Radio Survivor

#2 in our series on radio trends of the decade

Although today’s New York Times claims that “Internet Radio Stations are the New Wave,” a look back at the past decade makes it very clear that Internet Radio’s growing influence is hardly revolutionary news. In fact, it’s hard to overstate the importance of the Internet and Internet Radio during the last 10 years.

The radio landscape has changed tremendously and much of that had to do with the adoption of both the Internet and streaming media by the mainstream.

According to the decade-spanning report, The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio’s Digital Platforms, by Arbitron and Edison Research, in 1999 only 50% of Americans had online access compared with 85% in 2009.

Beginning in 2006, the majority of Americans with at-home Internet access had a broadband connection; making it easier to download and stream audio content. By 2009, approximately 42 million Americans listened to online radio weekly (twice the number who did in 2005).

Although this massive growth of Internet radio happened in this decade, the first attempts at streaming radio started in the early 1990s. The very first terrestrial radio stations to begin broadcasting online were college radio stations WXYC (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and WREK (Georgia Tech University) in 1994.

Always ahead of the curve, many college radio stations embraced webcasting, online playlists, blogging, podcasts and broadcast archives well before these technologies were adopted by their commercial counterparts. Tech-savvy students were often the instigators and developers of the technology (as was the case at WREK). Commercial station KPIG claims to be the first commercial radio station to broadcast online with its first webcasts in 1995. (more…)

I was disappointed but unsurprised to learn about the end of Pirate Cat Radio’s unlicensed FM broadcast resulting from the FCC issuing a notice of apparent liability (NAL) to Pirate Cat’s operator Monkey Man a/k/a Daniel K. Roberts. However, I am surprised at how long Pirate Cat was able to make a go of it operating out in the open. Perhaps appearing on the Travel Channel’s No Reservations made it hard for the Commission to turn a blind eye much longer.

As Jennifer noted in her report, the FCC observed in a footnote to its NAL that, “the frequency used without authority by Roberts and PCR is 87.9 MHz, which is not allocated to the FM broadcast band.” Over email Jennifer asked me if using that frequency might be any sort of contributing factor for the FCC’s attention, especially in light of an unlicensed operator in Florida recently receiving a $2500 fine for broadcasting on the same frequency.

I was actually a little confused by the FCC’s footnote about 87.9 FM because I’d always understood that the frequency is considered part of the FM dial, though typically not assigned except under special circumstances. In fact, at present there are three stations licensed to 87.9 FM: KSFH in Mountain View, CA; K200AA in Sun Valley, NV, a translator in the Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID CSN Network; and WA2XNX in Brazos, TX, an experimental station licensed to Federal Signal Corporation.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.501, “87.9 MHz, Channel 200, is available only for use of existing Class D stations required to change frequency.” These Class D stations are low-power 10 watt stations licensed prior to 1978, when the service ceased to exist. That’s the rule under which low-power high school station KSFH is licensed to 87.9 FM.

So, while it’s true that the Commission generally doesn’t license new stations to 87.9 FM, it’s simply not true that the frequency is not part of the FM broadcast spectrum as asserted in the NAL issued to Pirate Cat Radio. As to the question of whether using that frequency contributed to the FCC targeting Pirate Cat or the aforementioned Florida pirate, I think it’s quite unlikely. The NAL against the Florida pirate makes no mention of the frequency not being a legitimate part of the FM dial.

As far as the Commission is concerned any given unlicensed operator is no different than another. Each field office tends to have its own set of priorities about chasing down pirates, and looking at the list of enforcement actions you can definitely see that each office seems to have periodic bursts of action against unlicensed operators. By and large enforcement actions are complaint-based, and operating out in the open is more likely to result in a complaint than being clandestine.

I suspect that action against Pirate Cat, in particular, came about rather slowly, perhaps influenced by the positive publicity it received and the position of relative respect it has in the community. Of course, these factors will not stop the FCC from taking action against an unlicensed broadcaster; failing to take any action would only serve as an encouragement to others. But I do think that these factors complicate the Commission’s job, causing it to tread a little more carefully.

I think operating an unlicensed station on 87.9 FM is no more risky than operating on any other frequency. The fact that there are very few stations licensed to this frequency makes it attractive for pirates looking for a clear channel and to avoid interfering with other stations. The FCC’s recent decision that FM stations no longer need to protect channel 6 audio on the far left end of the dial may lead to erosion of this opportunity in some areas as more licensed stations encroach on 87.9 FM. Until then, the risk of being a pirate on 87.9 FM is due to being a pirate broadcaster, and nothing more.

It’s no-good-deed-goes-unpunished-time over San Francisco’s radio airwaves. As Jennifer Waits has reported, the city’s Pirate Cat radio station has ceased terrestrial broadcasting in response to a Federal Communications Commission fine against the service. Why was the station sanctioned, anyway? Let’s go through the possibilities.

Was it because Pirate Cat shortchanges Bay Area listeners by not broadcasting any local music and culture? Quite the contrary, the station streams tons of local music, club scene stuff, and opens its studios to a wide variety of local DJ talent who constantly talk up the Bay Area culture scene.

Was it because Pirate Cat doesn’t provide enough local news and information? Au contraire . . . the station runs news, interviews with Bay Area artists, and even various kinds of spoken word radio.

Was it because Pirate Cat isn’t diverse enough? Hell no. The station even broadcasts the Al Jazeera radio news service, doubtless making it the only signal to do so in the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The truth is that Pirate Cat radio offers everything that the FCC asks of broadcasters and then some; indeed, far more than most other outlets provide. Bottom line: the station got bullied off the air because it lacks an FCC license. In the end, with our current regulatory system, if you’ve got the millions to buy a frequency, you can blow off your public interest obligations to your hearts’ delight. But if you haven’t got the bucks, all the local content, news, culture, and commitment won’t save you from the scanner truck.

And if that isn’t a shame, what is?

Pirate Cat Leaving Terrestrial Radio

It was probably only a matter of time before the FCC would catch up with San Francisco’s Pirate Cat Radio.

The unlicensed broadcaster was increasingly putting itself in the public eye by operating a cafe adjacent to its studio, granting interviews with mainstream press, and even appearing on the national television show No Reservations this August.

Since at least April, the FCC has been monitoring Pirate Cat’s operations and eventually levied the station and owner Daniel K. Roberts (aka Monkey) a $10,000 fine on August 31st when it became clear that the station was continuing to broadcast without a license

Pirate Cat issued a press release on Halloween stating that the station would cease their terrestrial broadcast in light of the FCC’s action against the station. According to the statement from Pirate Cat:

“…the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, ‘willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934′ and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction… the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming.”

According to the “Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture” document prepared by the FCC, not only was Pirate Cat Radio found to be broadcasting over FM without a license, but the frequency being used, 87.9, is also “not allocated to the FM broadcast band.” (more…)

If foie gras and tripe can stand in for quaaludes and mescaline, then Anthony Bourdain is the Hunter S. Thompson of food television. As a so-called “anti-celebrity” chef Bourdain is the host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations, traveling to both familiar and exotic places in order to explore their culture via food, often with a focus on everyday dining, street food and traditional cuisine.

On this week’s episode Bourdain explored San Francisco, but started off the episode with a surprise, especially for a radio geek like myself. In an homage to the film Bullitt Bourdain races through the streets of the city in a black Mustang, then turns on the radio only to hear none other than San Francisco’s most well-known unlicensed radio station, Pirate Cat Radio.

As you can see in the clip below, Bourdain appears on air with Pirate Cat founder Monkey, then retires to the station’s namesake cafe to try a, well… porcine latte.

If Pirate Cat wasn’t already the most well known currently operating pirate station in the US, I’ll venture to guess that it is now. Monkey has been at the pirate radio game a long time and has never shied away from publicity or talking to the press. While that certainly increases the risk of running an unlicensed station, so far the FCC doesn’t seem to have seen fit to escalate enforcement with police action like it has with past Bay Area stations like San Francisco Liberation Radio.

I wish Monkey, Pirate Cat Radio and their cafe the best of luck in bringing community-style radio to a corner of the Mission. I just wish they’d stop justifying their right to broadcast using the tired “emergency authorization” clause of Title 47. I think a better case lies with declaring civil disobedience and pointing to the provision of better public service broadcasting than most other stations in a crowded radio market closed off to low-power FM or any other new community-focused broadcasters.

There are all sorts of pirates, everywhere.

There’s another pirate radio station on the loose: FCC Free Radio in San Francisco. Jennifer Waits wrote a nice piece about it here on Thursday. I’ve been streaming the outlet for the last few days and it’s a fun signal with a big sense of humor.

But I’m getting a little tired of these unlicensed stations that fall back on the argument that an obscure corner of the United States Code gives them the right to transmit over the public airwaves, FCC Free Radio the latest. “We believe that Title 47 Section 73.3542 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations currently allows FCCFREE RADIO 107.1FM to legally broadcast with out a formal license from the FCC,” the signal’s information statement declares. The aforementioned clause says that the government will grant temporary broadcasting authority in “extraordinary circumstances”—life threatening situations, a national emergency declared by the President or Congress, or during time of war.

I consider myself a big supporter of the expansion of Low Power FM, but this argument, first served up by Pirate Cat radio, is kind of dodgy and even a little sleazy. “Thanks to George Bush for declaring the ‘War Against Terrorism’,'” Pirate Cat’s page declares, “and U.S. Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.3542, it is now technically legal to operate a radio transmitter with out a formal license.”

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