Unlicensed FM in Salt Lake

[Terry]

On 87.9 I’m hearing something new. It’s a weak signal, but during a drive to the post office here in the Murray/Cottonwood/Holladay area the signal was continuous but only clear in a few spots. They’re playing popular music, similar to KBZN, KBEE. The odd thing is that they’re playing commercials, mostly for Websites not local companies. I did hear an ad for Sam’s Club with an address “samsclub/Utah”. There’s no announcer other than the recorded ads. No top of hour ID. Odd.

In other news, 95.7 is still loud and clear, and unlicensed, playing Spanish language music, usually religious music. How long has it been? A year or two?

[David]

The 87.9 station sounds like a low power FM transmitter that's rebroadcating an online station with local ads inserted. I've noticed that when I listen to radio stations online, whatever app I'm using inserts commercials for local businesses during some station breaks. I'd be willing to bet that the 87.9 station is a low power FM transmitter set up inside a warehouse, apartment or condo complex, office building, or a large medical office that's streaming background music from the web, with ads inserted based on the internet IP address.

[CAwasinNJ]

The online stream idea makes sense, but wouldn't most streams that are sophisticated enough to have ads also have some form of imaging? An exception might be something like Live365 that's licensed but can be completely run by amateurs.