A Westword article details the quick life and death of a pirate rap station in Denver that played local music when the local commercial urban station wouldn’t.
It looks like the station wasn’t particularly clandestine. They apparently were just visited by field agents who served a “written warning” (probably a “notice of apparent liability”) but let them keep their equipment. Of course, those who’ve been paying attention to their pirate radio lessons know that FCC agents aren’t cops and without a warrant you don’t have to let them in, and they can’t confiscate anything.
It looks like the FCC keeps pretty close tabs on the Denver metro area, given that they were on the air for only a month. The fact that they played unedited versions of songs probably resulted in some complaints to the FCC, too. Free Boulder Radio is one of the few pirate operations in Denver metro that I’ve heard of surviving FCC snooping, but they use pretty smart evasive techniques.
Here’s a tip to all would-be pirates: don’t give out your home phone number.
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