Nashua, NH pirate TheBeat, 87.9 FM, targeting young demos, is airing without an FCC license. “No, we don’t have one,” Antoine Anthem, owner of the station and its parent company, Media57 told The Nashua Telegraph. “If a commercial station wants to complain and push us away, they can…It hasn’t been a problem because we’re not interfering with any other broadcasting station.”
The FCC, of course, issues licenses for 87.7 mHz, as a Channel 6 LPTV license (and can air audio only if the licensee wishes), but none for 87.9 mHz.
The FCC is looking into the situation but doesn’t comment about ongoing cases, said the paper.
TheBeat has a website and is the prominent sponsor of the “Who’s Got Talent Showcase” at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua.
One person irritated by the situation is Jerry DiGrezio, GM for Monahan Cos., which owns Absolute Broadcasting of Nashua. “The big deal is we’re playing by the rules and someone else isn’t,” he told the paper.
DiGrezio also noted that TheBeat – which has no call letters because it has no FCC license – doesn’t pay fees to music-publishing groups such as ASCAP and BMI.
TheBeat broadcasts out of offices at 115 Main St., using an antenna elsewhere in the city. Anthem, aka DJ Antoine, said he didn’t know exactly how much power it uses – “We don’t really have that type of equipment to measure it” – but he suspected it was above the 100-watt maximum LPFM stations.
TheBeat started as a hip-hop station but has expanded its repertoire over the last year to include Latin, house music and more mainstream popular styles.
He said that by playing music popular with younger audiences and participating in local events, the station was serving a need.
See The Nashua Telegraph story here
RBR-TVBR observation: Looks like Nashua needs a commercial Hip-Hop station—obviously there’s a need. New Hampshire has a couple Top 40 stations that cover Nashua, but not Hip-Hop. Reception of Boston’s Hip-Hop WJMN-FM may be spotty in Nashua.
That’s it? “Looks like Nashua needs a hip hop station?” First of all, there are two stations licensed to 87.9 (Mountain View, CA and Sun Valley, NV) and the FCC data blocks have the following message tied to them:
*** Use of Channel 200 87.9 MHz is restricted to existing
displaced full service Class D noncommercial educational
stations. See 47 CFR 73.501. Channel 200 is not available for
use by other station classes and services.***
Certainly it is clear that the issue here is not whether Nashua nees a hip hop station.
Stick to your guns, Jerry. This stuff is unacceptable and every bona fide licensee out there ought to be applauding you.
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