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from the nobody-had-a-flashlight-(you'll-need-to-RTFA) dept.
FCC tries to make Miami pirate radio station walk the plank
"Pirate radio" in 2017 takes many forms, but here's one: a north Miami couple hosting a transmitter in their backyard shed while a DJ's signal is piped in over the Internet and promoted on Facebook—even after multiple warnings from the government and a gear seizure by the US Marshals. Oh—did I mention the $144,344 fine? Not that anyone's likely to pay it.
Welcome to 90.1 MHz, "Radio Touche Douce," a Haitian music station appearing to be so obviously illegal that it even has the ability to unite the current fractious set of FCC commissioners. It's not even a secret; as the Miami Herald notes, the station is "the pulse of the Haitian music industry in Miami, organizing some of the most popular big-ticket parties while promoting bands and guiding konpa music fans to the next hit." But that doesn't mean it has been easy to shut down.
Here, in statements pulled right from FCC documents, is the story of how Radio Touche Douce has operated for years right under the nose of government investigators—and how the FCC has now upped the ante.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 30 2017, @10:00PM (2 children)
I looked around for FM costs, and I found this:
Well that is in bumfuck Wisconsin. This station is in Miami.
Prices seem to start at $100,000 and go up to tens of millions. Again, this is Miami. I think we could be looking at spectrum worth $50,000,000 being swiped from adjacent operators who have paid for legal operation. (swiped via interference, spilling over in multiple ways)
The FCC didn't even collect the last fine. If the fine isn't at least several times the cost of legal operation, and we don't manage to collect it, there is no disincentive to misbehave. It becomes a business cost at best, or even a non-issue.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ledow on Saturday December 30 2017, @10:14PM
Seems to me that it's probably cost more in investigate costs / visitations already than they were ever fined.
In the UK, we're a bit more strict apparently:
"Anyone involved in illegal broadcasting is committing a criminal offence and could face up to two years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both."
And rightly so. Who knows what that cheap shite broadcast equipment is actually interfering with.
Also, the definition includes all the people you want rather than just the guy with the transmitter:
"You may be committing an offence if you know, or have reasonable cause to believe, that unauthorised broadcasts are being made, and you:
keep a station/apparatus available for its use;
allowing your premises to be used;
advertise;
promote;
provide content;
or otherwise enable the broadcasting, including managing or rendering any service that will facilitate the operation."
My bigger question, though, is really who listens to FM radio nowadays? I can't even remember the last time I did it deliberately (sometimes if I press the Mode button in my car stereo, it goes through FM and DAB). Hell, even the maintenance people at my workplace just get me to kit up their phones with the app or stream of their favourite radio station rather than actually faff about with a real radio. And they drive minibuses for part of the day, so they just bluetooth it in from the same phone.
Last time I listened to radio was against-my-will at a workplace nearly 10 years ago, where the IT department had a radio on 24/7 tuned (badly) to a crap signal of a major radio station. It drove me potty and I used to turn it off as soon as I could if it was just me in the office. Even then, I remember thinking why not just stream it?
The cost to operate a radio station (even minus fines) honestly can't be worth the bother, what money do you get? Some revenue from "unofficial" advertisers who themselves could invite a visit from the authorities for financing the operation? I can't see that making even a laptop and broadcast running 24/7 be worth the effort, even if the licence was free, let alone with all the associated hassle.
(Score: 2) by hoeferbe on Sunday December 31 2017, @07:55PM
Maybe the story is incomplete, but the Ars Technica article doesn't mention this pirate radio station interfering with others, at all. The only mention of interference (and even he phrased it as "potential interference") is in a quote from Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, "for whom pirate radio crackdowns are a key issue".
His discourse reminds me of other government bureaucrats and politicians going off on how we need to get rid of strong encryption or anonymity on the Internet in order for them to protect us against drug-dealers, child-pornographers, terrorists or whoever the bad guy of the decade, is.