87.7 Pirate "Hot 97 Boston" Covering More Grounds Than Ever Now

[beantownradio25]

Coverage for the Hot 97 Boston pirate on 87.7 dramatically improved just today.

I carried them from Newton when I switched them on until Tyngsboro when they lost steam.

Crazy!!! These guys have B A L L S. Way stronger than Big City, they are no longer the blowtorch of all pirates.

They must have raised the antenna, they used to crackle near the lexington part of 495 but theyre crystal clear in that area now.

The power was reduced as they did this, i listened as this happened, for a bit the signal was extremely weak, then they returned stronger than ever.

[robotique]

this is the greatest station in boston PERIOD.  no other station is programmed like it.  I dont even like dancehall yet I can listen to VOG and J Cool for hours because their charisma and energy is amazing.  Chubby Chub is an excellent dj and i love how the DJ's and hosts are SCREAAMING most of the time.  It has a really raw energy that really appeals to me.  Also, voice over master Pat Garrett can sell me anything!!  I love the endless Pat Garrett spoken drops and air horns....yeah its cheesy....but it gets you excited over the content...  and they've been playing classic hiphop as well as some older soul and disco late at night.  I even heard them drop Madonna's "borderline" into a mix....it was hysterical...but well done.....

[Nick]

Wow, that is nearly equal to WNYZ's coverage area in New York City, 30 miles each direction. If there really is a void for hip hop in Boston, people will seek it out and it will show up in the Arbitron ratings. Oh wait, that's only for licensed stations. I don't see why a channel 6 LPTV license can't be issued in Boston because channel 6 is clear. I think WPOT's coverage is about equal to the old licensed Hot 97.7's coverage area. Wonder if I'll ever be able to DX that station in New Jersey next summer.
They are just asking for the FCC to shut them down. Stations like Jam'n 94.5 will lose ratings and ad revenue unfairly because of the illegal WPOT.

Why don't they just operate on a frequency occupied by another pirate station, since they can blast anyone else out with their power? I'd love to see pirate stations fight each other physically over a frequency.

[beantownradio25]

I had a dream last night that JAM'N flipped formats, and in my dream I wasn't suprised at all because all these pirates have been loosing them advertisers and audience.

[rockcaptain]

I wasn't suprised at all because all these pirates have been loosing(sic) them advertisers and audience.

There is no evidence of that.  Pirates have no verifiable audience numbers and for the most part the advertisers I hear on them couldn't afford/wouldn't advertise on a legitimate station.

[rapking]

The mayor of Boston love Pirate radio !!!

[w9wi]

I don't see why a channel 6 LPTV license can't be issued in Boston because channel 6 is clear. 

It wasn't clear until June, when TV-6 in Providence (actually technically, New Bedford) dropped their analog signal.  And there hasn't been an urban LPTV filing window since then. 

There probably will be a filing window early next year.  And there's a pretty good chance someone will file for a channel 6 LPTV.

However, that LPTV will not be doing a WNYZ-like FM radio thing. 

Because while the FCC is not yet requiring existing LPTVs to convert to digital, they are not authorizing any new analog LPTVs.  Presuming a new channel 6 LPTV is authorized in Boston sometime in the next year or two, it will be digital.

[MickeyD]

I don't see why a channel 6 LPTV license can't be issued in Boston because channel 6 is clear. 

It wasn't clear until June, when TV-6 in Providence (actually technically, New Bedford) dropped their analog signal.  And there hasn't been an urban LPTV filing window since then. 

There probably will be a filing window early next year.  And there's a pretty good chance someone will file for a channel 6 LPTV.

However, that LPTV will not be doing a WNYZ-like FM radio thing. 

Because while the FCC is not yet requiring existing LPTVs to convert to digital, they are not authorizing any new analog LPTVs.  Presuming a new channel 6 LPTV is authorized in Boston sometime in the next year or two, it will be digital.

A digital LPTV is a waste of bandwidth on channel 6. Full power stations can't cut it on channel 6 and tropo affects digital the same way it affects analog.

[jlehmann]

87.7 must still be running a vertically polarized antenna, because down here 20 miles south, with my APS-13 (horizontally polarized) antenna, they're still quite weak. It is noticeably stronger on car radios though.

[aaronread]

A digital LPTV is a waste of bandwidth on channel 6. Full power stations can't cut it on channel 6 and tropo affects digital the same way it affects analog.

This is true of all lo-band VHF TV's, and mostly true of the hi-band VHF's, too.  There are some cases where, despite the propagation problems and tropo issues, it DOES make more sense to stay VHF because of terrain; you need that somewhat-less-line-of-sight nature of VHF to get around hills and whatnot.  But that's not really an issue in Boston, and it's especially not true for an LPTV which isn't going to get out far enough to get into the really hilly terrain.

There were a lot of people drooling over this LPTV window because they thought they could run ATSC digital and run an analog carrier on 87.75MHz (or even 87.9MHz) to effectively create the "Franken(stein) FM's" like WNYZ-LP in NYC.   WRGB in Albany was briefly doing it via cross-polarization.  Clever of them, but the FCC realized the can of worms and put an end to it fairly quickly.  I don't know if an official public notice has been put out, but I've heard direct from FCC engineers that they will not accept any of the new LPTV's from this filing window running any analog signal; it's ATSC digital only.

I'm sure some idiots will try to run a "Franken FM" anyways.  And no doubt there will be a TON of applications just from people wanting to have an LPTV station.  I've got half a mind to try myself just so I can own my own station and try to become a Red Sox affiliate for Rochester.