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New pirate in St. Petersburg on 88.3

T

TerryKay

"88.3 The Pride FM, The Heart of Kenwood," St. Petersburg. Afer a tip that someone may be on the air, heard well, just off of 22nd Avenue N (near the Home Depot) Saturday, early afternoon. Drove the area, but did not DF the exact location. It's just off of 5th Ave. N -- between 22nd and 24th St. N -- but not sure if it's a block north or south of 5th Ave. N. It's here that it peaks well on the vintage RadioShack Pro-60 handheld with ducky antenna disconnected. All 20's/30's era bungalow homes in this area, lots of trees, so hard for a solo driver to spot any stick without crashing.

Format? "The Pride FM, The Heart of Kenwood" and (I think) "WKWV." Seemingly pro-gay. All disco-ish songs (Donna Summer, Madonna, Kool & the Gang, Sh-Sh-Sh-Shaka Khan, Michael Jackson and more-recent urban/dance). Live male DJ. Very professional. Brief segment interviewing some lesbian therapist about her services; she said that at least three shows will be recorded, and will then go live for the show hopefully after, and gave her business phone number. Station number for requests given (withheld here). A couple of local business plugs, including a local pub. Fairly small signal, almost completely gone on US-19 northbound at 38th Ave. N. When I first tuned in, he mentioned "We're back on the air" so either they were off for technical reasons for awhile, or he was referring to coming up for the day. Reportedly some WMNF listeners were having trouble receiving due to this one, though I had no trouble with WMNF reception at the closest points to the station on a fairly crappy Huyndai stock radio. That said, a stupid frequency choice.

I have wind of another possible pirate in Clearwater on another channel, but I need to investigate that next.
 
That's a terrible frequency choice. If you're gonna do it, have some sense and do some research. I'm not gonna tell ya what frequencies work in the area but there are a select few. They won't be around long if they stick with 88.3. As far as where it's coming from, my guess is around Central and 25th or 26th Streets which makes sense based on the format.
 
I was listening to 88.3 on the way home from the beach last night... had a pretty decent signal at US-19 and 1st Ave North... They were rockin' some Britney Spears... ♪Womanizer♫... wooo!
 
I passed through the area yesterday and heard the station. It's throwing a pretty decent signal into downtown St. Pete. Sounds iTunes like as songs were fading out before starting the next one. I didn't hear any sweeps or jocks. But as I suspected, it's bleeding all over WMNF. I have a very good radio in the car and WMNF was being trashed as I drove down 5th Avenue N. I'll be very surprised if they're on air much longer. I still can't believe they're using 88.3.
 
billalm said:
I passed through the area yesterday and heard the station. It's throwing a pretty decent signal into downtown St. Pete. Sounds iTunes like as songs were fading out before starting the next one. I didn't hear any sweeps or jocks. But as I suspected, it's bleeding all over WMNF. I have a very good radio in the car and WMNF was being trashed as I drove down 5th Avenue N. I'll be very surprised if they're on air much longer. I still can't believe they're using 88.3.
Click to expand...

There's an FCC field office right there in Tampa, so, yes, I, too, will be surprised if 88.3 is still on the air tomorrow. The "pirate" operator is taking a huge chance with the FCC located so close.
 
Well that station is off the air now; or at least was early this afternoon; I scanned the FM dial to see if maybe that had changed frequencies, but they had not. I had my Grundig radio with me and with it's meter was going to try to narrow down the location.

Yesterday in the car I noticed that there was severe fading east of 4th St in downtown, so I drove west and on 1st Ave N, from about 7th or 8th St. N was getting a pretty consistant signal, but as I head back east toward the bay it was fading badly.(there were some dead spots near the downtown Publix, as well as near the Wendy's on 4th St S.

Now, if that same FCC, 25 miles away in Tampa could enforce some more regulations and remind AM 1520 (licensed to Indian Rocks Beach), that daytime authorization only does not mean staying on the air to at least 10:30 every evening. (most evenings they stay on all night).

This same station had a fine for this infraction several years ago; so I have to conclude that the FCC no longer cares and that station is taking advantage of the FCC not caring.

drt
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/officials-silence-pirate-station/1119069


The Pride of Kenwood, 88.3 FM, was silenced on Tuesday morning with a visit to a 1930s-era bungalow.

Agents from the Federal Communications Commission, escorted by detectives from the intelligence division of the St. Petersburg Police department, shut down the low-powered radio station. Working covertly for the past few weeks, the federal agents, based in Tampa, camped out in the leafy neighborhood and traced the pirate radio signal to 2351 Fifth Ave N...
 
GOOD!
We have no issue with "private" broadcasters, but why must they spend thousands of dollars on equipment and then insist on camping out on first adjacents or worse. Just from a practical standpoint, the licensed station is going to be running a much larger signal and crush the pirate many times worse than the pirate bothers them.
BTW...we love you Amy, weekdays at noon and other time on HD-3!
 
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