PIRATE RADIO

Pirate radio in the United States is defined as unlicensed broadcasting on any radio channel that is licensed to a government, public or commercial entities by the Federal Communications Commission, also known as the FCC.

 

While pirate radio is an illegal activity worldwide, the definition of what is considered piracy varies vastly depending on the regulations of the country from which the programming is broadcasted.

 

Pirates in the United States violate rules set by the FCC, which is an independent U.S. government agency that calls itself “the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.” The committee is the successor to the Federal Radio Commission, which focused solely on radio airwaves, but it now includes most manners of communication. It is responsible for domestic and international communications over the spectrum, including radio, cable and television.

 

Howard Leib, an entertainment lawyer and law professor at Cornell and Syracuse universities, explained what the FCC governs.

 

“The FCC regulates for the U.S., different agencies do it in other countries, what parts of the spectrum are used by different parts of the industrial and, for purposes of radio and television, regulates who is allowed to broadcast on different frequencies,” Leib said.

 

As per the FCC in Title 47, Part 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations and Congress in Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC requires an FCC-issued license for anyone to “use or operate any apparatus for the transmission of energy or communications or signals by radio,” with few exceptions.

 

Before the FCC or any other communication-regulator entity existed in the United States, there were no rules about using radio waves.

 

“Going back over a hundred years, to 1912, what we now think of radio was kind of the wild, wild West,” Leib said. “If you had enough money to buy a transmitter and antenna, you could go on the air.”

 

Radio regulation in the United States began in 1912 when the Office of Commerce and Labor released “Instructions for Radio Communication,” the first law of airwaves. The document contains mostly instructions for ships and their rules on frequencies, but it also contains the first of the United States’s regulations on wavelength restrictions, costs of stations and how stations were to be organized by the federal government.

 

The instructions were released following two events. After the sinking of the Titanic, there was a push to pass legislation to improve radio communication. Then when people realized they could make money off of "wireless telegraph," Leib said, radio enthusiasts also peitioned Congress to pass airwave laws. But this request was less in the spirit of organization and for more capitalistic and technical reasons, Leib said.

 

“If you put radio stations or television stations too close together on frequencies, all you get is interference," he said. "And so these very early broadcasters wanted frequencies that they could broadcast on that other people in their areas wouldn’t be broadcasting on so that they could have an audience and monetize these entities.”

 

Article 8 of the “Instructions for Radio Communication” states, “The working of the wireless telegraph [radio] stations shall be organized as far as possible in such manner as not to disturb the service of other wireless stations.” Assigning stations through licenses would prevent interference so radio broadcasters could guarantee to advertisers that listeners could hear advertisments. Licenses would also ensure that something like the tragedy of the Titanic, which was in part caused by faulty radio communications. 

 

The start of the regulations had a trade-off for broadcasters who wanted to profit from their radio stations.

 

“What happened back in near early part of the 1900s, is a deal was made,” Leib said. “And that deal was in essence: ‘We, the federal government will regulate the electronic spectrum. You, broadcasters, will recognize that you do not own the spectrum, that it is owned by the public. And you will also agree to broadcast in the public interest.’”

 

Leib said that, among other obligations, stations had to air public affairs and community-interest programming, to let opposing political sides both have airtime and to let politicians running for office buy advertising time at low rates, so the frequencies would benefit the public.

 

These requirements were not agreeable with all people who had an interest in producing radio content, so some pirates decided to work outside of the federal regulations in order to avoid required programming.

 

Even though many of the original regulations have changed due to advancements in technology, as well as increased demand in channels of communication, the FCC continues to govern to avoid interference and other inherent problems that stem from unlicensed radio.

 

Daniel Roberts, director and founder of Pirate Cat Radio, said many pirates don’t initially think about all of the ways they might be disturbing people when they first set up transmitters.