'Pirate' station features raw radio
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BY ROD STETZER / THE CHIPPEWA FALLS
Monday, December 9, 2002 12:00 AM CST
Chippewa Falls' newest radio station, 96.9 FM, has no commericals.
It has no annoying announcers nor jingles.
It has no censoring of lyrics.
And, apparently, it has no license to broadcast.
The Federal Communications Commission allows unlicensed stations on the air, provided their signal doesn't go more than 100 feet.
But 96.9's signal remains strong from the southern city limits of Chippewa Falls to Eddy Lane in northern Eau Claire, a distance of about seven miles.
The radio station has been playing a mix of hip-hop music and hard rock since at least Friday. The lyrics of the songs sometimes are raw, with songs on Friday evening and again Sunday morning repeatedly featuring the harshest expletive in the English language.
Some of the songs played Friday were by Creed, Green Day and Rob Zombie. Juvenile Feat's "Back That (Expletive) Up," and Blink 182's "What's My Age Again?" were also part of the playlist.
On Friday evening, the music paused for a time as what sounded like a computer program began operating. The songs follow each other, uninterrupted by an announcer or ads.
As of September, the only Wisconsin radio station licensed for 96.9 FM was the 6,000-watt station WWWX of Oshkosh, Appleton and Fond du Lac.
The FCC acts aggressively to snuff out non-licensed broadcasters, sometimes called "pirate" stations. From 1996 to 1998, it shut down over 200 pirate stations throughout the nation, including 15 stations in Miami during a four-day period in July 1998 and another 19 in December of that year.
The price of getting caught is steep.
"The maximum penalty for operating an unlicensed or 'pirate' broadcast station . . . is set at $10,000 for a single violation or a single day of operation, up to a total maximum amount of $75,000. Adjustment can be made upward or downward depending on the circumstances involved.
"Equipment used for an unauthorized operation may also be confiscated. There are also criminal penalties (fine and/or imprisonment) for 'willfully and knowingly' operating a radio station without a license," the FCC says.
The courts have consistently ruled against "pirate" stations that claim they have the First Amendment right to broadcast without a license.
A 1943 Supreme Court decision, "National Broadcasting Co. vs. the United States," ruled: "No one has a First Amendment right to a license or to monopolize a radio frequency."
The FCC says it regulates frequencies to prevent interference of radio signals.
Reach Rod Stetzer at rstetzer@chippewa.com.
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