A Pennsylvania pirate radio operator who charged local businesses $50 per month for advertising is the latest unlicensed broadcaster to face a substantial fine from the FCC. Brigido Danerys Gonzalez faces a $40,000 fine following a consumer complaint.
Brigido was running a Dominican-focused Hispanic station known as “La Bakana” at 90.1 MHz in Hazleton, PA. After receiving the tip in May 2022, FCC Field Agents first tracked the unlicensed FM broadcast to a specific address in Hazleton in late June of that year. Over the next year, agents found two more transmission sites, including one from a supermarket where the owner said he paid to advertise on “La Bakana” not knowing it was unlicensed.
In March 2023, the FCC’s New York office linked the station’s online presence to Gonzalez through a website and a YouTube video identifying him as “Super Dany.”
The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture against Gonzalez for broadcasting without a license on the two days they tracked the station in the field and potentially interfering with Wilkes Barre/Scranton NPR member WVIA. The investigation also uncovered transmissions of the Pennsylvania pirate radio signal potentially extending all the way to Brooklyn, which would bring signal interference within the coverage of Columbia University’s WKCR.
Enforcement action comes via the PIRATE Act, aimed at strengthening the Commission’s authority against unauthorized radio operations. This is the second time in 2024 that fines have been levied – in January, the FCC issued more than $3.5 million in fines to five pirate broadcasters in the Miami area.
One fine was for the maximum $2,391,097 to repeat offender Fabrice Polynice over his illegal station known as “Touché Douce.”
