The trend in Enforcement Bureau statistics over the last year suggests the agency is doing a better job of following up on pirate radio complaints, but still lacks the ability to actively shut stations down.
This year field agents have become much more consistent about following through with the first few steps of the enforcement protocol. Whereas it used to be months (if not years) between, say, a station visit and a warning letter (or two), field agents are pretty uniformly following up on initial visits with a warning letter within a month or two of first contact. Continue reading “FCC Enforcement: Initial Follow-Through Improves”
Category: Pirate Radio
1069 FM Back On Air
Good news from San Diego: 1069 FM returned to the airwaves late last month with little fanfare, as confirmed by three sources in the area. It’s not clear whether the station followed through with its pledge to quintuple its power. Also no word on whether the FCC has followed up on its first visits, one of which singled out someone for further enforcement escalation. Here’s hoping the contingencies have been worked out.
New Free Radio Berkeley Station-Building Guide
A “radio comic book” called A Popular Guide to Building a Community FM Broadcast Station is the first release under Can of Worms Publishing, a new FRB venture. Some sample pages suggest a real potential to demystify the workings of radio; a Spanish-language version is also available. T.J. Enrile is the project’s main author.
FCC Still Hunting in San Diego; LPFM Comment Period Extended
This week the folks behind 106.9FM, the on-air relay for RadioActive San Diego, got a letter dropped at their door warning them to shut down or face a $10,000 fine. This is not much of a surprise given the recent raid of compatriots. The station plans to be off the air for a spell – during which time volunteers will build a bigger transmitter. Sez the blog, “The station will not only resume broadcasting within two weeks, but with the help of community sponsors, we will go back on the air five times stronger.”
On the legal side of things, the FCC has extended the comment/reply comment period on its current LPFM rulemaking for two weeks, making the new deadlines August 22 for comments and September 6 for reply comments. The extension comes at the request of the Station Resource Group, a consortium of pubcasters who will soon be going on their annual retreat and want to use part of their time together to write collective comments.
Berkeley/Oakland Update
Intelligence from the scene indicates that Berkeley Liberation Radio has not returned to the air full-time. There are BLR hit-and-run-style broadcasts taking place until a permanent home can be found.
However, in the spirit of “crush one and two take its place,” sporadic broadcasts from a West Oakland Radio on 103.3 have been heard, because the Slave Revolt cannot be stopped.
Privateers of the Public Airwaves
A closet-cleaning brought about the re-discovery of a Cap’n Fred’s World Cruise episode from mid-to-late 2004. His lead-off track was The Foremen’s “Privateers of the Public Airwaves” (MP3, 2:45, 2.6 MB), which turned out to be several months’ prescient. Although it was originally written following the Gingrich revolution, it strikes a chord still today. I’m kind of surprised it wasn’t resurrected and given more play during the latest round of freak-outs over pubcast appropriations.
Berkeley Liberation Radio Back On Air; FRSD Raid Follow-Up
According to the latest AMPB Report, Berkeley Liberation Radio returned to the East Bay airwaves at 6pm Sunday. The station has also vowed to start web streaming as well, but that seems like a stretch since its web site is perpetually under construction.
More press is available about Thursday’s raid on Free Radio San Diego, including another interview with Bob Ugly on Enemy Combatant Radio and some corporate media mentions. While FRSD is not pining for a fight in court (as it does not generally respect the FCC’s quasi-police function), it did send preemptive correspondence to the agency shortly after taking to the air, invoking the “perpetual war loophole” in FCC rules as justification to broadcast. So far the agency’s ignored that.
Free Radio San Diego Raided, Won't Stay Down For Long
A morning raid brings a gaggle of Feds to Free Radio San Diego, who busted in the doors to take the most choice bits of the station away, including transmitter and antenna. Epithets were hurled and pictures taken by onlookers as agents dismantled stuff. A bounty is out for one of the FCC’s swanky cop-like polo shirts. The raid comes more than a month after the station got a standard-issue 10-day warning notice posted on its door – the third warning over nearly three years of operation.
Nobody was in the studio at the time, and FRSD’s warrant mentions no people, which means the FCC is still trying to figure out who’s behind the action. DJ Spike, in an interview on RadioActive San Diego, notes the station has a strong security culture, which is really helping set the wheels in motion for its return. Continue reading “Free Radio San Diego Raided, Won't Stay Down For Long”
Test Cases for Florida's Anti-Pirate Law
Two men were arrested on the last day of June for running unlicensed stations in Broward County, Florida. They’re being charged with felonies under a new state law and face up to five years in prison. A pirate-busting sheriff’s detective seems pleased with his handiwork, but it’s been nearly a year since the law went on the books and this is the first action to speak of. Signal Finder, those pirate-hunters for hire – are not making out like they’d hoped.
A pending petition from the American Radio Relay League to the FCC, which asks the agency to declare the Florida law null and void (by federal preemption) may not be ruled on for several more months. Perhaps the state will rush its prosecution in hopes of beating the FCC to a resolution. The south Florida scene has certainly transcended microbroadcasting, sounding like a little slice of London – if not so much on the air then in the modus operandi.
Enforcement Action Database Update
I’ve added several dozen entries to the Database, bringing the total number of enforcement actions catalogued above 500. This includes a slew of activity in 2005 and the backfilling of information from 2001 forward. New York overtakes California as the second-hottest spot in the nation (yet Florida still outpaces all with ease); November flashes past July as the busiest month for pirate-busting.
While it appears that FCC enforcement activity against microbroadcasters has ramped up in the post-LPFM rulemaking years, it’s important to remember that a single station is often responsible for several data points, as field agents often make repeated visits and attempts to inspect a station before escalating matters. Continue reading “Enforcement Action Database Update”