The FCC on Friday released two Forfeiture Orders to individuals found to be operating unauthorized FM radio stations, with one Queens, N.Y., couple, on the hook for a fine in the millions of dollars.
It upholds Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture sent to them, and to an Oregon individual, in March — the first under the PIRATE Act, which gives the Commission increased authority to squelch the pirate broadcaster.
A penalty of $2,316,034 has been imposed against César Ayora and Luis Angel Ayora for their broadcasts, without FCC approval, on 105.5 MHz in the City of New York borough bordering Nassau County, N.Y.
As RBR+TVBR reported in March 2023, the Ayoras are jointly engaged in the longstanding illicit operation of an unauthorized radio station known as “Radio Impacto 2.” The FCC previously issued Luis Angel Ayora a $20,000 forfeiture in 2015, which he did not pay. In 2016, the U.S. Marshals Service executed a warrant in rem and seized the Ayoras’ broadcasting equipment. That didn’t stop Ayora from eventually going back on the air without a FCC license. And, “Radio Impacto 2” was brazen about it, even showing video of their broadcasts on Facebook.
As part of their PIRATE Act investigation, Enforcement Bureau Agents found “scores” of apparent violations between March and September 2022, including multiple weekly on-air radio programs. The Ayoras even advertised their pirate radio station for no less than 25 weeks and continue to operate their unauthorized station, which bears the motto “The Official Radio Station of Ecuadorans in New York,” to date.
Advertisers as shown on the illegal radio station’s website include Allstate, Verizon Wireless, Queensboro Toyota, and even the New York State Department of Health, in promotion of COVID-19 vaccinations.
“Some of the most egregious pirate radio operations are run by individuals who have ignored prior enforcement actions by the Commission,” the Commission said. “This is one such case. As such, it merits the strongest possible enforcement measures to the fullest extent of the law.”
In fact, neither of the Ayoras filed a response to the Notice of Apparent Liability mailed via first-class and certified mail in March 2023.
The second forfeiture order upholds a $80,000 forfeiture handed to Thomas Barnes for an unlicensed radio operation in La Grande, Ore., a rural community between Portland and Boise known as, ironically, “Pirate Radio Eastern Oregon.” Barnes received multiple warnings notifying him that operating a pirate radio station is a violation of the Communications Act, but nonetheless he continued to engage in unauthorized radio broadcasting, the Commission says.
Barnes ceased operation on or before April 15, 2022, after the Bureau notified his landlord of the landlord’s potential liability under the PIRATE Act if pirate radio operations were to continue on the property.
And, like the Ayoras, Barnes did not respond to the NAL sent via first-class certified mail from the Commission in March 2023.
