New 96.9 Pirate Station in Newark calls itself Hot 97

[nd2023]

Those pirate stations seem to squeeze in anywhere. There's now a pirate on 96.9, squeezed in between another pirate on 96.7 and Hot 97.1. You guessed it, the format is Caribbean and they're calling themselves "Hot 97". Just when you thought pirates couldn't get any more clever.

 

[BJSteigner]

Time to call Emmis and WQHT and find these people and shut them down for good.

 

[DesiArnez6]

So long as it doesnt interfere with Hot 97.1's signal that would just be mean spirited, and defeat the purpose of true enforcement.

Airwaves were originally public anyways, until the FCC practically made it corporate by decree, especially in the large markets.

So.... what?, you don't like Caribbean music. I'd personally like to know since it bothers you so much to spend tax payers dollars to go send out investigators and file paperwork, if this pirate interferes with your listening to Hot 97.1?

IF you are a devoted Hot 97.1 listener and cannot get your station, than I sympathize 100%, for some reason I do doubt it, but i could be wrong, maye you are an avid listener of Hot 97.1 and want your station, and cant get it, than by all means make the complaint.

If not, your attack proposal seems like a waste of better spent tax money during two wars and a recession.

 

[w9wi]

So long as it doesnt interfere with Hot 97.1's signal that would just be mean spirited, and defeat the purpose of true enforcement.

Airwaves were originally public anyways, until the FCC practically made it corporate by decree, especially in the large markets.

So.... what?, you don't like Caribbean music. I'd personally like to know since it bothers you so much to spend tax payers dollars to go send out investigators and file paperwork, if this pirate interferes with your listening to Hot 97.1?

IF you are a devoted Hot 97.1 listener and cannot get your station, than I sympathize 100%, for some reason I do doubt it, but i could be wrong, maye you are an avid listener of Hot 97.1 and want your station, and cant get it, than by all means make the complaint.

If not, your attack proposal seems like a waste of better spent tax money during two wars and a recession.

If this pirate is operating on 96.9 in NYC, it's interfering with 97.1. Guaranteed.

Even the FCC seems to be acknowledging *second* adjacents (96.7/97.1) should work. However, no technical authority believes *first* adjacents will work. Essentially by definition, operating this pirate on 96.9 WILL make it impossible for some of 97.1's listeners to hear the station.

(authority in the sense of people who know about engineering, not in the sense of being in government)

 

[nd2023]

So long as it doesnt interfere with Hot 97.1's signal that would just be mean spirited, and defeat the purpose of true enforcement.

Airwaves were originally public anyways, until the FCC practically made it corporate by decree, especially in the large markets.

So.... what?, you don't like Caribbean music. I'd personally like to know since it bothers you so much to spend tax payers dollars to go send out investigators and file paperwork, if this pirate interferes with your listening to Hot 97.1?

IF you are a devoted Hot 97.1 listener and cannot get your station, than I sympathize 100%, for some reason I do doubt it, but i could be wrong, maye you are an avid listener of Hot 97.1 and want your station, and cant get it, than by all means make the complaint.

If not, your attack proposal seems like a waste of better spent tax money during two wars and a recession.

There are many more pirates than just this one. By not enforcing the law, more pirates will go on the air. All the second adjacents are taken by pirates, so they will go on the first adjacents. The two wars are in my opinion a waste of money, better spent on shutting off pirate stations.
There are more Caribbean stations in the tri state area than there are total licensed stations. I hate tuning into an empty frequency to DX, and I hear Caribbean music.

 

[neo11]

Allow me to just point out that there's several European countries (Italy, Greece, Spain, etc.) where it is not uncommon for stations to broadcast, at full power, usually from the same transmitter location, 0.2-0.3 MHz apart. Somehow they are able to be heard.

 

[DJKraze]

So wait a minute here, does this station existence affect WQHT by bringing up it's ratings or does WQHT's existence bring down this station's ratings?

Hey look, I did FOX news style question where the question doesn't allow for an answer other than the source allows.

 

[nd2023]

Not accounting for any interference between 96.9 and 97.1, with diary ratings, it would help WQHT, as people would write down "hot 97". With the PPM, it hurts WQHT because the pirate doesn't broadcast PPM data. Taking the interference into account, the pirate would hurt WQHT no matter what the ratings method is, since the interference would cause WQHT listeners to tune out.

 

[DesiArnez6]

So long as it doesnt interfere with Hot 97.1's signal that would just be mean spirited, and defeat the purpose of true enforcement.

Airwaves were originally public anyways, until the FCC practically made it corporate by decree, especially in the large markets.

So.... what?, you don't like Caribbean music. I'd personally like to know since it bothers you so much to spend tax payers dollars to go send out investigators and file paperwork, if this pirate interferes with your listening to Hot 97.1?

IF you are a devoted Hot 97.1 listener and cannot get your station, than I sympathize 100%, for some reason I do doubt it, but i could be wrong, maye you are an avid listener of Hot 97.1 and want your station, and cant get it, than by all means make the complaint.

If not, your attack proposal seems like a waste of better spent tax money during two wars and a recession.

If this pirate is operating on 96.9 in NYC, it's interfering with 97.1. Guaranteed.

Even the FCC seems to be acknowledging *second* adjacents (96.7/97.1) should work. However, no technical authority believes *first* adjacents will work. Essentially by definition, operating this pirate on 96.9 WILL make it impossible for some of 97.1's listeners to hear the station.

(authority in the sense of people who know about engineering, not in the sense of being in government)

I wouldn't be so quick to Guarantee that there is interference, Living in the bronx were now up to atleast 8 pirates that I listen regularly, many of which are "first adjacents", and in these cases I get the official station perfectly with no interference. So I prefer to believe my personal experience than some "technical authority". I live in pirate City, we have every flavor, in fact, there were so many recently (not all of them I like), I just decided to scan my radio, and with zero percent exaggeration, almost my entire FM dial (including the non-com part of the dial) had a station at every first adjacent on my dial. We have pirates that are first adjacent to other pirates, maybe its just this neighborhood, but I get every commercial and official non com New York Market station perfectly without interference, plus a few others.

So the below quote sums up a good point. Their technical authorities say it DOES work. Our country says no, theirs all say yes.... I choose to believe my radio.

The moment ANY pirate interferes with an official station that I am trying to listen to is the moment I speed dial the FCC. Not because I think there might be interference or its "wrong" in principal. Personally, I will call when MY listening is interrupted, and i cant hear it on the radio.


I have only had to o this once a long time ago, and believe it or not, it was not a pirate station, It was Radio Disney causing interference with WWRL 1600AM, Radio Disneys signal went from earlier down the dial and right past to abou 1620AM, When I listenend to Air America Radio, I heard disney songs the WHOLE time, both stations on top of the other, constant background. I made the call, and the problem was fixed, no more interference.

But if my station is fine, for me = no call.

Allow me to just point out that there's several European countries (Italy, Greece, Spain, etc.) where it is not uncommon for stations to broadcast, at full power, usually from the same transmitter location, 0.2-0.3 MHz apart. Somehow they are able to be heard.

Just to say...right on.

 

[nd2023]

In the Bronx, I bet you have a pirate on 104.7. That is interfering with K104.7, which you can't hear because of the pirate. The pirate may not interfere with 104.3 or 105.1, but it is preventing you from receiving a licensed station.

 

[DesiArnez6]

While I cant confirm or deny a pirate at that frequency If it were Caribbean music that I prefer to top 40 anyways, since I already receive three Top 40 stations (Z100, Now 92.3 and 106.1 WBLI), then It personally wouldn't bug me enough to make a complaint

While I admit K104.7 is a great station, They are not a New York Market station. They are part of Arbitron's Poughkeepsie, NY Market #165, so I am not their target audience anyways. They are only just over 7,000 watts of power with a transmitter way up in Newburgh, NY, pretty far up there. Even if I could get a signal, it would likely be weak enough to make the listening experience unenjoyable anyways. If a pirate were to be on that frequency here, it would be crystal clear, and whenever I wanted the programming that K104.7 offers, I would have three comparable alternatives, 2/3 with a nearly perfect signal from the New York City Area Market

*If I lived in Poughkeepsie, It would probably be a VERY diferent story, but I just dont live in their market, so to me its no big deal, not to mention K104.7 streams anyways.

 

[nd2023]

If you're a fan of Caribbean music, you have over 30 stations to choose from! Isn't that a little too much? Considering all but one of those are illegally on the air.

 

[DesiArnez6]

If you're a fan of Caribbean music, you have over 30 stations to choose from! Isn't that a little too much? Considering all but one of those are illegally on the air.

LOL I have thought that at certain times, there is sometimes TOO MUCH Caribbean, however the "legal"dial is pretty much full, so any additional variety is fine with me so long as it fits nicely between my other stations. Personally I do believe that some more diversity is needed in Pirate Radio. I was raised on a lot of caribbean music, so it is something familiar to me. I certainly wish there were pirates of dance, news, politics, or other unique ethnic programming. So far tho the pirates are not so bad. Some actually sound completely professional. I probably listen more to pirate and non-commercial radio than the commercial dial. And if the FCC eliminated all pirates, my listening would just switch primarily to streaming. I doubt "legal" stations would benefit much from an all out pirate attack, since it would just motivate me to get my new mp3 player out and actually start to use it. Because of such airwave variety I haven't needed it yet and Ive had for over a month I think. But it is ready should "researched radio" ever become my only option over the airwaves. And to the dismay of radio execs, I think many in my male 20's target group might agree and just pull out the ipods if not already done.

 

[DesiArnez6]

In the Bronx, I bet you have a pirate on 104.7. That is interfering with K104.7, which you can't hear because of the pirate. The pirate may not interfere with 104.3 or 105.1, but it is preventing you from receiving a licensed station.

Ah Nick... you got me My assumptions in the post I responded with were wrong. Apparently you CAN hear K104.7 in the South Bronx, not "too" well, but well enough to stick around straining a bit if I really liked the song, and the right conditions/weather. And I have to admit, after hearing it, K104.7 is a pretty good CHR as far as they go! IT is not the boring typical CHR station that Id imagined. There was back then A LOT of Caribbean Pirates, but what happened? They just got rid of them all? (Atleast we now have "One Caribbean Radio" on 97.9 HD2 (?) plus some hours on non-comm.

 

[stationless listener]

I sometimes can pick up K104.7 when in Queens the closer to Astoria I get. That is during the daytime before 4 o'clock'ish. I have often wondered how come that was no legal NYC station on that frequency and now I know why. It still doesn't excuse the pirate station, though.

I'm thinking that if WCTZ would actually move its transmitter into the city that they should consider simulcasting K104.

 

[DToTheJ]

Those pirate stations seem to squeeze in anywhere. There's now a pirate on 96.9, squeezed in between another pirate on 96.7 and Hot 97.1. You guessed it, the format is Caribbean and they're calling themselves "Hot 97". Just when you thought pirates couldn't get any more clever.

Watch them sign Star & Buc Wild to be their morning show - now THAT would be real clever!

 

[MoldaMania182]

While I cant confirm or deny a pirate at that frequency If it were Caribbean music that I prefer to top 40 anyways, since I already receive three Top 40 stations (Z100, Now 92.3 and 106.1 WBLI), then It personally wouldn't bug me enough to make a complaint

While I admit K104.7 is a great station, They are not a New York Market station. They are part of Arbitron's Poughkeepsie, NY Market #165, so I am not their target audience anyways. They are only just over 7,000 watts of power with a transmitter way up in Newburgh, NY, pretty far up there. Even if I could get a signal, it would likely be weak enough to make the listening experience unenjoyable anyways. If a pirate were to be on that frequency here, it would be crystal clear, and whenever I wanted the programming that K104.7 offers, I would have three comparable alternatives, 2/3 with a nearly perfect signal from the New York City Area Market

*If I lived in Poughkeepsie, It would probably be a VERY diferent story, but I just dont live in their market, so to me its no big deal, not to mention K104.7 streams anyways.

OK a couple big corrections here. First off WSPK/K104 is a full Class B station, just like all the major NY stations. By your argument Z100 is only 6000 watts. Understand what you are talking about. The transmitter is not in Newburgh, it is across the river way up on Mt. Beacon (great spot) in the antenna farm (easily seen from Newburgh-Beacon bridge). The signal is quite vast. Years ago they used to run liners about reaching parts of 5 states. Before pirates you could catch them in Bethpage or Highlands NJ pretty decently. Sure its not speaker blasting downtown but listenable. Things have changed as there are two known pirates within the contour; one in South Orange/Newark and another in the Bronx. The Bronx one has been taken down before. While NYC is not the primary market, the station has numbers in NY PPM every book.

 

[MoldaMania182]

I'm thinking that if WCTZ would actually move its transmitter into the city that they should consider simulcasting K104.

Cox would have to sell it Pamal which is highly unlikely. Something similar has already been tried before. Pamal used 107.1 to reinforce the southern end of the WSPK signal about 7-8 years ago for a K104/K107 simulcast. That's where the WXPK calls originated from. It was short lived and never really quite worked, staff/promotions was overtaxed trying to cover such a large area in detail, and ratings suffered on both ends. The markets while similar are yet very different.