For more than 25 years, unlicensed FM radio broadcast operations have littered the airwaves of South Florida. While the problem isn’t as worrisome as it was during the early 2000s, as FM translators and licensed low-power FM stations have taken up nearly all of the open frequencies these buccaneers used back then, one swashbuckling operator has all but ignored the FCC’s efforts to silence his pirate radio station.
Late Friday, yet another attempt to punish Fabrice Polynice surfaced from the Commission. But without true firepower — such as a potentially life-threatening gunfight in North Miami — can Radio Touche Douce at 90.1 MHz be finally silenced?
The Carr Commission hopes a bigger financially focused forfeiture order will put Polynice out of commission, once and for all. There’s just one problem: Polynice has, for years, ignored the FCC and its attempts to collect on some of its heftiest fines. Even with the passing of the PIRATE Act by Congress, giving the FCC more authority to punish unlicensed broadcast operators, the Radio Touche Douce operator has marched for more than a decade.
On June 5, the FCC adopted a Forfeiture Order imposing a $2,391,097 penalty against Polynice, also known as “DJ Paz” to many in the Haitian American community of Northeast Miami-Dade County. This fine specifically relates to broadcasts of Radio Touche Douche detected between February 5 and March 5, 2023, by which Polynice “willfully and knowingly did or caused pirate radio broadcasting,” resulting in at least 22 days of violations.
As to Polynice’s response, one could guess it would be Se Konsa Kisa, Haitian Creole for “So What.” Radio Touche Douce has been operating illegally since at least 2012, the FCC notes. RBR+TVBR has covered Polynice’s travails extensively over the years, with continued operation of an unlicensed FM station even after U.S. Marshals seized his original equipment — never mind the receipt of two prior NALs and Forfeiture Orders for illegal operation of a radio station from the Commission.
Yet, Polynice in late February 2024 responded to its Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, filing what he incorrectly termed a Petition for Reconsideration. In that communication, Polynice does not contest that he engaged in pirate radio broadcasting. But, he argued that he has an inability to pay the forfeiture and would shortly submit the documentation supporting his assertion. Nearly five months later, on July 19, 2024, Polynice filed a supplement to his response, which contained three years of tax returns. Those documents held zero sway with the Commission, which is holding to its multimillion-dollar fine. That came after Polynice received a $144,344 forfeiture order in 2018 and, before that, a forfeiture order in early 2013.
“We acknowledge that Polynice’s financial documents, standing alone (and if accepted at face value) might support a reduction of the forfeiture,” the Commission ruled. “However, the ability to pay a forfeiture is just one of the criteria we must consider when determining the forfeiture penalty for violations of the Act and the Commission’s rules. As required by the Commission’s rules, we must also consider the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violations. Section 1.80 of the Commission’s rules also requires that we take into account ‘other matters as justice may require.’ When weighed against these other factors, most notably Polynice’s history of prior violations and the intentional nature of his misconduct, we decline to reduce the proposed forfeiture based on Polynice’s alleged inability to pay.”
