For Ivan James, pirate radio is not only a major-market problem.
He is president of M-4Media, which owns KJVI(FM) in Robert Lee, Texas. His station has been frustrated by a pirate who has been interfering on its frequency 105.7 MHz since 2016, often mimicking out-of-town stations.
The city of Robert Lee is the seat of Coke County and “known as the home of the Rabbit Twisters and the Playground of West Texas, for the many activities we are able to provide to travelers,” according to the city website. But its population is barely above 1,000 people, and the radio station focuses its branding on the San Angelo area about 30 minutes to the south.
Its Facebook page reflects the community focus. On a day in early November it featured a “boil water” notice, a promotion for a local furniture and mattress store, an alert about an accident on state highway Loop 306, and a pinned memorial to the victims of 9/11.
James calls the pirate radio activity egregious. “It really hurts in our fringe coverage areas.” His Class A FM broadcasts at 6 kW, which James says is just enough to reach San Angelo. But he said the licensed signal is hindered by emissions that have caused occasional interference, especially on weekends, for seven years.
“We’ve worked very hard and spent money to make our signal as good as possible, yet the illegal broadcasts hamper the signal,” he said.
The FCC is now required by Congress to conduct sweeps for pirate broadcasters in certain major metropolitan areas, and the early results have generated news headlines. But broadcasters like James who serve rural or less populous areas can tell you that pirate radio also can be a problem in small-town USA.
Unknown extent
The FCC has received additional funding from Congress in recent years to try to find and shut down pirates, but it is playing catchup from years of relatively limited enforcement, which may have led to a false sense of invulnerability among illicit broadcasters.
The Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act became law in 2020 and requires the FCC to conduct sweeps annually in the five markets where pirates are most active.
“The commission, however, does not limit itself to investigating pirate radio broadcasting during enforcement sweeps only in these or other large metropolitan areas,” an FCC spokesperson told Radio World.
Broadcasters also hope that the commission’s recent efforts to pressure landlords of suspected pirates will help.
But it’s hard to determine the scope of pirate activity in less populated areas.
Since 2020, the states with the most FCC anti-pirate actions are New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania and Maryland. These states include many cities with dense populations, numerous radio stations and a documented history of pirate problems. The chart also lists enforcements in states such as New Mexico, Arkansas and even Alaska; but while the FCC page lists the number of enforcement actions by state, it does not give insight by population size.
Broadcast attorneys contacted by Radio World said pirate activity, while less common in smaller communities, is not unknown.
On Oct. 13 of this year, the commission issued a forfeiture order against Thomas Barnes, who is accused of operating an unauthorized station on 100.5 MHz in La Grande, a city of about 13,000 people in northeast Oregon.
It alleges that he operated the station for years on various frequencies.
The first complaint against Barnes was logged in 2018; the commission received another in 2019. Earlier, Barnes agreed to surrender a transmitter to an FCC agent, according to the commission, but the FCC says it did not receive a reply from Barnes to the latest enforcement effort, and it recently affirmed an $80,000 fine.
The case is indicative of how long it sometimes takes to conclude an investigation, if indeed a conclusion can be reached or a fine collected.
In another case, in 2022, agents from the FCC’s Denver field office used RF direction-finding to discover the source of signals on 107.3 and 107.5 MHz in Walsenburg in southern Colorado, which has a population of around 3,000. The FCC wrote the landlord, Raphael Saucie, to warn that allowing pirate radio activity can bring enforcement action and forfeiture against a property owner.
The commission encourages listeners and broadcasters in any area of the country to file a complaint with the agency if they discover pirate radio broadcasting, the FCC spokesperson said.
The informal process requires no complicated legal procedures; it involves no filing charge and does not require the person to appear before the FCC. Complaints are then considered for further review and possible investigation.
Gregg Skall, a communications attorney with Telecommunications Law Professionals and Radio World contributor, says having an attorney is helpful but not necessary when filing a complaint.
“Anyone can file an informal complaint via the FCC’s website. Or they can contact an FCC field office directly. Overall I believe the FCC has been pretty aggressive on the issue of pirates,” Skall said.
Another observer says that pirates, even in rural areas, have become more sophisticated, using equipment that allows them to move and restart again in another location quickly. “It’s like playing Whac-a-Mole in the countryside,” that attorney said.
John Garziglia, a retired communications law partner for Womble Bond Dickinson who continues to advise the firm on radio broadcasting issues, said anecdotal evidence leads him to believe that radio piracy is not widespread in rural areas.
“However, the key to combating a pirate broadcaster is to provide as much information as possible to the FCC. Seek out the pirate’s transmitter site, the pirate’s studio/program origination location, the identity of the people involved in the pirate operation, the frequency and hours the pirate is on the air, and as many other details that can be obtained,” Garziglia said.
He recommends that a broadcaster dealing with a pirate engage a legal or engineering professional who routinely deals with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau
“That can prove very helpful. The FCC receives thousands of complaints annually, so an experienced practitioner will know whom at the FCC to contact with a pirate radio complaint, and how to present persuasive information to agency personnel.”
[Related: “FCC Writes Up 3 More NYC Pirates, This Time With $6M in Proposed Fines“]
Limited resources
The commission says it treats all reports of illegal radio seriously, but attorneys and others say the FCC does have limited resources and manpower to draw upon, even after the boost from Congress.
Pursuing a complaint may require patience and persistence on the part of the licensed broadcaster; and it may not be evident to an outsider how or whether enforcement people are working on a case.
Garziglia mentioned the case of a well-known pirate radio broadcaster near Adrian, Mich., pop. 20,502, that has plagued a community for decades intermittently and remains on the air to this day. The existence of Radio Free Lenawee was brought to the attention of the FCC in 1996, according to court documents provided by Garziglia.
Meanwhile in Robert Lee, Texas, M-4Media has collected audio proof as evidence of the pirate, said Ivan James, and reached out to the FCC with complaints filed by its Washington-based attorney.
“We just haven’t heard much back. I’m losing advertising dollars because clients try to listen and hear another station. We just want to serve the people of our community.”
