No, not the seagulls-and-ship's-bell dentist-office station some of you may remember from your youth, but Bob Bittner's WCAS-successor oldies station that's been on 740 AM for awhile now. It's at 101.3 FM, but with a caveat: It's a low-power station so you may not hear it most places - and if you're south of the Fenway and hear hip hop instead, you're hearing a Dorchester pirate station that's been using the same frequency (last week in Roslindale, that's what came in, but at 2:30 p.m. today, anybody tuning into 101.3 in Roslindale instead heard soft oldies rock).
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 Bittner not real pleased with the pirate station | 97.89 KB |
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Comments
Ooh, this makes me so happy!
By Melissa
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 3:27pm
Are they staying on AM as well, simulcasting?
For those of you who don't know, this is the BEST OLDIES STATION EVER. It doesn't just do the same hits from the 1950s; some of the music is way, way older than that, and it's awesome.
Yes they will stay on AM too.
By Bob Nelson
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 6:34pm
Yes they will stay on AM too.
Bittner got his station legally and fundraised to "build" it.Real equipment, not shoddy; licensed, not illegal.The pirates are invading his broadcast territory when they could have gotten on legit stations (small operations, college, LPFM) or started a low power FM.
Instead their signal can threaten public safety radio, they're probably not reporting income to the IRS, and they are not participating in the Emergency Alert System.
Word has it the pirate's morning DJ left the station and is joining a legal LPFM.
Verrry attractive comment
By EM Painter
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 8:53pm
Are you married?
Are you asking me or Bob
By Melissa
Thu, 08/10/2017 - 10:50am
Are you asking me or Bob Nelson?
Staying on AM 740
By Ron Newman
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 10:38pm
The FM is just a secondary transmitter that for some listeners will come in better, especially at night when the FCC requires the AM to reduce power to 5 watts.
Truly entertaining!
By Hunter
Thu, 08/10/2017 - 7:36am
Usually at work we listen to college radio stations. However, a few of us are devoted music fans and appreciate good pop music. WJIB plays music from the 40s to the 80s and it's tremendous! Fred Astaire "Dancing Cheek to Cheek," Sinatra swinging on "Old MacDonald," The Fortunes "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again," Dinah Shore, Doris Day, film theme songs, Joni James who I had to use Shazam for because I had never heard of her before. This station is a great time capsule of older pop music and it's wonderful!
Bob Bittner's public letter about pirate radio interference
By Ron Newman
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 3:31pm
He posted it to the Friends of WJIB group on Facebook.
The pirate station is Big City FM which appears to illegally broadcast from the former Franklin Park Theatre building. Adam, can you try to interview the pirate broadcasters and get their side of the story too?
Big City FM
By fenway
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 4:29pm
Ron
Big City doesn't have a license and they are interfering with a now licensed station on 101.3.
3 years ago Touch FM on 106.1 was shutdown by the US Attorney's Office after someone in the Walsh administration dropped a dime on them. The station made the mistake of backing the wrong horse after Menino's retirement.
Menino knew about the pirate stations and he would use them at times to get a message out to the community.
The FCC knows about Big City but until the US Attorney orders the seizure of the illegal transmitter nothing will happen and that won't happen until a high level politician puts on the heat.
There is no question that part of Boston is badly underserved by legal broadcasters but WKAF at 97.7 is trying to make it work.
http://www.977rnb.com/
A pirate broadcaster does not have to maintain technical standards and since the equipment they use is cheap they can easily interfere with adjacent aircraft and emergency frequencies and endanger public safety.
There is no wiggle room here - they need to be silenced at once.
Big City FM
By AC
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 4:32pm
Was the only station to interview all the mayoral candidate's last run. Walsh had no problem visiting them then and giving them kudos. It's fine some want to silence them but they are a true voice of Boston that is silenced by the mainstream.
FCC has a new chairman
By necturus
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 5:06pm
Ajit Pai, who says he will make suppression of pirate broadcasters a priority. He intends to go after landlords and advertisers for aiding and abetting.
Let's hope he follows through. These damn pirates need to get off the air.
Re: Big City FM
By 1960sDJ
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 9:18pm
In addition to WKAF 97.7 now playing adult R&B, there is also another new legitimate licensed station serving Boston's African-American community, 1410 AM WZBR, with more contemporary R&B, Hip-Hop, and local community affairs.
WZBR's studios are in Roxbury and their transmitter is on the Hyde Park/Dedham line. Unfortunately, like WJIB (AM), WZBR must lower its power at sunset and doesn't even get to their studio after dark, but it covers metro-Boston fairly well during the daytime.
"very illegally"
By Ishmael Jones
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 3:46pm
Also, one town with two T stops he ignores in his list of towns.
poor Malden
By fenway
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 4:36pm
This is the coverage area for WJIB's FM signal
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=W252BT-F...
Ah, I remember the old WJIB -
By Finn
Wed, 08/09/2017 - 5:41pm
Ah, I remember the old WJIB - they used to ring a ship's bell at the top and half of each hour. Quaint.
The thought of that bell ringing
By Kathode
Thu, 08/10/2017 - 9:23am
fills me with fear -- it played in my childhood dentist's office.
How can anyone have call letters WJIB...
By commuter
Thu, 08/10/2017 - 9:53am
...and not be playing a lot of yacht rock?
Well....
By Hunter
Thu, 08/10/2017 - 10:47am
....they actually do play those artists. Not to mention Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" every day at 0900 and "The Star Spangled Banner" in a very strange, almost lullaby style at noon...every day. Right now they are playing the theme from Star Wars which was preceded by Dolly Parton "Here You Come Again." I LOVE this station!!
Big City FM
By Boston_Bloke
Wed, 08/16/2017 - 7:45pm
I thought 101.3 was Big City FM.
That's Caribbean music (soca,reggae) not Hip Hop,
Big City FM is the pirate station on WJIB's frequency
By Ron Newman
Wed, 08/16/2017 - 11:54pm
That's what this entire discussion is about.
Pirate station is gone
By Bob Nelson
Sat, 08/19/2017 - 9:44am
At least from 101.3, though they may try to set up elsewhere (but where? space is sparse)
For all the sour grapes
By RickHo
Mon, 08/21/2017 - 1:36pm
For all the sour grapes whining Big City did about "their" community being underrepresented, you would think somewhere in the near decade they had been on the air operating illegally someone could have bothered to apply for a license. If someone like Bob Bittner and his mini stations could get legal FM air space there is no excusing Big City for not even bothering to apply.