Most pirates sound the same

[radioman148]

There are other formats. 105.5 seems to be gospel. A small pirate on 102.3 in Queens seems to broadcast in Yiddish. Some pirates at the lower end of the dial broadcast in Spanish, as does the powerful pirate on 94.5. 90.1 seems to be a religious station, in Spanish. And one of the longest-running pirates, 91.9, which is usually on in the evenings, seems to have a mix of programming ranging from hip-hop to, at times, country music (yes, country!).

Hip hop to country--now that's trying to please everybody.

 

[d21ofnj]

Are they rebroadcasting the hypothetical "if Hot 97 never changed to rap" www.originalhot97.com or are they doing it themselves?

Nope, it was some dude that sounded he is currently attending BU got some other college buddies in the station and did it on their own. They even gave a weather report and played extended edits like you hear on Area.

 

[nd2023]

The Binghamton pirate should play Caribbean music if it ever gets a NAL. Then it will be able to stay on for years.

 

[Ike]

You're missing 99.3 The Joynt, the pirate station that actually tried to hire people. It broadcasts from Newark, like the rest of them, and covers 5 miles despite 99.1 and 99.5. It's not on all the time.

I don't get this station (at least not now) in northern Newark. Their web site (!) gives their mailing address (a P.O. Box) as Elizabeth. Brazen!

Why can't the electric company shut off the power to the places with pirate stations?

There's a good idea. I wonder why the FCC's enforcement is so tame. Lawyers?

Are there any other pirate formats other than caribbean music or rap?

Very few, other than Spanish-language formats. But a few hours ago, for the first time, I found a pirate calling itself "Radio Voltazh" (or "Voltadj" maybe) at 106.5 broadcasting in a language I don't recognize. Maybe Polish, Bulgarian, or Latvian (?). A lot of words ended with a "zh" or hard "j" sound. I wish I could identify the language. The music wasn't bad, so now I'm really curious. One of the songs sounded like funny '80s synth-rock. I can only get this one on my car radio. In my apartment, it's pretty much blown away by Lite FM. Dumb choice for a frequency.

I'm in Brooklyn.... All the pirates here are hip hop or caribbean and carry powerful signals right through the borough knocking out every other rimshot signal in their path!

The last time I drove to Brooklyn, I heard tons of pirates knocking out not just the rimshots, but also hurting lots of the non-comm stations below 92 FM, even locals. Depending on the neighborhood, you can hear Brooklyn pirates at pretty much every 0.4 mhz beginning at 88.1 FM, esp. in Flatbush and surrounding neighborhoods. This greatly concerns legit stations like WBGO, WFUV, and WFMU. There seem to be a lot more pirates in Brooklyn than Newark.

Earlier tonight I scanned the dial on my car radio in north Newark and found:

87.9: Weak signal, getting interference from Pulse 87.7. Maybe Haitian.

90.1: Long-running Caribbean/reggaeton station Roadblock Radio. Strong signal. Apparently comes from western Newark. Tons of event promotion.

90.5: faint signal, Latino music, possibly the pirate which blasts all over Paterson and completely blows away WFUV in that area

91.9: Latino, weak

95.1: Haitian talk, strong signal

96.5: Streetz 96, hip-hop, weak signal tonight

97.5: Hip-hop in English and Spanish. DJs spoke in English. Decent signal.

99.9: reggaeton, strong signal

102.5: Bland Latino music, apparently from East Orange. Strong signal. Unlike many other pirates, this one seems to be on 24/7. I've even heard it on weekdays in the daytime when many other pirates aren't on.

104.7: Haitian, strong signal

106.5: mysterious foreign-language station mentioned above

107.9: reggaeton/Caribbean with English-speaking DJ and an ad for an E. Orange clothing store

 

[radioman148]

Anyone know or guess how much power the FM pirates generally run?

 

[d21ofnj]

The Binghamton pirate should play Caribbean music if it ever gets a NAL. Then it will be able to stay on for years.

"Hot 97" shouldn't be a problem, the ratings wont show if it's only heard on the east side and a piece of Kirkwood. There's a better chance of hip-hop getting shut down faster than dance since there's no urban station here.

 

[radioman148]

>>You're missing 99.3 The Joynt, the pirate station that actually tried to hire people. It broadcasts from Newark, like the rest of them, and covers 5 miles despite 99.1 and 99.5. It's not on all the time.>>

What kind of antennas to these pirates use? Do they just put up a stick on top of some building?

 

[GSP163]

I heard Pirates on these frequencies last night in Fair Lawn just east of Paterson:

87.9, 88.5, 89.3, 89.7, 90.1, 90.5, 90.9, 91.3, 91.7, 91.9, 94.3, 95.1, 95.9 & 104.7

The Pirates on 90.5 & 90.9 destroy WFUV's signal.

The signal on 91.7 is coming from a Pizza Place on Morlot Ave in Fair Lawn which is nothing but a continuous advertisement talking about their food and specials....It steps all over my Satellite FM transmitter anytime I'm in around that area of Fair Lawn.

 

[nd2023]

There are so many pirate stations, it's hard to remember the frequencies you hear them on.
Could the FCC just do a bust of every pirate in Newark in one day? I guess if they do that, there will be twice as many pirate stations the next week.

 

[radioman148]

It doesn't seem like the FCC cares & apparently neither do the commercial stations.

 

[Ike]

The Pirates on 90.5 & 90.9 destroy WFUV's signal.

Oh frak, there's one at 90.9 somewhere around Paterson now? Is it strong? Does it affect WFMU's signal? They've always been very, very irritated by the 90.9 pirate(s) in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

It doesn't seem like the FCC cares & apparently neither do the commercial stations.

I don't know about the commercial stations, the non-comms definitely notice and they don't like it one bit. Many of them have discussed the situation amongst themselves but I don't know what consensus they came to, if any. Some of them have put up pages like this one or this slightly ironic one.

 

[radioman148]

The Pirates on 90.5 & 90.9 destroy WFUV's signal.

Oh frak, there's one at 90.9 somewhere around Paterson now? Is it strong? Does it affect WFMU's signal? They've always been very, very irritated by the 90.9 pirate(s) in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

It doesn't seem like the FCC cares & apparently neither do the commercial stations.

I don't know about the commercial stations, the non-comms definitely notice and they don't like it one bit. Many of them have discussed the situation amongst themselves but I don't know what consensus they came to, if any. Some of them have put up pages like this one or this slightly ironic one.

I like the line "the FCC is committed to locating them and shutting them down."
Sure thing!

 

[d21ofnj]

Get a load of this.

http://streetz96.com/event3.html

A former Hot 97 air personnel has joined Streetz 96. It looks like this station w ill stay on air forever :-\

 

[nd2023]

The Streetz 96 website looks really professional! They're probably Newark's most listened to station.

 

[neo11]

I have to wonder about those ads for AT&T and Nike Football, as well as the menu at the footer of the page, including non-functioning links to "jobs" and "privacy policy" pages. I get the feeling much of the website has been lifted from somewhere else, including the ads, which are a nice way to make the station seem "legit."

 

[nd2023]

Their website makes no reference to 96.5 FM and the ability to hear it on the radio.

 

[d21ofnj]

The Streetz 96 website looks really professional! They're probably Newark's most listened to station.

And we know where they get most of their advertisers from. Their website designer is from Montclair.

 

[d21ofnj]

Could the FCC just do a bust of every pirate in Newark in one day? I guess if they do that, there will be twice as many pirate stations the next week.

Don't forget, this is Newark. You don't know if the people operating these statons are loaded or gang members. The Funny Clown Clique are worried about their lives at risk for shutting them down. I don't see why they don't call for backup. I've seen FCC raids and usually the police do all the work.

 

[radioman148]

Could the FCC just do a bust of every pirate in Newark in one day? I guess if they do that, there will be twice as many pirate stations the next week.

Don't forget, this is Newark. You don't know if the people operating these statons are loaded or gang members. The Funny Clown Clique are worried about their lives at risk for shutting them down. I don't see why they don't call for backup. I've seen FCC raids and usually the police do all the work.

I guess if you live in Newark you just start up a station & don't worry about it.

 

[neo11]

I've actually heard 96.5 as far north as Fort Lee, right by the entrance to the GWB.