Looking for a unique listening experience? Look no further than Montclair’s very own pirate radio station, broadcasting 91.9 FM on Valley Road between Bellevue and Lorraine Avenues. For more than 15 years, listeners have been able to tune their radios to this frequency and hear the same song on repeat: “I’ll Make Love to You” by Boyz II Men.
The station was created by musician and former Montclair resident George Louvis. As he recounted to NorthJersey.com, Louvis first installed a small radio transmitter in the office above his family’s former restaurant (which has since become the Montclair Diner) in 1999. At first, the signal was used to broadcast advertisements for nearby stores. But after Louvis piped out holiday music and old radio plays at Christmastime, he turned the signal into a hyperlocal station that he called Village Radio Montclair, or WVRM. The tiny station played music and a couple of shows, from local news to sports commentary.
So how did WVRM turn from a small-town channel to 24/7 Boyz II Men? Turns out, it was an accident. Louvis had moved WVRM online in the early 2000s and stopped using his transmitters. A friend borrowed one of them around 2007, and somehow—Louvis has never quite been sure exactly what happened—it came back with a 60-second recording of the hit 1994 single “I’ll Make Love to You.” When the transmitter lost power, the device would automatically start broadcasting that minute of audio on a loop.
Louvis didn’t even know it was happening at first, but once it was brought to his attention he let the broadcast keep going. It became a fan favorite among listeners, and dedicated fans have gone so far as to design commemorative T-shirts to celebrate their love for Montclair’s pirate radio station.
Though Louvis has attempted to shut down the transmitter a couple of times over the years, loyal listeners have convinced him to keep the station running. “The mystery of it has been so amusing to people,” Louvis told NorthJersey.com, “I feel obligated to let it play until the machine dies.”
Know Before You Go
As the pirate radio station is located at an unconventional location and with no physical contact information available, it might be tricky to find the exact spot without guidance. However, visitors can use the address 255 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042, for GPS directions and use Valley Road to search for the frequency.
It is important to note that the pirate radio station may not be accessible from all areas, and visitors may have to park in or around the Montclair diner to tune in to the frequency.
Additionally, it could be an excellent idea for visitors to bring their own radio or have an offline music player with them, as local laws make it illegal to operate a transmitter without a license. Therefore, the radio station operates at a low power consumption rate, and interference may be present when testing the frequency.
