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Fybush: Hot 97 (87.7) raided, shut down
- Thread starter raccoonradio
- Start date
How dear someone answer to a job opening they saw in a local newspaper .
RadioPhillyFan said:
Success in the radio business isn't defined by the number of listeners you have. Success in commercial radio, at a minimum, is making enough to cover your legally obligated expenses and still turn a profit. Maybe it's possible in Boston, but it sure wouldn't be easy. It'd be a big risk. I don't see any operator with the tools to execute the format and a station in dire straits to execute it on.
R
RadioPhillyFan
Guest
In the early 90's, in Scranton (Market Rank 71 today, that area is getting rather large) they had a pirate fm on 97.5 for Months It moved from two towers, as I recall. Once WB, then Scranton. This station still had no raid; nor notice by the FCC.
pirates can even go un-noticed by the FCC in a top 10 market like Boston.
It was between 500-1000 watts, it didn't cause any interference to 97.5 Philadelphia. 97.5 can go about 50 miles outside of Philly, it's one of the weakest Philadelphia FM's. Scrantons 97.5 pirate was only a 5,10,15 mile strong signal. I remember almost DJing for it, but then it "went away" it's studios were a small apartment bought out just for the purpose.
It was an Active Rock, I believe Slice 97, and they always said "Giving you a slice of real rock" as their motto
It broadcasted from an antenna on the top of a tree somewhat between Scranton and WB.
It actually lasted four months.
Two locations (Tall tree and a three story house in WB to begin with)
I thought this was remarkable, but in this day and age it's more remarkable what Hot 97 has done. Even if it is illegal.
pirates can even go un-noticed by the FCC in a top 10 market like Boston.
It was between 500-1000 watts, it didn't cause any interference to 97.5 Philadelphia. 97.5 can go about 50 miles outside of Philly, it's one of the weakest Philadelphia FM's. Scrantons 97.5 pirate was only a 5,10,15 mile strong signal. I remember almost DJing for it, but then it "went away" it's studios were a small apartment bought out just for the purpose.
It was an Active Rock, I believe Slice 97, and they always said "Giving you a slice of real rock" as their motto
It broadcasted from an antenna on the top of a tree somewhat between Scranton and WB.
It actually lasted four months.
Two locations (Tall tree and a three story house in WB to begin with)
I thought this was remarkable, but in this day and age it's more remarkable what Hot 97 has done. Even if it is illegal.
RadioPhillyFan said:
Thanks, I needed a laugh. Facebook is hardly a valid metric for the success of a radio station. And even if that number were valid, according to Arbitron even dinky little religious station WEZE gets 15,200 listeners daily, in the 6+ demo. Kiss and Jam'n together cume over a million a day.
If you couldn't already tell, I'm not impressed.
R
RadioPhillyFan
Guest
I am pretty unfamiliar with the Boston market. I do respect it highly however.
Now, I'm not saying that Facebook is an accurate method at all, it's an intimiation it has 14,000 listeners at least. That's only those who liked it on Facebook.
I don't have much proof. But a few people on this board have explained they've been a listener for years to Hot 97. It's got the appearence of a succesful station, surely! I can't back up such a "virgin fact". I mean by virgin fact; I have no proof, no market knowledge, whatsoever.
Now, I'm not saying that Facebook is an accurate method at all, it's an intimiation it has 14,000 listeners at least. That's only those who liked it on Facebook.
I don't have much proof. But a few people on this board have explained they've been a listener for years to Hot 97. It's got the appearence of a succesful station, surely! I can't back up such a "virgin fact". I mean by virgin fact; I have no proof, no market knowledge, whatsoever.
MassMusicMan
Banned
Facebook "likes" for a radio station are a misleading metric.
My old Top 40 station in Burlington has 15,000 likes. The country station that represents 1/6th and maybe even 1/5 of the market's listening has half as many likes. So why does the Top 40 station have so many "likes?"
I'd say this is a big reason why: http://www.likeable.com/2010/06/what-to-do-when-your-wall-is-under-attack/
Elvis Duran (that nice fellow who does that little show in New York) told his listeners that 95 Triple X was stealing his material word for word. So he encouraged his listeners to "like" their page for the purposes of leaving nasty comments on their wall. How many of those people do you believe bothered to "unlike" Triple X after their hit-and-run attack egged on by Elvis?
Of course, let's not forget that perhaps the best explanation is often the simplest one. To wit: People are (expletive) stupid. There's probably a bunch of Hot 97 fans that blindly "liked" the Boston imitation instead of the legitimate one in New York, and never thought twice about it.
My old Top 40 station in Burlington has 15,000 likes. The country station that represents 1/6th and maybe even 1/5 of the market's listening has half as many likes. So why does the Top 40 station have so many "likes?"
I'd say this is a big reason why: http://www.likeable.com/2010/06/what-to-do-when-your-wall-is-under-attack/
Elvis Duran (that nice fellow who does that little show in New York) told his listeners that 95 Triple X was stealing his material word for word. So he encouraged his listeners to "like" their page for the purposes of leaving nasty comments on their wall. How many of those people do you believe bothered to "unlike" Triple X after their hit-and-run attack egged on by Elvis?
Of course, let's not forget that perhaps the best explanation is often the simplest one. To wit: People are (expletive) stupid. There's probably a bunch of Hot 97 fans that blindly "liked" the Boston imitation instead of the legitimate one in New York, and never thought twice about it.
Hot 97 Photos http://hot97boston.smugmug.com/
mescutia said:
More likely, they knew it would take a very long time to catch them, and even longer to catch them and really make it stick. The frustrating thing is that even as pirate radio is exploding, especially in areas like NYC or south Florida, Congress keeps cutting the FCC's budget, which means that there's ever dwindling resources to catch the pirates.
mescutia said:
I'm sure that plays into the mentality. If they have a large enough ego to believe they can thumb their nose at the law, they certainly can believe that others must need to listen to what they're playing.
M
MickeyD
Guest
carmen said:
Skippy White is still alive? He must be ancient now he used to advetise on WILD back in the 60's.
Yes, the bottom line is that they were illegal and were going to be shutdown.
The intricacies of the situation and how people feel about it are more wide and varied. A lot of people (myself included, at times) perceive radio as a service and not a business. Obviously this is wrong however perception in this case seems to dominate peoples minds rather than facts.
Its easy for white people in the suburbs to sit and say "the format wont work because its not profitable, oh well" and not give it another thought. Its not a big deal because their cultural interests are still being served on 85% of the remaining stations. But just imagine if there was absolutely no rock music on the radio? You would feel cheated and that your demographic was widely socially ignored. When RadioOne sold Hot 97.7 my coworkers at the time (all young urban minorities) felt this and were ready to RIOT.
So when people express an opinion other than "its the law, they should be shut down and jailed", its not that someone is ignorant of the law and the basics of an orderly society. Its a more complex issue - its a situation that adds fuel to an ongoing social issue.
Yes they were illegal and breaking the law. Should they be jailed? I dont think so. They didn't cause anyone harm. There are repeat drunk drivers that endanger the lives of others over and over that do not serve jail time. People stab other people and never serve jail time. I believe in justice, but punishments should be relative.
The intricacies of the situation and how people feel about it are more wide and varied. A lot of people (myself included, at times) perceive radio as a service and not a business. Obviously this is wrong however perception in this case seems to dominate peoples minds rather than facts.
Its easy for white people in the suburbs to sit and say "the format wont work because its not profitable, oh well" and not give it another thought. Its not a big deal because their cultural interests are still being served on 85% of the remaining stations. But just imagine if there was absolutely no rock music on the radio? You would feel cheated and that your demographic was widely socially ignored. When RadioOne sold Hot 97.7 my coworkers at the time (all young urban minorities) felt this and were ready to RIOT.
So when people express an opinion other than "its the law, they should be shut down and jailed", its not that someone is ignorant of the law and the basics of an orderly society. Its a more complex issue - its a situation that adds fuel to an ongoing social issue.
Yes they were illegal and breaking the law. Should they be jailed? I dont think so. They didn't cause anyone harm. There are repeat drunk drivers that endanger the lives of others over and over that do not serve jail time. People stab other people and never serve jail time. I believe in justice, but punishments should be relative.
Yes they did cause harm. Legitimate businesses put their ad dollars into an illegal operation instead of legitimate radio stations. I know of a couple of noncomms, one in particular, that got screwed out of a lot of underwriting dollars because they went to "Hot 97".
And just because people feel under-served, doesn't mean that it's okay to set up shop and do radio without a license, paying taxes, and royalty fees. If I feel under-served by my paycheck is it okay to walk into the bank and take what I want?
It's not a complex issue with the internet these days. Go online, make your station.
IF you really want a radio station, I'll bet there are plenty of AM operators in the area willing to lease time to you. The group that did HOT 97 could have easily done that and not have had the problems of being shut down. They could have done an LMA to buy a station. But no, it's easier to operate outside the law.
Should the jocks be jailed? No. Not given real radio jobs, yes. The "owners" however should face some form of punishment other than a fine that will never be collected. They weren't a couple high school kids running a 2 watt transmitter for a few hours on an empty frequency that will eventually become engineers (know of a few, myself included), that was a 24/7, high power operation taking business away from legitimate stations. There's a big difference there.
And would you have wanted to be their neighbors with a few kW coming from a tree near your window???
And just because people feel under-served, doesn't mean that it's okay to set up shop and do radio without a license, paying taxes, and royalty fees. If I feel under-served by my paycheck is it okay to walk into the bank and take what I want?
It's not a complex issue with the internet these days. Go online, make your station.
IF you really want a radio station, I'll bet there are plenty of AM operators in the area willing to lease time to you. The group that did HOT 97 could have easily done that and not have had the problems of being shut down. They could have done an LMA to buy a station. But no, it's easier to operate outside the law.
Should the jocks be jailed? No. Not given real radio jobs, yes. The "owners" however should face some form of punishment other than a fine that will never be collected. They weren't a couple high school kids running a 2 watt transmitter for a few hours on an empty frequency that will eventually become engineers (know of a few, myself included), that was a 24/7, high power operation taking business away from legitimate stations. There's a big difference there.
And would you have wanted to be their neighbors with a few kW coming from a tree near your window???
what noncomm lost underwriting to hot97boston ??? i've never seen a listed underwriter of a noncomm or commercial sponser on Jamn with an address anywhere between dudley sq and mattapan sq ever. I could be wrong though. And maybe those stations that lost $$$ should look at why the money went to hot97boston and not them.
I agree about paying taxes. I work with a few guys who do things like use a PO Box in Maine to register their car and car insurance. They are scumbag tax evaders. That pisses me off. I'm with you 100% on this issue.
I also am not denying that they broke the law on purpose on are responsible for their actions.
I agree about paying taxes. I work with a few guys who do things like use a PO Box in Maine to register their car and car insurance. They are scumbag tax evaders. That pisses me off. I'm with you 100% on this issue.
I also am not denying that they broke the law on purpose on are responsible for their actions.
MassMusicMan
Banned
Taking business away from legitimate stations? Seems to me that many of Hot 97's advertisers bought Hot 97 because they're the only ones playing rhythmic/urban music that isn't charging Jamn's rates. These guys weren't buying Jam'n. It was the cheap pirate station or nothing for radio advertising for them.
M
MickeyD
Guest
dumber than a box of hair said:
Probably not viable on a 20 KW station but if there were such an animal as an LPFM in Boston it may have worked out.
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