>>Pirates are pretty rampant, they're filling every crevice, making it impossible to pull in distant signals.
True though the FCC may figure it's more important to get a local (or not) group on. You may be
in Rockport and want to pick up 101.5 in Prov. if you can, but they have a station up there
// WERS. 103.7 Saugus blocks out the stations in NH and RI (WEEI's sister station) in favor
of...well, dead air right now.
Speaking of which (crowded FM and AM bands)...see my post above in which a legislator from Penn. says he's working to get more LPFMs on the air...to "serve the community".
Which could mean running religious stuff from Idaho. Obviously the intentions are good....say, have a station in Beverly that could be the equivalent of the Beverly Patch or part of the Salem News...
community groups and news, etc. (In the old days we used to have stations like WESX for
that...before they moved closer to Boston and went Spanish. Or, WMVX formerly WNSH...)
So...OK, they want legitimately licensed "peanut whistle" stations to go on. I would hope the FCC
would license them in a way that wouldn't cause interference and maybe those running
pirate radio can stop their operations and be DJs or hosts on the new legit stations. What do you have now? Someone in Dorchester who figured it would be nice to put "Datz Hits" on 99.7...
causing problems for WCRB listeners. Someone in Boston decided to go on 93.5--hey! Entercom
had to be happy about that one, right? Someone else decides to go to 100.1 and cut down
the WBRS signal range.
So the plan is the "community" can get their own stations. Yes there is a need, but it can
go overboard when there are so many stations, so little frequencies. There can be an
"emergency info" station in Peabody at 1640 (which lately has been dead air), and another
1640 broadcasting a few blocks (probably within part 15) to publicize a church and school
(which there is...you get to hear 8 year olds singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and
a teacher announcing upcoming events). Yes, put some of these stations on, fine, fine.
But what about overcrowding.
I was just talking AM but I know what you mean about FM. There are pirates on 106.1
and 101.3--with fairly powerful transmitters...though they at least sound OK. The 100.1
had talk in a foreign language and sounded like crap. All are illegal. So you have the FCC
perhaps licensing some LPFMs, translators. Then you have the pirates, who last for
years without getting shut down. Perhaps as I said the LPFMs are a solution as it
can get some of these pirates to go legit. Run a Haitian music show on it, instead
of doing an entire station doing that illegally.
(And incidentally every time a prog talk station changes format, the followers let out the argument that "the airwaves belong to the people". Um, yes, in a way. They actually are
granted to organizations great and small, from Clear Channel to Bob Bittner, who pay for
licenses, invest in equipment etc. and the commercial stations, at least, put on what they
think will make money. I can't just walk in to WRKO and demand they start running
classic country. But...the airwaves belong to the people! Or I can't walk into WBUR and
ask them to run conservative talk shows. They got the license, it's their call. And it's
CC's call to change KPOJ to sports, and CBS's to change KFNQ to sports. There are only so
many frequencies and the "public" does not necessarily own the airwaves...not as long as the
FCC is around to license them. Unless people break the law and go on without permission.)
>>I can't believe having so many stations is good for business.
good point. Hey everyone wants to be on but there's only so much space. So sure get a
community station on but don't let EVERYBODY on. If you can't get a license and won't go
on a legit station with your program, should they let you on, then webcast. Go on
public access TV. Start a newspaper. Whatever.)
