The PIRATE Act was signed into law more than a year ago, but the rules governing increased fines for unlicensed broadcasting are about to go into effect on April 26. The Act is intended to give the FCC additional tools for tamping down pirate radio activity in hot beds like Boston and Brooklyn, NY, but there are reasons to be skeptical.

Brooklyn-based writer, post-production mixer and field recordist David Goren joins to help us tease out the real-world implications. Goren is also the creator of the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map and has been monitoring and recording unlicensed radio activity in the borough for decades.

Also joining the show is Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota. A professor of media law, he helps illuminate some of the legal and bureaucratic elements that complicate the Commission’s efforts. He also catches us up on the latest development in the battle over media ownership rules, with the Supreme Court issuing a narrow unanimous ruling in favor of the FCC’s most recent changes, but not quite addressing the decades-long gridlock in that policy area.

Show Notes:

* David Goren* The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map* The PIRATE Act* Radio World: FCC Can Use New Pirate Radio Fines Starting April 26* FCC: Enforcement Bureau Warns Property Managers That Tolerate Pirate Radio* New York City’s Pirates of the Air* Podcast #133: Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio* Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force* Radio Survivor’s most recent episode on Wave Farm, inluding numerous links.* KCRW: Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD* WVIP* Podcast #168: A Time Machine for All The Radio Plus Shortwave* Podcast #3: FCC Paper Tiger Teams vs Pirate Radio (episode with John Anderson)* Listen to this BBC Documentary about 5 Community Radio Stations around the World* Podcast #282 – New FCC, Who Dis?* Podcast #277 – How Does the FCC Solve Anything?