My Pirate Radio Station

Uhm, our thoughts on what? Suggestions on format and that sort of thing? Or are you looking for someone to give/sell the gear to?

The Drunken Pirate wrote: ...Someone to broadcast in PS... that's all.

Broadcast something to your liking? Or just anything? Something? ...Are you selling this stuff, giving it away or just offering to let someone use it?

I wish a real, live pirate would take you up on your offer.

aarrgh, i loves me a good pirate station in the slope. garrr!

Interesting,

But with all of the trouble, couldn't you just start a podcast like everyone else?

I haven't listened to FM in such a long time..since howard stern left...now even he is on satellite...

Plus, no FCC to deal with..they will track you down and shut you down.

Do we get paid if we participate in your piracy plot or do you expect our godlike voices to echo through your airwaves for free?

If we’re talking on the radio, how will we have time to type online?

The Drunken Pirate wrote:
... this year a record 147 magazines were launched.... NYT, WashPost, and WSJ readership has been steady over 25 years...

FHM closed

i would love to take ur equipment but i'm not sure i'd have enough time nor do justice to what this station should be....whoever does take it over, let me know what frequency you're on, i'll tune in

Hmm... I guess I am out of the loop - I don't even have an FM radio/ tuner that I use and I have no car either...when I do, I listen to CDs or hook up the ipod whenever possible ( too many commercials and same 12 songs from corporate heads on FM - and radio in general). Damn, I don't even know NY stations....

I do however listen to podcasts like crazy ( as do many of my colleagues) because on my 40 minute subway ride to work there is no FM reception...But TiVO and satellite, etc. are part of a growing trend of people watching/ listening to what they want and when they want to. Most of my PODcasts are from FM radio!" NPR, Tony Kornheiser...but I listen to them when I can and want to..and can save them.

FM is accessible, but how strong will your signal be? I know the FCC allows some lower strength signals so that will probably not be an issue....But I really dont know. I like your spirit but also want to play a little Devil's Advocate here:
With things like

http://www.pandora.com/
Limewire
Sharezaa
Spinner
Itunes and Podcasts

and the like, why would I bother trying to pick up a weak pirate signal in park slope to hear some other guy's favorite music and chat when I can already get what I want when I want it...and on the subway , bridges and tunnels too? FM is around ( for now) but like free tv, it may soon be reaching a sad demise...When/if the advertising dollars disappear, so will the signals...Never say "never". We may not be able to even conceive of the way technology will continue to change how we listen and watch...who could have conceived mp3 in 1992 with CDs around?

Sure, millions listen to FM, but will millions be able to listen to your station with your signal strength? It sounds like a fun project and would be curious how it turns out. Seriously, I do think it is cool to do if you (or someone else) can do it and maybe that is enough.

Also, check out this link on Radio Trends. It supports some of what you say about radio, but also has other information:

http://www.journalism.org/node/836

Radio Audience Trends
2006 Annual Report
March 13, 2006

Not long ago traditional “terrestrial” radio occupied a unique and seemingly unshakable position among media. It had the portability of a magazine or a newspaper and the content variety of television and cost nothing to use beyond the cost of a receiver. As broadcast television struggled to keep its audience from fleeing to cable and later satellite, radio remained stable. Technology certainly offered alternatives — portable tape and CD players — but they were clunky and lacked the scope and flexibility of old-fashioned radio.

By 2005 that had begun to change dramatically. Seemingly overnight, satellite radio, Internet-only stations, podcasts, MP3s and iPods were changing the way America and the world listened. And all of it was quickly getting portable. A listener could carry around everything from an entire home CD collection to a radio show downloaded last night, and the new audio programmers were capturing and creating content limited only by the scope of imagination — from blues of the 1920s to dance club music like “deep house” to long-form informational content like audio documentaries.

So what impact is all this having on audiences?

By traditional measures, the figures for the reach of radio continue to hold a stubborn line. According to data in the most recent edition (2004) of Arbitron’s annual Radio Today report, 94% of people 12 years old and older still listen to traditional radio weekly. That is a drop of just one percentage point since 1998. Compared to some media, such as newspapers or network news, that is not only a remarkable percentage of the population but a remarkably consistent performance.1

That number may soon be shifting, however, and not necessarily because of listeners leaving traditional radio for the new audio, but because of changes in how radio listenership is measured.
Radio Reach

Percent of the population 12 and older, 1998 - 2004
pie chart sample

Design Your Own Chart
Source: Arbitron, “Radio Today: How America Listens to Radio, 2005 Edition,” December 22, 2004

Traditional radio research is based on personal diaries and surveys, but there are growing questions about the reliability of those methods. The questions have become even more critical as traditional radio begins to compete with elements of the new audio (Internet radio stations, MP3 downloads) that record detailed information about listener use.

Already, one “observational” study by academic researchers at Ball State University has found that 73% of those observed listened daily to terrestrial radio. The study, involving 394 adults from Indianapolis and Muncie, Ind., who were observed during the course of the day, found that they listened to the radio for an average of 80 minutes a day, and more in the car than at home or work.2

The current Arbitron data are also not as detailed as the audience data for new audio, which offer advertisers hard numbers on exactly who is listening or, at the very least, who paid in advance to listen. In an effort to develop such concrete data regarding traditional radio audiences, a company called Navigauge created an in-car measurement system that automatically collects data on listener habits. Its device, wired up to the car’s audio system, date- and time-stamps dial changes and tracks vehicle position to provide a detailed record.

But some critics argued that the technology relied too heavily on the perception that radio listening is largely confined to the car. Arbitron tried to solve that problem by creating a wearable device, the Portable People Meter. Launched in the U.S. with a small-scale test in Philadelphia in 2002, the meter, often referred to as a PPM, automatically logs the wearer’s media consumption. Tracking is initiated when the PPM detects an audio signal, thereby eliminating potential human errors. The single device can also track terrestrial or satellite radio use in the car, online or through a traditional radio receiver.

Early reported results from the Arbitron PPM trials in Philadelphia and a later test in the Houston market showed that while listeners were listening more often and to more stations than the old diary system revealed, they spent less time actually listening. Bob Papper, a Ball State professor of telecommunications, notes that the findings closely resembled those of the personal observation studies conducted as part of The Middletown Media Studies.3

Still apparently unsatisfied, Clear Channel Communications released an RFP (Request For Proposals) in July 2005 for the design of a “state of the art audience measurement system.”4

In whatever form of measurement emerges, advertisers and others are likely to demand more information about who listens and when, and the economics of radio advertising and subscriptions could be reshaped.

For now, that hasn’t occurred. The data available suggest that users may not yet be replacing the old with the new as much as adding it to the mix, the way they did when the FM band was added.

In a survey conducted by Arbitron and Edison Media Research, 82% of Americans surveyed said that even with all the new audio technologies, they planned to listen to traditional radio as much in the future as they did now. That included 70% of 12-to-17 year olds, even though that age group is most likely to consider an iPod or MP3 player a staple of their daily lives.5

The patterns may change in time. Fully 30% in the survey by Arbitron and Edison Media believed that a time would come when there would be no traditional, commercial radio stations because all audio content would come from online or satellite radio providers. Some 62% thought that would never be the case.6

For now, other research seems to support Arbitron’s current findings. According to a study on audience attrition conducted by Bridge Ratings & Research, the audience for traditional radio , while appearing to decline in the last half of 2004, had leveled off. In fact, with listeners 35 to 64 years old, listening to traditional radio had increased almost back to its previous level.7

The age group with the most significant amount of attrition, however, was the young — 12-to-24-year-olds. The average amount of time they spent listening to traditional radio dropped from 15.5 hours a week to 13.25.8

The FCC's just around the corner ...
"The autumn wind is a pirate ..."

The autumn wind is a pirate
Blustering in from sea
With a rollicking song he sweeps along
swaggering boisterously

His face is weather beaten
He wears a hooded sash
With his silver hat about his head
And a bristly black mustache

He growls as he storms the country
A villain big and bold
And the trees all shake and quiver and quake
As he robs them of their gold

The autumn wind is a Raider
Pillaging just for fun
He’ll knock you around and upside down
And laugh when he’s conquered and won.
=============
While Part 15 of the FCC rules allows for some unlicensed broadcasting, it is extremely restrictive in order to prevent its legal use by pirates.