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San Francisco to Get New Pirate

‘It’s inevitable’ the FCC will come looking for him

A sentence in this story has been updated slightly. The earlier wording stated that the station was a “Franken FM.” Without a TV audio channel license on which to broadcast, the expected new radio signal does not fit the usual definition of that phrase.

Pirate stations often are brash, but they usually don’t give advance warning.

Yet San Francisco is about to get a new pirate station. That’s according to the San Francisco Weekly, which reports that Radio Valencia is on the Web now and — according to an “organizer” — plans to begin broadcasting soon on 87.9 MHz (also putting it on a so-called “Franken FM” frequency).

The paper shows a photo that purportedly shows the building where the Radio Valencia is located in “Chez Poulet,” near the Mission part of the city. The station organizer, whose psudeonym is “John Hell,” tells the Weekly the station has 25 two-hour shows lined up so far featuring several musical styles and discussion topics.

Hell, identified as a co-founder of the former Part 15 FM Radio Free Burning Man and also FCCFreeRadio.com, wants Radio Valencia is “to be a voice in the community,” the paper quotes him as stating in an e-mail.

He also reportedly claims he’s not worried about being shut down by the FCC: “It’s inevitable.”

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