Posted on 08/15/2018 6:22:39 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s flagship radio station.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday that the pirate radio station, Liberty Radio, was hit with a $15,000 fine and at least temporarily pulled from the airwaves.
The newspaper reported that a lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin alleged that Liberty Radio had functioned without a license since at least 2013, and had been transmitting from a tower at an Austin apartment complex.
Liberty Radio stopped airing on the radio in December, but still streams online. The FCC is charging that the station was also illegally broadcasting on an FM wavelength.
The Associated Press reported that Walter Olenick and M. Rae Nadler-Olenick were named as the defendants in the lawsuit, and the apartment complex where the station was transmitting from is linked to the pair.
The Olenicks reportedly told the FCC that they would not pay the fine and would treat any agency representatives as trespassers.
Jones, a conspiracy theorist who founded the site Infowars, has recently been banned by several platforms, including Facebook and YouTube.
Infowars and Jones's content has also been pulled from Spotify and Vimeo, and Twitter placed restrictions on the accounts for Jones and his site.
Jones has been criticized for some of the conspiracy theories he promotes. The parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have sued him for allegedly saying the massacre was staged and a cover-up was orchestrated by the parents of the children.
FreeRepublic proudly led the way. In the vanguard!!
Kind of old news.
The station has not been transmitting since December, 8 months ago.
Isn’t he a friend of POTUS??
And rightfully so.
It was an unlicensed station. Even a Ham operator needs a license to use the common airwaves.
But with the censorship on the net and media coming to a head...I predict more pirate stations to pop up.
since they had no license, they probably weren’t operating in a legal manner.
But the FCC is supposed to have windows of opportunity to file and hasn’t since October 2013.
Also the pair broadcasting probably don’t meet the educational entity requirement. Not the content itself but who is hosting the broadcast.
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/lpfm
Low Power FM (LPFM) Broadcast Radio Stations
The Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service was created by the Commission in January 2000. LPFM stations are authorized for noncommercial educational broadcasting only (no commercial operation) and operate with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 watts (0.1 kilowatts) or less, with maximum facilities of 100 watts ERP at 30 meters (100 feet) antenna height above average terrain (HAAT). The approximate service range of a 100 watt LPFM station is 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles radius). LPFM stations are not protected from interference that may be received from other classes of FM stations. A construction permit is required before an LPFM station can be constructed or operated. The mere filing of an LPFM application does not authorize any construction or operation.
LPFM stations are available to noncommercial educational entities and public safety and transportation organizations, but are not available to individuals or for commercial operations. Current broadcast licensees with interests in other media (broadcast or newspapers) are not eligible to obtain LPFM stations.
Potential applicants are advised that there is almost always competition for any type of radio broadcast station — including LPFM stations — and there is no guarantee that filing an acceptable application will result in the grant of a construction permit. Applications for LPFM stations may only be filed during specified filing “window” periods announced by the FCC, and must be filed electronically on FCC Form 318 (no paper applications will be accepted). Many applicants retain legal and engineering counsel to help them prepare an acceptable application. (The FCC does not maintain a list of legal and engineering firms, and cannot recommend any individual or firm.)
LPFM stations must protect authorized radio broadcast stations on the same channel or frequency (cochannel), as well as broadcast stations on first or second-adjacent channels above or below the LPFM station’s frequency. This protection is accomplished through the use of minimum distance separation requirements, which are set forth in 47 CFR 73.807 Opens a New Window. .
LPFM Filing Window Period Dates
No LPFM application filing window period is presently scheduled.
When a new filing window period is scheduled, it will be announced via Public Notice and posted on the FCC’s web site, in several locations, including this web page, at least 30 days before the start of the filing period. We regret that we are not able to provide personal or advance notice to interested parties. All applications must be electronically filed. [The last filing period as in October 2013.]
Meanwhile, there are 10’s of thousands of pirate stations broadcasting in spanish, chinese, ukranian etc that the FCC leaves in place. Priorities, I guess.
Alex Jones' "flagship" station was an unlicensed Pirate Radio Station?
That ain't right. I studied, followed the FCC's processes and achieved my Amateur Radio License by passing required tests. I really don't appreciate pirate radio stations. They're nuisances at best and they take away available band spectrum from the rest of us through their illegal activities.
Bust 'em good and fine 'em into oblivion I say.
I wouldn’t say friend, but he went on his show.
The fact that they moved on to people like Stefan Molyneux and Gavin McGinnis shows this is naked election tampering. They want to make sure only bad media is broadcast for the midterms.
Most of which operate OUTSIDE the borders of the United States of America and the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction to do jack squat about them.
There are probably 10’s of thousands of pirate spanish stations in Mexifornia alone. It would be racist to shut them down dontchaknow
I do believe this is the goal.
They are trying to shut down 'alt' media before the election.
It's like the IRS targeting Tea Party groups.
[Meanwhile, there are 10’s of thousands of pirate stations broadcasting in spanish, chinese, ukranian etc that the FCC leaves in place. Priorities, I guess.]
Actually there aren’t. FCC routinely busts pirate stations because legit stations report them and it’s childs play to do.
You’ve posted otherwise twice... Prove it.
Most, but not all, right?
If this is part of a larger sweep of pirate stations then by all means shut him down, but if this is just about Alex Jones then there’s a bigger picture to consider.
It reminds me of Ramesh Ponnuru getting jailed for a campaign finance offense that no one ever gets jailed for. Obviously it was political. Trump saw the bigger picture and pardoned him.
Low power FM pirate radio stations are a nuisance. The range on them isn't that far, perhaps a mile or two.
The pirate radio station that was Alex Jone's "flagship" station according to the article was likely a moderately high-power shortwave station operating illegally in the shortwave radio bands which means that signal was getting well outside the United States of America.
If that station was operating in reserved band space of our military (unlikely, he'd have gotten shut down MUCh sooner) or of another country (maybe) all they had to do was complain to our FedGov and Jones would get shut down. Inter-operational agreements that enable Amateur Radio Communications between countries and reserve bandspace for other uses within those countries are routinely enforced when someone breaks them.
The fact that Jone's "flagship station" got away with it for some number of years is pretty incredible in my mind.
Consider this: Many pirate radio stations operate for short periods of time to avoid being triangulated or tracked by the FCC and discovered.
Transmitting for short periods of time makes it extremely difficult to impossible to find low-power FM stations, especially if those stations are concealed. It's VERY easy to conceal a simple wire antenna used for FM Radio Broadcasting. They're not big antenna's by any stretch of the imagination.
Given Liberty Radio had a tower next to an apartment complex and was transmitting for long periods of time, they were easy to find.
Consider the fact that the station was largely visible, transmitted for long periods of time and that made them easy to triangulate, track and find is it really any surprise it got busted?
You break the law, you pay the price. It's just that simple in this case.
Austin, the sanctuary city, VERY liberal...would do anything to shut down poor Alex Jones.
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