The Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau has issued another round of formal warnings to thirteen property owners across the New York metropolitan area for unlicensed radio broadcasts under the authority of the PIRATE Act.
Under the PIRATE Act, continued allowance of these broadcasts by property owners could lead to fines nearing $2.4 million. The act mandates rigorous enforcement and periodic sweeps to clamp down on such illegal activities. The FCC’s notifications serve as a first step, warning the property owners of their potential liabilities should the broadcasts continue.
A hotbed for pirate radio activity, the FCC confirmed the maximum fine for two NYC area broadcasters last year. These new enforcement actions target locations identified by the Enforcement Bureau’s field agents within the tri-state area around Manhattan.
NYC Boroughs
- 80 Lenox Road in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens area of Brooklyn, just east of Prospect Park: an unlicensed FM at 90.9 MHz emanating from a property managed by Dira Realty
- 770 New York Avenue at Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn: an unlicensed FM at 106.3 MHz in a residential building managed by 770 Realty LLC
- 2030 Nostrand Avenue at Farragut Road in Brooklyn’s Little Haiti: a pirate FM station at 90.5 MHz from a building owned by W 2030 LLC
- 936 East 92nd Street, at Foster Avenue in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn: an unlicensed FM at 91.9 FM from a building owned by the Royen A. Wedderburn 2021 Irrevocable Trust
- 220 E. 35th Street, between Church and Snyder Avenues in Brooklyn, near Holy Cross Cemetery: an unlicensed FM at 105.5 MHz from a building owned by CRR Ross LLC.
- 2518-2522 University Avenue in The Bronx: a pirate radio station at 90.9 MHz in a building owned by 2522 Realty LLC.
- 1601 St. Nicholas Avenue at West 190th Street in the Fort George area of The Bronx: an unlicensed FM at 94.9 MHz from a property managed by 601 at 190 Company LLC
- 2691 Reservoir Avenue, at Knightsbridge Road in The Bronx: an unlicensed FM at 88.9 MHz from a property owned by Parkash 2691 LLC
Newark, NJ
- Mt. Vernon Place at Sanford Avenue; an unlicensed FM at 90.9 MHz from a building managed by 803 Sanford LLC
- An unlicensed FM station at 102.5 MHz from a Sanford Avenue home owned by Roy, Annette and Gladys McClaire.
- A home owned by Hubert and Rosemise Exantus on Schofield Street operating an FM station without a license.
Township of Irvington, NJ
- A pirate radio station serving Haitian Creole listeners at 91.7 MHz from a house on Tiffany Place owned by Gais Jeune and Isabel Moriceau.
Additionally, further up the Hudson River, a house owned by Rene and Pierre Baptiste on Gerow Avenue in the Rockland County city of Spring Valley, NY was found to be operating an unlicensed FM at 94.1 MHz. The FCC had spent the earlier part of 2024 tracking illegal operators in Upstate New York in Poughkeepsie and Mount Vernon.
