FCC Enforcement Advisory on Pirate Radio Said To Need Teeth

“We hope the FCC will increase enforcement efforts along with outreach efforts,” said New York State Broadcasters Association President David Donovan in an interview. The enforcement advisory is “a great visual,” said Fletcher Heald radio attorney Frank Montero. Though he praised the FCC focus on the matter of pirate radio, he also said the enforcement advisory is in danger of being an empty gesture without enforcement follow up. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly issued a statement Tuesday supporting the advisory, and emphasized enforcement in remarks (see 1603020051) to the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday. “We need to increase enforcement activity in the field, first and foremost,” O’Rielly said in prepared testimony. "While past FCC enforcement efforts have failed to keep pace with [technology] developments," it's "a turning point," he said in the statement issued around the time of the advisory. "It is my hope that a thoughtful education and outreach campaign can convince those who may be unknowingly facilitating pirates to join us as partners in addressing the challenge.”

The enforcement advisory explains the illegal nature of unlicensed broadcasting, advises readers how to recognize pirate radio, and tells landlords and advertisers they could face prosecution for supporting pirate operations. The document was sent to a variety of organizations representing property owners, advertisers, local government officials and prosecutors, including the National Association of Residential Property Managers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Chiefs of Police, said an FCC spokesman. The commission “cannot speak to what outside organizations might do” with the letters, he said. “We seek their assistance in bringing before members of their organizations the issue of unauthorized broadcast operations.”

Donovan credited O’Rielly with keeping the commission on task with pirate radio and repeatedly surfacing the issue with periodic blog posts and speeches. Though O’Rielly has sought more enforcement, he has also described going after supporters of pirate radio as an alternative way to attack the problem. “By itself, no one expects this one measure to provide a full remedy,” a spokeswoman for O’Rielly told us. “Legitimate businesses in the affected communities could be effective partners in the effort,” the spokeswoman said. Through the advisory, “the Chairman and Commissioners have opened up a new line of communication,” the spokeswoman wrote.

The enforcement advisory is a result of the commission’s field modernization order, the FCC spokesman said. In that order, which also reduced the amount of Enforcement Bureau field staff, the commission agreed to work with “outside stakeholders to develop a comprehensive policy and enforcement approach” to pirate radio, the spokesman said. That order was issued last summer, and the delay in follow up was questioned by O’Rielly in a blog post. The advisory was issued the day before FCC officials were to be questioned in the Senate.

Attacking pirate radio on multiple fronts is good for broadcasters, but the advisory needs a companion enforcement effort to be effective, Montero said. If a building owner harboring a pirate operation were hit with a large fine comparable to the enforcement actions against hotel chains blocking Wi-Fi, the industry would pay more attention to the issue, Montero told us. Some additional legislation might be necessary to give the FCC jurisdiction to dole out such fines, O’Rielly testified. "Legislation in this area could be helpful as well, to give the Commission more enforcement tools and better focus its efforts.”