As Christmas nears, the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau isn’t giving coal to the naughty; it’s giving warnings. The FCC is threatening three more property owners with fines over radio pirates operating from Puerto Rico, Oregon, and Southern California.
The Enforcement Bureau’s Los Angeles, Dallas, and Portland offices each addressed complaints one week after threatening two more unlicensed New York City broadcasters with PIRATE Act fines. Under the Act, property owners permitting unlicensed radio broadcasting can face significant financial penalties, up to $2,316,034.
In Los Angeles, a station operating on 94.5 MHz was traced to a property in Lake Forest, CA, owned by Vincenza and Bruno Mancinelli. Similarly, the Dallas Office located a station on 87.7 MHz, within the Channel 6 television band, at a property in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, owned by Lydia E. Torres Mojica. Meanwhile, the Portland Office found an unlicensed station on 102.7 MHz broadcasting from a property in Sweet Home, OR, owned by Wesley M. and Sandra Staley.
The owners of these properties are required to respond within ten business days, providing evidence that they no longer permit pirate radio broadcasting on their properties. Additionally, they are requested to identify the individuals involved in these unlicensed broadcasts.
Pirates should expect more hunts to come in 2024: the FCC has allocated $5 million out of a $20.7 million budget increase to target and sanction unlicensed radio operators.
