Local Features
(2004-01-22)
SOUTH FLORIDA
(wxel) -
South Florida is the undisputed national hot spot for pirate radio broadcasters, in case you didn't know (8/28/03 RBR Daily Epaper #169). Now, the Florida Association of Broadcasters is ready for a duel. It's trying to create a series of laws making their operation not just a federal crime, but a state one as well. Since 1997, the FCC has shut down more than 400 pirates in Florida alone, according to the Miami Herald.
''I believe it's better to use a Mack truck than a flyswatter,'' C. Patrick Roberts, president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, told the paper.
The story sites a ton of problems down there: "For more than a year, Miami-based public station WLRN-FM 91.3 has had to contend with a hip-hop station somewhere in Delray Beach that operates at 91.5. It's gone, but has been replaced by a new one in the Delray Beach area. It showed up about three weeks ago, GM John Labonia said. WLRN, with a 100,000 watt signal, boasts about 40,000 listeners in southern Palm Beach County. The station has reported the pirate to the FCC and engineers are trying to find the transmitter, Labonia said. Boynton Beach-based WXEL-FM 90.7 has been hampered for three years by a station in Fort Lauderdale, operating at 90.9, that interferes with its range in central and southern Broward County. That pirate was briefly shut down but has resurfaced, WXEL manager Jerry Carr said."
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