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Hot 97 (87.7) off the air

The 87.7 frequency should be licensed for analog LPTVs now, as a backdoor to the FM band. Then Hot 97 will either have to apply for a license or be drowned out by whoever gets 87.7.

Their Facebook page has 8000+ fans! Not bad for a pirate station, on 87.7, with the worst commercial signal in the market.
 
Who do you think will become a legitimate urban/r&b station?
WWZN
WXKS-AM
WTKK-FM
WNSH
WAMG
WRCA
WILD
WKOX
WWDJ
WMKI
WKAF-FM
 
I don't know why everyone thinks they broadcast on 87.7 using an old analog tv transmitter. Most likely, they're buying transmitters that are setup for the Japanese Band, which is 76-90 MHz.
 
Nick said:
A 5000 watt transmitter is pretty hard to get on the cheap. I think they got their hands on an old TV Channel 6 transmitter, and just used the audio part of it to broadcast on 87.7. That explains why they were off frequency, and also explains how a pirate could have such a powerful signal, since those analog Channel 6 transmitters were worthless after the digital transition. 87.7 had been on the air continuously for almost 2 years, and I'm sure they have a big following. A similar LPTV station in New York City got a million cume and 1.0 share on 87.7. I would not doubt that Hot 97/87.7 would have had at least 0.5 if they were rated.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt their signal is 5,000 watts. It puts out a good signal for the urban areas and immidiate Greater Boston, but it's not the flamethrower everyone makes it seem. It gets decent distance because it's on an empty frequency with very little first adjacent interference (besides another annoying rap pirate on 87.9 in New Hampshire). That's why it's appearing in New Jersey and Georgia with E-Skip, because 87.7 is a very empty frequency. They claim 5,000 watts and they also claim that they broadcast in HD, just because it sounds good. (Imagine if real radio stations could make completely false claims just to sound good?) Someone on this board under the username 'fccman' measured the signal as being around 400 watts if my memory serves me correctly.
 
"Hot" (aka "WPOT") was on 97.5 originally, and it was busted at least once by the FCC on that frequency before moving to 87.7.

99.7 ("Datz Hitz") is a separate, unrelated operation.
 
I travelled to the Cape of Cod over the weekend and 99.7 was clear, no pirate there. There's a 99.5 translator with the call letters W258BH, licensed to
Sandwich but transmitting with 10 watts near Teaticket. While I was on Route 6, it interfered very slightly with WCRB for a mile or two.
 
Nick said:
Is the 87.7 signal the same strength as it was 2 weeks ago?
Click to expand...

Definately not, pre-raid their signal was somewhat existant in the suburbs. In Waltham and Lincoln, I got decent reception pre-raid, very listenable in car rides, and as of today I got an extremely faint signal. Where I live in Tyngsboro, I could get a faint signal around town, but nothing listenable. Now, I get more second adjacent crap from a rap pirate on 87.9 in New Hampshire.

They either learned their lesson and are running some lame 25/50 watt mono transmitter to still claim they're on the dial, or they're saving up to get another big powered stereo transmitter and will be back and bigger then ever.
 
beantownradio25 said:
They either learned their lesson and are running some lame 25/50 watt mono transmitter to still claim they're on the dial, or they're saving up to get another big powered stereo transmitter and will be back and bigger then ever.
Click to expand...

If they "learned their lesson" they wouldn't be running 25/50 watts.

With the iphone streaming apps and so many people listening that way, why even bother risking the FCC enforcement action by putting an illegal signal on the air?
 
Laurence Glavin said:
I travelled to the Cape of Cod over the weekend and 99.7 was clear, no pirate there. There's a 99.5 translator with the call letters W258BH, licensed to
Sandwich but transmitting with 10 watts near Teaticket. While I was on Route 6, it interfered very slightly with WCRB for a mile or two.
Click to expand...

W258BH is on the WCIB 101.9 tower in Falmouth.
 
I wonder if the rumor wasn't true and they didn't get raided and are just having technical difficulties cause the NOUO site has been updated and there is nothing on Hot 97
 
chrisradioanimal said:
I wonder if the rumor wasn't true and they didn't get raided and are just having technical difficulties cause the NOUO site has been updated and there is nothing on Hot 97
Click to expand...

we'll find out in a couple days. if Datz was 500w, then theres some credence to the 5000w claims. a bit of reflected power frying up the FETs eventually?
 
theyre back. first in mono with splattery sound, the mono with corrected sound and now stereo with very decent processing. The strength is way down though. The signal quality in Cambridge now is what it was like in Billerica before.
 
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