The FCC’s latest sweep through America’s cities in search of pirate radio operators turned up a local DJ in Miami who was reportedly arrested live on the air.
Local10.com in Florida reports that a broadcaster going by the name of DJ AJ 305, was arrested by police on August 12. The arrest took place at his home, where the FCC alleges DJ AJ 305 was operating a pirate radio station.
DJ AJ 305, who is accused of running “Unique FM” at 91.7 FM for most of the last 7 years, was reportedly broadcasting live when deputies entered the premises to seize broadcasting equipment and arrested the DJ while the station was live on the air.
The FCC had issued a forfeiture notice on Unique FM a year ago, with fines escalating to more than $300,000 after the Trump administration took charge.
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An Instagram account belonging to DJ AJ 305 addressed the arrest but mainly the media coverage a week ago. Written in English with Kreyol passages, it’s worth reading as the media that covers this type of stuff (mainly industry press devoted to enforcing the turf claimed by the flailing dinosaurs of terrestrial radio) rarely bother to hear from the accused, or ask why they do what they do:
“I’m IN LOVE with our beautiful music & this is the reason why we do it. We have no FM representation for Kompa, but I understand there are laws & rules that we must follow. We will be transitioning to online Radio ASAP & and I will let you guys know the details.
Most (and quite nearly all) radio stations identified by the FCC these days broadcast to non-English speaking communities, covering music and news in languages that are usually not represented on the existing media spectrum.
Congress passed the PIRATE Act in 2020, which empowered the FCC to not just respond to licensed broadcaster complaints about pirate radio signals, but to conduct pre-emptive “sweeps” of American cities in search of anyone on the FM spectrum broadcasting without a license. In addition to enforcement sweeps, FCC agents began issuing gigantic fines to accused pirate radio operators, some in the multi-million dollar range. One station accused of unauthorized broadcasting was located in the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
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