Posted on 08/19/2013 6:41:24 AM PDT by raccoonradio
BROCKTON —
Firefighters driving to work at the Pleasant Street station on the edge of downtown started reporting interference on their car radios this week.
Then on Wednesday, music started playing over the speakers in the station used for dispatching fire engines and garbling emergency communications.
“In the station, those speakers are used to alert firefighters to an incident, and that’s how we get the type of call and location,” said Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Galligan. “Any interference is a serious issue.” Galligan called officer Scott Uhlman, the Brockton Police Department’s radio guru, and City Councilor Dennis DeNapoli to help him find the source of the interference. DeNapoli arrived with a frequency finder, an electronic device that can track the source of radio signals. They discovered a satellite dish and an FM antenna on a radio mast directly across the street from Fire Station 1 at 69 Pleasant St.
The antenna extended nearly 60 feet in the air and an unlicensed station was broadcasting on 88.9 MHz, right next to WERS in Boston, DeNapoli said.
“The headline on this is public safety,” DeNapoli said. “That interference put residents at risk.”
The antenna was atop a one-story building that houses several storefronts, one advertising shipping to Haiti and another the Cardoso Driving School.
Uhlman said they approached a group of Haitian men hanging out behind building and asked who owned the radio equipment.
The men did not give a straight answer, but when Uhlman climbed on the roof with a pair of wire cutters, they quickly found the owner, he said.
“They got the hint that we meant business” Uhlman said. The station was shut down immediately and the next day, the antenna and radio equipment were gone.
Pirate radio stations have proliferated in Brockton. Both DeNapoli and Uhlman said they are aware of several currently operating in the city.
“It’s a cultural thing. In Haiti and elsewhere, they don’t have licenses for radio stations, and radio is how they share music and get the news out in the community,” Uhlman said.
Part of the problem, DeNapoli, said is that there are no new FM allotments in the region, making it impossible for newcomers to get licenses from the Federal Communication Commission unless a current license goes up for sale. Ulhman added that among licensed FM broadcasters, there’s a dearth of foreign-language offerings, driving the market for pirate stations.
“A lot of times they’re picking up broadcasts from Haiti or wherever their home is and just amplifying that signal,” DeNapoli said.
But DeNapoli, who worked in radio for a number of years, said the pirate stations undercut licensed ones by selling advertising while not paying taxes.
For the most part, the stations fly under the radar. In 2011-2012, FCC investigators shut down only 96 pirate radio stations nationwide.
In March, federal agents shut down a pirate radio station on the north side of Brockton because it was interfering with one of the primary frequencies used by pilots to communicate with air traffic controllers in the Boston area.
That station was also broadcasting Haitian music. Still, enforcement can be slow. Documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed the FCC had been trying to shut down that pirate station since 2010.
In Boston a couple years ago Datz Hitz 99.7 was shut down, not just for interfering with classical station WCRB 99.5, but also Logan Airport aircraft radio. The FCC issues "notices of illegal operation" but doesn't do many shutdowns or raids. Maybe they need to get fed marshals and they're too busy with other stuff.One longtime Boston pirate, Touch 106.1, hasn't been touched other than with a $17,000 fine that hasn't been paid. The owner of the station is one of many people in Boston currently running for mayor.
Driving through Boston last night, I found many different AM and FM pirates--poor quality (overmodulation), foreign language, R&B, Caribbean, etc.
A 60-ft antenna? Obviously they weren’t just broadcasting to people in the building.
Good point...and for all the complaining about how the poor people don’t get enough $ in benefits (EBT card money etc) from the government, consider that these stations sell advertising but do NOT pay taxes!
As long as he checks to make sure there is a full tank of gas in the car, he'll be all set.
Pump Up the Volume, right? (pic link didn’t work but I did see the movie)
Tweet from @bostonradio: Brockton, only place on Earth you can still buy a radio station with an EBT (welfare) card.
Supposedly the station was on 88.7 not 88.9 so they were adjacent to the Emerson College (88.9) station, not on same
frequency
Yeah it was supposed to be a Pump Up The Volume pic.
Cranston has been in two excellent shows (Malcom and BB) and was amazing in both. Can't help but wonder what will be next.
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