CORAL GABLES, FLA. — As the clock neared 2pm on Sunday, January 14, the sounds of Haitian Creole-flavored programming at 90.1 MHz could easily be heard on a car radio in the parking lot of the Biltmore Hotel.
It is not supposed to be there. The FCC knows this, and in July 2018 presented the operator of this pirate radio station branded as “Radio Touche Douce” a then-maximum forfeiture of $144,344. Polynice Fabrice has yet to cease broadcasts; an Instagram page for the faux station promoted a live event co-sponsored by Radio Touche Douce for a North Miami venue over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend. An Instagram story asked people on Wednesday evening (1/24) to offer up their song suggestions for a mix show.
On Thursday, January 25, the FCC stepped up its attempts to silence “Radio Touche Douce” in a significant way. Fabrice received a new Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture of $2,391,097. Fines totaling more than $3.5 million were levied against five Miami-area pirate radio operators, with Polynice getting the biggest proposed fine, by far.
While enforcement of forfeitures against individuals found to be unlicensed radio operators has been difficult, if not impossible, in some circumstances, the Commission’s efforts to stop unlicensed radio activity has seen a significant step-up over the last year. These accomplishments of the Enforcement Bureau were shared in an annual report to Congress submitted by the FCC on the positives the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” has brought to patrolling the nation’s airwaves.
A two-page document was sent to Congress on Wednesday per the PIRATE Act’s rules. It is the fourth annual report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. It highlights the actions the FCC has taken since gaining enhanced enforcement capabilities since Congress enacted the PIRATE Act exactly four years ago.
The first of these actions involves annual enforcement “sweeps” in the five markets with the highest concentration of unlicensed pirate radio operators. Then, in March 2023, it issued it first two PIRATE Act-era forfeitures. As reported by RBR+TVBR, individuals César Ayora and Luis Angel Ayora were handed a $2,316,034 proposed fine for pirate radio broadcasts in the City of New York borough of Queens. Concurrently, Thomas Barnes received an $80,000 NALF for an unlicensed radio operation in La Grande, Ore., a rural community between Portland and Boise. The proposed fines were affirmed in October 2023.
Perhaps the biggest enforcement ability brought to the FCC under the PIRATE Act is the pursuit of enforcement sanctions against property owners/managers.
In 2023, the Enforcement Bureau issued 44 Notice of Violations, including 25 related to pirate sweeps. These are warnings, allowing the property owner/manager to act by terminating the unlicensed radio stations through their own means. The Commission recognizes that the broadcasting buccaneers can later return. “The Bureau will continue to monitor the properties for which notices were provided and will initiate enforcement action where appropriate.”
FIELD FINDING POISED FOR IMPROVEMENTS
Determining where pirate radio broadcasters are is poised to become potentially easier for Enforcement Bureau Field Agents. In the report to Congress, the Commission shares that staff has continued to place orders for and to develop additional customized mobile direction-finding (MDFX) investigative vehicles.
The Commission ordered six such vehicles, while it hired four full-time employees — with more to come — to help with enforcement of the PIRATE Act. “These six vehicles will be outfitted in the 2024 and 2025 calendar years (depending on when the General Services Administration delivers the vehicles) and will include specialized hardware and software for the detection for pirate radio operators,” the FCC shares. “We also purchased additional equipment that will help us identify and locate pirate radio operators.”
Just how much enforcement power the Enforcement Bureau has to shut down pirate radio broadcasters it has located, and handed the maximum fine under law to, remains in question. The Ayora’s “Radio Impacto 2” is streaming its audio and continues to promote its unlawful 105.5 MHz dial position. Barnes’ “Pirate Radio Eastern Oregon” as of 7:40am Eastern was streaming, too, as “Nights In White Satin” preceded “Afternoon Delight”; it was unclear if either service was still illegally operating FM transmitters. On January 14 in Miami-Dade County, WDNA-FM’s signal was impeded by pirate broadcasters on adjacent FM signals — a problem that dates back more than two decades.
In communities such as North Miami, where “Radio Touche Douce” is based, the safety of Enforcement Bureau Field Agents has been the No. 1 priority. As such, pirate radio operations have persisted in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties since 1997. Some are long gone. As noted in an August 15, 2004 article for the Miami Herald authored by RBR+TVBR’s current-day Editor-in-Chief, “Vibez 101.9,” a particularly high-profile pirate radio operation serving the Caribbean community of South Florida, along with “Mix 96.1,” were easily receivable before being shut down for good. At the time, a FCC spokeswoman shared that 26 unlicensed stations were under various stages of investigation — nearly 20 years ago.
In summer 2004, a key enforcement issue was tied to resources. In June 1996, the FCC closed its Miami field office, with agents sent from Tampa to handle matters in the Orlando and Miami-Fort Lauderdale markets. By November 2018, a Miami office was back in operation for the Enforcement Bureau, as it confirmed an unlicensed radio operation at 91.7 MHz in Miami Gardens.
ACTIONS OF SIGNIFICANCE
As “Radio Touche Douce” remains a particular problem for the FCC, pirate radio enforcement actions in the last four years total 10 in Florida — some 11% of the total actions.
The most actions over the last four years were in New York — 35 in total. That’s followed by Massachusetts, with 12. Eight were seen in New Jersey, followed by six in Pennsylvania, six in Oregon, and four in Maryland.
Two were given in New Mexico, while one was given in Michigan, in Colorado, in Arkansas and in Oklahoma.
An FCC database offers a continuously updated review of the FCC’s pirate enforcement actions. The most recent to be issued, a non-monetary notice of violation, was sent to Wesley and Sandra Staley regarding the unlicensed use of 102.7 MHz at their home in Sweet Home, Ore., a small community to the northeast of Eugene.
As such, more than 25 years after pirate radio broadcasting emerged as a concern, the FCC indeed has more authority than ever to rid them from the airwaves. Nevertheless, the biggest offender remains on the air, seemingly begging for a fight with U.S. Marshals, FCC field agents and the Justice Department or, alternatively, showing that even the PIRATE Act can only go so far with getting Polynice Fabrice to shut down once and for all.
