FCC Pirate Radio Efforts Increase But Fall Short

[Oliver]

A full 20% of the Enforcement Bureau’s time last year went to combating pirate radio as it allocated more attention to pirates than any other trouble spot. FCC chief Tom Wheeler says the effort includes a new strategy when targeting unlicensed operators.

“We have shifted from our historic ‘whack-a-mole’ enforcement approach to focus on the worst actors—pirates that are repeat offenders that cause interference to licensed broadcasters, that run advertisements, and that operate at high power,” Wheeler told a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

Since taking office nearly three years ago, Wheeler told lawmakers, the FCC has taken more than 300 pirate radio enforcement actions. “There were 91 actions that have been taken through May of this year on pirate radio compared to 130 for all of last year,” Wheeler noted during the hearing.

In March, the Commission sent an “enforcement advisory” to local officials around the country as well as to advertiser groups and real estate trade associations explaining what pirate radio is, the threat unlicensed stations pose to public safety, and how the public may be unwittingly supporting pirates. “Providing support for such illegal activity could not only damage the reputation of such businesses, but could expose them to FCC enforcement or other legal actions,” the advisory warned. The letter also asked the groups for their help in identifying pirates to get the stations off the air.

“We don’t just want to do more to combat pirate radio, we want to do it smarter,” Wheeler said. He also renewed a request that Congress give more assistance to the FCC’s efforts. One idea under consideration is a proposal that would make it a federal crime to assist a pirate radio operation. Wheeler backed the idea saying he’d like to work with lawmakers to “crack down on these criminals.”

Yet for all the FCC is doing, some broadcasters believe the efforts have come up short. The New York State Broadcasters Association commissioned an engineering study to try to determine how many pirate FMs are on the air in the New York City metro. (See separate story, NY Broadcasters Push FCC to Act on Pirate Radio.)

Source: http://www.insideradio.com/free/fcc-pirate-radio-efforts-increase-but-fall-short/article_c721196c-48ca-11e6-8530-fbe9c9f97ea8.html

[MDK2]

What does this mean for our favorite 43m shortwave pirates? It seems like it's empty enough of other traffic sanctioned by the FCC and most are assuredly low power.

[Oliver]

Juding this article, it seems to me that the FM scene keeps the FFC already on there toes.

A similar article was published here: http://www.insideradio.com/free/ny-broadcasters-push-fcc-to-act-on-pirate-radio/article_9bb03358-48ca-11e6-bb63-0760966806b1.html

[Stretchyman]

It has already been 'Broadcast', has it not? That the FCC does not care about S.W. pirates as they're not interfering with anything as no one uses S.W. anymore (apparently!) + the fact that no advertising revenue is being lost.

Please get one with it and Tx as much as you can!

Oh BTW you can buy a TX from me!!

Nothing wrong with a bit of shameless advertising eh!

 

[EliteData]

the survey indicates that a legit radio station 85+ miles east of NYC who is operating as a "sister station" for 102.3Mhz at 95.3Mhz to cover reception efforts to the far east of 102.3 at low power level and a small contour, to say that a pirate broadcasting in NYC on a directly adjacent channel of 95.3Mhz, thats causing "interference" is utter BS.
NO ONE in NYC can receive WHFM 95.3Mhz at 5KW on a vehicle dash radio in NYC, it fades out completely at 40 miles from its TX site location on a vehicle dash radio.
you can just barely receive 102.3Mhz at 6KW in NYC, if you hit the right "spot" with your vehicle, you *could* get decent reception less the pirates on the same channel but its certainly not good enough for the casual driver, the tower for 102.3Mhz is about 35 miles east of NYC, the tower for 95.3Mhz is about 85 miles east of NYC.
exactly what are the FM pirates hurting here that is causing the issue ?
the survey talks about RF radiation exposure, really ?
what about all the other antennas in NYC that are not associated with pirate FM radio that are transmitting with hundreds of watts and are located on top of apartment buildings and building towers ?
do they magically not count for RF radiation ?
this is about "interference" to the bottom line $ and not about "interference" to RF signals of which the latter would obviously be much more important had it not been for the cash-cow media conglomerates sweating bullets at the pirate competitors below their feet.

[redhat]

+1 

+-RH

[ka1iic]

FCC?  Pirate Radio?  who dat?

Bruuuuuupppppp pooooooooooooo <phart>

Excuse me... sorry... OMG my plants are dying!!!!!