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(the orig.) Radio Free Vermont (96.5) airchecks going up

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

(this may wind up going into Airchecks but I'll post it here because it's of interest to those in Northern
New England)
You may remember Radio Free Vermont, a pirate at 96.5 in Rutland which got shut down by the FCC.
They played standards, instrumentals, easy listening, Sinatra, big bands, etc. and ran public service announcements and
even ads ("Airport Driving Range, a tradition in Vermont for 15 years...")

Well, I have 4 airchecks from 1999, each an hour long, that I'll be posting soon at the following link:

http://www.putfile.com/raccoonradio/media

I may put the files elsewhere as well...
This is not to be confused with the person at radiofreevermont.org who is streamcasting "Mainstream Contemporary Hit Radio, (CHR) playing today's best hit music."

The four hour-long airchecks will be going up over the next couple days at
the link above. (As of right now, 12:11 pm, I'm still recording the first one onto my harddrive
and it's 20 minutes into it so it'll be awhile before they go up. Please check back later!)
 
You are way off. Radio Free Vermont is in Waterbury and has been for 75 years - second longest running station in the country. Trust me - I work there
 
You mean Radio Vermont...
(pic: http://gallery.bostonradio.org/2002-09/vermont/100-00730-lrg.html )

However, I mean Radio Free Vermont which was a pirate based in Rutland (the P.O. box they gave out on the air was in "Rutland Town" on Post Rd.)
From the friend of mine who recorded them: ""Radio Free Vermont" is a very listenable big band-standards pirate station, on 96.5 somewhere in the Rutland area. They oughta call it "Radio Free Rutland" as it does not go much beyond the city except up into the hills to the east. Their web-site claims the station is perfectly legal, as it does not cross state lines...not true, as the FCC licenses all broadcast radio within the United States. However, you won't see me turning them in. I recorded 4 hours of them"

I used to hear them periodically when I was in the area.

Radio Vermont on the other hand:
WDEV
http://www.wdevradio.com/
"W-D-E-V is a Network of Stations
WDEV is more than just a radio station - it's a network of stations serving Central Vermont and the Champlain Valley. WDEV-FM 96.1 delivers 25,000 watts of power from atop Lincoln Peak in Warren. WDEV-FM also airs on our Barre-Montpelier Translator at FM 96.5 - providing fill-in coverage along the important Route 302 corridor between the Twin Cities. WDEV-AM 550 simulcasts with the FM programming providing 5,000 watts of coverage that "walks over" the hills and valleys of Vermont. "

Radio Vermont also owns:
--WLVB "Vermont Country 94" (Morrisville I think)
--WCVT 101.7 Classical from Stowe
--WCAT 1390 Burlington (ESPN)
Though I'm not sure if they still own WCAT--Radio-Locator says the owner is "Radio Broadcasting
Services Inc." (with an address on Stowe St. in Waterbury which leads me to believe it's
still part of Radio Vermont)

I remember seeing the studios (all locked up) for what was then WVAA 1390 and WCVT 101.7 at the
Champlain Mill in Winooski.

But yes, just as radio free vermont, the pirate that was on 96.5 in Rutland, is not to be confused with
the Web only streamcaster who is at radiofreevermont.org, it is also not to be confused with
Radio Vermont
(which does broadcast one of its signals at 96.5, but legally!)
 
WDEV btw and Radio Vermont are to be congratulated for their many decades of service, as a legally
operated station. Those who wish to hear what the non-legal Radio Free Vermont sounded like
can go to http://www.putfile.com/raccoonradio/media

It ran ads and PSAs and some interesting music. But it was also unlicensed though the station owner
claimed that it was legal since the FCC has no control over stations whose signals do not cross
state lines.
Here was something about RFV from Airwaves Media Journal (apparently the owner was named
Monty Butterfield, or at least he did the post from an email address which sounds like RFV)
http://www.airwaves.com/archive2/4802.html

(It's possible Butterfield does indeed run the "RadioFreeVermont" currently on the Net which is
offering different musical programming from before. Websearches also led me to a Scott Fybush
NorthEastRadioWatch column from '98 in which he mentions RFV, or at least that "some NERW
readers" had heard RFV at 96.5 while in Rutland. I may have been one of 'em...)
 
WCAT is actually owned by Northeast Broadcasting. It used to be WVAA, but flipped about a year and a half ago.
 
"Radio Free Vermont" remember that well .. Forgive me for the perhaps, "improper terminology" the Pirate station on 96.5 in Rutland. When did the FCC finally pull the plug on that, talking almost 10 years ago.. That kept me scratching what was left of my hair to figure out how RFV sold commercial time to would be sponsors, including a dry cleaner that I frequent, knowing that the FCC would eventually get involved ?? I guess I ???can say, pretty good job on that task !!
 
I think I see the problem here...

These folks are trying to broadcast a pirate radio station when all they needed to do was hijack the signal of W61CE!!! ;D ;)
 
Yes - radio vermont is also called Radio Free Vermont.
We do not have 1390 they have not been part of our group for a couple of years now. and we also have 96.5, amoung others. Sorry that you are so mis-informed.
 
hi--I didn't know that Radio Vermont was also called Radio Free Vermont--wasn't in any source material I checked. Most of what I've said has been correct but I was indeed wrong about 1390. I don't live in the area
but go up to the Champlain Valley when I can. The 96.5 you refer to is up in the Waterbury/Warren area but I
was talking about an unlicensed signal from the Rutland area in the late 90s.

The pirate did indeed call itself Radio Free Vermont and I believe the same man runs that streamcaster today.
At first I wasn't sure if it was the same guy but apparently it is...somehow the fact that the streamcaster
is running CHR and the unlic-RFV had standards made me think it could have been someone different.
(Monty Butterfield, who also pops up as a defender of gun rights and a railroad fan living in the
greater Rutland area.) The Airwaves Media Journal article had a post by him about his pirate operation.
 
here's another Airwaves Media Journal digest of posts in which Butterfield said the FCC
had ruled in his favor and he was OK to broadcast "intrastate broadcasting". Others
disagreed. (He called it "judgement by default").

http://216.109.125.130/search/cache...ree+vermont+fcc&d=Mn9aFfmdOryC&icp=1&.intl=us

Now, maybe Radio Vermont actually is also known as Radio Free Vermont, but the fact is that I am referring to
a pirate station --which you can hear at those links in posts further up this thread--which broadcast from somewhere around Rutland. A station I picked up in the past in my trips through the area (Rt Bus US 4, Rt 4, downtown Rutland, near the hospital,
etc.) and one which my friend had taped. Whether they were using the name Radio Free Vermont without
permission (i.e., it was a registered trademark of Radio Vermont) I don't know, but they were an
unlicensed broadcaster reaching Rutland and maybe 1 or 2 other towns in the area at best.
 
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