As of 6:30 PM Friday today I'm hearing a ID of 95.1 FM, their playing Jamaican music...anyone have any news on this station ? Are they legal or is it another pirate station ?
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Pirate Station being heard from Queens on 95.1 FM Today
- Thread starter xmradiopro
- Start date
Opps thought this was the NYC board..lol....this is for New York State then ?
neo11 said:
There are so many pirate radio stations in the New York City area. Those not from the city would be amused to know that many of the pirates give out studio numbers, take phone calls, air them and such. They operate these station on frequencies that interfere with the major stations in the city.
All the while, the FCC does nothing about it. All pirate radio stations cheapen the value of the legitimate radio station owners who are legally trying to make a go of it. They should all have their equipment confiscated and be taken off the air.
All the while, the FCC does nothing about it. All pirate radio stations cheapen the value of the legitimate radio station owners who are legally trying to make a go of it. They should all have their equipment confiscated and be taken off the air.
Not to defend the pirates or anything, but aside from the ones which have glued themselves to the first-adjacent frequencies of the legit stations, I'm not really sure what interference the second-adjacent pirates are causing to NYC stations. A lot of them are putting out a substantial amount of power but no one's signal rivals anything coming out of the ESB, except maybe the intermittent pirate of 91.9, which still doesn't seem to cause problems to 91.5 or 92.3 when it's on.
I'm not sure how they cheapen the value of the legit stations either. None of the pirates are really airing anything that competes with the programming of licensed stations, commercial or otherwise. However, they are proof of the large audience that seems to exist for, say, a Caribbean format. NYC used to have a licensed station in WLIB that targeted that community. It became Air America Radio before that moved over to WWRL, and now airs a gospel format. So perhaps there's a hole there for a smaller station to fill.
I'm not sure how they cheapen the value of the legit stations either. None of the pirates are really airing anything that competes with the programming of licensed stations, commercial or otherwise. However, they are proof of the large audience that seems to exist for, say, a Caribbean format. NYC used to have a licensed station in WLIB that targeted that community. It became Air America Radio before that moved over to WWRL, and now airs a gospel format. So perhaps there's a hole there for a smaller station to fill.
Neo, think about the line of work you do, doctor, lawyer, CPA, electrician, etc. Think about the training and expense you have gone through to make it happen. Now think about someone else coming along who hasn’t exactly done that.
In radio language….
Let’s say I own WRKI (95.1) in Danbury. (I have nothing to do with the station). I have paid sums of money on legal counsel to obtain the proper licensing, paid sums of money for engineering experts and sums of money on broadcasting equipment to cover the area (see Radio Locatorhttp://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WRKI&service=FM&status=L&hours=U) I have been legally assigned to cover.
The North shore of Long Island and Westchester County are well within my optimum broadcast coverage. I am Arbitron rated in both areas so I am providing a wanted service there.
Now some unlicensed broadcaster comes along and takes a chunk out of what I have legally applied, been granted and paid for. He has taken from me without proper compensation.
Take it a step further, Queens is in my fringe area of reach. I may not care that I don’t have any listeners in Queens, but by broadcasting just 100 watts during the day, they are cancelling out a lot my signal in Westchester and the North shore. An unlicensed station has the potential to interfere with non-radio devices as well. I’ll bet they are playing in a lot of coffee pots and electric shavers. Sure annoying residents but they probably don't know who to complain to.
I have no problem with any format being broadcast. The more diverse the radio dial, the better. If some enterprising individual wants to provide a format that is needed, let them go through all the proper channels. I will be the first to welcome them with open arms.
Until then, they all need to be turned off.
Again, I'm not defending pirates. However, the way most stations seem to operate is they don't really care about those few extra listeners they might pick up on the fringe end of their signal, as they are not targeting their programming/advertising to that region. Even if they show up with an 0.3 or something in that area doesn't mean all that much to the station. I mean, I've even seen WFAN show up in the Philly and Cape Cod books, but I don't think WFAN could care less if they show up at the bottom of those books or not.
If a pirate is actually interfering with a station in its protected coverage area, that's one thing. There are some pirates that are currently doing that. There are others that aren't. Perhaps if it were easier to "go through the proper channels," as you said, a few more stations, perhaps LPFM's, could get on the air even in urban areas like NYC, putting out 10 watts with quality equipment, putting out a format that the community needs while minimizing interference to others. As it stands right now, there is no real legal channel for any of these broadcasters to follow. The FCC isn't going to approve any new licenses in NYC anytime soon.
If a pirate is actually interfering with a station in its protected coverage area, that's one thing. There are some pirates that are currently doing that. There are others that aren't. Perhaps if it were easier to "go through the proper channels," as you said, a few more stations, perhaps LPFM's, could get on the air even in urban areas like NYC, putting out 10 watts with quality equipment, putting out a format that the community needs while minimizing interference to others. As it stands right now, there is no real legal channel for any of these broadcasters to follow. The FCC isn't going to approve any new licenses in NYC anytime soon.
Don't kid yourself. If you owned a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station, wouldn't you want to thump and beat your chest with all the other radio stations? There is a legendary Dan Ingram aircheck out there..."The results are in, WABC is arbitron rated #13.... it Pittsbugh, PA.
Again, by someone setting up shop in your coverage area or just on the outskirts, they impact your coverage area either by broadcasting content in areas that you have legal rights to, or they create a larger "null" where all signals on that frequency are not heard.
While it may be a shame there is no Carribean, Country, Standards or Oldies format in NYC, and that there are many people out there who would love to have it, that still doesn't give someone the right to infringe on an existing format/frequency.
As it stands right now, there is no real legal channel for any of these broadcasters to follow.
Go knock on the door of some station not doing well and make them an offer. Radio stations are losing value by the month. They may love you for it. Go knock on the door of some station doing well and make them an offer they can't refuse.
The FCC isn't going to approve any new licenses in NYC anytime soon.
Nope, its a full band
Still, there is a process, it may be expensive and difficult, but it is there. Besides, owning a radio station is like having a girlfriend. If you can't tell your friends about it/her, what good is it?
Again, by someone setting up shop in your coverage area or just on the outskirts, they impact your coverage area either by broadcasting content in areas that you have legal rights to, or they create a larger "null" where all signals on that frequency are not heard.
While it may be a shame there is no Carribean, Country, Standards or Oldies format in NYC, and that there are many people out there who would love to have it, that still doesn't give someone the right to infringe on an existing format/frequency.
As it stands right now, there is no real legal channel for any of these broadcasters to follow.
Go knock on the door of some station not doing well and make them an offer. Radio stations are losing value by the month. They may love you for it. Go knock on the door of some station doing well and make them an offer they can't refuse.
The FCC isn't going to approve any new licenses in NYC anytime soon.
Nope, its a full band
Still, there is a process, it may be expensive and difficult, but it is there. Besides, owning a radio station is like having a girlfriend. If you can't tell your friends about it/her, what good is it?
Towerclimber31 said:
I'm not kidding myself. I'll use Long Island as an example. Many CT stations were blasting into Long Island with city-grade signals, and many of them showed up in the Arbitrons, some even beating out local stations. Not one of those stations ever bothered to advertise or promote or do anything for the listeners on LI. Likewise, many LI stations make it up to CT. WALK, in fact, makes it pretty far in from what I've heard. They never advertised or promoted anything in CT. Everyone concentrates on their own backyard. So no, I'm not kidding myself.
The FCC also made a big mistake years ago by not converting to odd-even frequency spacing as in Europe and many other parts of the world. The mandatory 0.2 MHz spacing between available frequencies came about in the early days of FM broadcasting, when signals were prone to drifting and early FM tuners were not terribly selective. Technological advances solved those problems, but the amount of available frequencies in North America is artificially limited as a result. There's no reason why there couldn't be FM radio stations, broadcasting at full power, 0.3 or 0.4 MHz apart from each other in NYC. That's the case in many European countries without any problems. So yes, we have a "full band" but one that I feel is really artificially full.
Another thing...even within that "full band" there could be room for some 10 watt LPFM's. But lobbying from the NAB and some other power players in the industry prevented that from ever happening, by adding ridiculous protections even for third-adjacent frequencies, thereby eliminating any chance of LPFM's making it on the air in most urban areas like NYC. Don't tell me that a 10 or even 100 watt LPFM on 91.9 in NYC, for instance, would cause problems.
Neo.. I hope you smiling.. kidding yourself was meant for nothing other than the cliche it is.
If WALK is showing up in Arbitron books for New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and New London, which it currently does, then the programming they are offering must be in demand wouldn't you say? So to that end they are fulfilling the public interest.
Sidebar, having worked at WALK, they did at one time have a sales person who worked the CT coastline. They were at one time pretty good at pitching the Port Jeff Ferry and other stuff once you get to the Nutmeg Coastline. That was a long time ago, I am not sure what they have now.
But lobbying from the NAB and some other power players in the industry prevented that from ever happening
Of course the power players didn't want to see short spacing, that gets back to what I was saying about chest thumping and being able to say my station i New York comes in when you are lying on the beach at Amelia Island.
I see your point about some trying to offer programming to a certain niche. All I can tell is that if you are not a licensed broadcaster, you are breaking the law by powering up the transmitter.
Go to www.musicradio77.comand ask some of the expert engineers there. Its a common topic and I am sure they will come up with a littany of discussions on the topic. Those guys are the pros and they have forgetten more about radio than I ever knew.
I know that WPLR from CT also used to have a sales team and even promoted towards Long Island. The point is that no one does it anymore. WALK may still show up in some of the CT books (don't think I've seen them in the Hartford book though), but that doesn't mean that they are promoting towards that region or even really care if they pick up a few fringe listeners from there. I'm not trying to argue whether they should or shouldn't, that's their call, though I don't see why they would want to ignore another market that they seem to be penetrating, but indeed that seems to be the case nowadays.
I'm also not arguing that pirates are not breaking the law. They certainly are. I'm just saying that some are more egregious in their violating the law than others, and that their existence does point to voids that need to be filled both in terms of programming on the radio and in terms of the current legal broadcasting framework, which has made it difficult to get even minuscule-powered LPFM's on the air anywhere close to a large city.
I'm also not arguing that pirates are not breaking the law. They certainly are. I'm just saying that some are more egregious in their violating the law than others, and that their existence does point to voids that need to be filled both in terms of programming on the radio and in terms of the current legal broadcasting framework, which has made it difficult to get even minuscule-powered LPFM's on the air anywhere close to a large city.
For any of the hundreds of illegal pirate radio stations out there, this could be just the opening for you.
Of course everyone know the FCC is pretty shnazzy with the lip service, but you never know.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-273793A1.doc
Of course everyone know the FCC is pretty shnazzy with the lip service, but you never know.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-273793A1.doc
How about this..
88.1 a Religious station interfering with WBGO 88.3 Newark, NJ.
94.1. Caribbean Music interfering with WNYC 93.9 FM.
89.3. Hindu format interfering with WNYU 89.1 and WSOU 89.5.
90.5 and 90.9...Interfering with WHPC 90.3 and WFUV 90.7.
88.5 interfering with WRHU 88.7 and WBGO 88.3 again.
It is time to rid these pirated broadcasters and punish commercial radio for ignoring the real needs for the audience.
88.1 a Religious station interfering with WBGO 88.3 Newark, NJ.
94.1. Caribbean Music interfering with WNYC 93.9 FM.
89.3. Hindu format interfering with WNYU 89.1 and WSOU 89.5.
90.5 and 90.9...Interfering with WHPC 90.3 and WFUV 90.7.
88.5 interfering with WRHU 88.7 and WBGO 88.3 again.
It is time to rid these pirated broadcasters and punish commercial radio for ignoring the real needs for the audience.
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