What is this on 88.3 MHz?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Im hearing some new station. Theyre playing an old-timey sounding drama about Martians. I heard it driving home and figure it's best heard in North Cambridge/West Somerville/Arlington area, that's why it's posted here. What is this? You might want to tune to 88.4 or so you don't hear WMBR mixed in with it.

No, it's not Concord-Carlisle WIQH. No, it's not the NPR station in Nashua, WEVS. No, it's not somebody in another car's satellite radio or CD player.

PS-- They just went off the air. The guy said something like "WMYS" or "WNYS radio". But, i looked up those callsigns and they don't match anything around here.

edit: for time/date. i'm changing the post date back to 10/31 because it's in Greenwich time.

Comments

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

could be pirates (not the swashbuckling kind).

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure. There's a few that pop up from time to time on the dial.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Theyre playing an old-timey sounding drama about Martians.

maybe someone is rebroadcasting the old orson welles' "mercury theatre on the air" version of "war of the worlds"?

[siderea]

Presumably: it was (first) broadcast on Oct. 30, 1938.

probably sirius satellite radio

[petula73.livejournal.com]

hello,

i listened to a show the other night about aliens on sirus satellite radio...you tune to 88.3 with your receiver on.

you were probably picking up someone else's siruis?

if a car was near you with it plugged in you would have picked it up.

was the host named riley martin?

couldn't Re: Sirius

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Not unless they followed me home and parked their car out front with their Sirius on. I put it on my stereo once i got home.

The quality of the signal made me think it was a pirate with a homemade transmitter. The signal was distorted. It reminded me of, if you know radio there's a certain way an FM signal sounds when its using more deviation ( too much bandwidth ) than your tuner will pass through.

Whatever the program was, the first thing i thought of was War of the Worlds. But it seemed to be more a play-within-a-play about a "Martian Invasion"; there was dialogue about masks and Martian props.

[ron_newman]

a few days ago, someone asked a similar question in b0st0n, except that time the frequency was 89.3. No good answer then, either.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Hmm that was me.

And im pretty sure that was a pirate too. When they signed off they mentioned a test broadcast of "College Radio". There was no callsign or name of a school. I think it was just a college-themed pirate.

And interestingly, their signal was also splattery just like what i heard tonight on 88.3.

No, it wasn't War of the Worlds

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

>>2006-10-30 10:56 pm (local)
>>Whatever the program was, the first thing i thought of was War of the
>>Worlds. But it seemed to be more a play-within-a-play about a "Martian
>>Invasion"; there was dialogue about masks and Martian props.