FCC Fines Massachusetts Pirate

[Radio1968]

From All Access (2/17):

JEAN HAROLD MARIUS of RANDOLPH, MA gets fined $10,000. for running a pirate station on 89.3 FM. The FCC proposed the fine on NOVEMBER 21 and MARIUS did not respond to the notice.

 

[jlehmann]

> From All Access (2/17):
>
> JEAN HAROLD MARIUS of RANDOLPH, MA gets fined $10,000. for
> running a pirate station on 89.3 FM. The FCC proposed the
> fine on NOVEMBER 21 and MARIUS did not respond to the
> notice.
>

Yet the station is still on the air, as strong as ever. Seems like the pirates we have in the area now really think they are above the FCC.

 

[TJMPRO]

I'm sure they were "warned" a few times before the fine was issued. You'd think they would have shut down after the first warning.

 

[MassMusicMan]

> From All Access (2/17):
>
> JEAN HAROLD MARIUS of RANDOLPH, MA gets fined $10,000. for
> running a pirate station on 89.3 FM. The FCC proposed the
> fine on NOVEMBER 21 and MARIUS did not respond to the
> notice.

So that's why 89.3 (where I have my Sirius tuner set) gets jammed when I'm heading through Milton on the expressway! It's because of this bastard!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> I'm sure they were "warned" a few times before the fine was
> issued. You'd think they would have shut down after the
> first warning.

I've heard that this Randolph based pirate which calls itself "Planet Compas" or "Compas FM" also has a satellite transmitter in Brockton, and possibly others scattered around the Metro-South suburbs and Rhode Island.

The U. Mass Dartmouth station in North Dartmouth is slated to move to this frequency 89.3 with new call letters WUMD as a class B1 with 9600 watts. Perhaps they could have complained to the FCC about the pirate(s) in order to clear the frequency for their new station.

 

[blabhead]

> Yet the station is still on the air, as strong as ever.
> Seems like the pirates we have in the area now really think
> they are above the FCC.
>
I think You are right,perhaps law enforcement rewarding the pirates with a free pair of bracelets might help the situation.I heard this station over the weekend,didn't listen today.
As someone pointed out above the pirates in the Randolph area make it hard to tune Your SATRAD FM transmitter to an open frequency.
It is too bad this guy can't go legal, I listen to the music he plays once in a while,it is a nice change,much of the music has a raw sound to it and is not over produced,but he is still a pirate and should go down.
Now if the FCC will go after the other 956 pirates that operate around the Boston/Randolph/Brockton corridor things will be good
I am puzzled in this post 9/11 age how people are allowed to just broadcast whatever the heck they want over public airwaves and the FCC just sits and waits till they get a complaint before acting,maybe Homeland security should take over this mission from the FCC and restore order to the airwaves.

 

[thedougpound]

Clear Channel Providence Director of Engineering Steve Conti runs the well known and popular pirate, 89.3 WICE! He even carries a syndicated big band show form Dick Robinson.

Oh, a good friend of his is the consulting engineer with the ne w893 and Mr Conti will be warned before they go on the air.

 

[pqgeorge]

As I write this note, the station "Radio Planet Compas" is STILL on the air with its' usual Haitian programming. Got to hand it to this guy, he's got a lot of b**ls after being served with a obvious NAL from the FCC. I'll betcha this guy considers this $10,000 fine to be the "cost of doing business". I'm sure business is booming, as witnessed by the amount of commercial spots he airs every day. The satellite repeaters in Brockton and beyond must be linked via ISDN's because when this station shuts down at 7:00AM (every morning), the Brockton transmitter is first to go during a promo. When Brockton pulls the switch, Randolph is still running the promo, with NO delay factor. This is a guy who obviously does his homework in terms of transmitter placement. I used to get "WICE-FM" in Rhode Island on a regular basis. But ever since this bozo fired up a satellite signal in Brockton, forget it.

I recall that this operation was originally on 530, with a fairly strong signal. Then they dumped THAT to put the 89.3 operation on. But, obviously this station is ignoring the fine and keeps plugging away. I think though, the Commission will eventually shut them down. I've never seen such a blatent "boot". Either he's got a lot of gonads, or he's downright stupid (or a combination of both). We shall see.

> > I'm sure they were "warned" a few times before the fine
> was
> > issued. You'd think they would have shut down after the
> > first warning.
>
> I've heard that this Randolph based pirate which calls
> itself "Planet Compas" or "Compas FM" also has a satellite
> transmitter in Brockton, and possibly others scattered
> around the Metro-South suburbs and Rhode Island.
>
> The U. Mass Dartmouth station in North Dartmouth is slated
> to move to this frequency 89.3 with new call letters WUMD as
> a class B1 with 9600 watts. Perhaps they could have
> complained to the FCC about the pirate(s) in order to clear
> the frequency for their new station.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>

 

[raccoonradio]

> I'm sure they were "warned" a few times before the fine was
> issued. You'd think they would have shut down after the
> first warning.
>
Eventually the FCC could walk in and take their equipment...which I believe
happened at one point to Radio Free Brattleboro.

I remember the old Brockton pirate WHDL which got caught when they decided to
boost their power (which is how I picked them up on the North Shore), and the Globe soon mentioned how they were shut down. "We Hate Dumb Listeners" or
"We had HotDogs for Lunch"...maybe 89.3? 102.1? LONG ago<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[pqgeorge]

Yeah, 'HDL, I remember it well. It was a few high-school kids who basically had a good time playing on the radio. It was a rather decent station to listen to, in Stereo nonetheless. But... the owner decided to fire up in the middle of the day (this was basically a night operation), and got a couple of FCC Inspectors visiting the station during their lunch hour who said...... "license please?".

At least THIS station KNEW to shut down after its' brush with the Commission and never came back. Whether the 89.3 guy gets the message or not, remains to be seen.


>
> I remember the old Brockton pirate WHDL which got caught
> when they decided to
> boost their power (which is how I picked them up on the
> North Shore), and the Globe soon mentioned how they were
> shut down. "We Hate Dumb Listeners" or
> "We had HotDogs for Lunch"...maybe 89.3? 102.1? LONG ago
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>

 

[Cueburn]

> I remember the old Brockton pirate WHDL which got caught
> when they decided to
> boost their power (which is how I picked them up on the
> North Shore), and the Globe soon mentioned how they were
> shut down. "We Hate Dumb Listeners" or
> "We had HotDogs for Lunch"...maybe 89.3? 102.1? LONG ago


I remember WHDL very well. If memory serves me correctly they had some nice slogans like, We’ll keep on rockin’ till the FCC comes knockin’ (and they did come knocking). I heard once WHDL was Hot Delicious Lunch. They were in Braintree. I lived in the area at the time and tracked them one night. I unplugged my antenna from the car radio and drove in the area I thought they were and found them.

And they would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for those pesky kids” (and the big power boost too…

 

[vanillaice]

> Clear Channel Providence Director of Engineering Steve Conti
> runs the well known and popular pirate, 89.3 WICE! He even
> carries a syndicated big band show form Dick Robinson.
>
> Oh, a good friend of his is the consulting engineer with the
> ne w893 and Mr Conti will be warned before they go on the
> air.
>
Whoever wrote this last message does'nt know Steve Conti very well. I believe he is a DJ at a Gentlemen's Club in Providence. He is NOT the Director of Engineering for Providence Clear Channel.