Fybush: Hot 97 (87.7) raided, shut down

[MickeyD]

ANYONE who ever worked at "Hot 97" should be blacklisted from ever getting a job again in real radio.

They all knew what they were doing...

I disagree. If they had loyal listeners and I owned a moderately powered station I would hire them in a moment. Everyone complains that young people don't listen to radio and these guys proved them wrong.

[MickeyD]

Taking business away from legitimate stations?  Seems to me that many of Hot 97's advertisers bought Hot 97 because they're the only ones playing rhythmic/urban music that isn't charging Jamn's rates.  These guys weren't buying Jam'n.  It was the cheap pirate station or nothing for radio advertising for them.

Well cheap alone doesn't mean anything but cheap with listeners why wouldnt you buy time? Your average listener has no idea a station is legal or not. Hell people under 30 have no idea that you can get free tv over-the-air!

[MickeyD]

No details but Fybush's NERW reports pirate Hot 97 at 87.7 was raided by the FCC and shut down this week. Quick web search shows same thing happened last June, with fans of the station wondering where it went, on their facebook

http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html subscriber based

I somehow have my doubts that this was an FCC raid. There must be a reason that they decided not to go back on the air and just maintain an internet presence. 

The FCC, Mafia, Mexican Drug Cartel, does not bother me as much as the IRS!

[WNTIRadio]

[what noncomm lost underwriting to hot97boston    i've never seen a listed underwriter of a noncomm or commercial sponser on Jamn with an address anywhere between dudley sq and mattapan sq ever.  I could be wrong though.  And maybe those stations that lost $$$ should look at why the money went to hot97boston and not them.


I agree about paying taxes.  I work with a few guys who do things like use a PO Box in Maine to register their car and car insurance.  They are scumbag tax evaders.  That pisses me off.  I'm with you 100% on this issue.

I also am not denying that they broke the law on purpose on are responsible for their actions

Last time I listened, the Wilbur Theater, Wang, and may other venues were advertising on HOT 97.  They're not in Murderpan, and a certian non-comm runs lots of urban programming after 7pm in Boston.   They lost a lot of business to "HOT 97", which otherwise would have supported a noncomm station.  Instead, it went to a criminal operation.  Why did it go there?  Cheaper and they promised them the world as far as promotion goes. 

[WNTIRadio]

To add to that, just because it's cheaper doesn't make it okay.  If I stole televisions and sold them for half price, I'm still making money since they didn't cost me anything.  If you steal the airwaves, don't pay taxes or any other fees, you can give your airtime away.

[carmen]

it is much more nuanced than your 'stealing' analogy. nobody is on 87.7 or 87.9 in the city. is the 'big bang' stealing from non-existing users when it spews background noise on these frequency 24/7? should we sue the universe? there is the issue of stealing ads money from those who 'play by the rules'. but that set of rules does not even allow other players to enter the game due to compliance overhead and an artificial lack of frequencies due to 1st/2nd-adjacent rules. i finda such a scheme indefensible for its exclusionary nature, and it is intrinsically bound with technological progress

 ten dollar CVS/Walgreens MP3-players can easily seperate WBRU95.5/PVD vs WHRB/95.3/BOS, ZBC90.3Newton/Energy90.1Brockton. so can my German radios from the 70s with machine-wound inductor coils instead of IF-DSP. i'd be interesting in hearing from anyone using a crappy off-brand walkman from the early 80s. management rules have resulted in licensed business users with extremely low (sub-1%) duty cycles on a vast swath of frequencies leaving "impossible to cheaply enter" slices like the 1800/900 Cell bands and 88-108, while other chunks site almost entirely empty, like all of 30-88 mhz. the FCC's mission of "To promote robust competition and innovation in the telecommunications marketplace " (yes, right off their website) is clearly 'newspeak' since regulation is the antithesis of competition. meanwhile SDR has migrated to the 'in everyone's pocket' level in the meantime, and a DDS and ADC don't care where theyre operating and are happy to do 0-3.3 GHz without a sweat, they can seperate signals down to the milliHz level if needed, and can implement complicated sprectrum-hopping schemes when needed

FM may go out with a whimper like the AM band. just about everyone has cellphones, wireless ISPs can enable multicast on USTream/Livestream stuff and be done with it. even Pandora has a single-letter NYSE ticker symbol now(!)

[RadioPhillyFan]

What would save radio is a forth band... Local, free and works!

Someday, FM will be the AM to a new band, and the new band will be cramped too.

Isn't Pulse Modulation basically the same thing as FM? Can't we utilize that?

(Here I go sounding like a complete imbecile again, right?)

[WNTIRadio]

No, it is stealing.  Nobody is listening to background noise.  And if a pirate is running their station like a commercial outlet, selling ads, it is stealing ad dollars and underwriting dollars away from real radio stations.  They pay all the necessary fees to do what they do.

I had a friend fix my car with a car part I bought online.  I paid my friend cash.  He's not going to report that cash on his taxes as income.  I suppose I vaguely interrupted the revenue stream to my regular mechanic.  Is this "harmful" ?

No, because he's not breaking the LAW by fixing your car.  There's no license needed to fix your car, and your car isn't a limited resource that needs a band-plan and licensing to keep it from turning into CB.  And by the way, you DO need a driver's license, don't you.  What happens if you drive without it and get caught?  Why not do away with drivers licenses because the under-served can't make it to the DMV?  C'mon, let's use a little bit of logic here.  This isn't some kid goofing around for a couple hours on an empty frequency.

If they were that serious about radio, buy a damn station.  The prices are right these days.  And if it's an AM legally, not an FM illegally, then that's the way the ball bounces.  Raise more money with the AM and buy an FM.  I'm sick of this "Occupy Whatever" mentality where it's okay to take things because you think it is okay and "deserve" it.  No, I shouldn't pay for some kids college, and I shouldn't have to try and run my business with these knuckleheads taking away revenue from real stations that pay me in real money.

[WNTIRadio]

PS- You know, the pop standards audience was under-served.  Did Bob Bittner just set up shop wherever he felt like it and started to broadcast?  No, he BOUGHT a radio station and raises money to make it work.

[mescutia]

What would save radio is a forth band.

Fourth?  I didn't know there was a third band...