https://www.insideradio.com/free/fcc-warns-portland-church-to-shut-down-pirate-fm-operating-under-its-steeple/They may be finding God at the Eastside Free Methodist Church in Portland, OR but it is also where field agents from the Federal Communications Commission are facing a bedeviling problem: pirate radio.
The FCC says its Portland, OR-based agents tracked an unlicensed FM station operating on 90.5 FM to the church on 139th Avenue. It appears field agents did not come across anyone at the site, however, and that may be due in part to questions about whether the church is even open any longer. Some postings online say the Eastside Free Methodist Church has gone dark for good, raising questions about whether it is the church members – or someone else – that is using the space.
Nevertheless, under federal law because Eastside Free Methodist Church owns the building, it is potentially on the hook for enforcement action related to the pirate station. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is giving the property owner ten days to respond to the warnings with any evidence they may have, showing they are no longer permitting pirate radio broadcasting to occur on their property. The warning letter to the church also points out it could face a penance of more than $2.3 million in fines.
It is the second Oregon-targeted pirate action to be released by the FCC in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the FCC proposed an $80,000 fine against an alleged pirate operating in La Grande, OR. The FCC says Thomas Barnes was the man behind a pirate station operating on 100.5 FM since at least 2018. Under FCC rules, Barnes has until mid-April to decide if he wants to pay the penalty or file a request that it be cancelled or reduced.
The FCC says it logged its first complaint regarding the eastern Oregon pirate station in 2018. It dispatched Portland, OR-based field agents to investigate, and they tracked the station on 92.3 FM to Barnes’ former residence at the Orchard Motel on Adams Avenue in La Grande. After speaking with him, the FCC says it became apparent that Barnes was the operator of the unlicensed stations. At the time, he agreed to voluntarily surrender his transmitter to the agent.
But a year later, in April 2019, the FCC received a second complaint stating that Barnes was again operating a pirate radio station in La Grande. They tracked the station, again on 92.3 FM, to Barnes’ new home on Jefferson Avenue. He agreed to voluntarily surrender another transmitter to the agent.
Both times the FCC notified Barnes that he could face severe penalties, including substantial monetary fines, for running a pirate station. But that apparently was not enough to discourage him. It received a third complaint about another pirate station in La Grande in March 2022 that agents again traced back to Barnes’ home. This time Barnes’ wife, Rebecca, voluntarily surrendered two transmitters.
Barnes then took to Facebook where he posted a video admitting he was operating a pirate station and that the FCC could not stop him unless it “locked him up.” He then signed-on another station at 100.5 FM. Digging deeper, agents also discovered that Barnes had uploaded over 30 videos to his Facebook account admitting he ran a pirate station.
In its decision to slap Barnes with an $80,000 fine, the FCC said his conduct was “intentional” and he “had been warned multiple times since 2018 that his conduct was illegal, but he nonetheless chose to continue to operate without authorization.”
Topic: FCC Warns Portland Church To Shut Down Pirate FM Operating Under Its Steeple (Read 1319 times)