If it was a pirate, posting on these boards about it is a great way to get it pulled off the air. Many people around here know the FCC's agent and if they tell him, well... I'm all up for pirate radio as long as they do it right, not overmodulating or interfeering with other channels, etc.
If there's a pirate, Steve Lee will go out an issue a notice of unlicensed broadcast. This video here shows Steve Lee and how he does it.
http://kaosradioaustin.org/node/32295 That's ALL Steve will do. If they don't shut it down, in a few months he will mail out a NAL letter (notice of apparent liability) fining the operator of the unlicensed broadcast. Of course, the fine won't get paid and the government will make no effort to collect it. If they don't shut it down. he will send paperwork to Washington. Eventually, the justice department will issue a warrant to arrest (confiscate) the equipment being used for the broadcast. This gives Steve a green light to go get a police officer or two, or maybe a U.S. Marshal, and seize the equipment.
Unless, of course, the equipment belongs to Alex Jones...
Had a chance to visit Austin a couple of weeks ago. In between errands, I went by the broadcast site of their "pirate" station -- Liberty 90.1. Here's a video clip shot on my phone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_saDi4JKXc0
Interesting situation. For want of a better word, this pirate station is Alex Jones' "flagship." The people that own the apartment complex where this broadcast is taking place don't deny that they believe in the messages being churned out by the station, but distance themselves from the broadcast itself. Their position is that they are simply landlords and that a third party has rented out a closet for equipment and the space for the tower. Apparently they don't even have access to the equipment. Their tenant has put his own lock on the door.
This, however, didn't stop the FCC from issuing the landlords a $15,000 fine. See KXAN News clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs_sOoDrEx8
Last summer, at the Texas Association of Broadcasters convention, I listened to an unknown gentleman ask the Texas FCC enforcement agent what's going on with this pirate station. The agent admitted that this station has operated for over five years from various locations. Listen to his words here...
https://soundcloud.com/power104/fcc-steve-lee-at-tex-assn-broadcasters
In other words, every time the FCC starts the legal process to shut it down, the people who actually run the station move their transmitter to a new location. In the meantime, the landlords who rent property to the people who run the station are the ones getting hit with fines. Fines, mind you, that no one has paid, and the FCC is making no effort to collect.
Things that make you go "hmmmmm..."