PODCAST - How is the FCC cracking down on illegal radio?
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:00 pm
The same old stories about interference.......
Anyone who's competent can operate a transmitter without causing interference. The problems arise when you get copying clowns trying to duplicate gear built by proper engineers....
I (co)-ran a station transmitting into Los Angeles (from the Hollywood Hills) for a couple of years in the early 80s. We caused no interference whatsoever, ran at fairly low power, but because of the favourable site and the directional antenna, we had a cracking signal into our target area. We linked using a mixture of microwave and UHF from a studio almost 12 miles from the output site. We always ran stereo, and we developed a large audience by playing material that the "legal" stations overlooked.
Any night in LA, you could find great bands playing in pubs, clubs and bars, and they didn't have a hope of getting played on mainstream radio because those stations were play listed into oblivion - listening to most of them was stupefying. They were all like bad versions of Heart or Capital, with 12 minutes of ads every hour and a playlist of about 15 records! We sought the unsigned, unknown bands and gave them airtime - often with them playing live in the studio. We used a spoof callsign, and had a lot of fun.
In the two years I was there, we "lost" one transmitter to a thief, had one hit by lightning and the third one was still in nightly use when I moved back to Europe. The station is still in intermittent operation (weekends and holidays) and has NEVER had an FCC visit. They've tried (unsuccessfully) to track it down and appear to have given up!