100.3 Urban AC Pirate

[mcamp]

You must have a really cheap radio in your car mcamp. I live in Danvers and can pick up HEB fine in Peabody, Lynn, Revere, Saugus, Chelsea, East Boston, and not great but ok in Boston.

It is not crystal clear Peabody (a Kenwood stereo), and you can hear it beginning to go in and out....it's worse heading down I-93...by the time I hit the Zakim bridge, it's more out than in.
The Shark is the same way...maybe a little worse.
The Mill is the worst out of the bunch.

 

[BRNout]

You must have a really cheap radio in your car mcamp. I live in Danvers and can pick up HEB fine in Peabody, Lynn, Revere, Saugus, Chelsea, East Boston, and not great but ok in Boston.

It is not crystal clear Peabody (a Kenwood stereo), and you can hear it beginning to go in and out....it's worse heading down I-93...by the time I hit the Zakim bridge, it's more out than in.
The Shark is the same way...maybe a little worse.
The Mill is the worst out of the bunch.

HEB has a class C signal with a 50 kw transmitter at almost 500' above sea level. The Shark (102.1) is 3 kw at 380' (the 105.3 tx is lower and less powerful) and The Mill (96.5) broadcasts with a mere 730 watts at 1,390' above sea level. Both are class As and serve a more limited geographic area.

In addition, The Mill broadcasts from Goffstown, NH (west of Manchester) and has farther to travel over hillier terrain with less power than WHEB or "the Shark" both of which are sited along the coast. It gets out a long way, but with a feeble signal. And, it is located 60 miles to the west of the other stations you cited. So you can't fairly compare them as you did.

 

[spilot113]

Dude, WYBC isn't # 1 this book. Yeah, so what?

So...it's not #1

You claim it the so-called mainstream AC station beat WYBC. You just got served, it didn't.

Check the demo....

I cannot believe how badly you missed the point on WYBC.

The point is they are not #1. Numbers don't lie.

It is as if you didn't even care to consider Ciao's point.

The premise was that the Boston and New Haven markets are similar in black population (blah, blah, blah...)



I pointed out statistically that they're not.

Thats the point.

 

[Keith321]

I cannot believe how badly you missed the point on WYBC.

I THINK THE POINT THAT WAS MISSED BY CIAO AND BRNout WAS THIS BELOW:

I suggest you look at New Haven Connecticut. It's a new England city with similar proportions in terms of white, black (african- american, jamaican, blah blah blah)...

The black population of New Haven is 14.2%

While Boston's Black population is less than half: 6.4%

ANY STATIONS RATINGS PERFORMANCE IS SHADED BY THIS FACT

HOW COULD YOU MISS IT?

 

[BRNout]

I "missed" it because New Haven also has far fewer local stations than Boston. They don't have half a dozen rockers going after the same audience. Yet WYBC does quite well. In fact, it beat the pants off of local CHR WKCI - a station with several times the range and power. Also (let me repeat myself - in case you missed it), but it did so without even covering half the market with a good signal.

Neither of the above posters have deigned to comment on this.

Spilot is too hung up on whether they are #1 or not (who really cares?) and Keith is relying too much on the black population statistic.

About that: yes, the black population a larger slice in the New Haven DMA than in the Boston DMA (though Boston has more in raw numbers). But there's more going on than that simplistic stat would imply. For one thing, you assume that ONLY black people would listen to such a station. Not so. You can also attract other folks with the right programming and music mix.

Secondly, parts of the New Haven market can pick up NY FM signals (they show up in the book) - so there is actually a little competition for WYBC. Particularly true in the SW corner of the market, where the likes of WBLS and WRKS come in about as well as directional WYBC. So do urban contemporary stations from NYC and Long Island. A similar station in Boston would have ZERO competition - the whole market to itself, musically.

Lastly, little daytimer WILD (when run well by Nash) was garnering ratings around 2.0 - better than some full-signal FMs. Where's the discussion of that point (which was brought up and ignored earlier)?

This debate need not be emotion-based. The numbers are there to justify the format, or some iteration of it, in Boston. If not an urban AC, a lighter urban contemporary would do nicely.

 

[spilot113]

I "missed" it because New Haven also has far fewer local stations than Boston.

Whatever......

 

[radiojay1]

The black population of New Haven is 14.2%
While Boston's Black population is less than half: 6.4%

Those demographic percentages are inaccurate unless they may talking about only African-Americans. Look at www.city-data.com Boston's black population is 25.3% and New Haven's is 37.4%

 

[Keith321]

I have never heard anyone compare the Boston and New Haven markets as anywhere near similar.....

 

[spilot113]

The black population of New Haven is 14.2%
While Boston's Black population is less than half: 6.4%

Those demographic percentages are inaccurate unless they may talking about only African-Americans.

You can get numbers from anywhere...but these percentages are accurate....as they are for the "radio market" (i.e...metro) for each market (from Arbitron), not just the city proper, which is what is being talked about here....radio ratings.

They are from the same source...so whatever they are talking about (African American, whatever)...it's the same standard of measurement.

 

[nd2023]

Getting back to the original topic, is there still an Urban AC pirate on 100.3 in Boston?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Getting back to the original topic, is there still an Urban AC pirate on 100.3 in Boston?

I thought I heard some kind of pirate last time I checked the frequency last week. It was weak and distorted, and I could hear WHEB coming through in the background in places. I thought I was hearing Caribbean or Haitian music rather than Urban AC. Couldn't say where the signal was coming from.

 

[BRNout]

I have never heard anyone compare the Boston and New Haven markets as anywhere near similar.....

Certain aspects are similar, for example the vast majority of the listenership is in suburban communities and not in the city. Which can affect programming choices greatly.

I just wanted to point out that a small, limited range station beats the big guys in a market that's not all that far from Boston. And, it even shows up in the Hartford book despite having a very weak, fringe signal there. Sure, New Haven and Hartford are different than Boston - but certain programming principles apply too. Both markets actually have more format diversity than Boston.

As for statistics: 6.4% of 3,874,600 is almost 250,000; 14.2% of 417,100 is roughly 60,000. That's a lot more ears.

Even if you got only 1/3 of the black listenership in this market and no one else (unlikely), you'd have a viable FM station that outperforms several of the more established signals. If done right, such a format could do better than that with the Caucasian and Hispanic audiences. Especially considering the lack of alternatives available in the market.

 

[Keith321]

I have never heard anyone compare the Boston and New Haven markets as anywhere near similar.....

Certain aspects are similar, for example the vast majority of the listenership is in suburban communities and not in the city. Which can affect programming choices greatly.

You're really stretching it to show tha markets are smiliar.

Again, you're the first one I've ever heard attempt this.

 

[radiojay1]

To spilot113

I should have known those Arbitron percentages included the entire radio market area. I was thinking it was just the city. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[BRNout]

I have never heard anyone compare the Boston and New Haven markets as anywhere near similar.....

Certain aspects are similar, for example the vast majority of the listenership is in suburban communities and not in the city. Which can affect programming choices greatly.

You're really stretching it to show tha markets are smiliar.

Again, you're the first one I've ever heard attempt this.

Boston has more in common with markets like Providence, Hartford and New Haven than with just about anywhere else in the USA. All are primarily suburban markets with a relatively small central city surrounded by lots of moderately dense "towns." Not to mention that there are cultural similarities too. Yes, there are ethnic differences between them (to an extent). But they aren't all that great.

You certainly cannot compare Boston with Atlanta, Chicago, New York or Philly now can you? New Haven is not that much of a stretch by comparison. After all, there is a reason that a lot of national chains do not venture beyond New York and a lot of regional chains stick with New England alone.

Hello? It's cultural. Last time I looked, Hamden and Wallingford had a lot of the same stuff that you find in Stoughton or Everett. No, the markets aren't EXACTLY the same. But, using WYBC as an example isn't all that crazy either. Perhaps you just don't like the format. That's fair - but at least address the points that I am scoring in this discussion. Beyond the tired "New Haven isn't Boston" argument. No it's not - Boston actually has more African-Americans and fewer signals vying for their listenership.

Then again, I suppose you'd probably consider Portland to be an analogue for Boston, right? : ;D

Perhaps you should take your summer vacation to a destination that is outside of New England. Then you might actually get the idea.

 

[spilot113]

Perhaps you should take your summer vacation to a destination that is outside of New England. Then you might actually get the idea.

I am going to agree ........i don't think i ever heard anyone compare the two markets either.

(btw.....i am someone who has been around the world and worked in markets all around the country...so your pompous indignation does nothing to support your point.....)

 

[ScottBurns2]

I have never heard anyone compare the Boston and New Haven markets as anywhere near similar.....

Certain aspects are similar, for example the vast majority of the listenership is in suburban communities and not in the city. Which can affect programming choices greatly.

I know thats what I think when I pass by the old abandoned mill buildings of n haven....

"Hey! This place reminds me of Boston!" LOL

 

[JimmyJames]

The airwaves theoretically belong to the people, you seem to think CC owns the frequency. I don't think CC's ethics when it comes to employees are much higher than you think the operator of 100.3 is.

Now I have all kinds of interference on 100.3 this is nuts. 'HEB's parent company (clear channel?) pays big money for the rights and licenses to broadcast on this channel. This pirate is STEALING from this company, possibly affecting people's livlihoods. This is wrong. Hey Rapking would it be ok for me to come into your place of employment and steal everything? Hey it would be an act of civil disobedience and if I gave it all away it would help the community!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

The airwaves theoretically belong to the people...

To put up unlimited amounts of unlicensed pirate radio stations??

How would you like it if there was no FCC? Is that what you mean?

As much as some of us (myself included) may dislike various FCC policies, there has to be a governing body legislating radio frequencies, and who gets to use each one in every area of the country. If there wasn't such an agency, the entire dial would be full of stations that people simply put on the air everywhere, cutting each other out, interfering with each other, and jamming each other. You really wouldn't be able to hear anybody most of the time, all you would get would be intermodulation. You think the dial is crowded in the cities now? Without an agency determining who gets legal rights to the frequencies, it would be a chaotic, unlistenable mess.

Legally, the airwaves are supposed to serve the people with licensed radio stations (and you can debate how much the stations actually do that), but they do not belong to the people to do whatever they want with, not theoretically or otherwise.

 

[spilot113]

The airwaves theoretically belong to the people, you seem to think CC owns the frequency. I don't think CC's ethics when it comes to employees are much higher than you think the operator of 100.3 is.

Let's review....

The government has the right to regulate and coordinate the use of the public resource (spectrum)....

The government created and empowered the FCC for this effort.

The FCC coordinates the use of frequencies, etc.

The FCC licenses groups and individuals as trustee's to use the public spectrum.

Do they own the frequency? No..however they have been given a license to use it.


As far as ethics...CC has a license....100.3 does not.

Do you condone people driving without a license? Even if they have good intentions/ethos?


I can't imagine anyone defending an unlicensed driver because they might occasionally give a few people a ride that are in need.