Pirate Radio is the aural equivalent of graffiti. Once in a while, it qualifies as something like art, but more often it's just blight. Riptide can't help but emphasize with someone who's willing to break the law just to bring the world some insightful taste of music,. So after hearing that police busted a pirate station in Wilton Manors we wanted to find out what exactly the station was playing.
We were kind of disappointed and then surprised...disappointed because the station, known as 103.9 Da Grind, was playing mainly mediocre hip-hop, and not exactly of the underexposed variety. Yawn. We were surprised because Da Grind seemed like it had evolved into a pretty big operation. Trick Daddy, Jackie-O and others had done drops. They were even selling advertising, and overall, they weren't exactly keeping a low profile with a MySpace and website. The station has been broadcasting since 2007, and police didn't intervene until a legit station tipped them off.
They arrested Constantinos Rigalos, aka DJ Kosta, a graduate of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting (gotta earn your street cred somewhere). Seems like he was using the station as more of a promotional tool for himself, his club appearances, and his graphics/promotion company. Its surprising he didn't get busted earlier. This is something you're supposed to do on the down low. Lots of people pull it off with out getting busted, but this station was just asking for it.
