[BC] Ft Lauderdale Pirates Silenced by STATE

[R J Carpenter]

>From South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

 Agents silence 2 pirate radio stations in South Florida


Two men arrested after students' broadcasts affected

By Brian Haas
Staff Writer
Posted July 2 2005


      FORT LAUDERDALE ? State agents silenced two pirate radio
stations this week and arrested two operators whose profanity-laced
broadcasts have been interfering with a local student-run station
since May.

      Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested
Marquis McDonald, 23, and Rasheem Oriley, 26, on charges of
unauthorized transmission of a radio station.

      The arrestsare likely the first under new state laws making the
operation of pirate radio stations a third-degree felony, said Paige
Patterson-Hughes, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement. They could also face federal charges and fines.

      Agents with FDLE and the Federal Communications Commission
received a complaint Thursday from WKPX-FM 88.5, a nonprofit,
independent rock station run by students from Piper High School in
Sunrise and Nova Southeastern University, Patterson-Hughes said.

      The two pirate stations, at 89.5 and 88.7 FM, were interfering
with their signals, she said. She said pirate stations also drown out
emergency broadcasts such as weather and Amber alerts.

      Jon Farley, WKPX-FM's station manager and radio teacher at Piper
High School, said those and other pirate radio stations often flood
the airwaves with profanity. People then call his station to complain.

      "It makes us look bad in the public eye and causes us trouble,"
Farley said. "It's a nice thing to hear that they're gone."

      On the same day of the complaint, FDLE agents tracked the
pirates' signals to an apartment in the 900 block of Northeast 11th
Street, above the Meme Clothing warehouse in Fort Lauderdale.

      Agents staked out the apartment until McDonald arrived,
according to his arrest report. When confronted, he admitted that he
and Oriley ran the stations, the report said.

      Agents stripped the apartment, taking the equipment and leaving
behind only a microphone stand, some cords and a few CDs. Atop the
two-story warehouse, two 30-foot antennas could still be seen Friday
afternoon anchored in buckets filled with concrete.

      Florvil St. Louis, who owns the building, said he knew the radio
stations were operating, but he thought they were legal. He said the
two have rented the apartment for about three months but did not live
there.

      Pirate radio stations are nothing new in South Florida. At least
21 have been shut down since 1998.

      But Thursday's shutdown didn't please everyone. Carl Manning,
30, said he was a fan of both stations.

      "I think that's bad," Manning said about the shutdown. "They
were little, urban radio stations and they played music with cuss
words."

      Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas at sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4597.