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93QClassic.com
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Had a chance to visit Austin this week. In between errands, I visited the broadcast site of the "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 apparently 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..."
Interesting situation. For want of a better word, this pirate station is apparently 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..."
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