Two Boston area AM pirates get a NAL

[ChrisSmolinski]

"In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), we propose a penalty of $60,000 against Radio Energy, Inc., (REI) and Pelege Marcellin (Marcellin), jointly and severally, for operating an unauthorized radio station, known as “Radio Energy Boston” on 1620 kHz in Mattapan, Massachusetts (1620 Station), and 1640 kHz in Brockton, Massachusetts (1640 Station), by which REI and Marcellin apparently willfully and knowingly did, caused, or suffered to be done pirate radio broadcasting."

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-25-54A1.pdf

[NQC]

Hey Chris,

I haven’t copied this one on 1620.

There is a monster hill at 1/3 mile away between myself and the areas where these stations are usually located ( maybe 4 miles away).
They usually don’t have enough ground wave horsepower to make it.


The top of the hill is better, but noisy.

The hot spot for these that I used to go to was at the  city zoo- up high and really open to all the required directions.

X band ops used to be a dime a dozen here in Boston.Some had more than one frequency, others piled up on the same frq.A few even slipped in above 1400 or 1500.

VERY few on FM, at least in Boston.

Maybe 80% of these AM’ers were left alone by the FCC and simply fizzled out on their own.Some were on for a few years.

The only X band op in MY  immediate area ran for a while (1.5 -  2 years?) and also simply fizzled.
But they once had the mayor on - apparently he didn’t know or care.

The only FM outlet in my area ( Weekends only) got shut down in a live raid during its second transmission.

So I guess the takeaway is X may
 “ work “ ( for a while).

FM gets you slammed instantly.

de NQC

[n2avh]

The FCC NAL is interesting reading--especially the article at footnote 26, where the guy's purchase of the station is treated as (or presumed as) entirely legal and above-board, which to me raises the question of whether he even knew there was such a thing as licensed vs. unlicensed operation. I could understand how someone from Haiti, which basically has no government, might be unaware that broadcasting is a regulated business in the US...but not this guy, who has been here a while and has two established (and highly regulated) businesses. So I think it's just incredible audacity and the fine seems warranted.