A San Francisco community radio station has been forced off the public airwaves after 13 years of broadcasting.
Pirate Cat Radio, a volunteer-run station housed in a café in the Mission District and heard on 87.9 FM, was fined $10,000 by the Federal Communications Commission and ordered to stop its broadcasts, according to the station’s Web site.
The station featured an eclectic mix of indie music, talk radio and local news, as well as bulletins from the BBC and Al Jazeera.
The station is one of many small low-power FM neighborhood and community stations that have been fighting with the FCC for years for the right to broadcast in blank spots in the spectrum, arguing that existing rules favor corporations, churches and other wealthy institutions that don’t reflect an adequate diversity of voices in the community. Stations across the country have been raided, equipment seized and fines levied — but some station managers have taken the government to court.
The Pirate Cat site said the FCC accused the station’s owner and founder — who goes by the name "Monkey — of violating Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934. This section states that a license must be obtained from the FCC to make radio transmissions over the public airwaves.
Monkey, 27, said in a statement that the station should be allowed to air under Title 47, Section 73.3542 of the US Code Federal Regulations, which says broadcasting without a license is permitted during times of national emergency or war; he cited President George Bush’s "War on Terror."
Earlier this year, Monkey acknowledged in a San Francisco Chronicle report that the FCC had given him several warnings about operating without a license. In August, the Chronicle wrote about the Board of Supervisors presenting Pirate Cat Radio with a certificate of recognition for its service to the community.
For now, the station can only be heard online. The Pirate Cat Café will remain open.
Pirate Cat’s fall from the public airwaves comes at a time when the Bay Area Radio Museum and Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame have also had to call it quits due to a lack of funds.
