The Official News Service of Kracker Radio
BROCKTON —Ward 5 Councilor Dennis DeNapoli was not surprised to learn that a pirate radio station was traced to the city, but said he was surprised that federal agencies acted to close down the operation.
“We have a lot of illegal radio stations in the city,” said DeNapoli, a radio buff and sometimes talk show host. “They're all over the dial.”
But DeNapoli, who does volunteer work for Brockton WXBR radio, said the area Federal Communications Commission office has turned a deaf ear to complaints by him and others.
“They tell us they're too busy. That was the quote I got from FCC headquarters in Quincy,” DeNapoli said Friday, listing off a number of frequencies he says are broadcasting without licenses and sites in the city where antennas identify radio signals.
The FCC requires that any radio signal equal to 1/4-watt be licensed through that agency, according to DeNapoli.
According to a published report, federal agencies traced a radio signal to a Richmond Street address after that signal interfered with air traffic at Logan International Airport in Boston.
A woman at that address said Friday she was unaware of the enforcement or of any radio station at that location. She identified herself only as the sister of Natacha Souffrant, one of the people named in federal court records ordering the forfeiture of radio equipment, according to a Boston Globe report.
A spokesman at the FCC's headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday would not comment on the case involving Logan airport interference because it is an open item before the commission. Nor would she respond to DeNapoli's claim that the area office would not address his complaints.
“We do take complaints of interference very seriously,” she said. “We take all of our complaints very seriously.”
DeNapoli said the pirate radio stations are in private homes and often in warehouses. City inspectors also found a pirate radio station in the second story of a garage in the south side.
He estimated there are 10 or 11 such stations operating in the city, many more in Boston and across the country. Often they interfere with signals of licensed radio operators, including some of the most popular stations in the area, he said.
More importantly, DeNapoli said, the pirate stations are taking advertising revenue that would otherwise go to licensed stations and other media outlets.
“They're selling radio time, that's totally illegal,” he said. “They're foreign language stations — Cape Verdean and Spanish. They just pop up on the dial here, there and everywhere.”
DeNapoli rattled off a series of frequencies he has picked up in his travels around the city.
Setting up a radio station is as simple as buying a transmitter for as little as $500 on the Internet and putting it on the roof of a building.
Because most pirate stations use “cheap” transmitters, he said they are not properly filtered and interfere with or infringe on licensed frequencies.
He said licensed stations need air space that extends below and above the designated frequency and that is where the pirate stations are encroaching, often overriding the legitimate stations.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
A pirate radio station operating from a tower in a residential area south of Stuart was shut down by Martin sheriff's investigators and the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday morning.
One person was reportedly arrested, according to investigators on the scene.
The tower belongs to a local plumbing company and was used primarily for radio communications between workers, but an FM antennae and computer equipment were installed at some point and were interfering with a low power radio station set up by a church in Palm City.
A renter at the property said he knew nothing about the radio equipment, but said a man frequently came and did work at the tower late at night.
The FCC assigns radio frequencies and they may not be used by anyone who does not have a license to operate at that frequency.
| DJs on water for pirate reunion | ||
More than a dozen DJs are due to board the LV18, a former lightship moored half-a-mile off Harwich, between Thursday 9 and Tuesday 14 August. Pirate BBC Essex, involving BBC Radio 2's Johnnie Walker, marks 40 years since many pirate stations went off air, under the Marine Offences Act. BBC Essex presenters will join the station for its six-day run. The station's listeners are reported to have organised holidays so they can spot the boat from the shore. 'Flashing session' Tim Gillett, of BBC Essex, said: "We did a similar thing in 2004 when we celebrated 40 years since the start of pirate radio, when pirate radio, led by Radio Caroline, broadcast off the Essex coast. "Johnny Walker sent us a recorded message of support then - now he's here in person, taking up the 9pm-midnight slot he broadcast in way back in the 1960s." "He is also looking forward to a flashing session when people in their cars on shore communicate with him by flashing their car headlights." An exhibition including Radio Caroline memorabilia will be held at the Ha'penny Pier, Harwich, while the station is broadcasting. | ||
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| Departures resume after pirate radio disrupts takeoffs from airport | |||||
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| By Zohar Blumkrantz , Haaretz Correspondent | |||||
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| Officials from the Israel Airports Authority temporarily halted takeoffs from Ben-Gurion International Airport Wednesday, due to interferences with air traffic control caused by a pirate radio station broadcasting from Haifa. However, after a half an hour, departures resumed following the closing down of the pirate radio station. | |||||
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| Pirate radio broadcasts disrupt takeoffs from Ben-Gurion Airport | |||||
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| By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondent | |||||
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| Officials from the Israel Airports Authority on Monday temporarily halted takeoffs from Ben-Gurion International Airport, due to interferences with air traffic control caused by pirate radio stations. Altogether, the interference is believed to have delayed the flights of over 1,000 passengers. | |||||
This is the third time in two months that airport operations at Ben-Gurion have been halted due to pirate radio interference in the area of the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak.
On the 6th of June, all traffic at the airport was stopped for several hours and thousands of passengers had their flights delayed.
Airport workers were able to determine that the disruptions happened whenever pirate radio stations were broadcasting nearby.
The next week, a group of government ministers came together to start an initiative to combat pirate radio stations.
by Paul McNally Brand Republic 13-Jul-07, 09:50
LONDON - Ofcom has taken action against more than 700 pirate radio stations in the last year, including studio raids on almost 50 illegal broadcasters, according to its annual report.
The broadcast regulator's "field force", which investigates complaints of pirate activity, seized 661 illegal transmitters between April 2006 and March 2007. Ofcom also raided 48 studios used by pirate broadcasters,...
The X-rated station airs without identification or announcers.
"Listening to this station, it is easy to see why gangs prevail," wrote one area resident whose complaint to the FCC has gone unanswered. "Our youth are led into stereotypical behavior, and foul language is fast becoming the common thread of American verbiage."
An Associated Press story noted that a record 185 unlicensed broadcasters received fines, cease-and-desist letters or had been raided by early September -- up from 151 enforcement actions in all of 2005 and 92 in 2004.
John Anderson, an expert on pirate radio who tracks FCC enforcement at University of Illinois' Institute of Communications Research, said there's been a steady increase in pirate radio enforcement dating back 10 years.
"There are a lot more stations out there these days, thus there are a lot more stations for the FCC to find and bust," Anderson told the AP.
| Commander Bunny General Troublemaker Posts: 520 |  posted 10-26-2006 13:51 While I am pleased, that when something unexplained happens, that you monkeys, immediately assume that I was behind it, I can't take credit for this one. Neither I, nor any of my many troops in the Rodent Revolution, would do anything to Kracker Radio. While Kracker's knuckles, do drag, when he walks, there is no question, by the quality of his programs, that there is rodent dna in his ancestory. The fact that he lays on his back while eating cheese should be proof, even to the most skeptical of you apes. There are so many monkeys that are worthy of parody and making fun, but Kracker is not one of them. To the degree that we can admire an ape, we have that respect for Kracker, the Bowling league and his wonderful work with Jay's wisdom to the world. While despising both the look and smell of you apes, there are some of you chimps that we do assign loyalty. Kracker is one of them. While we acknowledge that Mechanic has long thought that the Sun rises because the Rooster crows, and that his belief is, "silly putty really isn't silly", we have to wonder if Mechanic's tire pressure is in fact suffering from this distraction. The wrath of WTPR (Tire Pressure Radio) may well visit upon your radials. We are of the belief that Mechanic needs to focus on the important issues at hand. You monkeys are so silly! Commander Bunny |
Monday, October 16, 2006, 0404, 7415. Scary music and jay smilkstein bits, e.g. "Hand Cock", "Gay people's cock's." "hello radio this is kracker radio" heard at at 0422. "alan boner" heard at 0423. 0425 fade out into glenn hauser amidst some scary music.
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