I talked with attorney Michael Couzens about the case of Pirate Cat Radio and his client, Daniel Roberts. This week the FCC released an order rejecting Roberts’ petition for reconsideration of a $10,000 fine the Commission levied against him for unlicensed broadcasting. Couzens brought to my attention a footnote (32) in the Commission’s order (PDF) […]
Every so often I like to do a round-up of events in unlicensed broadcasting. In this update we have a review of FCC actions against unlicensed broadcasters, including one on the shortwave band and another on the CB band, good buddy. Plus, there’s an investigation into one of the country’s most notorious TV pirates. Sniffing […]
The Massachusetts legislature is considering a bill to make unlicensed broadcasting illegal, joining New York, New Jersey and Florida with state laws prohibiting pirate radio on the books. As John Anderson reports, the Massachusetts bill would not make it a crime, but rather permit the Attorney General to take legal action that may result in […]
The Sun Sentinel, which covers all matters related to Broward County, Florida, has an interesting pirate radio story this week. Apparently a slew of folks around the Hollywood police station (Hollywood, Florida, that is, north of Miami) were having trouble opening their Lexus and Toyota vehicle doors via their keyless entry gizmos. Fingers pointed all […]
I was unaware that New Zealand had a pirate radio scene in the 1960s. But upon further reflection it makes sense, since that country’s radio dial was similarly monopolized by state broadcasters just like the UK and continental Europe. This meant that insurgent rock n’ roll music was hard to find, making for a ready […]
Albert Knighten is a retired Navy air traffic controller in Ft. Myers, Florida who was busted by local police for running an unlicensed radio station back in December. Now the FCC has caught up with him, too, issuing him a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) for $15,000 on Monday [PDF]. He was operating a community […]
Costa Rica’s Tico Times recently published a profile of unlicensed Guatemala radio station Radio Ixchel, as part of an examination of the radio scene in that country. Guatemala has as many as 800 pirate stations, where most radio licenses are auctioned for as much as $100,000. While there are license categories for public stations, there […]
The biggest news in pirate radio so far this year is the story about Ft. Myers, Florida resident Albert Knighten, a retired Navy air traffic controller who was arrested in December on charges of unlicensed broadcasting. Knighten’s Dunbar Radio, named for his neighborhood, focused his broadcasts on the city’s underserved population of older residents who […]
Jason Scott is an archivist and historian of computer and internet history behind such great projects as textfiles.com, which preserves the wonders of the pre-web internet, as well as documentaries on pre-internet BBSs (bulletin-board systems) and text adventure games. Appropriately enough, he now works at the Internet Archive, and while catching up on his blog […]
Last week New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that makes broadcasting on the AM or FM dials a class A misdemeanor, which is punishable with up to a year in prison. Like similar laws in New Jersey and Florida, the legislation was pushed by broadcasters in the state who cheered its passage. The original […]
