Is it acceptable for an unlicensed radio service to serve a rural, unincorporated community where just six out-of-area commercially licensed FMs and two English-language AMs can be heard? Nope. That’s why a Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting has been issued to the owners of a ranch nestled along Lake Quinault, adjacent to an Indian Reservation and the Olympic National Forest.
The illegal operation was heard at 90.5 MHz on May 7, by FCC Enforcement Bureau agents dispatched from its Portland, Ore., office.
The signals were emanating from a property on S. Shore Road in Quinault, Wash., owned by 3 Brothers Ranch LLC.
With no determination of who is behind the unlicensed FM, the “PIRATE Act” allows the Commission to go after property owners. Now, 3 Brothers is liable should it not find the source of the unlicensed FM station and shut it down.
