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Nine pirates busted in Boston!

N

nd2023

Banned
FCC ISSUES NINE WARNINGS TO BOSTON-AREA LANDOWNERS FOR ILLEGAL PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTS
Landowners Prohibited from Aiding Pirate Radio Operations Under PIRATE Act
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WASHINGTON, December 1, 2023—The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau today issued nine warnings to landowners in the Boston area for apparently allowing illegal broadcasting from their properties. The FCC may issue a fine exceeding $2 million if it determines that a party continues to permit any individual or entity to engage in pirate radio broadcasting from any property that they own or manage.

“Property owners that continue to allow pirate radio operations on their properties can face serious consequences because these illegal operations can interfere with licensed broadcast signals and their ability to provide emergency alert system notifications,” said Loyaan A. Egal, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “Thank you to the field agents in the Boston area who work to ensure compliance with federal law in this area.”

The Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting sent today target properties identified by Enforcement Bureau field agents as sources of pirate radio transmissions. These notices formally notify landowners of the illegal broadcasting activity occurring on their property; inform landowners of their potential liability for permitting such activity to occur on their property; demand proof that the illegal broadcasting has ceased on the property; and request identification of the individual(s) engaged in the illegal broadcasting.

The PIRATE Act provides the FCC with additional enforcement authority, including higher penalties against pirate radio broadcasters of up to inflation-adjusted amounts of $115,802 per day with a maximum of $2,316,034. In addition to tougher fines on violators, the law requires the FCC to conduct periodic enforcement sweeps and grants the Commission authority to take enforcement action against landlords and property owners that willfully and knowingly permit pirate radio broadcasting on their properties.

The Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting are available at: FCC Warns Boston Landowners on Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasts.
 
speer360 said:
Chery 89.3 MHZ: Streetview
Jeanty 105.3 MHz: None
Marie Pierre 96.5 MHz: Streetview
NFBC 87.7 MHz: Streetview
NFBC 88.5 MHz: Same as above
Pierre Forges 100.1 MHz: None
Pierre Napoleon 100.1 MHz: Streetview
Robert Perello 107.5 MHz: Streetview
St. Fleur 105.3 MHz: None
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From the names, I am guessing nearly all are Kreyol stations targeting Haitians. Some of this can be understood since radio lost effective regulation in Haiti more than two decades ago and there are countless unlicensed stations and no regulation of the business there. Haiti is widely considered a "Failed State" and many of the refugees have had a lifetime of non-working government.
 
jlehmann said:
Not sure about the smaller ones in Boston, but 87.7 and 88.5 remain on the air. 96.5, 100.1, and 105.3 in Brockton are now off.
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I'll bet the landlords either are checking with their lawyers to see how to order those guys off of the roof or have ordered the two "eighties" renters to cease and desist and they are waiting for them to act.
 
Chery 89.3 MHZ has been on air in some form since at least 2011 per streetview. Even had a antenna upgrade at some point.

NFBC has had at least 4 antennas at some point, Sep 2014 Streetview

Pierre Napoleon has also had multiple antenna over the years as well.
 
A few years ago Bittner's WJIB translator went on air at 101.3. That was also the home of Big City, a long running pirate. I
went to the area where WJIB's translator
was and heard the pirate interfering then
finally the translator won out as I got closer. On social media some were wondering why this station running
easy listening had suddenly shown up.
A legal station. Shortly Big City tried a few other frequencies (100.5?) then settled on 88.5 or 87.7 or something.
Somewhere I'd seen a picture outlining the signal reaches of the translator and
Big City when both were on 101.3; the 250w WJIB translator was more dominant, before Big City went elsewhere.

Choice FM (102.9), Allston-Brighton Free Radio (expanded band AM, also 1580 or something) and other pirates came and went. Choice's website claimed they had call letters WCFM--not to be confused with the legitimate WCFM at Williams College in Williamstown.
One pirate was at 93.5 right next to WEEI-FM 93.7; another, Datz Hitz 99.7, caused interference to WCRB and Logan aircraft radio. The Globe mentioned how 'CRB complained about the pirate. Stations like WMFO 91.5, WMWM 91.7, and WUMB 91.9 also had nearby pirates causing interference

---
www.classical-scene.com

Whither Classical Radio Boston Now? - The Boston Musical Intelligencer

BMInt welcomed WGBH/WCRB’s Benjamin Roe, new manager of classical services, to Boston in an article from last February here. Now that he has been at the helm long enough to get his bearings and begin to impose his own destination on programming, he’s ready to talk to us about the station’s new weeke
www.classical-scene.com www.classical-scene.com
May 2011
>> interference from a pirate station at 99.7 in Mattapan [note: Datz Hits Radio operates quite flagrantly broadcasting locally themed gospel, hip-hop, and Caribbean music from 99.7. Their website is here]. The way the interference works is not just that you can’t hear us in Mattapan, but in other areas like Cambridge and Brookline our signal is degraded.
 
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In the past B87.7 been raided and shutoff and within a month they were back on. I listen to B87.7 and love their programing but I wish they would become legal.
 
I wonder if any of these pirates told their landlord they were putting a pirate station on their property. The FCC needs to go after the sellers of illegal pirate transmitters. Many claim to be legal or part 15.

Most of these pirates don't have any engineering expertise. The Boston FM dial is already clogged with stations.
 
A reporter from the Boston Globe phoned me about 10 years ago. She asked how much would it cost to build a LPFM versus a pirate station. Ten to twenty thousand for an LPFM. Parts for ATSC pirate TV, one thousand. Pirate FM transmitters on ebay run from 50 to one thousand bucks.

On the other hand, streaming is open to everyone. You can do this with a couple old computers.
 
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Flying Dutchman said:
A reporter from the Boston Globe phoned me about 10 years ago. She asked how much would it cost to build a LPFM versus a pirate station. Ten to twenty thousand for an LPFM. Parts for ATSC pirate TV, one thousand. Pirate FM transmitters on ebay run from 50 to one thousand bucks.
Click to expand...
FM transmitters "for church" are around $100-175 on Amazon.
 
Flying Dutchman said:
I wonder if any of these pirates told their landlord they were putting a pirate station on their property. The FCC needs to go after the sellers of illegal pirate transmitters. Many claim to be legal or part 15.

Most of these pirates don't have any engineering expertise. The Boston FM dial is already clogged with stations.
Click to expand...
The sellers IMHO are worse than the pirates. They sell these things with copy insinuating they're FCC certified, making the buyers think they're perfectly legal.

Now lack of diligence on the buyer's part is no excuse, I know. But these sellers are where the damn problems start. Busting landlords is a bit heavy handed, they likely never knew somebody was even running something on their property. Whereas taking care of the seller problem helps mitigate the problem in the first place. And proactive solutions tend to be far more effective in the long run than reactive. Especially in this matter. Because this law is been in effect for a few years now and somehow, the pirates keep coming. So something isn't working.

Yes, there are kits and parts everywhere to build a new transmitter from scratch. But that's time and $$$. And the more hurdles you put up, the more you deter.

I just think it's easier and ultimately cheaper to deal with the cause of the problems than the symptoms.
 
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