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BBJ: Feds seize equipment from pirates Big City and B87.7

raccoonradio said:
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...-equipment-from-two-pirate-radio.html?ana=fbk

After repeated warnings...
>>. “It is a public safety hazard for illegal radio stations to broadcast, potentially interfering with critical radio communications. We will work in conjunction with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to identify violators of federal communications law.”
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They took their antennas that were up on Blue Hill Ave next to each other on that tall building.
They did not take their studio equipment. They have no idea where those locations are. So all they have to do now, is buy another antenna and put it back up. By the time the Speedy FCC reacts, it will be 2028 and the circle begins again. Nobody ever goes to JAIL for this stuff. Do they ? So where is the reason to stop ?
 
Larry Pierce 3334 said:
Nobody ever goes to JAIL for this stuff. Do they ? So where is the reason to stop ?
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The penalty is a fine. There has been discussion about increasing the fine to $100,000. However, how do they impose such a fine? Not like they have a legal mailing address.

Here's a link to the RadioInk story on the subject. It includes a map of the FCC's "known pirates."

https://radioink.com/2018/03/28/feds-drop-the-hammer-on-two-boston-pirates/

My question is if they know where they are, who are they still operating? Seems like one of those bureaucratic things to me.
 
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The station's power was 48,000 times the legal limit.

http://www.universalhub.com/2018/feds-move-shut-radio-station-operating-out?nocache=1

Universal Hub:
According to the warrant request, from the US Attorney's office in Boston, FCC investigators were able to trace a coaxial antenna from the roof, near an AT&T cell-phone antenna into the abandoned theater. But they were unable to fully trace it to a possible station studio because the property manager who had allowed them in said he had to leave for another appointment before they could complete following the cable, and that they would have to leave as well.

The FCC says it sent three demands to shut the station to a woman believed to be its owner, but that she sent one back, undelivered and marked "Receiver did not want, refused delivery."
 
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raccoonradio said:
she sent one back, undelivered and marked "Receiver did not want, refused delivery."
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Of course. Wonder if you can do that with a warrant. This is why the FCC is a joke.

The state of New York was contemplating making piracy a state crime. Then they could use the state police. But in Massachusetts, all the FCC can do is send a letter asking them to please stop.
 
Unlicensed radio station @B87FM (twitter account) presumably still online after federal authorities seized their antenna.Complaint mentions how they were tracked down (pdf on UnivesalHub)
 
Some pirates still out there of course. Last night I headed to an event in Somerville and heard them on 87.9, 92.1, 93.9 and maybe one or two other spots. (Earlier in the day, I was getting 540 and 720 up in Beverly...)
Some signals that may seem like pirates are legit--like the 95.1 up in Lowell, for WLLH..and there are some new FM translators out there like 100.3 for WROL. Big City had three frequencies made useless for them (the FCC raid took their antenna, too): 101.3 is now the WJIB translator, 100.3 WROL's, and 105.3 is for WUBG Methuen which has a pretty far reaching signal by day on 1570 (I can barely get it by night in N. Reading)

Had the 105.3 FM translator on for a bit as I headed through Medford; fairly solid. Pointing north toward Methuen etc,.
Professional sounding, if syndicator-canned, jingles/DJs etc The 100.3 translator for WROL points south. If you have it on and start going north on 93, for example, it soon loses out to WHEB in Portsmouth
 
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raccoonradio said:
Some pirates still out there of course. Last night I headed to an event in Somerville and heard them on 87.9, 92.1, 93.9 and maybe one or two other spots. (Earlier in the day, I was getting 540 and 720 up in Beverly...)
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I believe 5-40 is (brokered ethnic) WLIE from Long Island.
 
Driving through Boston neighborhoods tonight I heard a pirate I hadn't heard before on 95.7 playing what sounded like Caribbean music. Probably transmitting from Dorchester or Mattapan.

It was completely cutting out co-channel WZID Manchester, NH which fringes the area, and splattering a lot of interference (made worse by overmodulation) over adjacent WATD, Marshfield.

It was strong where I happened to tune in around Forest Hills, J.P. but it was pretty much gone by Brookline Village.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
Driving through Boston neighborhoods tonight I heard a pirate I hadn't heard before on 95.7 playing what sounded like Caribbean music. Probably transmitting from Dorchester or Mattapan.

It was completely cutting out co-channel WZID Manchester, NH which fringes the area, and splattering a lot of interference (made worse by overmodulation) over adjacent WATD, Marshfield.
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Overmodulation seems to be a feature of many ethnic pirates. It's especially bad on the Hispanic and Haitian religious stations I've heard -- the preachers are screaming hysterically anyway, and the overmodulation makes them practically unintelligible -- but I've also heard horrible sounding pirates with musical formats. I can't believe the target audience actually likes to listen to this sort of signal or that the technical expertise at those stations is so lacking that they can't do anything to clean their audio up.
 
CTListener said:
Overmodulation seems to be a feature of many ethnic pirates. It's especially bad on the Hispanic and Haitian religious stations I've heard -- the preachers are screaming hysterically anyway, and the overmodulation makes them practically unintelligible -- but I've also heard horrible sounding pirates with musical formats. I can't believe the target audience actually likes to listen to this sort of signal or that the technical expertise at those stations is so lacking that they can't do anything to clean their audio up.
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CTListener - Legit stations too. Remember when WNTY 990 was Spanish religious? Over modulated, screaming preachers, and a lot of time unintelligible. They were running an internet stream over the air. I remember when I was involved at that station when they were news/talk/infotainment one of the first things they told me was to keep it out of the red on the meters. I swear when they were Spanish religious those meters had to have been pegged in the red all the time.

And what's with the screaming preachers anyway? I have no objection to anyone who wants to get their message out to people, but in my opinion there is no reason to scream. One Saturday night a friend and I were driving around Southington. I put 990 on and there was a female preacher screaming into the microphone seemingly without taking a breath. And as she continued my friend and I were talking to each other like "Calm down lady, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack." We listened for about 20 mins. Another time it was after midnight and they were running Spanish Religion on WRYM 840 then known as La Gigante. It was honestly the creepiest thing I ever heard on the radio there was a male preacher screaming into the microphone and what sounded like the sound effects of a woman crying in the background.

Currently Exitos 105.3 (WNEZ/1230 Manchester/Hartford) too. During the day when they have their Spanish Variety Hits format it sounds fine, but as soon as 10PM rolls around and the Spanish religion comes on the station sounds like crap.
 
To hear overmodulation on a legitimate licensed station, check out the three watt night signal of 1550 AM WNTN. The station sounds fine on its full day power, but when it lowers to three watts at sunset, it overmodulates all night long with sometimes severe distortion. The three watt night signal also splatters noise anywhere above around 1400 on the AM dial around the immediate Fresh Pond area due to overmodulation, the full power day signal doesn’t do that in the same area!
 
CTListener said:
Overmodulation seems to be a feature of many ethnic pirates. It's especially bad on the Hispanic and Haitian religious stations I've heard -- the preachers are screaming hysterically anyway, and the overmodulation makes them practically unintelligible -- but I've also heard horrible sounding pirates with musical formats. I can't believe the target audience actually likes to listen to this sort of signal or that the technical expertise at those stations is so lacking that they can't do anything to clean their audio up.
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I think there is a confusion between distortion and over-modulation.

On FM, 100% modulation is an arbitrary construct. It means +/- 75 kHz is the limit of the modulation of the frequency. In some other services that use FM modulation, 100% is defined as +/- 25 kHz.

In another country, where everyone was modulated at around 140% or so, we did some testing using an assortment of real-world radios. We determined that the transmission system is not the limiting factor but the receiver. Modulating at around +/- 95 kHz or in the vicinity of 125% is just below the point where the bandwidth of FM radios starts to clip off greater frequency excursions, causing the appearance of distortion and the introduction of artifacts.

We settled on about 120% modulation on the monitor, partly because the Optimod back then would start producing lower stereo pilot injection when modulation was increased beyond that point. That was enough to be adequately loud, and to have a cleaner sound than the rest of the stations in the market (all 30 of them). It was also enough to be #1.

I think the distortion you hear on those prerecorded or outsourced programs is due to poor recording with poor equipment and untrained operators. Sort of like setting it at 11 in Spinal Tap.
 
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