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Update, Boston Herald

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/04/pols_back_dot_radio_station

Bay State politicians are defending an unlicensed radio station that was shut down this week by the Federal Communications Commission, but prosecutors say the crackdown was necessary to prevent a “public safety hazard.”

U.S. Marshals and the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau shut down Touch 106.1 FM, an unlicensed Dorchester station, Thursday and seized radio equipment, according to U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the raid and plans to ask the U.S. Attorney’s office to back down.

“You’d like to think of them bringing more of a problem-solving approach,” he said. “Touch is a pretty important voice in the community.”

Other politicians were equally vexed with the decision to shut down the unlicensed station founded by former mayoral candidate Charles Clemons.

“That station is an institution,” said Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley. “Myself and other elected officials of color are working collaboratively to apply pressure to lobby the FCC and find out what recourse exists.”

Ortiz defended the crackdown in a statement.

“It is a public safety hazard for illegal radio stations to broadcast, potentially interfering with critical radio communications,” Ortiz said.

Clemons, who founded the station in 2007, said he has not yet retained counsel, but has “received an outpouring of support” from local attorneys “and elected officials.”

He said he was able to get an Internet feed of the station running Thursday night.

“We’re the Rosa Parks of radio right now,” he said. “It’s not right what happened, and we’re going to fight.”

When asked why Touch 106.1 FM did not get a license, Clemons said, “We couldn’t. The FCC has shut it down so no one could apply for a license for 15 years. It’s not fair.”

Ortiz said stations like Clemons’ “could have applied for low power radio licenses and operated their stations in compliance with the law.”

Ortiz said stations like Clemons’ “could have applied for low power radio licenses and operated their stations in compliance with the law.”

An LPFM station is required to be a "non-commercial educational" broadcaster, with no more than 100 watts ERP.

It would appear that TOUCH was operating as a commercial venture. An article I found from 2007 stated they were at the 100 watt level, but I have found nothing since then to indicate what their current power level is.

I searched the FCC website to see if I could find anything related to the recent shutdown of TOUCH. I found nothing but I did find dozens of items concerning the shutdown of other unlicensed FM broadcasters around the country. Many of those were in response to complaints of interference from legitimate stations. Pirate FM stations do seem to be quite common. I was hoping to find some information as to the origin of this complaint.

The real question is why didn't the FCC shut this station down in 2007 rather than letting it run another 7 years? They seem to move quickly once a pirate station is identified, but they left this one alone for years. I would bet, as other have suggested, that race preference kept them alive, but something happened recently that trumped that race card. A personal vendetta by a disgruntled staffer? Some change in the political structures in the FCC?

If the culprit was a moneyed media giant like Clear Channel, they would have gotten this done years ago. That tells me they weren't involved.