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Guy who co-founded radio station could run for mayor - against guy he founded the station with

John Laing of Hyde Park, who co-founded Touch FM with Charles Clemons, has filed papers with the state for a committee to run for mayor. Clemons has also filed papers to run for mayor. They'd still have to collect 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot this fall.

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Comments

To serve as an executive in our city. I'll get right on that.

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aren't who either one would be going for anyways.

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For corrupt, uneducated individuals because their Black? Got It!

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You used the wrong "they're," and where are you getting your information regarding his educational background? Or supposed corruptness?

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Why doesn't the Globe - or Universal Hub, for that matter, call Touch 106 "a pirate radio station" every time it comes up in the news? That is what it is, unlicensed and illegal. If its founders want to go so high-profile that they're proposing to run Boston, you'd think a few calls to the FCC should be enough to get their equipment seized and a heavy fine imposed. Three weeks ago this is exactly what happened to a pirate station in Brockton. What makes Touch 106 untouchable?

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Mark- Why would you want to shut down Toch106.1FM?

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If unlicensed radio stations are allowed to broadcast wherever they feel like it, you won't be able to hear any radio stations at all. Already you can't hear some Boston stations in nearby Worcester because pirate stations are crowding them out. There are only a limited number of spots on the radio dial. Careful regulation has to protect the signals. There is a good case to be made for low power community radio stations, but just starting up a random station is not the way to do it.

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Touch 106.1 FM provides a medium for many who are disenfranchised and an opportunity to get their message out.

I disagree with whole heartedly Mark. That's like saying why not shut down all the local neighborhood newspapers and unregulated blogs because they're taking away business and readership from the Globe and Herald.

There needs to be meritocracy in the system not a monopoly by radio giants

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The only way that comparison would be fair is if community newspapers emptied out the Globe and Herald paper dispensers and replaced them with their own papers. Radio frequencies are licensed for a reason. Illegal is illegal, no matter what shield you want to hide behind.

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That's like saying why not shut down all the local neighborhood newspapers and unregulated blogs because they're taking away business and readership from the Globe and Herald.

Anyone can grab a PC, printer or go to kinkos and hand out or sell their thoughts on paper. Thats neither a limited public medium, nor does doing so limit others ability to do the same. Ideas win out in the marketplace.

Public airwaves are a finite (thus scarce and valuable) spectrum, and the way they work means they need to be carefully managed less someone crowds out someone else or interferers. It more like arguing that who cares if you caused that accident because you have A RIGHT (damnit) to occupy the road at the same time someone else did.

Community radio should be supported, and yes we should work to make it easier to grant such licenses for low power radio in regions where spectrum is available. But it’s pretty shitty to me that I can’t get WBUR on Tuesday nights because some asshat in the city is pirate casting shitty music .5 away from them on the dial, and it’s shitty to WBUR since they went the legal way of obtaining their dial on the radio and are getting the shaft.

Or we could go your route and have an escalating war of who can transmit the most powerful signal over the widest berth of spectrum. Something tells me it wouldn’t be unlicensed community or pirate radio winning that battle, unless their plan is do silence those big bad corps with static. Because that be your only option in that world.

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Why is there a need to post annonymously and trash those who run Touch 106.1FM and 101.3FM with following curse words. Are you a racist? At least if you're gonna trash someone use your name you spineless coward.

Community radio should be supported, and yes we should work to make it easier to grant such licenses for low power radio in regions where spectrum is available. But it’s pretty shitty to me that I can’t get WBUR on Tuesday nights because some asshat in the city is pirate casting shitty music .5 away from them on the dial, and it’s shitty to WBUR since they went the legal way of obtaining their dial on the radio and are getting the shaft.

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Attack the messenger, not the message, eh? Good way to get your point across.

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you missed one shitty there

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this is Kevin Whyte, Mayah o' thu shitty o' Bwoshtun

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Douglas - I agree there should be meritocracy, not a monopoly in the system. The consolidation of the radio industry since the mid-90's has been a disaster for local broadcasting.

But your "solution" would allow any station to go on the air anywhere they think is "right." You will end up with a dozen radio stations on 106.1, all talking at once and impossible to hear. It could be like that all over the radio dial, and it won't help communities of color or anyone else.

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Douglas, you seem to forget that Boston had a thriving, “heritage” radio station serving the Black community for decades: AM 10-9-0, W-I-L-D. It was owned by the Nash family, and had studios in Dudley Square.

The Nash’s aged and got tired of running the station, and sold to Radio One, America’s largest Black owned media corporation. Eventually the Roxbury Studios were shuttered, moving to an office in Marina Bay. The local format gave way to automation. In the end Radio One gave up, silencing the station. Its now Radio China.

I mention all this because you like to play it as David versus Goliath. That oversimplifies the situation. The independent owners and even the minority media conglomerates are all in it for the business, and in the case of WILD, they left Boston as the largest media market without a radio station serving the black community. The sitation doesn’t look too much different than the fate of the Boston Pheonix under Mindinch.

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Actually I’ve listened to Touch 106.1 because since Radio One got rid of WILD I yearn for an Urban Adult Contemporary station in Boston just like every American city (think WBLS in New York, WDAS in Philly, WHUR in DC, etc.).

Touch 106.1 likes to pretend it’s offering a respectable alterative on the dial for the community. Maybe they play more R&B and old school than the stations, but they still play the gangsta rap, and the lyrics are still misogynist and offensive.

Pirate or no pirate, it’s not a respectable station. I’d rather get Siruis satellite radio or just listen to another format all together.

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Their programming is pretty diverse and they have a lot of community connection spots. It's my go-to station when I'm within range.

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Actually I've listed extensively. It's a poor substitute for a proper Urban Contemporary or Adult Urban Contemporary Station.

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Some of its weekday programming is underwhelming, but Skippy White's phenomenal "Time Tunnel" Saturday morning show is a treasure. And they certainly have far more community-minded spots and programs than just about any other radio station in the area, legal or not.

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police are in full force!

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