That stack of warning notices to landlords and property owners that allegedly allow pirate radio transmissions is growing thicker.
In the latest batch, the FCC Enforcement Bureau has sent Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting to nine property owners in the Boston area. The bureau said it identified their properties as sources of illegal broadcasts.
The notices formally notify the landowners, warn them that they could face fines and demand proof that the broadcasting has ceased. The FCC also asks for the names of the individuals making the broadcasts.
“Property owners that continue to allow pirate radio operations on their properties can face serious consequences because these illegal operations can interfere with licensed broadcast signals and their ability to provide emergency alert system notifications,” said Loyaan A. Egal, chief of the bureau, in a press release.
Egal thanked field agents in the Boston area “who work to ensure compliance with federal law in this area.”
The notices continue the commission’s efforts to hold landlords and property managers responsible. In the PIRATE Act, Congress gave the commission authority to take such action against landlords and property owners. The maximum penalty is more than $2.3 million.
Among the letters was one to John N. and Marie C. Cherry, owners of a property on Walk Hill Street in Boston. Agents from the field office used direction finding to source signals on 89.3 MHz from their property on several dates over the summer.
Signals also were found on 105.3 during a summer sweep, traced to a property on Oakdale Street in Brockton. Public records identify Andre O. Jeanty and Racimene Jeanty Reme as the owners.
Robert Perello has been identified as owner of a property on Hazleton Street in Mattapan, where field staff this summer traced illegal signals on 107.5 on several occasions.
Even a church has been caught up in the latest sweep in Beantown. Signals on 87.7 were detected emanating from a property on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester; New Fellowship Baptist Church owns the property, according to the FCC. Feld agents also found broadcasts on 88.5 MHz at the property.
[Related: “The Challenges of Collecting Pirate Radio Fines”]
