pirate on 88.3 ?

[Eli Polonsky]

its not unusual to hear an entire CD on WHRB or WMLN or WSHL

Actually now illegal due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (but I have yet to hear about any enforcement of it against any violators).

The DMCA has nothing to do with over-the air radio broadcasting. It applies to digital networks such as the Internet.

It does have to do with over-the-air broadcasting, in an indirect way, because many radio stations that stream on the internet, and are therefore (supposedly) governed by the DMCA, also broadcast the same program on their over-the-air signal. Therefore, when they have to comply with DMCA regulations limiting amounts of airplay on their internet stream, the same limits also appear in their over-the-air programming because they are simulcast.

It's true that a station can disable its internet stream, and then play as much of whoever they want from whatever (legal) recordings that they want over-the-air only, but most stations also want to stream their programming on the internet to reach the audience that can not (or chooses not to) listen to the station's over-the-air signal.

Moreover, the DMCA doesn't directly impose restrictions on the content of Internet streams; it gives copyright holders some control over the use of sound recordings that are their intellectual property. However, it forces them to grant a "compulsory license" for the use of recordings under terms set by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, which has chosen to impose some content restrictions on stations that use the compulsory license. Not everyone does; stations are free to make other arrangements with copyright holders under terms that may be different from those of the compulsory license.

It would seem impractical. I'd think it would require more correspondence, outreach, negotiation, clerical and secretarial work to make arrangements with all of the copyright holders for every (or even some) of the artists that a stations plays than would be practical for a station to pay a clerical staff (or even find enough volunteer interns) to do.

Perhaps producers of certain shows that feature one artist or group, such as the various nationally syndicated Beatles shows, the official Grateful Dead Hour, etc... may make such arrangements to clear the amount of airplay that their one featured artist has on those types of weekly specialty shows, but I really doubt that many radio stations would bother with trying to make such arrangements for each of (or many of) the artists in their locally originated programming, and would just choose to comply across the board, if they choose to comply at all.

I don't know whether WHRB has made such arrangements with the copyright holders for each of the artists featured in all of their "orgy" programs.

The bottom line is that you can't tell whether someone is violating a copyright holder's rights under the DMCA without knowing what licensing terms have been agreed to by the parties involved.

Perhaps that may be why enforcement appears to be lax. If that's true, it would require investigation into each alleged transgression to prove whether the station is in violation.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Meanwhile in Miami, pirate station busted. Broadcast on freq between legit Christian station
and legit classical station. Actually arrested, not a warning

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-...stian-Radio-With-Hard-Core-Rap-104523104.html

Yes, actually arrested, because Florida has its own home-grown anti-radio-piracy law. Given how perenially understaffed the FCC is, I'm betting they welcome the help in one of the most pirate-infested areas in the country.

 

[fccman]

Strange music on 88.3 between 3 pm and 6:30 pm in Essex my guess was WBMT but it gave no call letters at all is this a pirate ?