FCC Change to Pirate Radio Enforcement Reporting Accompanied by Uptick In Violations
An apparent increase in FCC announcements of pirate radio enforcement action partially stems from a minor procedural change, but is also the result of increased commission action against pirates, said industry and agency officials in interviews. The FCC and Chairman Ajit Pai have been “appropriately stepping up pursuit of pirate radio broadcasters,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us. O’Rielly has vocally supported increased pirate enforcement (see 1707280046).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Since April, the FCC has been including the warning letters sent to unlicensed radio operators -- notices of violation -- in its Daily Digest round-up of actions, a spokesman said. Friday featured more such announcements. The notices were previously published only on the FCC’s website -- commonly, only more advanced enforcement documents such as notices of apparent liability and forfeiture actions made the Digest. The change was made to better inform the public about the work of the Enforcement Bureau field offices, the spokesman said: “Combating unlicensed broadcasts is an enforcement priority for Chairman Pai.”
The wider publicizing of the notices is leading to more frequent news reporting of Enforcement Bureau action, but there are so many notices -- last week nine were released on the same day (see 1708140039) -- because the bureau is finding and warning more pirates, said broadcast and FCC officials. The commission issued about 30 warnings this year, and is outpacing the previous administration, said David Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcasters Association. The bureau lately has been more responsive to complaints about unlicensed radio interference, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. The bureau appears to be giving pirate radio “a higher priority,” said Massachusetts Broadcasters Association Executive Director Jordan Walton.
Under previous chairs, warning letters were often not followed up at all, or years later, broadcast officials said. On these latest NOVs, the bureau will follow them up rapidly and continue pursuing them, a broadcast industry official said. He believes the proceedings will end with equipment seizures. “The last commission seemed to take an approach that wavered between indifference and tacitly supporting such operations,” O’Rielly said. “These latest enforcement actions, with more to come, will help combat this insidious practice and protect the nation’s airwaves.”
The latest NOVs also seem to indicate a bureau emphasis on pursuing enforcement actions against the property owners and landlords that harbor pirate operations. Though the FCC has authority to bring enforcement actions against non-licensees, it hasn’t always been used in pirate radio enforcement. Recent NOVs have emphasized that the violator owned the property the broadcasts were emanating from, and an NOV released Friday targets the superintendent of a multi-apartment building that was the source of unlicensed broadcasts. “You said you are the superintendent of the building at that address and consented to installation of the unlicensed station,” said the letter sent to Lawrence Mason of East Orange, New Jersey. A warning letter to Anslo Alezy of Irvington, New Jersey, also was released Friday.
Enforcement action against landlords and businesses affiliated with pirate radio operations was advocated by O’Rielly and was the subject of an enforcement advisory in 2016. More needs to be done to keep pirates from “repeatedly popping up,” O’Rielly told us. That includes statutory changes to ease equipment seizures and higher fines, he said. Higher penalties would help facilitate seizures, because the cooperation of U.S. attorney’s offices is needed for seizures, and high-dollar enforcement actions are considered more worthy of law enforcement officials' time, said a broadcast ally. Stations and the FCC need to work together to get Congress to act on increasing penalties and facilitating seizures, Donovan said.