Pirate station gets dirty

[alterock]

I haven't had a chance to tune in yet because I'm not in the area much but I understand the pirate in the Vestavia area, or where ever it is, is playing unedited music and talking about all sorts of FCC-loving things. Has anyone heard what is going on with this?

 

[jimmcc]

What's the frequency??

> I haven't had a chance to tune in yet because I'm not in the
> area much but I understand the pirate in the Vestavia area,
> or where ever it is, is playing unedited music and talking
> about all sorts of FCC-loving things. Has anyone heard what
> is going on with this?
>

 

[Braswell]

> What's the frequency??

According to Dan Rather, the mugger asked "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"<P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>

 

[clichemoth]

> > What's the frequency??
>
> According to Dan Rather, the mugger asked "What's the
> frequency, Kenneth?"
>
And REM later borrowed it for a song title.

I'm guessing he's referring to the 90.7 urban pirate in downtown B'ham. It's the only one in that neck of the woods that's been reported recently.

If they're going blue, they're just asking for a visit from the FCC, especially since they share a channel with religious stations from Anniston and Montgomery (the WVUA listeners probably wouldn't complain as much).

 

[alterock]

> I'm guessing he's referring to the 90.7 urban pirate in
> downtown B'ham. It's the only one in that neck of the woods
> that's been reported recently.
>
> If they're going blue, they're just asking for a visit from
> the FCC, especially since they share a channel with
> religious stations from Anniston and Montgomery (the WVUA
> listeners probably wouldn't complain as much).
>
Yes, frequency 90.7. I had heard what they were calling themselves but I've forgotten. Like I said, I'm not in that area much and can't pick it up. I should make it a point to drive around there one day just for kicks. I'm just wondering if anyone else has heard this.

 

[ChadStevens]

> Yes, frequency 90.7. I had heard what they were calling
> themselves but I've forgotten. Like I said, I'm not in that
> area much and can't pick it up. I should make it a point to
> drive around there one day just for kicks. I'm just
> wondering if anyone else has heard this.
>

I've heard them running ads for some sort of event (I think a custom car show) with tickets available at the "Alabama A&M box office". I can get them clearly on a car radio as far as Mountain Brook. Has anyone DF'ed them to downtown (or any other 'hood?)

They seem to be on somewhat sporadically. The car radio will pick up WVAS-Montgomery when they're not on.

 

[clichemoth]

> > Yes, frequency 90.7. I had heard what they were calling
> > themselves but I've forgotten. Like I said, I'm not in
> that
> > area much and can't pick it up. I should make it a point
> to
> > drive around there one day just for kicks. I'm just
> > wondering if anyone else has heard this.
> >
>
> I've heard them running ads for some sort of event (I think
> a custom car show) with tickets available at the "Alabama
> A&M box office".

Hhhmmm, wonder if there's a similar pirate in Huntsville?

I can get them clearly on a car radio as
> far as Mountain Brook. Has anyone DF'ed them to downtown
> (or any other 'hood?)
>
> They seem to be on somewhat sporadically. The car radio
> will pick up WVAS-Montgomery when they're not on.
>

 

[4dude]

Heh,would of loved hearing that ;D

 

[tomservo]

Anyone know if these guys are still around? I remember NBC 13 doing a little exposé on them, even finding the guy's antenna tossed up in a tree, with the cable running into his house... Supposedly 95-7 Jamz complained about it on the piece, but who knows if the FCC ever came a knockin'.

I couldn't care less about the fate of this pirate considering the low production values (at least sound decent when you're cussing up a storm!) but I'd be really upset if the feds took down the one on 100.1 that played dance music one night a week.

(Not that it matters now, I'm in Mississippi now where radio is so horrible a pirate would be doing us all a favor!)

 

[oldiesstation]

zach, what part of ms are you in?? some of these towns are like last stop on the Stephen King horror tour....ha

 

[tomservo]

I'm in Grenada. 100 miles from Memphis, 100 miles from Jackson and a million miles from civilization.

Seriously, though I am adjusting alright here. But you are right, there are some scary little hamlets dotting the delta that I wouldn't wanna get lost in, in the middle of the night. Scratch that, it's already happened--Sunflower sounded like a nice little town! *shudder*

It's a whole different radio landscape here, too. Tons of little class A's with limited range and always voicetracked. Ugh. Our only AM station is dark, as are a few others in nearby towns. Thank heavens for XM!

 

[gdarb65]

Which station in Grenada? I was there for the beginning of WOHT, and was wondering how they are doing these days.

 

[tomservo]

Grenada stations

WYKC 1400 is the station. Radio-Locator shows it still active with a country format. I drove by the transmitter site the other day and the tower's still up, amongst all the old houses in the area. There's a decrepit wooden shed near the tower, but I don't see how anything electronic could survive in it with all the holes and cracks.

WOHT is on 92.3 now (seems I recall the calls were on another freq. here?) playing satellite oldies. All the Grenada FM's are broadcasting from up around Cascilla Rd. at the Tallahatchie County line; whichever station had a 3 (?) bay antenna right off of Sunset next to the B100 office moved up there recently.

All three stations (92.3 / 100.1 / 101.3) sound good and seem to have some good programming, but some of the stations seem to suffer from little problems. A few days ago 100.1 was clipping horribly (or was off-freq!) for a few hours or more... 101.3 had tons of dead air during the Steve & DC morning show...

Small town radio, I guess. ???

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Zach:

So, just because you don't like the format... its ok for them to get shut down? however, god forbid the station you LIKES get's shut down.. thats bad, huh?

I used to live 65 miles from Memphis, 65 miles from Oxford and 65 miles from Greenwood......... so I know how small town life in Mississippi is.

walkerbroadcasting(at)gmail(dot)com or radiolandc on AIM if you wanna chat...

 

[tomservo]

Well, like I said it's more due to the crap quality of the station - both of the pirates are bringing music to the city that just isn't available on "legit" radio... I was just holding up the other one as an example of a well done job, that's all.

Being careless is what gets these guys caught and I'd hate for them all to go down because one group didn't pick a good frequency and splatters all over the place and costantly runs 200% modulation when the mic's on. I'm just an observer from the outside of radio but... Heck I don't even know what point I'm trying to make anymore. :-[ Maybe, "put some effort into it"? ;D

If a 10 watt transmitter fell into my lap, I'd certainly try to blend into the radio background and not raise the ire of commerical stations, or TV newscasters anymore than necessary, that's for sure.

 

[clichemoth]

Anyone know if these guys are still around? I remember NBC 13 doing a little exposé on them, even finding the guy's antenna tossed up in a tree, with the cable running into his house... Supposedly 95-7 Jamz complained about it on the piece, but who knows if the FCC ever came a knockin'.

I couldn't care less about the fate of this pirate considering the low production values (at least sound decent when you're cussing up a storm!) but I'd be really upset if the feds took down the one on 100.1 that played dance music one night a week.

(Not that it matters now, I'm in Mississippi now where radio is so horrible a pirate would be doing us all a favor!)

A 100.1 dance pirate in Birmingham? When was this and what part of the area was it in?

The 90.7 urban downtown and the 89.7 extreme-right talker in St. Clair Co. (allegedly Talladega, but I was working there during the month it was on regularly, and it came in much better at my house then it did in Lincoln or 'Dega) are the only FM pirates I've ever heard or heard of around here. Wasn't there an X-band AM urban pirate back in the mid-late 90s?

 

[tomservo]

A 100.1 dance pirate in Birmingham? When was this and what part of the area was it in?

The 90.7 urban downtown and the 89.7 extreme-right talker in St. Clair Co. (allegedly Talladega, but I was working there during the month it was on regularly, and it came in much better at my house then it did in Lincoln or 'Dega) are the only FM pirates I've ever heard or heard of around here. Wasn't there an X-band AM urban pirate back in the mid-late 90s?

The last time I heard the station was around the 4th of July this year (2006). They supposedly were on one day a week regularly but I dunno if that was true or not as I was always at work, out of range.

They broadcast out of southside, but I won't get any more specific than that. I literally tracked them down to the exact building once. Some guys were out front with turntables playing while sitting outside! I didn't stop but wish I had now.

Wish I'd gotten to hear the others in person. I'm sure if they stayed on the air long enough I could have tracked down the 89.7 pirate's whereabouts. I remember now a thread on here about them being in Talladega or Lincoln but no one bought that.

 

[clichemoth]

A 100.1 dance pirate in Birmingham? When was this and what part of the area was it in?

The 90.7 urban downtown and the 89.7 extreme-right talker in St. Clair Co. (allegedly Talladega, but I was working there during the month it was on regularly, and it came in much better at my house then it did in Lincoln or 'Dega) are the only FM pirates I've ever heard or heard of around here. Wasn't there an X-band AM urban pirate back in the mid-late 90s?

The last time I heard the station was around the 4th of July this year (2006). They supposedly were on one day a week regularly but I dunno if that was true or not as I was always at work, out of range.

They broadcast out of southside, but I won't get any more specific than that. I literally tracked them down to the exact building once. Some guys were out front with turntables playing while sitting outside! I didn't stop but wish I had now.

Wish I'd gotten to hear the others in person. I'm sure if they stayed on the air long enough I could have tracked down the 89.7 pirate's whereabouts. I remember now a thread on here about them being in Talladega or Lincoln but no one bought that.

I started that thread. Nobody else ever reported hearing it, which was odd, since they had a monster signal during their continuous operation period (mid-Dec. 05-first week of Jan. 06). (it's popped back on very sporadically since at what sounds like legal part 15 power levels. I suspect it is on all the time, I just don't get it unless conditions are just right and the Oxford 89.9 isn't stepping on it). I narrowed it down to being somewhere along County Road 234.

I'll have to listen for the 100.1. Sounds interesting and unique, especially since there are no live mix shows on Birmingham radio.