Too many pirate stations in Boston

[rapking]

With all this talk of pirate stations lately, I wish people could broadcast their own stations, as long as they do not cause any interference to a commercial or non-commercial station's coverage. Most of commercial music radio does indeed SUCK, it does not care about listeners at all, it only cares about $. Although pirate stations are illegal, I understand why these folks do what they do. They attempt to give listeners what commericial radio does not. Commercial radio needs competition, especially in music. It's stale, boring, and repetitive. I don't condone illegal stations, but by now, someone has had to make complaints against some of the pirates, but they are still going strong. Look at 87.7 WPOT. They have decent coverage and I would love to see them give Jam'n 94.5 some competition. To an fan of true urban music, Jam'n 94.5 is not even close. But maybe 87.7 will make them lean more urban. They may need to do something if 87.7 is here to stay for a while.

Act of 96 killed the radio . Thank god for Pirate radio.

 

[fccman]

I live in Essex and cannot hear 87.7 or 87.9 but I will measure the power of both today.

 

[beantownradio25]

Is the FCC handing out LPTV analog liscences at the moment? Could there be a legitimate operation on 87.7?

 

[MickeyD]

Is the FCC handing out LPTV analog liscences at the moment? Could there be a legitimate operation on 87.7?

No. If they issued an LPTV license for channel 6 it would be digital and would sound like hash on an analog receiver.

 

[carmen]

are any of the analog UHF pirates/lp chans still active?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

are any of the analog UHF pirates/lp chans still active?

Yes, there is still a legitimate LPTV broadcasting on Channel 24 from a Needham transmitter. It comes in snowy with my set on analog mode here in Somerville.

 

[aaronread]

While there are LPTV's out there that still are allowed to broadcast in analog NTSC, and some are on channel 6, the filing window for new LPTV's that's open right now (rural areas was in August, everywhere else is in January or February, IIRC) specifies that the new LPTV's must be in ATSC digital only; no analog.

I've heard through the grapevine that the days of analog TV on LPTV's is numbered, too. IIRC most, if not all, have to file migration plans and start parallel digital broadcasting sometime in 2010? I doubt the FCC will allow the migration to take more than a year or two at most. There's a lot of companies paying mucho dinero to get at the vacated spectrum and lot of political pressure to put NTSC out of its misery (at least on over-the-air transmissions) as quickly as possible.

 

[fccman]

87.7 500 to 520 watts and 87.9 40 to 45 watts.

 

[chrisradioanimal]

Really I thought Hot 87 was running 1,200 watts or more.

 

[beantownradio25]

While there are LPTV's out there that still are allowed to broadcast in analog NTSC, and some are on channel 6, the filing window for new LPTV's that's open right now (rural areas was in August, everywhere else is in January or February, IIRC) specifies that the new LPTV's must be in ATSC digital only; no analog.

I've heard through the grapevine that the days of analog TV on LPTV's is numbered, too. IIRC most, if not all, have to file migration plans and start parallel digital broadcasting sometime in 2010? I doubt the FCC will allow the migration to take more than a year or two at most. There's a lot of companies paying mucho dinero to get at the vacated spectrum and lot of political pressure to put NTSC out of its misery (at least on over-the-air transmissions) as quickly as possible.

That's bittersweet. Once LPTV has migrated to Digital only, the analog TV band can be used for new things. However, stations like Pulse 87.7 in New York will be history. So it's good and bad.

 

[beantownradio25]

87.7 500 to 520 watts and 87.9 40 to 45 watts.

Do you work for the Federal Communications Commision, or have you before?

If you are a current employee, is there any effort to shut these operations in Boston down? (The pirates stations in general in Boston) 87.7 isn't really interfering with much, but are there efforts to shut any of these pirates down?

87.7 must be pumping out the juice because most Boston stations around 500 watts I cannot get in my neck of the woods.

 

[fccman]

I have no info that the Commision will shut down any pirates.

What you have to understand is the Commision has no funds so it is limited on what it can do. To the Commision a pirate has no value and will at sometime go away. Any pirate that has a power of 100 watts or lower is of no concern unless it is in a major market.

Last time I looked there are just over 3000 pirates in the US. Only 700 are transmitting more then 100 watts 250 of them are in major markets. Most pirates are only 10 watts.

 

[tjm_pro]

Where did you get that data from?

 

[Don Juan]

Act of 96 killed the radio . Thank god for Pirate radio.

Just curious.

You are a big fan of pirate radio...and the freedom of speech, freedom to broadcast, etc.

But you only seem to be behind the efforts and right of pirate broadcasters who give you what you want.

If a pirate was spewing racists views, homophobic speeches, anti-semetic politics....would you still defend their right to operate as a pirate...and their right to broadcast content they see fit?

I think this is the difference between those on this board who are simply listeners, and those who work and understand the industry.

I think listeners will support any pirate that gives them what they want, and promotes what they want.

Broadcasters see that allowing pirates, emboldening them and legitimizing them will start us down a slope.

If playing urban music is OK for a pirate, what about radical right-wing politics? What about anarchists? What about anti-semetic programming?

Who's to say that one's programming is more deserving of a signal than others?

 

[nd2023]

WPOT's wikipedia entry used to say they had 5000 watts. And from the reports I've seen here claiming reception 30 miles away, I don't doubt it. 5000 watts from near the ground would go pretty far.

 

[jlehmann]

WPOT's wikipedia entry used to say they had 5000 watts. And from the reports I've seen here claiming reception 30 miles away, I don't doubt it. 5000 watts from near the ground would go pretty far.

There is no way they are running 5,000 watts, it just simply doesn't cover that well, 101.3 is still much better. They were just trying to make themselves sound bigger than they acutually are. This is just a wild guess, but I'd say it's closer to 500.

 

[MickeyD]

WPOT's wikipedia entry used to say they had 5000 watts. And from the reports I've seen here claiming reception 30 miles away, I don't doubt it. 5000 watts from near the ground would go pretty far.

Actually they didn't increase their power, they increased their tower.

 

[MickeyD]

are any of the analog UHF pirates/lp chans still active?

Yes, there is still a legitimate LPTV broadcasting on Channel 24 from a Needham transmitter. It comes in snowy with my set on analog mode here in Somerville.

Wait until they make LPTV's digital no one will be able to receive them. This will be the end of LPTV unless they can get on a cable system. They are having problems with 8-VSB on full powered stations for OTA reception. They could have fixed it but they refused so now we have a system that just sucks.

 

[fccman]

I just came back from Washington and got those numbers from someone in the audio dept. But he told me its from last year. ( This is only the known pirates ).