Franken FM's are all illegal now too. All TV must go digital and it requires full use of the channel. There is no analog TV to remain thus no space for analog audio at the bottom of the FM band. The couple that remains is stalling but the FCC's patience has run out. They will be silenced soon.
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Might B87.7 be the most 'legit'/'mainstream' pirate in the US?
- Thread starter UrbanTeenager
- Start date
Not true.. several have gotten STA's to remain analog and i think or or two has an STA to shove an analog FM signal alongside the digital TV signal
It’s ridiculous that a pirate can be on the air for over a decade in a major city. And it can undercut its legitimate competitors for advertising. They don’t have as many expenses, the FCC fines are cheaper than operating legitimately. They probably don’t pay royalties for the over the air broadcast or the stream.
With a channel 6 LPTV moving to Boston, B87.7 is being given the opportunity to go legal. They should jump on it as they’ll already have an audience who listens to 87.7.
With a channel 6 LPTV moving to Boston, B87.7 is being given the opportunity to go legal. They should jump on it as they’ll already have an audience who listens to 87.7.
With the PIRATE Act, the fine is now $100,000 per day with a maximum of $2 million. With a fine that high, they are now more likely to be on the DOJ's radar to collect.
There has been nothing on channel 6 within 100 miles of the Boston market. B87.7 has a long history of having politicians on the air (including Boston's mayors), carrying public service PSA's, etc. There has not been a lot of pressure on the FCC to take action, which has generally concentrated on pirates actually creating interference to licensed stations. However that will change soon when WVCC-LD moves to the Cabot St. tower in Needham. B87.7 will be directly interfering with a licensed signal less than 10 miles away. There is no way they can continue doing that, unless they can make a deal to share a piece of the channel with the owner, as a Franken FM, and get it approved by the FCC.
How long has that been in effect? Good luck collecting, they'll just cry poor and nothing will happen, and the station (as well as co-located Big City 88.5) will remain on the air.
One of the reasons why Congress passed the act was because the normal Section 301 fine is very low and is under the threshold where the Department of Justice would follow up for collections. When the fine goes into the millions, the DOJ may take things a little more seriously.
The value of WVCC will directly be affected by the existence of the pirate. I’m sure that the first offer for that Franken FM would be to the owners of B87.7, just because it would sell quickly. They might get it for less than market value simply because the pirate exists.
They can’t sell it to anyone else without waiting for B87.7 to shut down or move. B87.7 should have a lot of money saved up from its 10+ years on the air, perhaps it’s time to use that money to become legal. Keep the same frequency and brand, but have an even bigger signal than when it was 5000 watts.
Boston, MA - OTA
THIS THREAD Continued below... ------------------ David Bott It's A World Of Entertainment...Experience It! AV Science/AVS Forum Admin http://www.avscience.com http://www.avsforum.com The Nate Home Theater
AVS forum talking about what is now WVCC-LD.
On that page our own Channel99 wrote:"...listed as having WVMA-CD, Winchendon, MA as their primary station. WVMA-CD carries AntennaTV and NewsNet"
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When the government fines a company,whether it be a broadcaster,oil company ,drug company etc-,Do they ever pay the fines?
An observation:
Back in the day, most pirate stations were run by "radio geeks".
Today, most pirate stations are programmed with formats that serve ethnic or racial minorities.
Most pirates run by "radio geeks" are on the shortwave bands and broadcast only sporadically, usually on weekends.
Back in the 1960's, there were several pirate stations transmitting from ships just outside of Britain's territorial waters, with programming (usually Top-40) aimed at England.
At the time, the only legitimate broadcasting of top-40 in Britain was a few hours a week of "pop" music on BBC Radio's Light Programme (now known as BBC Radio 2). Radio Luxembourg, a commercial station based in that tiny country's (whose nighttime signal reached most of Britain by skywave), programmed top-40 during the evening hours and sold commercials broadcast during those hours to British advertisers.
But I would think that the skywave signal from Radio Luxembourg at night, while good in England, was probably spotty in Wales and Northern Ireland, and very spotty in Scotland.
Those factors, plus the rock 'n roll explosion in Britain during the early-to-mid 1960's, led to the growth of offshore pirate radio ships, of which Radio Caroline was the most famous.
Despite being in international waters, Britain managed to stop most of the pirates by passing a law in 1967 that made it illegal to "help" a pirate radio station (e.g. buy commercial time, finance, or manage such a station). Shortly after this law took effect, the BBC launched its own top-40 radio network, BBC Radio 1. Legitimate commercial radio didn't come to Britain until the 1970's.
Back in the day, most pirate stations were run by "radio geeks".
Today, most pirate stations are programmed with formats that serve ethnic or racial minorities.
Most pirates run by "radio geeks" are on the shortwave bands and broadcast only sporadically, usually on weekends.
Back in the 1960's, there were several pirate stations transmitting from ships just outside of Britain's territorial waters, with programming (usually Top-40) aimed at England.
At the time, the only legitimate broadcasting of top-40 in Britain was a few hours a week of "pop" music on BBC Radio's Light Programme (now known as BBC Radio 2). Radio Luxembourg, a commercial station based in that tiny country's (whose nighttime signal reached most of Britain by skywave), programmed top-40 during the evening hours and sold commercials broadcast during those hours to British advertisers.
But I would think that the skywave signal from Radio Luxembourg at night, while good in England, was probably spotty in Wales and Northern Ireland, and very spotty in Scotland.
Those factors, plus the rock 'n roll explosion in Britain during the early-to-mid 1960's, led to the growth of offshore pirate radio ships, of which Radio Caroline was the most famous.
Despite being in international waters, Britain managed to stop most of the pirates by passing a law in 1967 that made it illegal to "help" a pirate radio station (e.g. buy commercial time, finance, or manage such a station). Shortly after this law took effect, the BBC launched its own top-40 radio network, BBC Radio 1. Legitimate commercial radio didn't come to Britain until the 1970's.
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