without a firewall. Finding unprotected stations is easy using a search engine. “With significant interest to take over the devices for political messages or even blackmailing, there will be more takeovers and maybe even ‘hacks,'” Barix’s founder told the outlet. (The affected stations should consider themselves lucky; BuzzFeed adds that a similar hack took place last year, except “with an explicit furry podcast.” *shudder*).
We caught up with YG about the record in question back in June: “We came up with the idea just off a conversation about what’s needed in the rap game, in the community, in life, and how we really feel. We knew it was going to come with some consequences, but we said fuck em,” YG told us, just before he joined Beyoncé at her New York City stadium show to perform the song together. “The rap game has been watered down for a minute. There haven’t been many people using their platform, speaking up, encouraging people to really get involved in politics and know what’s going on in the world, in they communities — where we from, where we live, where we pay taxes at,” he added.
A few months later, YG returned with “Fuck Donald Trump Part 2,” which featured G-Eazy and Macklemore. We wondered if he had plans for a third. “Man, I labeled it ‘Part 2’ because a ‘Part 3’ or ‘Part 4’ could happen. I just gotta get off this tour and start putting some shit together!” he told us. Considering that Trump has since been elected, is working rapidly to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, signed a deeply Islamophobic executive order barring refugees and immigrants from entering the country, and another which permits construction on the environmentally detrimental Dakota Access Pipeline, we really hope YG has something else in the works.
Read: YG sounds off on his anti-Trump crusade
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Eric Chakeen