> Kraze,
>
> Maybe there were two pirates "using" the "WNFR" calls. The
> one you hear that plays R&B music and then the one for
> racist radio. It wouldn't surprise me if there were more
> than one pirate "using" the same "calls" after all from the
> Radio-Info Boards I've read about pirates "using" the same
> calls of licensed stations, though usually not in the same
> market.
No, I'm pretty sure it was only one station, they had a very unmistakable sound (high compression and often alot of plate reverb) and no, this wasn't Jammin 99.5 (which is the Hip-Hop and R&B station I have a connection to). The calls used there were WKDH since 1981 (back when I could safely say it was part 15) and then when those calls were actually issued to a TV station it was changed to WKDH-FM, which is internet only now and will not ever return to FM unless via legal means. Jammin 99.5 always tried to be a source of music for the urban community (way back before the Jamz910, Blazes, Hot 93.7's and Power 104.1's existed) and there was always an attempt to serve the community, either with PSA's or some of the programs that were relayed via WBAI & WUSB. The station made every attempt to run as if it were a legal station (much of the time running at part 15 limits, which only changed after 2001 and with nowhere near as much power as anyone might think) with the exception of the music which did have the occasional bad word in it (hard to avoid with urban music) though I made efforts to edit the songs myself before creating the automation disks they used on the air. If costs and supposed lack of frequencies weren't the issue, the station would have obtained a license from the beginning.
Seeing as I am now in total control of the internet version of the station, I'm looking now to strip the references to 99.5 in order not to have anyone be confused between the two stations, maybe even posting a disclaimer notice on the website.
But enough about the Middletown station, back to the topic...
The first time I heard WNFR, was way out in the back woods of Portland either two or three years ago, and I knew something weird was going on as they were playing some comedy bit (possibly Rodney Dangerfield) uncensored.
On occasion they would play oldies and try to sound like an oldies station and it did include some Motown and R&B oldies, but the format I heard most frequently on WNFR was a very odd mix of music, I suppose it depended on whoever was sitting at the controls, there would be someone playing mainstream dance music, while other times they were running what sound like old airchecks and recordings from top 40 stations in the 60's & 70's. Sometimes I heard American top 40 episodes from the 70's or 80's and I just assumed the whole time that these were just some radio fanatics who were goofing around on the air as they have Jingles and such. Originally, since I would get them fairly clear on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, I figured the "N" in WNFR stood for Newington (I even mentioned that I thought it stood for Newington Free Radio here on Radio-Info), they came in really well in front of Job Lot in Berlin and Northeast Utilities which initially lead me to believe that.
I wish I did hear them doing what was reported on the news yesterday, I would have made the effort to fully track them down and report them, the closest I got to finding them was one time after an aniome club meeting in Farmington, I started searching around following rt 10 south and eventually drifted down towards ESPN in Bristol before they shut off. Never did find the exact location, did figure it wasn't worth the time and gas money to pursue what was little more than curiosity of this oddity.
