If it’s true that the Florida pirate bust that I posted about a little while ago is really the first arrest under the new Florida law, then it would seem that the law isn’t having quite the intended effect. Although, according to a RadioWorld report a non-commercial station manager in Boynton Beach says that
“The pirate problem is not as egregious as it was prior to the state law being passed[.]” … “I know firsthand the Broward County Sheriff’s Department has shut down several illegal operations. It’s making a difference. However, we just reported another pirate to local police in early June.”
But, apparently, the Sun-Sentinel doesn’t know about those Broward County shutdowns.
The report also notes that a company set up to help licensed stations hunt down pirates hasn’t been getting much business. But the vice-president of the company attributes the lack of demand to stations not having the cash to spend rather there being a lack of pirates to hunt.
Still, the FCC claims to have shut down a dozen pirates so far this year, which, if true, would be more than in any other state.
But tracking unlicensed radio activity is a notoriously imprecise endeavor, since a very large percentage of broadcasters keep things on the down low. Florida is also a famous hot-spot of pirate activity, and so it’s very likely that a single frequency may be used by an assortment of stations at different times–or, unfortunately, sometimes simultaneously.
I wouldn’t doubt that the new Florida law has had some deterrent effect, though I also wouldn’t doubt that a lot of current or would-be Florida pirates aren’t even aware that a state law is on the books. The usefulness of the law also begs the question of whether or not Florida law enforcement has the spare time and resources to worry about pirates in the first place.
Right now, I’m just waiting for pirate radio to show up on CSI: Miami.