January 28th, 2010 
joel 
FCC Shield
Turns out that Erie pirates are easier to catch than the Somali kind.
An agent from the Federal Communications Commission’s field office in Buffalo came to Erie Wednesday, located and ordered the shut down of two pirate FM radio stations that were operating within the city limits.
According to a very reliable source who spoke with the agent while he was in town, the agent found a signal at 89.5 emanating from a retail business on lower Parade Street. My source said that the signal which played urban and hip-hop music had been broadcasting for more than a year on the frequency.
The other pirate broadcasted gospel music at 90.1 FM and was found in the Little Italy section of the city near Walnut Street.
The operators of both stations were given verbal warning to immediately cease transmission, with official Notices of Violation to follow. According to my source, no fine will be issued unless the operators fail to comply with the shut-down. If they were to resist the FCC, fines can amount up to $10,000 for illegal transmission of an unlicensed station.
Hats off the prudent P&T commenters for actually instigating the FCC visit to our fine city!
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Why didn’t these people just apply for a LPFM frequency? I thought there were a few up for grabs in Erie? Or are they already taken but not being used?
Funny how this happened right after these stations were mentioned on your blog ( in the comment section).
Joel, FCC must be regular readers!
Not so funny really.
Sometimes it doesn’t take a complaint or the FCC searching the web for pirate related websites.
The FCC can be anywhere at any given time for something totally unrelated.
Now they need to shut down Sivik’s pirate station (88.3)near Meadville that he claims is legal.
It had to be the headline that attracted our company tonight from around the globe. There has to be something about “piracy” that sends an equivalent to a Googe Alert to our pals in China.
Or maybe FCC but I doubt it. Piracy would be more likely to attract.
Because about an hour ago, it became breakfast time in Beijing, and the first thing a China guy did was check Press and Tower. You don’t see that often.
You would expect them to use Windows for an operating system, but the surprised me with using Apple OS.
They attached that to Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.
But anytime someone travels in and out of Press and Tower, it registers where they came from and what they viewed and on what system they entered.
Like this:
Beijing arrived from live.feedjit.com on “”.
18:21:48 — 57 minutes ago
OR
Meadville, Pennsylvania arrived from google.com on “Deep Background for December 6-12, 2009 | Press and Tower :: News and commentary on Erie PA newspaper, TV, radio, and new media” by searching for wjet news amelia segal.
I put up two for you to see. One is a Meadville folk searching for Amelia Segal….a more and more common occurence, Amelia! They were led to Deep Background for the first week of December 2009. There must be a note on Amelia in that spot somewhere. I didn’t look cuz I just saw her on the weather a bit ago.
But notice the quote marks preceding “Deep Background and posted after the words, new media”. This is ALWAYS true on the system.
But it is NOT true for our Chinese visitor this day.
HE arrived from live.feedjit.com but when it comes to On, there is no trace…just a simple “” and NOTHING in between the quote marks. There is no tracer for this person.
So I thought I would meander to where he came from, as I had only been on the system a few minutes around the time China came to Erie. At live.feedjit.com the entire planet is entering and leaving, looking up being paid for Host Domain Ads and lotsa free TV Rizor shows.
I don’t know what that’s about; maybe you TV guys do.
But what surprised me was the Chinese visitor who came from that spot moments before I went to see it, does NOT exist. It is as if this fellow can materialize and disappear at will and leave no tracks.
TV Rizor has at the base on Homepage, Free Hosting, Unlimited Bandwidth, Free for Life. You don’t see that often.
Then, they have payment for you to promote at any website, they pay you twice monthly automatic payments, and they will pay Minimum Payment of $0.1 which is a dime to just sign up.
A scroll of the live.feedjit.com shows the entire world is on this system, but almost no one from USA.
What is the deal on this?
Any of you TV folks or techies have a clue?
Some guy in China knows; we should too.
He never even left a trace at P&T to see if he looked up Amelia Segal as the wise man from Meadville did.
I try to keep up with this stuff, but I have NEVER seen a “” for a portal of any kind anywhere.
What’s up with that? Any clue?
I also Googled TV Rizor and finally found it, and an Episode 7 on Season 6 for a TV show. Click the show and “Infringement Removal” appears and blocks the show.
But in the feedjit system, the sucker plays anyway.
It is too late to send Conan to China, but maybe we could send The Biggest Loser. Oh wait, he was on all stations last night giving a speech.
I picked up the 90.1 a couple of times while passing through town, and wondered what it was. I wasn’t aware that there were any pirate stations in the city. guess you learn new things every day.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Father Spoon, pressandtower, PiratesWeek, Chris Jiuliante, Mike Leal and others. Mike Leal said: RT @pressandtower: FCC shuts down two Erie pirate FM’s http://bit.ly/bMHxaN [...]
A ridiculous waste of time and money. These stations hurt exactly who?
Why doesn’t the FCC investigate the fiasco currently taking place with the WICU-TV/WSEE-TV merger? IMO a more worthwhile endeavour than busting a couple of alledged pirate radio stations. Thank you FCC for saving the public from the scourge of Pirate Radio. LMFAO
I suspect the P&T just couldn’t stand the competition.
What happened to the pirate operating on 88.7? They were playing Gospel and Urban music and seemed to be part of a church. I was at 88.5 then and we decided not to complain to the FCC for PR reasons.
I came across both the now shut down stations right around Christmas. Most of the time the signals were very weak. I thought they were radio stations worth having for Erie. Too bad they were operating illegally.
So you’re only a busybody to people playing music you don’t like?
talkin about nothin to do with your time. these stations (89.5/90.1) we’re a plus for our city. but sometimes ppl do things in order to get ratings of thier own. hell we need to check in to powerandpress.com and see whats legal and not legal, press on.
Please find a way to bring those stations back. Love listening to the Gospel and Urban music. I’m tired of STAR 104 and those other stations that limit what people want to hear.
I understand about piracy but what harm was it doing, all it was doing was spreading urban music to not just people of color,but to all nationalities. Its not like a drug deal was going on the way they make it sound. Why can’t we get some support from the bigger radio stations then, we’re just looking for our type of music u don’t get to here on a regular basis. There are towns smaller than Erie that supports urban, hip hop, and black Gospel. Please help us instead of working hard to shut is down.
It was nice to have radio stations that played urban music and gospel. It was great while it lasted. Its a shame that a city of Erie’s size has nothing to offer in terms of an urban radio station. A big part of the population has been all but ignored, and I hope someone sees this void as an opportunity to bring those stations back the legal way. It would be a goldmine. I don’t think anyone was “pirating” to get rich, but to offer Erie residents a change from the ordinary. It seems some people are afraid of change.
Pirate stations are againest the law. If you don’t like it…get the laws changed. Otherwise, live with it.
ALL THESE INDIVIDUALS WERE DOIN WAS OFFERIN MUSIC 2 THE PUBLIC.ERIE HAS A DIVERSE POPULATION AND THEREFORE SHOULD OFFER MORE THAN THE COUPLE OF STATIONS WE HAVE. WERE THEY REALLY HARMIN ANYONE? INSTEAD OF SHUTTIN THEM DOWN IT WOULD BE NICE IF SOMEONE WOULD HELP THEM GET THEIR STATION ESTABLISHED TO FIT INTO REGULATION. I LOVE THE MUSIC THEY PLAY AND LOVED HEARIN IT EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. I DON’T WANT 2 HAVE 2 WAIT TIL THE WEEKEND 2 BE ABLE 2 LISTEN 2 URBAN MUSIC, I SHOULD BE ABLE 2 TURN ON MY RADIO ANY DAY OF THE WEEK AND LISTEN 2 THE MUSIC I WANT 2 HEAR. ERIES AIRWAVES NEED 2 STEP THEIR GAME UP. I CAN GET ON THE HIGHWAY GOIN ANYWHERE AND TURN ON AN URBAN STATION, WHY NOT IN ERIE?
I think it’s important to know that the operators of the stations volunteer their time to provide service to people in the community. This was an easy channel for individuals in the inner-city community to gain information in regards to community events etc. The stations were used as a tool to spread the theme of non-violence and gave our community leaders an opportunity to address the community. It’s ok though through history we’ve always managed to make way. This setback is temporary. unfortunately most of us don’t have the opportunity or even feel comfortable enough speaking live on the other stations….we don’t feel welcome in other parts of the radio waves. What ever it is that needs to get done to make everything legal…we can make it happen because we are a community of love.
If you people want a radio station along those lines, that caters to that specific audience, why not petition city council to fund or start a low-power “community access” radio station for that purpose? Nobody is putting down people of ethnic diversity here, but the law is there for a reason, and these people were going against the law, regardless of the service they were providing. It was illegal, and therefore, rightly shut down.
These radio stations were a much needed addition to the stations played in Erie. They were a platform for so many people who otherwise do not have that platform. They were highly active in the community and a positive force that was something different, something wanted. And it was a great way to showcase and support local talent. Maybe thats the “real” problem. Urban stations doing good in the community. I personally will miss the stations. And just the thought of going from those stations to Star, Classy, Froggy… etc makes me not want to turn on the radio.
Don’t like the laws…get them changed…otherwise obey them. Just wish the FCC could put those responsible behind bars for a while. Fines mean nothing…they won’t pay them. Great examples for the community.
PR, it must be a burden to have to go through life so bitter towards others. Could you give the rest of us lessons on how to be so perfect as you?
It’s Evedent,and we always knew, that PR and some of these other People, don’t care about about what’s good for the Urban or inner City area. (89.5/90.1)provided a Non-Profit Service to there community without the interferrence to any other Radio Stations Transmittion.
These Stations provided our community with Information, News,Positive Messages as well as instructons that would help to Up-Lift Our Community with the help of the magnitic atraction of Urban Music (Hip-Hop, R&B and Gospel).
Yes, these people as you say, Took a stand to do for themselve’s and there community that which you would have never done Mr. PR and Others that would welcome and rejoice in the shut down of these so-called Pirates.
You act as if you are the God of Media,News and Commentary, take a look in the Mirror, You might see a Slinking Devil to yourself and others.
It’s good to know that you don’t have the last say. And for those of you that would say “Don’t like the laws…get them changed…otherwise obey them” We’ll we fill the same way about you when you and your friends,after having a few Beers and or Drinks,then you jump in your cars and drive, or when your seen supporting the Local Prositute or Urban Drug Dealer behind closed doors, You also should be placed behind Bars because the fine you are “ABLE” and “WIL” pay.
Not trying to be so personal, but personally I feel that these stations (89.5,90.1) are an Asset To Our Community, yes OUR COMMUNITY. WoW, “Great example for the community” we see the Great example you have been (A Great Failure).
I don’t believe you can tell us anything you have or currently doing for the betterment of this community. You talk as if you are a PRIVATEER- acting while in the possession of a commission or a “Letter of Marque” from another Radio Station authorizing the capture and ruin of other Urban Stations that cater to their Own. Peace
I am so glad to see the community supporting something that was a much needed presence in Erie. I think we should continue to support, continue to let our voices be heard, and maybe this area will understand the impact the stations had. Whether we never hear those stations again or not, ERIE needs to know what ERIE is lacking. In order for that to happen, ERIE needs to LISTEN….
heck, even star has change thier music during the day. there is more r&b playing now. someone needs to contact these ppl about about urban radio. this can benifit everybody. 89.5/90.1 was a great thing and it seems like this PR needs to open up!