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Based_nobody t1_jdcot9g wrote

Reply to comment by mew5175_TheSecond in FCC Fines 15 Year-Old Pirate Radio Station in NYC $2 Million by blankblank

Yes But they're not issuing any more licenses for am/fm.

So how do you get a new radio station if you can't? Fucking "I Heart Whatever the fuck" owns all the goddamn stations in the US almost. The rock stations are all BS drivel.

Don't you want new music and new opinions? These guys provided a service for a group of people. That's more than anyone can say of the FCC.

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BeMoreChill t1_jdcq089 wrote

Have you heard of this new thing called the internet?

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attackplango t1_jddgrbf wrote

So internet access and devices to access it are free now? Or at least as affordable as the one-time purchase of a radio?

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BeMoreChill t1_jddh82s wrote

I see more homeless people with cell phones than AM/FM radios lol

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attackplango t1_jddhhjt wrote

Ah yes, I remember the article you had published in The Journal of Unsubstantiated Anecdotes. Your dedication to lack of peer review was inspired.

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BeMoreChill t1_jddi8gh wrote

There’s public services that literally give cell phones out to people in need for free

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attackplango t1_jddiddb wrote

That’s great! What kind of data plan do those cell phones have?

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BeMoreChill t1_jddimc9 wrote

Pretty decent. There’s also free WiFi around the city. You new here?

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mew5175_TheSecond t1_jdcvvff wrote

Trust me I can go back and forth with you all day on the decline of radio and the reasons for it. I agree with everything you're saying about the state of the industry. Our only hope at this point is for the behemoths like iHeart and whatnot to no longer deal with the billions in debt they have and sell off their assets to various local owners who make radio what it should be. But that's a tall ask and an extremely unlikely future.

But at this point if you can't get an AM or FM license, you gotta go online. And fact of the matter is, most people are only listening to radio in their cars, and you can still listen to internet radio via your phone + bluetooth or aux cable in a car.

An AM/FM signal perhaps makes you seem more legitimate which is the only reason I can think of as to why these brothers continued to pirate the airwaves, but I assume all the advertising they are doing for themselves is online anyway. They promoted their programs on Instagram and whatnot so they could still do that for an internet-only station. When they got their first ever letter/warning from the FCC, they should have used their final moments on FM to say we are shutting down and used the opportunity to promote their new internet-only radio station. They opted not to do that and now they have to pay the price for it.

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attackplango t1_jddgljd wrote

I don’t think a lot of people in NYC are listening to internet radio in their cars. I would wonder how many people in the audience know that internet radio is a thing. Also, there’s the hurdle of being able to afford monthly internet, and having something that can access it.

Yes, there’s licensing, and yes we don’t want unexpected interference. But also, the spectrum is a publicly owned thing, and if no more licenses are available because corporations have bought all of a very limited stock, what is the solution there? Internet is not accessible in the same way radio is.

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familygamereview t1_jddcf47 wrote

But for the audience, the internet costs money they might not have. Maybe theyre serving a community stuck with heart radio because they lack income and cant afford to go over their data plan if they even have a data plan let alone a subscription. Radio is free. Its kind of weird to assume theyre pirating radio for the prestige.

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Steelemedia t1_jddob12 wrote

They actually do issue new licenses. It takes money and attorneys and engineers to navigate the process. Better to ask permission than forgiveness.

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hamhead t1_jdd7bgt wrote

There's a reason they aren't issuing more...

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wrongwaycorrigan t1_jdhs2kt wrote

If I set up a high power radio transmitter in your neighborhood on 2.5GHz and 5GHz would you mind that it interfered with your WiFi at home? That's what this is about. There is a band plan and licensing. You are restricted to transmit within frequencies and power based on your license.

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mymindisgoo t1_jdjpnsr wrote

89.1, 89.9, 90.7, 91.1, 107.1 say no they aren't all drivel.

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Pays_in_snakes t1_jdd8rkl wrote

There's a huge issue of equity here too; the unfair allocation and costs of radio licenses means that an immigrant community that actually still would like to use radio for something other than classic rock and bad advertising has no way to access it, and internet radio is simply not as accessible to everyone in that community

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