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Pirate station on 102.1 in Pinellas County

C

coolaid213

One of my radio buddies gave me a call while I was on the way home from work tonight. He told me to flip over to 102.1, and see if I could hear a station identifying as WKMJ out of Kenneth City. Sure enough coming south on the Bayside bridge, it started fading in. Format seems to be Hip-Hop/R&B and sports talk. I tracked them to an area near 66th Street and 54th Avenue. When I was listening they were playing uncensored hip-hop music. These guys are really brazen, they're giving out their phone number, playing local commercial spots, and they even have a flashy website with forms to advertise with the station or even become an intern. If they're legit, I really can't see how. A quick check of the FCC database shows WKMJ as being licensed to a station in Michigan. I first heard their signal on the Bayside Bridge and they're still coming in at my house in Downtown St. Pete... so they definitely can't claim part 15. Anyway, I don't make it a habit of ratting on pirates, but these guys are really asking for it. According to their website they started sometime early last year, and are also broadcasting on 1710 AM...

Website linke: http://wkmjradiolive.net/

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/WkmJradiolive
 
coolaid213 said:
One of my radio buddies gave me a call while I was on the way home from work tonight. He told me to flip over to 102.1, and see if I could hear a station identifying as WKMJ out of Kenneth City. Sure enough coming south on the Bayside bridge, it started fading in. Format seems to be Hip-Hop/R&B and sports talk. I tracked them to an area near 66th Street and 54th Avenue. When I was listening they were playing uncensored hip-hop music. These guys are really brazen, they're giving out their phone number, playing local commercial spots, and they even have a flashy website with forms to advertise with the station or even become an intern. If they're legit, I really can't see how. A quick check of the FCC database shows WKMJ as being licensed to a station in Michigan. I first heard their signal on the Bayside Bridge and they're still coming in at my house in Downtown St. Pete... so they definitely can't claim part 15. Anyway, I don't make it a habit of ratting on pirates, but these guys are really asking for it. According to their website they started sometime early last year, and are also broadcasting on 1710 AM...

Website linke: http://wkmjradiolive.net/

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/WkmJradiolive
Click to expand...

Well as usual, I'm a day late (literally) and a dollar short; it's a few minutes past midnight and from my location near a few blocks away from the USFSP campus downtown St. Pete, I'm not picking up anything on 102,1 on my Sangean PR D5 other than some very faint bleed over from Gator Country 101.9 at around 45 minutes past midnight.(early Thursday morning).

What time were you picking them up? coolaid 213? In the past I have picked up the occasional weekend pirates on both 96.3 and 96.7; will have to check for this pirate at 102.1 tomorrow afternoon.

Isn't this the same frequency where a pirate was operating out of with a antenna almost across the street from the main post office at 31st St N and 1st Ave N about a decade ago? They were also pretty blatant, running ads for a restaurant and taking requests.

drt
 
According to their "DJ Schedule" on the web site, they may be operating only from 7:00 pm until midnight.
 
You might have trouble picking them up even if they're on right now. I'm on the northside of downtown and I can just barely get them in my car... I can't hear them at all on the radios in my house. My buddy first heard them around 5pm yesterday afternoon, and I was monitoring them from about 8pm to 10pm last night.

The weekend pirates you've hearing in the middle of the band are probably some of my friends. But see, they're very discrete... they set up at a random location, they run low power, and they only operate for a few hours at a time... I see this as "responsible" pirating.

The thing that upsets me about these guys is that they obviously have no idea how illegal what they're doing is. I've had friends who have been busted for so much less... meanwhile these guys were giving out their address last night inviting people to come over to their studio and drink with them. It's like... how can you be so dumb... setting up on 102.1 no less. Haven't these guys ever heard of the FCC, or the Party Pirate, etc? I just can't feel sorry for them, after seeing all the time and money they've invested in equipment and their website... then they use a fake callsign and sell advertising like it ain't no thang... they really have it coming... morons...
 
coolaid213 said:
You might have trouble picking them up even if they're on right now. I'm on the northside of downtown and I can just barely get them in my car... I can't hear them at all on the radios in my house. My buddy first heard them around 5pm yesterday afternoon, and I was monitoring them from about 8pm to 10pm last night.

The weekend pirates you've hearing in the middle of the band are probably some of my friends. But see, they're very discrete... they set up at a random location, they run low power, and they only operate for a few hours at a time... I see this as "responsible" pirating.

The thing that upsets me about these guys is that they obviously have no idea how illegal what they're doing is. I've had friends who have been busted for so much less... meanwhile these guys were giving out their address last night inviting people to come over to their studio and drink with them. It's like... how can you be so dumb... setting up on 102.1 no less. Haven't these guys ever heard of the FCC, or the Party Pirate, etc? I just can't feel sorry for them, after seeing all the time and money they've invested in equipment and their website... then they use a fake callsign and sell advertising like it ain't no thang... they really have it coming... morons...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the additional info; sounds as though I will need to get in the car this evening and find a location toward Lealman, Kenneth City or near Tyrone Sq; should come in there and then driving back to the downtown area, so how the reception holds out. The Sangean PF D5 has great sensitivity, so if I can pick it up at all inside, that would be the radio; but of course, once a signal is too weak or the absence of a signal, no radio is going to receive it.
 
coolaid213 said:
I won't give their exact address but they say they are at Park and 62nd street.
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Well, if I get that curious, I'll take the Grundig Satellite 750 and with it's signal meter; I should be able to pretty well narrow down the location; sounds as though it's probably near the LockMan Key shop on the south side of Park Blvd. Hopefully they're not using the Pinellas Park Police station's antenna which is nearby! :)

Maybe they think the FCC is still closed down. :) On another board, I read where what sounds like another blantant pirate was taken off the air recently in Summerfield, FL (just north and adjacent of "The Villages") just north of the Marion/Sumter county line; in this case the fine was $15,000 instead of what was going to be a $10,000 fine, as the operator kept talking himself into a higher fine; acknowleging he had been in radio and had operated a licensed a LPFM in the past and knew what he was doing was illegal.
 
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Wow, Pinellas and Hillsborough call in numbers, TOLL FREE? number, AND they made an App on Google Play? Yeah, these guys are brazen alright. Certainly looking for the attention. Too bad.

Byron
 
byron said:
Wow, Pinellas and Hillsborough call in numbers, TOLL FREE? number, AND they made an App on Google Play? Yeah, these guys are brazen alright. Certainly looking for the attention. Too bad.

Byron
Click to expand...
This particular link on their website (About) is not mentioning being on the air, it gives the impression they are strictly an online station..... haven't gone through the whole website; of course, I can't find their app on the Apple store; will have to check my Android phone. On my iPad I do get a message that I might not be able to see the whole website due to not having the latest Adobe flash installed....... so I might be missing something.

http://wkmjradiolive.net/about/
 
Just got out of the car, they're still on the air as of 12pm. I was looking at their facebook page again and it looks like they started transmitting on FM early last month. I drove through earlier and they have yard signs up in the neighborhood. I just can't tell you how much this bothers me. In a perfect world, yes... people would be allowed to put up a pirate station and provide a service to their neighborhood... but this isn't a perfect world, and we have rules and regulations on broadcasting... it's now a felony to broadcast illegally in this state... up to 5 years in prison... What makes them think they can get away with this when so many have been busted and carted off in cuffs? Someone should call them and tell them about Doug Brewer or Lonnie Korbes, or the guys in downtown St. Pete who got raided. Oh yeah, remember Gay Pride radio in St. Pete? How long did that last... like a week?
 
coolaid213 said:
Just got out of the car, they're still on the air as of 12pm. I was looking at their facebook page again and it looks like they started transmitting on FM early last month. I drove through earlier and they have yard signs up in the neighborhood. I just can't tell you how much this bothers me. In a perfect world, yes... people would be allowed to put up a pirate station and provide a service to their neighborhood... but this isn't a perfect world, and we have rules and regulations on broadcasting... it's now a felony to broadcast illegally in this state... up to 5 years in prison... What makes them think they can get away with this when so many have been busted and carted off in cuffs? Someone should call them and tell them about Doug Brewer or Lonnie Korbes, or the guys in downtown St. Pete who got raided. Oh yeah, remember Gay Pride radio in St. Pete? How long did that last... like a week?
Click to expand...

Either someone has told them, or they're reading this board or they're just having technical problems. I was out from 2 to 3:30PM this Thursday afternoon and they are not funning full power. With the Grundig's meter, I determined that at least on Park Blvd, their maximum signal was at Park and 64th St, in the parking lot of the Shangi-Hi Hut restaurant that is being rebuilt.

Driving west on Park Blvd from 49th St, I didn't get a consistent signal until the MacDonald's at Park and 53rd St and by the time I got to Sam's Club/Lowe's at the intereresction of Belcher and Park the signal was fading in and out (even while my car was stationary at the light) and had some static.

Returning I took a slightly different route and by the time I got to the intersection of 49th St N and 70th Ave N, the signal was a distant memory.

Their 727/494-xxxx phone number is a VOIP, so I would suspect the other phone lines are as well.

Also noticed, that they are slightly off frequency and I got the clearest signal on the Grundig at 102.08.

drt
 
I was involved in the Party Pirate, and with Doug Brewer. There is a reason I stick to podcasts and online streaming radio now...

Doug is doing ok, and has a internet radio set up in a bar he owns in the Busch Gardens area. I hope for his sake he isn't running low power FM out of it, but knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised. He still identifies himself as 102.1 FM but its on ustream.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/party-pirate-102-1fm

https://www.facebook.com/RadioBarandGrill
 
Doug Brewer is a cool dude. But potential pirates should take a look at what happened to him and act accordingly. As for the Grundig, I have one of their Buzz Aldrin series radios and it's FM reception is weak. I get much better results with my 70's GE transistor radio.
 
coolaid213 said:
Doug Brewer is a cool dude. But potential pirates should take a look at what happened to him and act accordingly. As for the Grundig, I have one of their Buzz Aldrin series radios and it's FM reception is weak. I get much better results with my 70's GE transistor radio.
Click to expand...

I think Grundig's fm reception varies on it's different models on the Satellite 750, the FM reception is as good or better than the Sangean PR D5 I have, the FM selectivity is great, which unfortunately the Sangean PR D5's FM selectivity is not as good.

Before I got the Grundig Satellite 750, I had read reviews on the various Grundig radios and it does seem some have gimmicks but not good reception; about the only negative in the reviews I found for the Satellite 750 was that it is big and bulky and that it is; it is hardly a portable, the other negative is that stereo is only through the headphone jack or hooking up external speakers.

It was my car radio that wasn't even picking up 102.1 at 49th St N and 70 AVe N and my car radio has what I consider to a very decent radio with great sensitivity and selectivity; that's why I have to conclude that this afternoon, 102.1 was having some type of problem or maybe they powered down for fear of the FCC finding out about them. In short I was using both the car radio and the Grundig Satellite 750 to check the reception. Before I left home, I took the Sangean PR D5 and the Grundig Satellite 750 to various spots to see if I could even get a trace of a signal in downtown St. Pete and as I didn't receive anything, so I was thinking they had signed off at noon, but then going north on i-275 around 38th Ave N, I got a trace of them, but more often than not, the frequency was blank, until I got to Haines Road North and 58th Ave N, then I was receiving them; albeit poorly and intermittently, then like magic near the MacDonalds on Park and 53rd St, they were solid and going west past 66th St N, they continued strong to just a block short of Belcher and then some deep fades and some static. The other reason I think they may have been having some technical problems in the mix is the audio was slightly distorted as well.

I'm not doubting that their reception was great last night or this morning, but mid afternoon today is wasn't so great.

I did have to laugh, when they were seeking advertisers at ridiculously low rates and they kept saying to call right away, that this was a limited time offer and of course I was thinking, if they keep broadcasting at even the power they were using this afternoon, they may not been on the air long, so just their being on the air could be a very limited time thing. It's risky trying to run a pirate all day and all evening.

drt
 
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They've been broadcasting all night and all morning. I just listened to the station all the way from Downtown St. Pete to the north end of the Bayside Bridge.

Here's a youtube I recorded while I was tracking them two nights ago. This was recorded in the Lealman area (54th Street N. & U.S. 19)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei2Ru9RsoFM
 
coolaid213 said:
They've been broadcasting all night and all morning. I just listened to the station all the way from Downtown St. Pete to the north end of the Bayside Bridge.

Here's a youtube I recorded while I was tracking them two nights ago. This was recorded in the Lealman area (54th Street N. & U.S. 19)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei2Ru9RsoFM
Click to expand...


Coming in decently from what I heard on the video. Eventually the FCC will be knocking on their door if they don't get a heads up first. A friend of mine did short-lived 99.9 FM out of downtown St. Pete about 8 years ago, we co-hosted a couple shows. He did the smart thing we he got the heads up and dismantled the studio the same day.

http://www.wmnf.org/mobile/news_stories/1801
 
Today I witnessed the power of the pirate on 102.1.

Again before leaving home, I tried on my car radio, Sangean and Grundig outside but nothing but then heading toward 66th St N on First Ave N, got the first trace here and there of 102.1 beside the police station between 13th and 15th St N on First Ave N, then about the 2100 block of First Ave N, it was weak but steady and by the time I got about halfway between 34th St N and 49th St N (still on First Ave N) it was very constant and by the time I was on 66th St N at 5th Ave N (SPC main campus) it was very listenable, then in the parking lot at the Publix, very listenable on my car radio and also on the Grundig w/o having to extend it's rod antenna.

So it does come in on the north and west fringes of downtown, just not very strong.

It will be interesting to see how long they are on the air; at least they were smart enough not to select an adjacent frequency to a local station like the pride radio deal.

On the air, 102.1 does mention being available on the AM band at 1710, but I was not able to pick up anything on 1710 on Park Blvd yesterday or in my travels today.

drt
 
Must've really been in a hurry to get that website up. They've misspelled two of the hiphop artists they play on the little flash splash screen. Kayne West?? Nicky Minaj?? Think they're putting more time and concentration into selling those "spots" than anything else in the operation. Only a short time before the knock knock knock on the door.

Oh, there's another site too. http://www.wkmjradio.net/

There's a paypal button on that one that will gladly take $500 of your money for "advertising spots" with a few clicks of the mouse.

And last but not least, I wont post the result but if you happen to lookup WHOIS info on that last domain, name and physical address in Kenneth City is at your fingertips.

Byron
 
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In the words of The Beatles:
"It won't be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won't be long yeh, yeh, yeh"
 
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