WPOT BECOMES HOT 87.7 FM MONDAY ACCORDING TO CHUBBY CHUBB'S TWITTER

[MickeyD]

So how is it determined how much WPOT pays for music rights fees?

Who says any pirate pays music fees?

Seems like they'd be an easy enough target for the RIAA to go after then. If the FCC can't / won't do their job maybe someone else will.

Or the IRS.

 

[necrat123]

No 87.7 isn't a valid FM frequency but except for a radio proessional who would know that?

The reason why I say that is, that FM radios may or may NOT go to 87.7. I know my JVC unit in my car doesn't.
One digital walkman I have doesn't either.

They are in fact using a regular frequency agile FM stereo transmitter and a dipole antenna the pirates favorite (the Dominator).

They aren't using a dominator. They're using a 2 bay Nicom BKG-1/P horizontal antenna. (Nicom also makes transmitters, so it is very possible that they're using a Nicom transmitter as well...)

 

[MickeyD]

No 87.7 isn't a valid FM frequency but except for a radio proessional who would know that?

The reason why I say that is, that FM radios may or may NOT go to 87.7. I know my JVC unit in my car doesn't.
One digital walkman I have doesn't either.

They are in fact using a regular frequency agile FM stereo transmitter and a dipole antenna the pirates favorite (the Dominator).

They aren't using a dominator. They're using a 2 bay Nicom BKG-1/P horizontal antenna. (Nicom also makes transmitters, so it is very possible that they're using a Nicom transmitter as well...)

Actually they have two antennas and one of them is the Dominator. I would prefer a Dominator over anything Nicom. Pretty ironic, one is commercial gear and the other is primarily pirate gear. As for 87.7, they seem pretty happy with it and from what I understand and they have a larger audience. They can reach more people on a channel that increases their range than one where they are than being squeezed between two powerhouse stations. They do have a problem with XM/Sirius radios. They tune to 87.7 but there is static or data on the channel. I have no idea what that is..

They have the same problems with 87.7 that the stations in the larger cities where the use is legal via LPTV. How many application do you think you would see filed with the FCC if they opened an analog LPTV window for channel 6 in Boston? Hundreds? I doubt whoever the winner would be that they would use it as an LPTV station.

 

[necrat123]

Actually they have two antennas and one of them is the Dominator.

The only antenna I saw on or behind the 97.5 house was the Nicom, and at the Westinghouse plaza location there were no antennas.
So unless the Dominator is sitting in someone's garage or they have a 2nd location somewhere theyre trying to use, the antenna I've measured in use was the Nicom 2 bay on Esmond st.

What exactly is your involvement with them?

 

[MickeyD]

Actually they have two antennas and one of them is the Dominator.

The only antenna I saw on or behind the 97.5 house was the Nicom, and at the Westinghouse plaza location there were no antennas.
So unless the Dominator is sitting in someone's garage or they have a 2nd location somewhere theyre trying to use, the antenna I've measured in use was the Nicom 2 bay on Esmond st.

What exactly is your involvement with them?

You would be very, very surprised.

 

[MickeyD]

And of course no mention of its pirate status on the wiki page. Even mentions a City of License and that it broadcasts in "HD".

It does mention at the end that it is broadcasting without an fcc license. I don't know why they just don't call themselves Hot87Boston. It would be a little less confusing.

They will be IDing themselves as Hot87Boston soon.

 

[carmen]

the great thing about Boston radio is that you can actually hear Hip-hop that doesnt' suck. a couple nights a week on WHRB and WBRU and WMBR. ive even heard some good Rap Kreyol on BelMizik.. and of course Decks and Dru Nyce on Big City

i'll give this WPOT a few more chances from deleting the memory

 

[jlehmann]

There seems to be a battle going on with this station on wikipedia. The references to being an unlicensed pirate station keep getting removed, and this time replaced with "broacasts in HD radio." Someone also keeps adding "WPOT" to the legitimate Boston station list template. They're really trying to make it sound legitimate... there's no way they're broadcasting in HD Radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPOT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Boston_Radio

 

[MickeyD]

There seems to be a battle going on with this station on wikipedia. The references to being an unlicensed pirate station keep getting removed, and this time replaced with "broacasts in HD radio." Someone also keeps adding "WPOT" to the legitimate Boston station list template. They're really trying to make it sound legitimate... there's no way they're broadcasting in HD Radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPOT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Boston_Radio

They do not have HD! It is just a term they have been using to compare the old signal with the new signal.

 

[Jacko]

Well, on my way home today, they were broadcasting dead air that was coming in and out of stereo. Caught a bit this morning, but as indicated before, they sound like they're putting out a signal that's just off 87.7, so the music itself sounds like staticky. It's like trying to listen to the radio as you're driving through the mountains of northern New England.

Jacko

 

[MickeyD]

Well, on my way home today, they were broadcasting dead air that was coming in and out of stereo. Caught a bit this morning, but as indicated before, they sound like they're putting out a signal that's just off 87.7, so the music itself sounds like staticky. It's like trying to listen to the radio as you're driving through the mountains of northern New England.

Jacko

They will be taking the antenna "higher..Boom shuck a lucka,lucka,boom shuka, lucka, lucka" shortly.

 

[beantownradio25]

Are you an engineer for this pirate or something? How do you know all of this? ???

 

[chrisradioanimal]

Heres the house were Hot 87 is said to be broadcasting from. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=76+Esmond+St,+Boston,+Suffolk,+Massachusetts+02121&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.184175,79.013672&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FV5ohQId3lnD-w&split=0&hq=&hnear=76+Esmond+St,+Boston,+Suffolk,+Massachusetts+02121&ll=42.297421,-71.083775&spn=0.008951,0.01929&t=h&z=16&cbll=42.297348,-71.083761&panoid=MBfv2M40HOJ89l9gbmXJ4A&cbp=12,56.01,,0,-16.19&pw=2 (Note the small antenna thing on the roof.) and good hopefully when the antenna gets raised i can get it in Billerica, MA where i live. I can get a weak to moderate signal in the car but its non existent in the house. Also I was in Plaistow, NH this week and I was in a store parking lot listening to the radio in the car and I went down to 87.7 and got Hot 87 although it was staticy and fading in and out I managed to catch a Hot 97 ID.

 

[beantownradio25]

Driving through Tyngsboro Mass last week I breifly got some fringes, but other than that, mostly static by the Mass-NH line

 

[nd2023]

Driving through Tyngsboro Mass last week I breifly got some fringes, but other than that, mostly static by the Mass-NH line

Wow, that's about 30 miles away from the transmitter. They say that they cover a 20 mile radius of Boston, so you'd probably get WPOT clear within most of the 495 loop. That pirate has about the same signal as WNYZ 87.7. 1500 watts, even if it's near the ground, will go a long way.

 

[MickeyD]

Are you an engineer for this pirate or something? How do you know all of this? ???

You never know I could be but then again I live in NJ.

 

[Jacko]

But if Hot 87.7 is raising their antenna, and I assume keep at 1,500 watts, obviously that would increase their coverage. A pirate that only has a range of a couple of miles is one thing, and can be kind of a nusance for people trying to play their iPods or satellite radios over FM in their cars, but a pirate with nearly a class A coverage is really getting out of control.

One thing I haven't seen brought up, and I don't know if this really is an issue since over-the-air television has gone digital, but what about interference from neighboring channel 6's in New Bedford and Portland, ME? In Hanson, MA (several miles SE of Brockton), I got a staticky but audible Hot 87.7 yesterday, but New Bedford and Providence stations typically come in clearly. In fact, the Dunkin Donuts in Hanson always has on Cat Country 98.1 WCTK. I feel like sooner or later the s#!*'s going to go down on WPOT.

Clever call letter, by the way.

Jacko

 

[necrat123]

One thing I haven't seen brought up, and I don't know if this really is an issue since over-the-air television has gone digital, but what about interference from neighboring channel 6's in New Bedford and Portland, ME?

They no longer exist.

The nearest channel 6s are in Albany, NY and Philadelphia, PA.

 

[rockcaptain]

There seems to be a battle going on with this station on wikipedia. The references to being an unlicensed pirate station keep getting removed, and this time replaced with "broacasts in HD radio." Someone also keeps adding "WPOT" to the legitimate Boston station list template. They're really trying to make it sound legitimate... there's no way they're broadcasting in HD Radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPOT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Boston_Radio

They do not have HD! It is just a term they have been using to compare the old signal with the new signal.

So not only are they breaking the law by being a pirate, they are illegally using a registered trademark (HD Radio). Ibiquity would be within it's rights to file suit against "WPOT".

 

[MickeyD]

There seems to be a battle going on with this station on wikipedia. The references to being an unlicensed pirate station keep getting removed, and this time replaced with "broacasts in HD radio." Someone also keeps adding "WPOT" to the legitimate Boston station list template. They're really trying to make it sound legitimate... there's no way they're broadcasting in HD Radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPOT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Boston_Radio

They do not have HD! It is just a term they have been using to compare the old signal with the new signal.

So not only are they breaking the law by being a pirate, they are illegally using a registered trademark (HD Radio). Ibiquity would be within it's rights to file suit against "WPOT".

Ibiquity is having there own problems. THey have to figure out a way to increase the power of HD radio at all of the radio stations that have it and that will certainly interfere with adjacent radio stations. Another way you could look at it is, they are "promoting" HD Radio.