Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations • Hacker News Board

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#91

Post by RF_Savage » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

ben7799 wrote: post #7

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…

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.

If they don't use the channel enough, somebody else might be able to get a license to transmit in the area.

So having stations spread around the dial is a moat. It makes it harder for others to enter the market.

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#92

Post by stracer » Fri, Dec 08, 2023, 8:25 PM UTC

volkl48 wrote: post #64

stracer wrote: post #28

Fascinating how terms such as "pirate station" get into common language and nobody is getting a pause. Pirates are people who ransack other ships on the sea. The term has originally nothing to do with not having a license. Is a ship crew who sails the seas without a license a group of pirates? No. Is this a language psyop to implant people with a negative view of people who do stuff without official license?

I don't know that the origin of the name is fully known, but: Pirate radio in the UK in the 1960s was often from actual ships floating just offshore in international waters (or disused forts/installations located in them). There was more of a "evading the authorities at sea" aspect than I think you're giving it credit for.

Why did they do broadcast radio from ships floating just offshore? Was the license expensive? Or were they saying stuff government didn't like?

Re: Another crackdown on Boston-area pirate radio stations

#93

Post by stracer » Fri, Dec 08, 2023, 8:55 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #74

stracer wrote: post #28

Fascinating how terms such as "pirate station" get into common language and nobody is getting a pause. Pirates are people who ransack other ships on the sea. The term has originally nothing to do with not having a license. Is a ship crew who sails the seas without a license a group of pirates? No. Is this a language psyop to implant people with a negative view of people who do stuff without official license?

> The term has originally nothing to do with not having a license. Nautical pirates were called "pirates" specifically because they didn't have a license to engage in the activity. The ones who had licenses ("letters of marque") were called "privateers".

I do not think that is why they were called pirates. The term privateer seems to come from 17th century, while "pirate" is a general term for "one who attacks ships" from 14th century. Privateer / corsair is thus a pirate as well, even though not officially called that by their friendly government sanctioning their robbing activities. The terms pirate and corsair do not seem exclusive, corsair is rather a special kind of pirate - one with a government license.