Re: Pirate Radio Station In Portland

["R.L. Caron" <k4gp@peganet.com>]

<< discovered a pirate radio staion running on 88.7MHZ. >>

Hope you have better luck up there with pirates than we are having here in
Southern Florida. A friend of mine with a station that is being clobbered by
a pirate in Ft Myers is nearing the end of his rope dealing with the FCC
offices in Tampa and Miami. Even illuminated by actual xmtr addresses and
geo coordinates, there is only  finger pointing and buck passing, no action.
Months have passed. Pirate continues with ratty signal obliterating
everything a half a meg in each direction. There are at least three others
operating on-again off-again signals, undoubtedly well aware of the impunity
the current "big gun" is enjoying.

It's obvious the FCC has no stomach for dealing with pirates, especially
those who broadcast in a language other than English. Congress is no help.
They've allowed the FCC to run rampant and roughshod with one utopian idea
after another. Their Broadcaster Protection Act--a politically necessary
response to the NAB's screaming-- is precidtably  locked up in the Senate
Commerce Committee with 225 others, where it will most likely find its
destiny and die peacefully.

It's an election year, and the current administration is only concerned with
its legacy; the Congress only worried with hot-button matters that relate to
illusions helpful in getting re-elected; and everyone at the FCC --taking
advantage of the redirection of focus-- looks toward opportunities to expand
power with a plethora of new skin-tone regs while abdicating the duties for
which they were formed in the first place: maintaining technical order on
the public airwaves.

Opponents of Low Power Radio brought it up at every stage of the debate: How
can the FCC take on the responsibility of a couple of thousand new licensed
facilities when it admits to not having the funding or staffing to
adequately handle what it now is charged with regulating?

Even before the first LPFM station hits the ozone, hundreds, if not
thousands, of illegal stations proliferate across the nation while FCC
offices and personnel look the other way. The "theory" that if legal
alternatives were offered, the pirates would magically become law abiding
and patiently wait for their applications to be blessed by the benevolent
bureaucracy is pure Bravo Sierra. Witness the current situation: legal
options abound, but at least as many pirates as ever thrive. A total of 12
LPFM apps in Maine are filed out of how many available frequencies? Now
*there* is a great testament to appeasment! Will it take another
multi-million dollar government study to determine that those disinclinced
to follow the law will be largely unaffected by new laws intended to modify
their behavior?

It's going to get worse before it gets better. And it may never get better.
Thanks to the example set by our slick political leadership, the 'rule of
law' is rapidly turning to be perceived as the domain of the slow-witted.