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WGBH looks at Pirate Radio in Boston.....

W

Wimmmex

WGBH looks at Pirate Radio in Boston..... Thoughts?

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2018/06/06/radio-concorde-on-the-air-undercover

On the second floor of a nondescript office building in Mattapan, up the stairs and behind an unmarked door, I found what I had been searching for: the spartan office of Radio Concorde — an unlicensed, low-power station that broadcasts news, talk and music in Haitian Creole.

Two things struck me about the story.

1.) RadioConcorde has been on the air 25 freaking years?

2.) This statement by the reporter: "Under the Local Community Radio Act of 2011, unlicensed stations can apply for “non-commercial-educational” licenses — as long as they meet certain requirements. According to the FCC, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment, the eligible stations need to have served the particular community for at least two years, broadcasting at least 12 hours a day, with at least eight hours of locally-originated programming."

This makes no sense. The PIRATE station has to have operated for at least 2 years? This is ambiguous and I think she is confusing the rules for legitimate licensed LPFM stations.
 
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Wimmmex said:
WGBH looks at Pirate Radio in Boston..... Thoughts?

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2018/06/06/radio-concorde-on-the-air-undercover

On the second floor of a nondescript office building in Mattapan, up the stairs and behind an unmarked door, I found what I had been searching for: the spartan office of Radio Concorde — an unlicensed, low-power station that broadcasts news, talk and music in Haitian Creole.
Click to expand...

GBH tries for balance, but the story still probably leaves the neutral reader sympathetic to the pirates' cause. I see our "Touch" friend Charles Clemons has added another name, but GBH can't decide whether it's Muhammad, Muhammas or Muhammed.
 
Under the Local Community Radio Act of 2011, unlicensed stations can apply for “non-commercial-educational” licenses — as long as they meet certain requirements.

Stations must apply during a filing window when the FCC is accepting applications. Since the law passed, there has been a single, one-month filing window in October 2013. The eligible stations need to have served the particular community for at least two years, broadcasting at least 12 hours a day, with at least eight hours of locally-originated programming.

But there’s a catch — stations that have existed in the community for that long cannot ever have been fined or shut down. Otherwise, they are ineligible for a license.

As written by the 'GBH reporter, it appears the FCC can grant "amnesty" to these offenders! How nice. I agree with CTListener that the tone of the article would "leave the neutral reader sympathetic to the pirates cause."

If the big players at Beasley, Entercom, and iHeart can't get the FCC fired up about this to protect their own interests, well, then, it ain't gettin' better anytime soon.

A former Attorney General of MA said it best: "It's not illegal to be illegal in Massachusetts."
 
Some of the pirate stations in the Boston area aren't interested in non-commercial licenses. Their pirate operation is commercial.

The other issue for some of these pirates is they're run by non-citizens, and one of the requirements for a license is to be a citizen.

Some may even be illegals, although I have no proof of that. In any case, they're not going to raise their hands to the government.
 
nowradioguy said:
Under the Local Community Radio Act of 2011, unlicensed stations can apply for “non-commercial-educational” licenses — as long as they meet certain requirements.

The eligible stations need to have served the particular community for at least two years, broadcasting at least 12 hours a day, with at least eight hours of locally-originated programming.
Click to expand...


So, in order to potentially get a license to operate AND amnesty....you have to have broken the law continuously for at least 2 years....?

This doesn't sound right.....

Maybe David Eduardo can shed some legal light on this....
 
There is a difference between unlicensed LEGAL and unlicensed ILLEGAL. This article from Prometheus described the two:

https://www.prometheusradio.org/alternatives

A pirate station is illegal. So regardless of what WGBH says, I can't see how they could apply for a non-commercial license.

What they're referring to would be for a Part 15 to convert to LPFM.
 
Wimmmex said:
So, in order to potentially get a license to operate AND amnesty....you have to have broken the law continuously for at least 2 years....?

This doesn't sound right.....

Maybe David Eduardo can shed some legal light on this....
Click to expand...

Unless I misquoted, what I wrote was excerpted right from the 'GBH article.

Now, assuming I quoted correctly: if you've lived in Massachusetts long enough, it should not surprise you that a liberal reporter would find nothing wrong with amnesty for (well intentioned) lawbreakers.
 
nowradioguy said:
Now, assuming I quoted correctly: if you've lived in Massachusetts long enough, it should not surprise you that a liberal reporter would find nothing wrong with amnesty for (well intentioned) lawbreakers.
Click to expand...

Maybe I missed it, but the reporter never asked anyone at Radio Concorde if they would even be interested in applying for a license.
 
Wimmmex said:
So, in order to potentially get a license to operate AND amnesty....you have to have broken the law continuously for at least 2 years....?

This doesn't sound right.....

Maybe David Eduardo can shed some legal light on this....
Click to expand...


....Eduardo...? ;-)
 
The FCC by habit, does not license any entity that willfully breaks FCC Rules. If they've been fined does not matter. The FCC can forgive but a pirate operation is viewed as an operation lacking candor, a requirement for a radio licensee. I have never heard anything like the statement made in this thread in the 40 years I've been in radio. For LPFM prior pirate operators that did not get a fine and have ceased the activity, I think, for 18 months filing such a statement under threat of perjury, can be forgiven. Even board members of a non-profit that applied for a station had to attest to this and the FCC made it pretty clear that even if you had been fined and stopped, you lacked the candor required to be a part of the board that governs a station. Keep in mind many times the FCC finds a pirate and asks them to shut down. If they do immediately and don't restart are usually not fined. A pirate that does so is pretty much given the benefit of the doubt, assuming they might not have understood the FCC Rules.
 
Wimmmex said:
....Eduardo...? ;-)
Click to expand...

I think Wimmex summed it up. I do not follow the licensing issues of LPFM stations,

REC Networks' site says,

"Radio Broadcast Preservation Act - (Repealed and replaced by the Local Community Radio Act of 2010) - Invokes third adjacent protection to full power FM and FM translator stations. Also adds language that all persons with a "pirate past" are ineligible for LPFM licenses (see Rugierro v. FCC below). The RBPA was repealed and replaced by the Local Community Radio Act of 2010. The only aspect of the RBPA that survived was the provisions about "pirate" radio operators.

Therefore, those who have a "pirate past" are still prohibited from being a party to an LPFM license."

The REC site: https://recnet.com/lpfm-rules
 
As George Orwell observed, some animals are more equal than others.

The fact of the matter is that certain ethnic blocks are desired voting constituencies amongst politicians. And if a pirate station is popular with that constituency political pressure will be brought upon the FCC to back-off.

It's the only conceivable reason that a pirate could be operating for twenty-five years.
 
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FreddyE1977 said:
As George Orwell observed, some animals are more equal than others.

The fact of the matter is that certain ethnic blocks are desired voting constituencies amongst politicians. And if a pirate station is popular with that constituency political pressure will be brought upon the FCC to back-off.

It's the only conceivable reason that a pirate could be operating for twenty-five years.
Click to expand...

Two legs good, four legs bad?

Mayor Menino always treated Touch as a legitimate radio station.
 
CTListener said:
Mayor Menino always treated Touch as a legitimate radio station.
Click to expand...

Part of it may be that they ACT like a legitimate radio station. They do a lot for their community, and that's the sign of a real radio station. As I've said on this subject in the past, if it wasn't for their illegal history, it's very obvious that this station could easily qualify for a legal license.

Not sure why the WGBH reporter completely ignored Touch and its history in doing their story. Had they studied it, they would see how wrong their statement was that pirates could apply for LPFM licenses. They can't.
 
TheBigA said:
Part of it may be that they ACT like a legitimate radio station. They do a lot for their community, and that's the sign of a real radio station. As I've said on this subject in the past, if it wasn't for their illegal history, it's very obvious that this station could easily qualify for a legal license.

Not sure why the WGBH reporter completely ignored Touch and its history in doing their story. Had they studied it, they would see how wrong their statement was that pirates could apply for LPFM licenses. They can't.
Click to expand...

Past tense. Pretty sure Touch was shut down. It was a very professional-sounding operation, though. I admit to listening to it several times while visiting the city.
 
I think there's a double standard...

when the FCC handles pirates, from what I've read of busts.
If you're a minority they'll come in and look around and ask, "where's your EAS box?"
If you're a white American male, they'll kick the door in at 3AM and point a gun at your wife's head. (Happened in FLA.)
 
kf4rca said:
when the FCC handles pirates, from what I've read of busts.
If you're a minority they'll come in and look around and ask, "where's your EAS box?"
If you're a white American male, they'll kick the door in at 3AM and point a gun at your wife's head. (Happened in FLA.)
Click to expand...

FCC is armed? Since when? Link to news site that isn't Tinfoil Hat or Reich Wing, or it didn't happen.
 
The FCC is smart enough to let Federal Marshalls carry the guns and kick in doors. The guys at the FCC tend to have families too, so I really doubt there are many 3 am busts and pointing guns at the wife's head sounds a little far fetched but adrenaline can make you do some crazy things.
 
kf4rca said:
If you're a white American male, they'll kick the door in at 3AM and point a gun at your wife's head. (Happened in FLA.)
Click to expand...

Louis, you had to know the internet was not going to let you make a charge like that without backing it up.

Do you have a reference link? ;-)
 
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