Would the FCC or the feds really bust you?

That's why Eric Idle of the Monty Pythons did the FCC Song: http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/FCCSong.mp3

So will they arrest you and put you in jail? What's the sentencing guidelines for something like that? I couldn't imagine getting locked up and having to tell Bubba that I'm in for "playing black metal on the radio".

I know what you mean about the same music played over and over again. They have a million songs that they could play or even several years old and a lot of the music stations just play the ones that people like to hear. I do not mind some of the music but when I hear "Party In The USA!" Every hour on the hour it gets old.

That is cool there are people out there pirating where you live at.

Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans of the show! www.deefilmroll.com/usa-uan/

Is that the kind that has like, a one mile radius? My friend was going to do that but decided everyone that lived within one mile of himw as stupid and didn't care whether or not they heard his music or not.

The finest of music awaits us in the shadows of Hell. --Charles Bukowski

I did a college paper a few years ago on the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which was the legislation that allowed Clear Channel, Emens and a couple of the other conglomorate radio moguls to buy multiple stations in the same markets. Anyway, at the time a few states passed laws that allowed some low watt "pirate" stations access to air time for certain periods...late lights mostly, but I'm not sure if those laws are still on the books. I believe Oregon was one of the states though. As for fines...I'm sure it has a lot to do with what kind of content you were broadcasting. if you were spewing Hard Harry/Howard Stern type stuff then you'd likely get some type of fine. If you were just broadcasting like tapes of church choirs you'd likely get a slap on the wrist and told to go home...maybe get your equipment confiscated.

If the Feds or anyone wanted to bust you, they can find a way. I believe they technically busted the main character in the movie for being broadcast over state lines. But really, that was a cover story used to stop a guy who certain people in power labeled a troublemaker. He was a scapegoat. The thing is, there are times when those in power just want to catch SOMEONE for a specific crime. The public has been worked up by some event and they want SOMEONE'S head on a platter. Unfortunately they don't always care if they got the right person. Other times, emotions make society THINK they are going after the right guy - when the really just want SOMEONE to be caught and blames. It's a false sense of security - a sense of "accomplishment."

In the movie, the one kid killed himself. The town was so thoroughly wrapped up in its own false image that they couldn't/didn't want to blame themselves for missing the signs. So they latched onto whoever they could blame - the main character.

So yes, there are times when stuff may come down on people like this. But the reasons aren't always what those in power will admit to.

As for the prison term: We never actually found out if he went to prison. We assume that he did because he seemed to fear that we would. He could have been fined and released. Frankly we don't know. We don't need to know that specific detail anyway. The real point is that he refused to go along with "business as usual" in society. He refused to stay silent when stuff happened. He got caught and was supposedly stopped from continuing his pirate radio show - HOWEVER his objective was still reached as others started speaking out as well.

Yes, the FCC will bust you. That's because they have nothing better to do than to interfere in the lives of the general public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg5zodsZdds

This video sums it up really good.

They exist to monitor and control the content of EXISTING radio stations, not find low-watt pirate stations. I have come to the end of my quest in this three year old thread and the answer is: THEY DO NOTHING.

I set one up and not a fxckin thing happened.

"If they weren't going to do anything about it why would The Federal Communications Commision even exist?"

Well, if the police aren't gonna hunt down the kid who stole my bike when I was 10, then why do they excist?

Like everyother department in the government, they can only do what their resources allow. I suppose shutting down little stations that are playing 80's music isn't a top concern. Just like my old bike.

The internet can hold zillions of sites.

The airwaves, on the other hand, are a limited resource - there are only a finite number of frequencies that can be used local to each other before they start to bleed over. Thus, the FCC was created to allocate them.

Of course, the original idea was that the airwaves (including broadcast television frequencies) belonged to the people. The FCC granted a frequency to a station, and the owners had a responsibility to the public.

The decades-long monopoly of the "big three" (ABC, CBS and NBC) rather belied the idea of fair allocations of frequencies. From what people have posted, most radio stations are evidently now owned by a few monopolies also.

A low power station is probably beneath notice. But I'm betting that if a pirate station *interfered* with reception of their broadcast, they'd have the FCC down on it ASAP. Money talks, the government listens.

Back in the day of this movie, however, an underage teen would get off lightly: probably his parents would have to pay a fine and that would end it. These days - if there was something besides a fine, and a person actually went to jail (extremely doubtful, maybe from persistently flouting the laws repeatedly), it would be a minimum-security "white collar" type prison, not a penitentiary.

Hopefully the internet is freeing us from the chokehold these monopolies have on the news we get. The problem with the internet is not how to put information out there ... the problem is getting anyone to listen.