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Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

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Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#51

Post by pivo »

don-code wrote: post #5

The 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…

WBCN, Charles Laquidara, Billy West and "the Big Mattress" show. All sorely missed.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#52

Post by sotix »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #40
kyledrake wrote: post #3

I 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…

I miss the serendipity of radio when driving though. Thinking of some tech where low-power transmitters around the city could packet-dump compressed audio to some kind of car receiver that would then play, at a specified time/schedule, audio content (podcasts, music, etc.). The car receiver could indicate which channel/content you prefer and then passing a transmitter would dump you the day's-worth of compressed cont…

Serendipity is such a joy, and I’m enjoying it with my custom tv channels I set up in my house with my content. I think the direction we are heading with AI (Radiant, Spotify) allows for custom tailored radio stations using our music preferences to bring back that sense of serendipity while also having a host to introduce the content.

But I really like your idea! Human-curated content with analog devices is an area I am a fan of.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#53

Post by squarefoot »

dahfizz wrote: post #50
wolverine876 wrote: post #8

The 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 t…

Your average Joe can listen to radio completely anonymously on a device which the government has no control over. Tor and similar tech is mostly outside the reach of the government, but is also way out of reach for the general population.

This. People in less free countries can still get unfiltered news even though all internet connections were severed and/or all local stations have been shutoff or are controlled by the government. All it takes is a small pocket receiver which does not radiate anything. ...well actually it does, but that's another story, and detection is quite hard if not performed from close distance.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#54

Post by don-code »

beowulfey wrote: post #41
wolverine876 wrote: post #8

The 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 t…

Sometimes the ephemerality of the medium is what makes it special. Radio exists just while you hear it. Having it be accessible everywhere via the internet ruins that sense of place. I don't know, maybe I'm just old.

On the other side of this, that ephemerality is sometimes worth being preserved.

Since the 1970s, Boston DJ Oedipus has put on a Christmas Eve show from 6pm to midnight, with Christmas music from around the world, and even just from the local music scene. It started on WBCN, then moved to WFNX, and most recently landed on WGBH.

Oedipus doesn't maintain a set list - it's just whatever he's feeling like playing as he's doing it. His immense talent aside, it means that it's hard to learn about those songs, or even those bands. For the last few years, I've been recording it and trying to build the set list myself, from either what he says (he doesn't always!), or from Google searches.

Does it take the magic away? Maybe, but I feel that it's what little I can do for preserving something that's been actively disappearing.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#55

Post by Aurornis »

happytiger wrote: post #19

We need more punks running pirate radio and less Clearchannel corporate nonsense. Like anybody’s life is better because of corporate radio… I for one welcome the interference. What is Radio being used for that’s so critical these days anyways beyond emergency spectrum stuff (that doesn’t get messed with on these spectrums to begin with)? Just remember that the system generally wants to shut down any media it can’t co…

> What is Radio being used for that’s so critical these days anyways beyond emergency spectrum stuff

Everything?

The only reason we're able to have nice things like GPS and Bluetooth connectivity to our cars and WiFi for our laptops is that we regulate radio frequency emissions.

You may imagine non-compliance as a punk rock pirate radio station broadcasting music you like on unoccupied spectrum, but that's an edge case of an edge case.

> and its ability to disseminate unapproved information to an entire city on receiving devices that can’t be tracked is critical and NOT reliably possible using the Internet especially during crisis periods when the big dogs get involved.

How do we jump from pirate radio station broadcasting some music to a dystopian fantasy about people getting unauthorized information in a way that can't be tracked in a theoretical future authoritarian scenario?

If you really want to communicate via radio, please look into modern amateur radio and get your FCC license. It's relatively affordable to get gear these days and as you study for the licensing test you'll start to understand why it's important that we don't just have a free-for-all on the radio spectrum.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#56

Post by Aurornis »

happytiger wrote: post #25
CWuestefeld wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For any one, or even several, pirate stations, I wish we had what you're saying. Unfortunately it doesn't scale generally.

It's resilience to authority precisely because it doesn’t scale. But half a city in a crisis isn’t nothing. And goodness knows there have been some pretty big reach pirate stations. Its haphazard and low tech nature is the uncontrollable resilience most Internet systems lack.

If the goal was to disseminate information in the event of an authoritarian dystopian future, setting up a pirate radio station now and broadcasting music is a great way to ensure your plan fails completely when it's needed.

Pinpointing the source of these radio transmissions isn't hard with modern equipment. Amateurs do it all the time. It's trivial to map these things out in the era of accessible flying machines and cheap technology.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#57

Post by freeone3000 »

Aurornis wrote: post #55
happytiger wrote: post #19

We need more punks running pirate radio and less Clearchannel corporate nonsense. Like anybody’s life is better because of corporate radio… I for one welcome the interference. What is Radio being used for that’s so critical these days anyways beyond emergency spectrum stuff (that doesn’t get messed with on these spectrums to begin with)? Just remember that the system generally wants to shut down any media it can’t co…

> What is Radio being used for that’s so critical these days anyways beyond emergency spectrum stuff Everything? The only reason we're able to have nice things like GPS and Bluetooth connectivity to our cars and WiFi for our laptops is that we regulate radio frequency emissions. You may imagine non-compliance as a punk rock pirate radio station broadcasting music you like on unoccupied spectrum, but that's an edge ca…

These aren’t on the GPS band, and 2.4GHz is explicitly unlicensed — you can’t interfere with the 2.4GHz band because it’s in a state of free-for-all (why it was chosen for wifi and bluetooth in the first place!)

Pirate radio stations broadcast frequency modulated audio centered around 87-127MHz, aka FM radio. This is because they are intended to be picked up on FM radio receivers, which nearly everyone has access to.

This is a case of the FCC protecting future income from sale of FM spectrum, not any issue of safety or interference with anyone who isn’t a radio station.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#58

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

freeone3000 wrote: post #57
Aurornis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is Radio being used for that’s so critical these days anyways beyond emergency spectrum stuff Everything? The only reason we're able to have nice things like GPS and Bluetooth connectivity to our cars and WiFi for our laptops is that we regulate radio frequency emissions. You may imagine non-compliance as a punk rock pirate radio station broadcasting music you like on unoccupied spectrum, but that's an edge ca…

These aren’t on the GPS band, and 2.4GHz is explicitly unlicensed — you can’t interfere with the 2.4GHz band because it’s in a state of free-for-all (why it was chosen for wifi and bluetooth in the first place!) Pirate radio stations broadcast frequency modulated audio centered around 87-127MHz, aka FM radio. This is because they are intended to be picked up on FM radio receivers, which nearly everyone has access to.…

He’s pointing out the ethics of someone thinking “ if illegally broadcasting on this frequency is OK, then, so is this other frequency”.

It’s broken window theory.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#59

Post by JKCalhoun »

sotix wrote: post #52
JKCalhoun wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss the serendipity of radio when driving though. Thinking of some tech where low-power transmitters around the city could packet-dump compressed audio to some kind of car receiver that would then play, at a specified time/schedule, audio content (podcasts, music, etc.). The car receiver could indicate which channel/content you prefer and then passing a transmitter would dump you the day's-worth of compressed cont…

Serendipity is such a joy, and I’m enjoying it with my custom tv channels I set up in my house with my content. I think the direction we are heading with AI (Radiant, Spotify) allows for custom tailored radio stations using our music preferences to bring back that sense of serendipity while also having a host to introduce the content. But I really like your idea! Human-curated content with analog devices is an area I…

Ha ha, I have my own TV station at home as well. A 5TB drive attached to a Raspberry Pi means no network required. The software I wrote for it though still eaves a lot to be desired.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#60

Post by jandrese »

sleepybrett wrote: post #34
hutzlibu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"No. Is this a language psyop to implant people with a negative view of people who do stuff without official license?" If it is, it was quite succesfull, as at least some of them are using the term themself, also in the warez scene (pirate bay). Romanticizing pirates is not a new thing (while ignoring the bloody murder part).

see also 'jay walking'

I don't think this is quite the same. "Free as a jaybird" isn't something most people have a negative feelings about.
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