‘40 Watts From Nowhere’ Chronicles KBLT, L.A.’s Legendary Pirate Station.

Actor and musician Jack Black has signed on as executive producer of “40 Watts From Nowhere,” a new documentary chronicling KBLT, the 1990s-era Los Angeles pirate radio station that became a cult symbol of free-form, low-power FM radio.

Directed by Sue Carpenter, who founded KBLT in 1995, the film captures the raw, do-it-yourself spirit of the underground station that broadcast from a Silver Lake apartment closet until the FCC shut it down in 1998, Variety reports. The station drew support from the local music community, with acts like Mazzy Star and the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing to raise funds and awareness.

Black announced his involvement in a tongue-in-cheek video, describing KBLT as “the best goddamn music you could hear on the FM dial — until the FCC shut it down.”

The film is built around newly rediscovered footage from 1998, shot by one of the station’s DJs for a never-completed documentary. Carpenter says she was unaware of the 12 hours of mini-DV tapes until the filmmaker contacted her in 2023. “He captured the entire arc of the story,” she said, from KBLT’s full-tilt operation to its federal takedown.

The documentary also features new interviews with Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Don Bolles (The Germs), and Keith Morris (Circle Jerks), among others, reflecting on how a 40-watt pirate signal helped shape L.A.’s alternative soundscape.

Carpenter says she approached the project with the same mindset she brought to radio: “I had no idea what I was doing, but I felt very strongly that I needed to make it happen — so I did.”

“40 Watts From Nowhere” is slated for release soon, promising an unfiltered look at one of radio’s most rebellious chapters.