James Delahunty
15 Jan 2006 14:35
In Brooklyn and Queens, pirate broadcasters are rebroadcasting Howard Stern shows on conventional FM radio frequencies. Stern's show originally broadcasts on satellite radio. What makes this interesting is Stern was chased off public airwaves by the FCC because of the content of his shows, so will this bring the FCC to the pirates' doors? A complaint is needed at first to begin an investigation and obvious candidates are Sirius or Stern himself.
The FCC regulates the airwaves. It was created to apportion and license spots on the radio dial, making sure signals didn't bleed over. Of course, nowadays licenses are worth a fortune, from $20 million to $100 million for a good signal. The small holes remaining on the dial can be filled by pirates with broadcasting hardware that can cost only a few hundred dollars.
Some of these "pirates" see themselves as freedom fighters and prefer to be called "free broadcasters". They often offer programming that is ignored by conventional broadcasters for several reasons. For example, there are pirate stations dedicated to just heavy metal because the commercial radio broadcasters decide such music isn't in the interest of their advertisers.
The FCC will begin an investigation into a "pirate station" if somebody complains. Often the complainer would be a commercial station saying that the signal is causing interference. A lot of the time the complaints are made because the stations are worried listeners will tune into pirate stations instead. In the case of the Howard Stern show, it gets more interesting because the show is filled with swear words and it is also a pay service.
What would happen if pirates all over the U.S. began rebroadcasting more shows from satellite radio for free?
Source:
Mercury News