I first heard about this new 'pirate' in town a couple of years ago, before it actually was on the air, I think. That assumes that the same people (person?) who does this 87.7 station was the person about whom I heard the rumor...

Anyway, there are occasionally posters for the station, which is only known as 87.7, and the posters often appear at the Fishbowl Brewpub (that's where I always notice them, anyway - might be sampling error on my part.) The posters have a skeleton "devil" holding an electric guitar in one hand and a radio antenna in the other. There is no contact info or any other text than 87.7 obvious in the image.

Most of what I have heard on the station has been very genre specific. Once I heard nothing but heavy metal for two days or maybe a week. Later, I heard nothing but rockabilly for a few days. Others, I have heard, say that 87.7 often plays Ska. I assume that the operator is probably working alone, and uses a playlist from an ipod or subscribes to some kind of commercial free satellite radio, and then uses that feed to program the station. Dead air on 87.7 is common, but I only monitor in my car and I only check in every now and then.

They're not affiliated with FRO, that much I can say for sure. Not saying it can't be a FRO collective member, but the FRO collective as a group has nothing to do with the second newest radio station in town*. If we did, you'd hear some voices on there which are not singing.

*The newest being KOWA - 106.5 FM.

I'm not sure what to think about someone who wants to play nothing but music, but is not hooked into the local music scene well enough to play local bands on the station... I know that the variety played on 87.7 would (and probably does) boggle the mind of the Top 40 listener, because some of the music I have heard on 87.7 is stuff I have NEVER heard anywhere - not even on FRO. That much is cool - but I guess I'm just a community radio "bigot." I think if we're going to be committing Felonies to broadcast unlicensed, we need to serve more than just our own tastes in music - we need to reach out and let the community have a shot at programming. (And we need to carry community news.) That's why FRO has a process for becoming collectivized and being a DJ; that's why FRO has an email account, a web site, and a phone number. That's why we do live DJs and (sometimes) bands and interviews. But the person or persons who broadcast 87.7 still have that right to broadcast as they will. I just hope they keep their signal clean and avoid interference that brings the FCC down on us all. Which for more than a year now, they have.

I recently stumbled on this "87.7" too. It was heavy-metal and the singer was speaking German (or that's what it sounded like to me.) I thought it might be the Nazis, at first. But then I listened and it didn't sound especially hateful or derogatory. But, then again, I don't speak German.

I don't think someone has to play local music.  I rarely play local music on my show because there isn't much I care for.  This person has no obligation to do anything.  They aren't saying they are a community radio station, and they most certainly aren't, but they are offering a good musical alternative ito KAOS or FRO or KOWA, all of which have a tendency to broadcast a lot of public affairs.  Really, I'd rather hear music most of the time, so this mysterious 87.7 is a good alternative.  However, while it is technically radio, it is debatable if it is truly radio.  Listening to someone's Ipod selections, or whatever program they are using, can be tiresome.  Maybe I just expect some kind of voice at some point.  But once again, they are not even saying they are a radio station.  But damn, that person (or persons) have some good music and they are not afraid to play metal in the morning (which I heard around 6 this morning) and I salute them for that. 

I am saying, as a music fan, they offer a truly eclectic alternative, even though they seem to have blocks of certain kinds of music and I think blocks of that sort are dull, dull, dull.  However, once again, it is good music for the most part.  They obviously are an obsessive music nerd, thus I want to meet them.  It is cool to be mysterious.  I would rather not talk on my show, but alas..

(God I love talking about radio shit.)

Hey everyone, 87.7 here.

First of all, thanks for listening! And thanks Stevenl and others for posting. I've been wondering a lot lately if all my soldering, hazardous tree climbing, time and expense has been worthwhile. Looks like it has after all.

Drew, I'm not the guy you heard about a couple years ago. 87.7 has been online since I think the beginning of April and didn't exist before that. I slowly pieced it together and amped it up from parts borrowed, bought and built. The signal downtown is clear but it muddies out pretty quickly into Lacey and Tumwater. I don't plan on amplifying it any stronger, but I will eventually get a stereo encoder and a RDS encoder for those new-fangled radios that can display text.

The German metal Rob heard the other night was probably Korpiklaani, which is actually in Finnish. Definitely not NAZI music either way.

Sorry about the dead air. I left town for a bit and got too busy to fill in the schedule completely before I took off, which didn't end up mattering, because my server crashed anyway.

87.7 is not affiliated at all with FRO or KOWA.

There is no serious social, community, or political agenda behind 87.7. KAOS, FRO, and KOWA, along with Media Island and lots of other contributors, do a fantastic service to the community. They put a ton of work into their programming, and it shows. They're the main reason Oly is a great town for radio, and on my own I could never operate at their level.

87.7 is meant simply to be a light-hearted station centered on music and entertainment, and nothing more. No politics or "collectivization". I try to play things that I think many people will enjoy, but I definitely cater to my own taste in music, and I feel no guilt for this.

I never rebroadcast any other feed, but I sometimes use my own playlists for extended periods of one genre. This is generally how I like to listen to music, and also, I'm lazy and that's a lot easier to manage. If you've listened much, you've probably noticed that I'm particularly fond of surf music, ska, bluegrass and old delta blues. The only time you will hear repeats is if you listen for more than 16 hours on Maiden Monday, and I really doubt anyone will do that.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email. 877oly at gmail dot com.

Queued up for this week: A somewhat silly reading of The Iliad, a Gary Numan discography, ten hours of Irish drinking songs, the last known Castrato recording, a three-hour thunder storm, and, if there's time, some more Finnish metal.

Even though I'm not always into what they're playing (the metal is always good though) I always smile when I come across this station on the dial.  A lot of my teenage years were spent with headphones on slowly flipping through the dial trying to find mysterious stations so this tickles my fancy.

Now where else can I ask a question like this and get such illuminating answers? Thanks OlyBloggers. 87.7, I hope you are able to keep going without getting clobbered too much. Too bad I can't pick up your station out here in Grays Harbor County, but when I commute to Tumwater I can begin to pick it up at Mud Bay. As a long-time small publisher of zines and comix, I can really appreciate the work involved in one-person labors of love like this.

By the way, I have about 5000 versions of Beatles songs badly sung by other people if you ever need to expand your library. 15 hours of "Yesterday" alone!

You, 87.7, are awesome.  Thanks for all the good music and the lack of a political agenda.  I'm glad there is just a place for music, and interesting music to boot.  Thank you for sharing your seemingly vast knowledge with everyone.  If you ever need help, I would be interested in helping.  However, I can see the appeal of doing it all on your own.

-Domenica

That sounds awesome.  The lack of thunderstorms is the worst thing (maybe the only truly bad thing) about summer in the Northwest. 

I wasn't able to catch the thunder after all... Will you please do it again so that I can hear it? Preferably after dark so I can have the illusion of dark clouds (I'm not sure how effective it would be when it is bright and sunny out.)

87.7 I have been enjoying your broadcasts during my commute. Heading west, the signal starts to fade right after the first Summit Lake exit. By McCleary, I'm picking up another station. I must say even if I'm not real enthusiastic on the content once in awhile, I still listen anyway since I like the very concept of an airwave pirate. I'm wondering how you got started in this whole endeavor. Can you tell us without endangering your identity? More surf music please. And Sandler and Young too.

I found this thread looking for info on the 87.7 frequency.  Maybe people here can answer a question about use of this frequency.  A company called Dension has an iPod to car FM link device that will use 87.7 as its broadcast frequency.  It seems that this is below the typical radio station range and would be a good one to use, as it would normally be clear.  Am I right about that?  Because the freq selector is behind the dash, I'm hoping that 87.7 might work across a broad regional area.