Posted on 05/17/2011 1:47:32 PM PDT by raccoonradio
The FCC alleges that Lloyd Morris and Robert Brown were engaged in the operation of an unlicensed FM station at 99.7 in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Over six months ago (October 1, 2010), the Commission issued a $15,000 Notice of Apparent Liability against both men, and neither has filed a response. The next step for the FCC is to "affirm the forfeiture" with forfeiture orders.
And you'd think the feds would want to really come down hard on these particular pirates--the current owners of WCRB is WGBH, the public radio giant which _gets tax money from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting_. Yeah, in some ways we'd like to see an NPR affiliate take it on the chin but there's a principle here.
You can't just throw yourselves on the dial and say "we don't need no stinkin' license". Should an unlicensed, uneducated doctor be allowed to practice? Should a 12 yr old kid drive a car--hey, who needs a license?
http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2010/DA-10-1908A1.html
>>In the basement, the agents observed radio station equipment, which included an RF amplifier, an FM modulator with a front panel display reading 99.7 MHz, and a power supply.
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/2007/02/wcrb_pirate_rad.html
>>(A WCRB listener wrote the station): “I look forward to the BSO broadcasts on Saturday night, but since WCRB switched to 99.5 it has been virtually impossible to listen these broadcasts. I live in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester and most of the time the WCRB signal is completely overwhelmed by a gospel/hiphop station which broadcasts on 99.7. I have not heard them actually announce call letters, but they do say they are located in Boston.”
>> (WCRB responds): “Thanks so much for your note. You are not the first person to write us with this concern about 99.7. This is an unlicensed pirate station. We have contacted the FCC with an official complaint, and they are currently investigating this. It’s our hope the interference caused by this pirate station will go away very soon.”
where in the constitution does it state the government owns the airwaves?
These hiphop guys are idiots......that said.....I Heard it on the X...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPAR2zSV84I
Who provided the infrastructure? Or did the ‘airwaves’ just pop up by themselves?
I’m guessing Tom Jefferson didn’t think to include stuff about radio. The problem is, the radio dial is finite and there must be a way to regulate it—to keep people
from just throwing a station on the air. The Net, cable TV,
satellite radio, etc. is a different matter but we’re talking broadcast radio.
Someday someone down the block from you will set up their own station running liberal talk and use it to jam a legit station running conservative talk. But hey, can’t they do that? Freedom of speech!
And why can’t I just set up a radio station which jams aircraft frequencies? So it makes a plane crash—so what? My freedom is more important... right?
Gotta love that asset forfeiture by the Feds!
The FCC’s charter is to allocate frequencies to avoid interference. Like the other regulators they seem to have forgotten their core mission hence net neutrality, the current LightSquared - GPS issue, BPL, etc.
Yeah... btw a couple of fellow radio people responded to this article when I posted it on facebook:
—Shows how effective the FCC is nowadays. Four years later and that pirate (along with about a dozen others in the city) is still going strong.
-—And to add insult to injury, someone said (according to the pirate operators) that the fines are just “the cost of doing business”. And with the way the pirate stations operate, business is good. Ever heard how many commercials these “boots” air every day? It’s pathetic. Good luck trying to collect from these guys.
Nowhere. Then again I don't think you really want us old timers to drag out our 1500 watt Collins tube equipment and blow away 1/3 of the AM band while we have fun.....
I can’t believe people are still doing this. I knew guy 20 years ago in collage that did this stuff but they were limited in range. These guys seem to be running full out stations here. Thank God the FCC is on top of this. Busy poking their nose in everything else, but easy cases like this get a slap on the wrist.
In some ways the idea of pirate radio is charming, the idea of someone throwing themselves on the air and doing offbeat music, etc. Sometimes you can actually do this legally (that is, a low powered station but LEGAL)—a flea-powered station, provided you are within power limits.
(Example: Old age facilities that run ‘Companion Radio’—programming sent via satellite or online that they rebroadcast within the facility. Oh, and there are even some drive in theatres—not that many are left—where you are told to tune to a certain frequency to hear the audio.)
And there are traveler’s info stations; or Low Power FMs
(licensed by the FCC) If someone does it legally, on an LPFM or, say, “expanded band AM” (1600-1700, again, legally), then fine.
The pirate stations also can make it tough for those who want to rebroadcast (legally) satellite radio or an mp3 player in their car. Try finding a spot where you can,
say, listen to the XM you subscribe to, etc. when the dial
is full of signals.
Some pirate stations have websites where they claim they are legally running a station by order of FCC rules (but they aren’t). One in Boston, Choice FM, said on their site that the FCC gave them the call letters WCFM.
Except that the legal college station at Williams College in
Williamstown, MA, already has them.
Boston newspapers talk about local politicians appearing on
“Touch 106.1” for events, etc. That station’s site makes it seem like they are legit. They aren’t.
The proper history of the phenomenon of “pirate radio” has yet to be written. I see it as a manifestation of humankind’s primal need to inter-communicate as it sees fit, regardless of governmental dictates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine,_%26c.,_Broadcasting_%28Offences%29_Act_1967
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Caroline
Just to be annoying... at the age eleven, Charles Lindbergh drove his father (a US Congressman) to various political appearances: and at the age of thirteen or fourteen, he drove his mother and uncle from Minnesota to California.
Plus, I’d rather have a 12 year old drive me around than a hippie drug addict.
The all-powerful Commerce Clause
are you sure it’s not the “Good and necessary” clause???
>>(A WCRB listener wrote the station): “I look forward to the BSO broadcasts on Saturday night, but since WCRB switched to 99.5...<<
So it looks like the pirate station was at 99.7 long before the WCRB station “changed” to 99.5 and it was the change to a frequency so near the pirate station that caused the problem.
Someone pointed out that the FCC was originally only authorized to allocate broadcast frequencies. Where did the “licensing” of everything under the sun come in. And just where do they suppose they’re authorized to regulate cable, satellite or the internet? Mission creep, anyone? Or rather, usurpation of power.
Get rid of the three letter agencies and go back to what the FedGov is “authorized” to do by the Constitution only. The FCC should only “coordinate” the use of frequencies. Keep their big, red gov’t. noses out of everything else.
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