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In Internet Age, Pirate Radio Arises As Surprising Challenge (ap.org)
K7DAN writes: Just as the demise of terrestrial radio has been greatly exaggerated, so has the assumed parallel death of pirate radio. Due to the failure of licensed stations to meet the needs of many niche communities, pirate radio continues to increase in popularity. Helping facilitate this growth is the weakening power of the FCC to stop it, reports the Associated Press. Rogue stations can cover up to several square miles thanks largely in part to cheaper technology. The appeal? "The DJs sound like you and they talk about things that you're interested in," said Jay Blessed, an online DJ who has listened to various unlicensed stations since she moved from Trinidad to Brooklyn more than a decade ago. "You call them up and say, 'I want to hear this song,' and they play it for you," Blessed said. "It's interactive. It's engaging. It's communal." It's upsetting many congressional members who are urging the FCC to do more about the "unprecedented growth of pirate radio operations." They're accusing said pirates of undermining licensed minority stations while ignoring consumer protection laws that guard against indecency and false advertising.
I've always wanted to start a pirate radio station just for shits and giggles, and doubly so after watching 'The Boat That Rocked" (watch this one, the UK release, not the US version "Pirate Radio", imo.) The fact that it is apparently infuriating to certain members of congress would just be icing on the the cake...
...many pirate stations will be shut down by FCC, just because this piece of news has been posted here. This adds a new dimension to the slashdot effect, after all...
" ignoring consumer protection laws that guard against indecency"
The 1950s are over. The airwaves are in desperate need of shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits.
Wearing only a ____ ring.
and dont want to spend all day thinking about children?
We wanted better spectrum use, didn't we? Lots of small stations means more spectrum use. And if they're illegal... work with them to make them legal.
Instead of repressing the messenger in the form of DJs meeting the needs of the local community, how about reviewing the licensing and all the other petty laws restricting the community?
Protecting licenses that costs hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions. Now where does that sound familiar from....
Oh, I know! A million dollar medallion for taxi drivers in large cities like New York!
I think what Uber does there is say: "Screw that, we're just going to drive anyway"
I guess that's what pirate radio stations will be saying. "Screw that, we're going to provide service to people anyway."
Who are these lucky constituents that won't have to worry about false advertising anymore?
You have to admire those Members of Congress, they go after the most hard-to-find targets first. It doesn't matter if those "pirate" radio stations only reach 0.0005% of their own constituency or operate just a couple of hours a month with little or no advertising of any kind. You have to admire the kind of motivation those Members of Congress have at wanting to stamp out those tiny little cockroaches.
If I were the shopping channel network, or ABC, or an internet advertising agency, I would be shaking in my boots right now. After all, if those Members of Congress spend so much of their time and energy going after those little guys, it's only a matter of time before they start noticing all the false advertising going on the biggest licensed television and radio networks, with diamond dealers, phone carriers, cable providers, weight loss products, Duracell batteries, and the list goes on...
KPFZ in Lake County, California started as a pirate station. Then they went legal low-power, and now they cover a large portion of the county (covering the whole thing is tricky due to terrain).
So it isn't necessarily just a hobby--if your pirate station really gets traction and meets a need, it can "go legit".
I noticed the letter is dated June 2015. Must be a slow "News" day...
It's easy as fuck to run a pirate radio station today, just install PiFM on a Raspberry and you're on the air.
Do you remember
back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
that's where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
in every county there,
I'm talkin' 'bout that outlaw X
is cuttin' through the air.
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
"False advertizing"? Are they implying that there is advertising that does NOT lie and cheat?
BrandX washes whiter, BrandY protects your colors.
The truth: BrandX makes color vanish along with the dirt, while BrandY doesn't get your laundry clean.
Wow, TFS makes it really hard to feel that what they're really afraid of is the public gaining access to information diverging from the establishment talking points and entertainment not supporting the current corporate entertainment products.
Maybe that was the intended conclusion I'm supposed to draw, but I can't say I wouldn't have drawn that conclusion anyway.
The funniest thing is "false advertising"? WTF? Do "officials" think current marking practices are a bastion of transparent and unvarnished truth, free from deliberate deception and manipulation?
Usually official radio channels are provided only for the "friends of government" or local politicians. Nobody wishing to create a truly community radio gets authorization and can only operate clandestinely. A radio channel for the holders of power is seen only as a "political tool" and they do not admit that they could fall into the "wrong hands" (common people).
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Those fuckers killed the low power FM license because they catered to Clear channel and their other benefactors.
All of the pirate radio "problem" is 100% the fault of Congress. Those are the scumbags that need to be fined and put in jail first.
Give us an affordable low power FM license ability and 95% of those pirate stations would go legit.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
First you need to build your radio station into a box that you can place at the top of a taller building. get one of the 10-20 watt china transmitters and build a nice 5/8's wave antenna like a J pole out of copper pipe. putall of it inside a sealed plastic box and use a raspberry PI for the audio source.
Now use a USB stick to hold your radio station audio files plug it all in and splice into power you can find up there. if you paint it all to look like it belongs it will not get dismantled for years.
Bonus points, give it a WIFI accesspoint so you can simply drive there and point a gain antenna at the location to upload new content.
Now when the FCC raids the station you will not get arrested as it's not your property and if you are smart you have no evidence behind that it's yours. Yes you are out your $400 of gear (if you buy good stuff with filters) but that is a lot cheaper than the $40,000 fine and possible jail time.
Social engineer your way in to set it up. you are here from dish network, etc....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A government so large that EVERY SINGLE CITIZEN is an equal member of that government.
This sounds more like the definition of democracy. Perhaps you can clarify?
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
As a youth back in 1960 I built a radio broadcast rig and used it for only a very few minutes before cars with funny antennas and a helicopter started searching my block. I rushed to unplug the rig and get it one mile away and turn it on at a friends house for a few seconds to keep the searchers from triangulating my location. I was astounded at the speed at which there was a response. It is hard to imagine how pirate stations are able to exist these days. One way might be to run it from the back of a van that is kept in motion.
it was fun. But what was even more fun was trolling Clear Channel, when we went into their local corporate HQ to talk about marketing...and I brought up their repeated helping the FCC in busting "pirate radio" stations. Just do a search of "clear channel busting pirate radio" and you'll find scores of stories. Once they even set up a media server to capture a signal and sent the link to the FCC along with the complaint. NPR is also an opponent of low-power FM. But, be warned, Clear Channel will aggressively pursue any signals they can find and have a very cozy relationship with the FCC enforcement arm.
That's a good thing, because corporations have fewer powers than governments, and they'd have even fewer still if they were not protected by an absolute maze of regulations.
Further, almost everyone misses the point of "small government": it means reduce the functions government assumes so that it does not become a self-interested actor. It's not about size as in number of people or budget, but size as in scope of abilities.
Indeed.
The FCC has only one real use in this area: preventing interference.
False advertising? That's the FTC. How much advertising happens on pirate radio, anyway?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The original pirate radio stations (way back when in the country I come from) were broadcasting from a ship outside the 12 mile limit. The government had difficulty shutting it down as it didnt have jurisdiction in international waters.
I am not sure how that would work here in the US where the nearest ocean is over 1000 miles away.
... at least here in London is that a lot of them now are run by not very bright egotistical and/or criminal (other than just illegal broadcasting) individuals who don't give a stuff about anyone else on the band. They'll cause interference to or even stomp over legit and other pirate stations alike. A minority of them are also a front for other far worse criminal activities.
We've got a great indy station in Lexington, WRFL, that recently increased their power but had to shape their signal so as to not step on the toes of the local religious stations who rule the airwaves down here. As a result, even though I'm only 30 miles away and could normally get their signal, I cannot because it's being blocked for the fundys. Radio here is all but dead.
"Shall we play a game?" -W.O.P.R.
sadly, the politician-class is not held to be accountable for making up complete bullshit when urging new laws to protect against the population using our first amendment rights.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
False advertising? That's the FTC.
We're in an election year, the airwaves are filled with false advertising. Unfortunately it is POLITICAL speech and legal to spew lies under the guise of electioneering.
So in essence, you're not correct ;)
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
The politician is not getting his cut.
Break up the ClearChannel/IHeartRadio monopoly.
I really miss listening to radio since it was the way I used to discover new music. These days within two songs I can tell if a station is owned by ClearChannel since it's ALWAYS the exact same robotic programming designed to keep the largest possible audience. Plus its almost always the same songs for most of the programming hour. The problem is people have more choice, so that kind of monotonous programming is a dinosaur.
I live in San Diego and the spectrum is nearly full here. I've tried to scan it, but honestly stopping every 200-400 hertz takes longer to find a station than anywhere I'm driving (and that's about a 20 minute minimum). 90% of it is useless redundant programming unless I want to listen to Mexican oldies (which I don't). The local rock station plays Pop, Hip-Hop and the occasional R&B song. Plus there's the DJ who stops every 2 songs to monologue with some "after the break find out which band blah blah blah" to hook you for the commercials which tend to take up at least 20 minutes per hour. All told I'd be surprised if they played more than 30 minutes of music per hour. Not to mention the requisite 3 Led Zeppelin and 2-3 Pink Floyd songs per hour, which at this point have a pavlovian response for me to change the station. All told you get maybe 1-2 new songs in an hours worth of programming, and even then it's probably some made to sell band instead of some band with actual talent.
It's no wonder why pirate radio would be taking off. I've always wanted to run a radio station from the days I started doing college radio. I was actually thinking about it just two days ago, it's simple, cheap and relatively available to just about anyone. I would love to stumble across one that fit a format I like.
Perhaps there is an unwritten code among pirate stations but reading in Gordon West's GROL book has an interesting mention. In the early days of radio (1920s or 30s) the Supreme Court ruled Commerce Dept does not have enforcement powers over radio stations (those pre-FCC laws had a lot of holes I guess). Radio stations had a field day, they used whatever power they wanted, operated whenever they wanted, changed frequencies on the whim. Result was chaos and interference that caused many listeners to put away their receivers and sales tanked (typical tragedy of the commons). When FCC was created, a lot more thought was put into its implementation.
However, as BigU+03C0mpin said, breakup the Clear Channel monopoly. There was a time when FCC required AM and FM broadcast band have a balance of station types. Rock, country, classical, news, jazz, etc. I'm thinking it has been years since I've listened to broadcast radio, it just doesn't do anything for me. But all these pirate stations sound interesting and they have an audience. I assume many of these stations are willing to be legit but the entry barriers are simply too high. Maybe KFAT will make a comeback. They were a marginal country station in Gilroy in 1970s, they scrounged flea markets and garage sales for obscure country records. Their bumpsticker, "I found it! And it's hard to find too." (they were relatively low power).
mfwright@batnet.com
http://www.thestar.com/opinion...
And I'm told that a growing body of increasingly comprehensive and consistent case law was on the verge of making the Communications Act of 1934 unnecessary.
Fortunately, our Wise Solons in the Congress stopped that, just in time.
Otherwise, there would be no fig leaf of "preventing interference" to justify the FCC's existence.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.