Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
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Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
1–10 of 93 posts
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#2Perhaps the FCC should stop refusing to issue LPFM licenses. Presumably some of these stations would go lawful if they could.
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#3I wrote a book on low power AM broadcasting. It's pretty rare that pirate stations cause meaningful interference, they operate at very low wattages (sometimes 100 watts or less) and usually have low pass filters installed in-line that prevent harmonics interference, whereas commercial stations operate at 100,000 watts and are far more likely to cause interference issues even when designed correctly. It's more likely competing FM stations calling in to complain than the airport calling in to say their planes can't land.
Not making an ethics call on pirate radio, just commenting that the argument that they regularly cause dangerous interference is somewhere between nonsense and propaganda.
I think the bigger critique I would have is why even bother to do pirate stations anymore now that the Internet is here and it's much easier to subvert corporate media that way anyways. Clear Channel's radio monopoly went from a dangerous culture lock that could ban Beatles songs "because of 9/11" to useless junk pretty quickly, there's a reason I got out of the space a long time ago. The commenter alludes to this when they describe how important the station is by referencing their Spotify playlist (BIG 103.3, which doesn't look dancehall, subversive or frankly very good).
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#4Perhaps the FCC should stop refusing to issue LPFM licenses. Presumably some of these stations would go lawful if they could.
They just announced a new batch, actually. Boston is probably fully subscribed though, so I doubt that area is getting any more
https://www.prometheusradio.org/18-days-until-the-lpfm-windo...
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#5The Boston radio dial feels like it's been bled dry of culture in the last decade. To name a few of the old stations, WFNX and WBCN had a marked impact on the city's music scene, beginning in the 60s and sadly coming to an end around 2010. They carried local artists, broke some big names (WFNX introduced Nirvana to mainstream media, for instance), and often sponsored local music events.
The radio dial now is now mostly content that can be syndicated across the country - classic rock, Top N Hits, NPR, and so forth. The occasional local morning show dots the programming.
There are some holdouts. I find that Emerson College's WERS carries much of the original WFNX spirit. I'll give an honorable mention to WXRV up in Andover as well.
Some interesting documentaries about the Boston radio scene, for those interested:
* https://theamericanrevolution.fm/
* https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/295945558/we-want-the-a... (the original site seems gone)
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#6I wrote a book on low power AM broadcasting. It's pretty rare that pirate stations cause meaningful interference, they operate at very low wattages (sometimes 100 watts or less) and usually have low pass filters installed in-line that prevent harmonics interference, whereas commercial stations operate at 100,000 watts and are far more likely to cause interference issues even when designed correctly. It's more likely…
While it's of course easier to do it on the web, the innate locality of pirate stations has a certain appeal. And of course the cat and mouse game and the "illegality" of it makes them feel more special then just a random webstream
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#7The Boston radio dial feels like it's been bled dry of culture in the last decade. To name a few of the old stations, WFNX and WBCN had a marked impact on the city's music scene, beginning in the 60s and sadly coming to an end around 2010. They carried local artists, broke some big names (WFNX introduced Nirvana to mainstream media, for instance), and often sponsored local music events. The radio dial now is now most…
Yep... it is so hard to believe WBCN, WFNX, and WAAF are all gone.
Radio in Boston is atrocious these days. It is really hard to believe there is actual demand for what Clear Channel has jammed the dial with. I think the only reason some of the stations are there is because Clear Channel owns everything and it's cheap for them to air it.
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#8The obvious issue is whether radio adds any value now that we can stream over the Internet, with unlimited channels.
While I'm a geek and love the idea of broadcast over free airways, practically how is radio any more useful now than cable tv?
Here are some answers:
* We're talking about pirate radio, not commercial. Pirate radio is a person broadcasting to the world, or really to their neighbors. We can do that on the Internet, but,
* There's no universal, dedicated listening device like a radio, with the full stack of technology built in (antenna, receiver, amp, speakers, tuner, etc.). The listening devices have so many functions and access so much media of every type that audio streams get buried.
A solution might be a .radio TLD (or similar), only for audio streams (and maybe only live). Apps could solve the listening device and provide some discoverability; metadata might include locality. Another feature, maybe in the second or third release, might be open streams, like citizens band radio, which also could be based on locality, topic, etc. (yes, I know that's been done to an extent).
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#9The Boston radio dial feels like it's been bled dry of culture in the last decade. To name a few of the old stations, WFNX and WBCN had a marked impact on the city's music scene, beginning in the 60s and sadly coming to an end around 2010. They carried local artists, broke some big names (WFNX introduced Nirvana to mainstream media, for instance), and often sponsored local music events. The radio dial now is now most…
Same here in the SF Bay Area. All the awesome FM stations like KFOG, KSJO (The all Led Zeppelin station) and KOME (The wet spot on your dial) are gone.
Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations
#10The Boston radio dial feels like it's been bled dry of culture in the last decade. To name a few of the old stations, WFNX and WBCN had a marked impact on the city's music scene, beginning in the 60s and sadly coming to an end around 2010. They carried local artists, broke some big names (WFNX introduced Nirvana to mainstream media, for instance), and often sponsored local music events. The radio dial now is now most…
Same here in the SF Bay Area. All the awesome FM stations like KFOG, KSJO (The all Led Zeppelin station) and KOME (The wet spot on your dial) are gone.
> The wet spot on your dial
See, that's the kind of culture I miss.
One of WFNX's greatest-of-all-time bumpers was, "WFNX... It's 'WBCN sucks!', spelled backwards."