FCC & US Marshals Raid Another Pirate, Looks Like a Coordinated Campaign

[ChrisSmolinski]

FCC & US Marshals Raid Another Pirate, Looks Like a Coordinated Campaign  by Paul Riismandel on April 18, 2014 in FCC, Pirate Radio On the heels of the FCC and US Attorney shutting down unlicensed Rika FM in New York City, on Thursday three stations in the Boston area were taken off the air, as well. The most prominent of these stations is Touch 106.1 FM, which was a fixture in Dorchester’s African-American community. Like the Rika FM shutdown, Touch was raided by U.S. Marshals, under an order from the US Attorney.

Public TV station WGBH had the only reporter on the scene, capturing some rare news footage of an FCC raid. In the short segment that aired Thursday night reporter Adam Reilly and the anchor have a brief and surprisingly empathetic exchange about the station, wondering out loud, “why now?” since the station had been operating in the open for years.

Addressing the “why now” question: it seems pretty clear that the FCC is making a coordinated effort to shut down unlicensed stations that are operating out in the open, especially those that otherwise look more like licensed stations. It’s also clear that somebody at the US Attorney’s Office has been convinced to take this on, something that otherwise happens rarely.

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2014/04/18/fcc-us-marhsals-raid-another-pirate-looks-like-coordinated-campaign/

WGBH has video of the raid here: http://wgbhnews.org/post/fcc-shuts-down-touch-1061-fm

[diymedia]

I did a more lengthy follow-up on this latest spate of busts, including some interesting info the federales released in conjunction with the NYC cases. I am particularly interested in the allegation that a couple of the stations may be part of a pirate music network operating in three states....

http://diymedia.net/wordpress/2014/04/22/pirate-raids-offer-glimpse-into-fcc-fieldwork/ (wordpress betasite)

http://diymedia.net/archive/0414.htm#042214 (oldsite)

[clobdell]

I love that computer DF screen! I'm assuming this software is not for public purchase!

[ChrisSmolinski]

A very interesting read, I am going through the PDF files now.

I noticed that there is transcription of a phone call from someone who finked on the station. The transcript ends with "they have threatened me with death if I say something. please do not mention my name anywhere".  The transcript does have the guys name, however. Oops.

[ff]

I noticed that there is transcription of a phone call from someone who finked on the station. The transcript ends with "they have threatened me with death if I say something. please do not mention my name anywhere".  The transcript does have the guys name, however. Oops.

Yeah, more than once - LOL!  It shows how much respect they have for their informants.  I thought it odd that they sat in their car over a mile away and took the measurements used in their affidavits, specifying that the actual figures were "extrapolated".  That's not how it was done in the old days.  It makes me wonder what a good lawyer could do with that.