In this letter to the editor, the author comments on Randy Stines’ recent article “FCC Finds Collecting Pirate Radio Fines a Challenge.” Comment on this or any article. Email [email protected].
Randy,
Your Nov. 24, 2023 RW article, “FCC Finds Collecting Pirate Radio Fines a Challenge,” is excellent and necessary reporting. It should be expanded to cover all FCC fines. How many FCC fines are collected, or never collected? Does Congress take no interest in this question? Are uncollected fines in the millions, or billions? Without transparency the public can’t evaluate FCC enforcement.
Your article also states: “Pirate radio is an unauthorized transmission of radio signals on the frequencies in or adjacent to the FM and AM radio bands.” That is not strictly correct, in the words of the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act (PIRATE Act). The FCC relies on this act for its authority to perform “sweeps” of pirate stations and impose the heavy penalties it is announcing.
You accurately quoted an FCC news release. What the commission wishes to say, and what the law actually says are different. Congress took up the issue of exactly what defines pirate radio. At 47 U.S.C. 511(h), the PIRATE Act specifically limits “pirate radio” to “spectrum frequencies between 535 and 1705 kilohertz, inclusive, or 87.7 and 108 megahertz, inclusive.” Frequencies adjacent to those bands are excluded from the scope of this law.
Unlicensed broadcast stations are prevalent in the high-frequency spectrum, especially between 5 and 10 MHz. Not a single sweep, interdiction or fine has occurred with these stations under PIRATE Act authority. At this writing, the FCC database “Pirate Radio Enforcement Actions by State,” contains 64 records of enforcement actions against pirates since January 2020. None of these involved the HF band, or the 535-1705 kHz band either.
Are unlicensed HF broadcasters legal? No. But Congress made clear where in the spectrum it wants the FCC to focus its attention.
— Bennett Kobb, Arlington Va.
(The author is editor of Experimental Radio News.)
