Is there any possible way the FCC will legalize Pirate stations?

[ReggieBeas]

Hot 97.5 seems to be hiding in plain sight. They don't act like they are doing anything wrong. You can google them to get the address to the station. You can see the studios from the parking lot. They have spent a good amount of money on a very professional space… completely built-out on-air studios with touch screens, broadcast software, 3 production studios, double glass sound-proof windows, a reception area, and an area that looks like a sales office with 5 cubicles. Even though Hot's office is a much smaller space, it compares quite nicely to the former Radio One studios in Marina Bay (which cost a reported $1.6 million).

Why would a station that is supposedly illegal spend that kind of money and make themselves easy to find? Really really insane… they really don't know what they are doing is illegal… or maybe, just maybe, do they know something that we don't? I don't know the owners, but there are people affiliated with the station that are claiming they are a legal station and they are broadcasting with 5000 watts. Under current FCC rules, they are not a legal station, no matter what they say. Does anyone know of a potential rule change that will allow a station like this to exist?

 

[pqgeorge]

Hot 97.5 seems to be hiding in plain sight. They don't act like they are doing anything wrong. You can google them to get the address to the station. You can see the studios from the parking lot. They have spent a good amount of money on a very professional space… completely built-out on-air studios with touch screens, broadcast software, 3 production studios, double glass sound-proof windows, a reception area, and an area that looks like a sales office with 5 cubicles. Even though Hot's office is a much smaller space, it compares quite nicely to the former Radio One studios in Marina Bay (which cost a reported $1.6 million).

Why would a station that is supposedly illegal spend that kind of money and make themselves easy to find? Really really insane… they really don't know what they are doing is illegal… or maybe, just maybe, do they know something that we don't? I don't know the owners, but there are people affiliated with the station that are claiming they are a legal station and they are broadcasting with 5000 watts. Under current FCC rules, they are not a legal station, no matter what they say. Does anyone know of a potential rule change that will allow a station like this to exist?

NOPE!

 

[trock]

u got me Reggie. Maybe there is a loop hole in the fcc regs. Another thing that might support there position is they have a lot of signed artists that show up at there studios. Like Maino,Collie budz,serani. Usually record company's frown on their artists going to pirate stations for obvious reasons. So I don't know. :-\

 

[JoshuaC]

I seem to recall a similar conversation last year, I think it was somewhere in the Southwest (New Mexico or Arizona or something... but I don't recall for certain). There was a Pirate who got caught and some Senator tried to come to the rescue of it saying that the Pirate, despite being unlicensed and illegal, was operating in the "public interest" better than many of its legal competitors.

The FCC didn't care then, and I doubt they'd care now. Pirate is Pirate... props to their expertise but I wish they would fine a more legitimate way of using it.

I have, however, heard of a good number of Stations that are internet only (<u>Radio World</u> recently had an article about one at Simmons College in N.H.) putting a lot of energy into proper studios for web operations. Perhaps <b>Hot</b> is hedging its bets?

 

[trock]

They have been so blatant you think something would have happened by now.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

u got me Reggie. Maybe there is a loop hole in the fcc regs. Another thing that might support there position is they have a lot of signed artists that show up at there studios. Like Maino,Collie budz,serani. Usually record company's frown on their artists going to pirate stations for obvious reasons. So I don't know. :-\

There is no "loophole". It's completely illegal, no matter how much money they've invested and how impressive their operation may be.

They may be fooling those record companies into believing it's a legitimate station. I doubt most of them would go check FCC records to find out otherwise. Also, some may not care whether the stations that give them publicity are legal or not.

They have been so blatant you think something would have happened by now.

They may get fined, and they'll ignore it. It's happened to some of the others. "Big City FM", "Choice 102.9", "Vibe 105.3" and "Touch 106.1" are all pretty blatant too.

 

[beantownradio25]

I have no clue what they are thinking, they put so much money into a station that will, sadly (because they sound really good, and the website and setup is impressive) will not last. They are on the first adjacent to a local station and literally broadcasting over Citadel New Hampshire Country station WOKQ.

They must have made some improvements to their FM signal, because today in Boston, I could pick them up alot better compared to when I tried to listen to them last weekend. I could pick them up crystal clear in certain parts of the city, but then in other parts, there was static here and there, and then in other parts they were barely audiable and WOKQ would start to come in. They really just chose a bad frequency. I want a legitimate urban station in Boston! Yeah, we have "WPOT", but it's just a matter of time, sadly.

 

[aaronread]

I seem to recall a similar conversation last year, I think it was somewhere in the Southwest (New Mexico or Arizona or something... but I don't recall for certain). There was a Pirate who got caught and some Senator tried to come to the rescue of it saying that the Pirate, despite being unlicensed and illegal, was operating in the "public interest" better than many of its legal competitors.

It was US Senator Harry Reid and Rod Moses's KGFN-LP in Goldfield, Nevada (roughly 20 miles south of Tonopah and 175 miles NW of Las Vegas). AFAIK, KGFN is still operating under the STA: BSTA-20061206AFZ, although other than that STA, it doesn't seem to exist in the CDBS.

That whole thing was a somewhat different scenario, though. After that happened, I've heard that the collective browning of shorts both inside and outside the FCC led to a lot of quiet conversations to help make sure nobody in Congress ever pulls that kind of stunt ever again. Also, take a look at Tonopah's radio dial...they're pretty much in da middle of NOWHERE and there's a fair amount of "free space" on the dial. It wasn't that Moses couldn't find a legal frequency, it was that there haven't been any new windows for new LPFM licenses since 1999 or 2000. I'm not sure that Nevada ever did have a window...several states in Group IV and Group V never did.

So far, I'm sure many pirates have tried to get a "Goldfield Waiver" but nobody's successfully done it yet.

That said, there was an amnesty program, so to speak, back during those original LPFM filing windows, that allowed pirates who ceased broadcasting by a certain date (many months in advance of the filing window) to apply for LPFM stations. Otherwise, they were automatically disqualified. I would not expect too many pirate radio stations to ever successfully hold a legal AM or FM license, unless they somehow scrape together the cash to buy one.

It's been a few years...but as I understand it, a lot of the pirate radio outlets in Boston (Brooklyn, NY, too) are Haitian immigrants. There's a rich tradition of pirate radio in Haiti, where the government rather violently attempts to control all broadcast media. So vague threats of fines that might happen in 5 or 10 years mean very little to the pirates in the US. Even if the FCC came and confiscated all the gear, most of these pirates have backup gear stashed away in another place that can be gathered up and brought online within a day or two. To them, fines and equipment seizures are "the cost of doing business".

 

[WBIMDJ]

I was listening to them loud and clear in Hyde Park again tonight. I was surprised to hear former WBOT personality DJ Chubby Chub on the air mixing. It actually was quite good with some good hip hop and r&b mixing, something you don't hear a lot now on the radio, true urban music. I guess these pirates feel they have nothing to lose...

 

[beantownradio25]

I was surprised to hear former WBOT personality DJ Chubby Chub on the air mixing. It actually was quite good with some good hip hop and r&b mixing, something you don't hear a lot now on the radio, true urban music.

Chubby Chub is the music director of Hot 97.5 and he was also music director of WBOT. I believe he is also one of the founders of this station, because he was the first one to announce Hot 97's "return" to Boston, and he was the first station deejay announced. If only this station was legitimate, they sound so good! The reception of 97.5 is improving, I could get them crystal clear in certain parts of Boston today and if not crystal clear, fuzzy here and there, barely any WOKQ interference, compared to lastweek, when I could barely get them over WOKQ throughout most of the city.

And your right, it is, especially in Boston :/