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Showing posts from May, 2021

It’s Official: PIRATE Act Signed Into Law

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https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/trump-signs-pirate-act From the article: The teeth of the PIRATE Act is in the details. The act gives the commission the authority to levy fines of up to $100,000 per violation and $2 million in total. The act also streamlines the enforcement process; requires the FCC to conduct mandatory pirate radio enforcement sweeps in cities with the highest concentration of pirate radio use; and seeks to ensure more coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement. What they don't say though, is, it's not funded. The FCC has no funding to pay for ANY of this and they didn't build it into the act. The FCC's enforcement arm has told congress that, until they get an $11,000,000 funding check, they can't put it into force. So, for now, it's just noise. But, it's there, and they can use it anytime they want to so, be warned.  

"How Colorado Pirate Radio Once Hid In Plain Sight, And Can’t Anymore"

Colorado used to have a lot of cool pirate radio stations providing local community service. The FCC just doesn't care and shut it all down and won't put anything in place to do it legally. Interesting story (click listen now) on CPR (Colorado Public Radio) from a couple of years ago: https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/how-colorado-pirate-radio-once-hid-in-plain-sight-and-cant-anymore/ Interesting side note: CPR (Colorado Public Radio) and NPR are NOT friendly toward pirate radio. The CPR host call pirates 'scofflaws' potential 'ripoffs and con artists'.  He also commented that 'CPR was not part of NPR's lobbying effort' against pirate radio- which we really doubt. The host also kept calling it 'illegal' to do pirate radio. It is NOT illegal in 47 states, including Colorado. It's against FCC regulations. Big difference. Screw NPR and CPR. These guys are as bad as any for-profit predatory capitalistic corporation. They view pirate radio as a