Jack Black Signs On as Executive Producer of ’40 Watts From Nowhere,’ Documentary on 1990s L.A. Pirate Radio Station KBLT

Jack Black has joined the documentary "40 Watts From Nowhere" as an executive producer, championing the story of KBLT, a 1990s pirate radio station that broadcast illegally from a Silver Lake apartment closet. In a characteristically high-spirited announcement, Black lamented the corporate control of mainstream rock radio at the time, stating, "Corporate rock radio stations only played what they wanted you to hear back then." He celebrated the station's rebellious nature, calling it "against the law, it was against the grain," and promised the film would soon be "broadcasting into your brain."

The film's foundation is built upon 12 hours of archival footage from 1998, shot by a KBLT DJ for a project that was ultimately abandoned. This recently rediscovered material provides a comprehensive look at the station's journey, documenting its rise to prominence and its eventual shutdown. The footage includes appearances by an array of punk and alternative music luminaries who served as DJs, such as Keith Morris of the hardcore pioneers Circle Jerks, Mike Watt from the influential groups The Minutemen and fIREHOSE, and Don Bolles of the iconic punk band The Germs.

Founded and directed by Sue Carpenter, KBLT began transmissions in 1995 using a 40-watt FM transmitter. Carpenter exploited a regulatory gray area that enabled a nationwide surge of low-power, unlicensed broadcasting. Operating 24/7 from her residence, the station became a vital hub, earning robust support from the Los Angeles music scene. Its cultural impact was substantial; the dream-pop band Mazzy Star—known for their 1993 hit "Fade Into You"—headlined a fundraiser for the station, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers, by then global superstars, performed an impromptu live set in Carpenter's living room.

Carpenter revealed that the documentary only became feasible after the footage was unexpectedly located in early 2023. "I hadn't spoken to that DJ in 25 years when he contacted me... to say he had just found the tapes in his garage," she remembered. The recordings were so extensive that they chronicled the station's "full-tilt heyday" right up to its closure by the Federal Communications Commission that same year. To complete the narrative, Carpenter conducted new interviews in 2023 with key figures like Bolles, Watt, and Tom Morello, the politically charged guitarist of Rage Against the Machine.

Carpenter drew a parallel between her method of launching the radio station and her approach to filmmaking. "I approached the film the same way I approached the radio station," she explained. "I had no idea what I was doing, but I felt very strongly that I needed to make it happen. So I did." This grassroots, do-it-yourself ethos defined the low-power FM movement. According to media historian Dr. Elena Vance, "This movement democratized the airwaves in a way that was previously unimaginable, directly influencing the decentralized, community-focused media we see today." The station's vibrant but brief operation, which reached its peak in 1998, was ultimately terminated by an FCC enforcement action, cementing its legacy as a seminal act of musical rebellion.