I live and work in radio in the Eastern side of the state (You know, that other side of the river) so I'm pretty used to what's on the dial... until all of a sudden a couple of months ago I started hearing 70's hits, song after song, on 104.3 in the Central Village section of Plainfield (Along I-395, exit 89.) It was undermodulated, in stereo, but didn't seem to be bothering anyone.
A couple of weeks later, I tuned it in, and the oldies were still there with a current mixed in (think Olivia Newton-John into Zac Brown Band... yeah.) and now it was running RDS!!!
After about a month, I noticed last week that it was running announcements saying "This is WWCI Radio, online at WWCIRadio.net."
When you visit wwciradio.net, you find out it's a guy who has decided he wants to start his own radio station. Great, but it's not that easy. He even gave his street address!! I swung by, and he's renting studio space, he's got a nice little studio built out, and he's got a 20 foot tower on the roof with a 1-bay circularly-polarized antenna. He clearly knows what he's doing, but either doesn't realize or care that operating right now would rule him out for ever getting a licence. He doesn't have much height at that location, but I can pick him up about 4-5 miles from his antenna in some directions.
Doesn't this seem a little sophisticated for a pirate, especially in an incredibly rural area? It's all English programming, all music. The thing is that he's actually pretty wide open. Nobody co-channel, first adjacent, second adjacent, third adjacent, or IF spaced. He'd have to watch WXLO Fitchburg but he's way clear of that, WELJ Montauk but he's clear of that, WMRQ Waterbury which he's pretty tight on, and IF to WZMX Hartford, which he's clear of.
Not much in the way of interesting topics happening here lately, thought I'd share!
A couple of weeks later, I tuned it in, and the oldies were still there with a current mixed in (think Olivia Newton-John into Zac Brown Band... yeah.) and now it was running RDS!!!
After about a month, I noticed last week that it was running announcements saying "This is WWCI Radio, online at WWCIRadio.net."
When you visit wwciradio.net, you find out it's a guy who has decided he wants to start his own radio station. Great, but it's not that easy. He even gave his street address!! I swung by, and he's renting studio space, he's got a nice little studio built out, and he's got a 20 foot tower on the roof with a 1-bay circularly-polarized antenna. He clearly knows what he's doing, but either doesn't realize or care that operating right now would rule him out for ever getting a licence. He doesn't have much height at that location, but I can pick him up about 4-5 miles from his antenna in some directions.
Doesn't this seem a little sophisticated for a pirate, especially in an incredibly rural area? It's all English programming, all music. The thing is that he's actually pretty wide open. Nobody co-channel, first adjacent, second adjacent, third adjacent, or IF spaced. He'd have to watch WXLO Fitchburg but he's way clear of that, WELJ Montauk but he's clear of that, WMRQ Waterbury which he's pretty tight on, and IF to WZMX Hartford, which he's clear of.
Not much in the way of interesting topics happening here lately, thought I'd share!
