Broadcasters Cheer Pirate Radio Bill

[Fansome]

Broadcasters Cheer Pirate Radio Bill
By
Radio Ink -
May 8, 2018

U.S. Representative Leonard Lance of New Jersey introduced a bill to Congress on Tuesday to fight illegal pirate radio operators. The PIRATE Act, ‘‘Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act’’ calls for an increased penalty of up to $2,000,000 for anyone convicted of operating a pirate station across the nation. The legislation also mandates the FCC to perform “Pirate Sweeps” no less than twice a year in the country’s top five radio markets to uncover pirate radio operations.

New Jersey Broadcasters Association President & CEO Paul Rotella said, “This is a significant national enhancement of penalty and enforcement for those who would violate our airwaves and should give such offenders pause. The NJBA has been advancing this initiative for many years now and Congressman Lance has championed this legislation in an effort to protect communities from the harmful and potentially life-threatening consequences of the many illegal pirates operating in or near New Jersey.”

New York State Broadcasters Association President David Donovan added, “For too long the citizens of New York have endured the harm caused by illegal pirate radio stations. These stations: 1) interfere with the Emergency Alert System (EAS); 2) interfere with FAA and airport communications; 3) emit levels of RF radiation into local neighborhoods that are above government standards; 3) ignore all consumer protection laws; and 4) blatantly transgress all FCC rules and regulations. We strongly support the PIRATE Act. The PIRATE Act will give the FCC the tools to protect consumers and take illegal pirate operators off the air. We look forward to working with the bill’s 14 initial co-sponsors as well as other members of the House and Senate to move forward with this important legislation.”

NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton said, “NAB thanks Reps. Leonard Lance, Paul Tonko, Chris Collins and their fellow cosponsors for the bipartisan introduction of the PIRATE Act, which provides the FCC with enhanced penalties and additional tools to take action against illegal pirate radio operations. Pirate radio is a real threat to public health and safety, causes interference to legal radio broadcasts and flouts the rule of law.”

Rotella said most people do not understand the danger pirate radio operators put the public in through their illegal transmissions. “These pirate radio stations cause interference to the Emergency Alert System, and FAA frequencies that could interfere with airline communications and also create excessive, unmeasured RF radiation to residents and businesses in the buildings they operate in, which may present significant health concerns.

Wharton also gave a shout out to the FCC. “Broadcasters also thank FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly for his longstanding leadership on this issue, and Chairman Ajit Pai and his Enforcement Bureau staff’s commitment to pirate radio enforcement. NAB strongly supports this legislation to provide greater enforcement tools to the Commission and will work with members of Congress in the House and Senate on its swift passage.”

Rotella concluded, “The NJBA applauds Congressman Lance’s insight in recognizing the harm caused by pirate radio stations and for his determined and thoughtful approach to rectifying this hazardous and unacceptable condition with his proposed legislation.”

[Matt_B]

Seriously? Hoping this crap does not pass. 

The big broadcasters say the same thing, over and over again...."pirates interfere with us! They've got to be stopped".  Meanwhile, they have 100,000 watt transmitters, and translators/FM outlets for even the strongest stations (WFAN, I'm talking to you.  You can be heard in the Carolinas, for God's sake....why in the hell do you need an FM signal?).  Compare that to most unlicensed stations that have, I don't know, maybe ten watts of power (the output level of an average light bulb)? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the 100,000 watt stations will blow a ten watt operation away. 

The reality of the situation is that in the radio business, you have to "pay to play", maybe in more ways than one.  Unless you know someone who works for the big boys as an executive, good luck with that.  "Interference"? The only thing that unlicensed radio interferes with is the big broadcasting groups ability to make a dollar (which they don't seem to be doing anyway).  Note to the big boys....that's called COMPETITION.  Quit griping about unlicensed stations which are hurting nobody, and leave the free market to its own devices!

Sorry for the rant, just had to get this off my chest. 

[redhat]

From another industry newsletter...

“PIRATE Act” is officially introduced in the House.

Reps. Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Chris Collins (R-NY) and their co-sponsors drop the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” into the hopper, to the applause of the NAB and the New Jersey Broadcasters Association. The bill looks like the discussion draft (March 21 NOW) – fines of up to $2 million for “any person who willfully and knowingly” engages in running an unlicensed station. Same potential fine for those who “facilitate” it (like landlords). Daily fines up to $100,000. There would be “biannual sweeps” by FCC enforcement personnel in the “top five radio markets identified as prevalent for such broadcasts.” Those sweeps “shall include identifying, locating and terminating such operations” – and “seizing related equipment.” The NAB’s Dennis Wharton thanks the House backers of the PIRATE Act, “which provides the FCC with enhanced penalties and additional tools.” NAB also gives a shout-out to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly “for his longstanding leadership on this issue.” O’Rielly colorfully says “I think the PIRATE Act has a great chance of becoming law and helping stomp-out this illegal activity.” That may be the first use of “stomp-out” by a Commissioner. The NJBA’s Paul Rotella points out that “unlike New Jersey, which has a statute against pirates, many states do not have such laws.” In the Garden State, pirates face up to $10,000 in fines and 18 months in prison.

In all fairness, there are some FM pirates that are making things TFU for everyone else.  And it is true that the current licensing system has no provision for small communities to have their own voice.  Hatian pirates in NYC or NJ running several hundred watts from an apartment complex using the cheapest chinese gear they could find are asking for trouble, especially because most of these folks are not technical and do not understand the risk they are taking.  Unfortunately, since the translator boom, any free spectrum is gone, and the chance of the commission rolling that back is almost nil. 

+-RH

[ChrisSmolinski]

Full text of the bill: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF16/20180322/108059/BILLS-115pih-HR___-U13.pdf

[Traveling Wave]

The Definition Section of the Bill  defines Pirate Radio Broadcasting... " as communications on spectrum frequencies between 535 to 1705 kHz or 88 to 108 MHz (AM or FM broadcast bands) without a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission,"... This restriction in the spectrum sounds like the FCC is more concerned with interference to the Big Boys market.

[Skipmuck]

The Tennessean
'Bobby Bones Show' fake alerts to cost iHeartMedia $1M
Nate Rau, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee Published 2:20 p.m. CT May 19, 2015 | Updated 8:45 a.m. CT May 25, 2017


The Federal Communications Commission fined iHeartMedia $1 million for a 2014 incident in which Nashville-based "The Bobby Bones Show" broadcast fake emergency alerts during the nationally syndicated program.

The FCC has been cracking down on misuse of the Emergency Alert System, fining major media outlets such as Viacom, ESPN, Univision and others. Fines have totaled $2.5 million in the past six months.

"The public counts on EAS tones to alert them to real emergencies," chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, Travis LeBlanc, said. "Misuse of the Emergency Alert System jeopardizes the nation's public safety, falsely alarms the public and undermines confidence in the Emergency Alert System."

The incident took place Oct. 24 when "The Bobby Bones Show" transmitted the EAS tone to its entire syndicated audience, the FCC said in a media release. Bones was discussing hearing the tone during a broadcast of the World Series, when he played the tone for his national audience from inside WSIX-FM studio in Nashville.


"This false emergency alert was sent to more than 70 affiliated stations airing 'The Bobby Bones Show' and resulted in some of these stations retransmitting the tones, setting of a multi-state cascade of false EAS alerts on radios and televisions in multiple states."


The FCC uses the system to alert listeners to natural disasters and other public safety emergencies.

As part of the settlement, iHeartMedia admits it broadcast the tones and violated FCC laws. In addition to the $1 million fine, the company is required to implement a comprehensive compliance plan and delete EAS simulated tones from its audio production libraries.

After the news release went out from the FCC and media outlets began covering the fine, Bones tweeted, "BREAKING: a monkey just climbed off my back."

[Skipmuck]

Florida TV Station Fined for Misuse of EAS Tones
Published June 6, 2017
It Starts at the Top…

The day after Memorial Day will be memorable for one Florida TV station but not for the right reasons. May 30 2017 is when WTLV TV and the FCC agreed to a Consent Decree ending an investigation into the station’s violations of EAS rules. The FCC cited WTLV TV for airing commercials last August which included EAS tones with an audio message assuring the audience that “this is not a test”. The ad went on to promote the local National Football League Team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

While you can debate whether the $55,000 penalty included in the agreement is countered by the publicity generated for the team and the station, that certainly wasn’t the only expense Multimedia Holdings, the owners of WTLV’s license, paid to settle the matter. The terms of the Consent Decree also call for the station to implement a “compliance and reporting plan” on the proper use of EAS tones. In addition to the paperwork, there are the fees and costs incurred by the station’s attorneys over the nine months of negotiations and the fact that the station will have to remind everyone at the FCC about the settlement and fine again in 2020 when they apply for their license renewal.

The normal first reaction here might be to blame an over-zealous Account Executive for the idea of using EAS tones in a commercial. But it’s not likely that only one person was responsible for this blatant violation of long-standing FCC rules. Not only did someone write a commercial which incorporated EAS tones and verbiage, someone had to produce the commercial, including the EAS tones. Presumably–because an NFL spot has got to be a Big Deal even for a station like WTLV–someone had to review the commercial before it went to traffic and air. That’s a lot of TV station “someone’s” who didn’t think there was anything wrong with using EAS tones and a “this is not a test” message to promote a football team.

It’s sad to think that two years after the Bobby Bones debacle the staff of a major market TV station in the heart of hurricane country didn’t know that there was a FCC rule against using EAS tones for anything other than an EAS activation. Ultimately, the WTLV management pulled the ad, but not before someone noticed the EAS tones and filed an FCC complaint.

Apparently the time has passed when everyone at a radio or TV station knew the basic rules of broadcasting, including those involving EAS. It didn’t help that we relegated EAS to rack rooms and engineers only. Today our engineers are more about IT than broadcast. However, ignorance of the law is not an excuse and because management is ultimately responsible for what happens at a station, as your EAS State Chair, I’m asking all station managers “Do you know what’s on your air?”

For more information and questions about EAS rules, contact me.

Adrienne Abbott, nevadaeas@charter.net

Posted in Engineering, In the News

[redhat]

I take it your point is that the big boys don't play by the rules either?

+-RH

[Skipmuck]

I take it your point is that the big boys don't play by the rules either?

+-RH

[JimIO]

If you tried to explain that the 2nd harmonic of an FM station ends up in the High VHF TV band it would blow the pinhead politicians mind.

[redhat]

True, although I have seen a few cases where spurious products, due to equipment failure or mixing products, wind up in the aviation band.  I've also heard more than a few stories of the big boys in major markets doing less-than-ethical things.  Greed breeds corruption on all levels.

Skip, a picture is worth a 1000 words

+-RH

[Traveling Wave]

WTLV TV is one of 47 TEGNA Inc. TV stations. I find it interesting, after reading the FCC Consent Decree, that such a large company did not have an EAS compliance plan, nor did they have a compliance officer or corporate compliance officer responsible for EAS activity. Did fine fit the crime ?
 TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. With 47 television stations and two radio stations in 39 markets, TEGNA delivers relevant content and information to consumers across platforms. It is the largest owner of top 4 affiliates in the top 25 markets, reaching approximately one-third of all television households natiowide. Each month, TEGNA reaches 50 million adults on-air and approximately 35 million across its digital platforms.

“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”

[Pigmeat]

Where are the vocal stylings of Jimmy The Weasel when they're needed?

Tim Leary got bounced from Pacifica for announcing fake whale pods off Santa Barbara back about 1980. He had traffic tied up for miles. He'd been making up the news for a good while, but that incident did him in. That's what you get for putting Tim behind a live mic for three hours.

[Skipmuck]

Where are the vocal stylings of Jimmy The Weasel when they're needed?

Tim Leary got bounced from Pacifica for announcing fake whale pods off Santa Barbara back about 1980. He had traffic tied up for miles. He'd been making up the news for a good while, but that incident did him in. That's what you get for putting Tim behind a live mic for three hours.

Born   Timothy Francis Leary
October 22, 1920
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Geez....one of the most infamous of the psychedelic fringe element hails from my hometown. Times have changed.....

TURN ON (The radio)
TUNE IN (The pirate stations)
DROP OUT (ummm....the band goes long?    )

[Azimuth Coordinator]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out the first time they find a "Pirate"  in say Newark or East New York.  And how it affects the Part 15 Ops.. 

Coincidentally  Leonard Lance's wife is Heidi A. Rohrbach, who is a VP at JPMorgan Chase  You know the people who Clear Channel owe lot's of money to...   Just saying

tAC