UNLICENSED QUAD CITY RADIO, PIRATE, PRIVATEER OR PUBLIC SERVICE?

Talk about the law of unintended consequences!

Here is the basic story. A radio station, with no apparent FCC license, has popped up in the Quad Cities.

Normally, this is referred to as "Pirate Radio" and is usually associated with bigger metro areas and coastal places. Miami, for example, is famous for "Pirate Radio" usually on moving boats. Corpus Christi used to be well known for pirate radio during the spring and summer. Usually, nobody could learn who these "pirates" were, short of a well-timed Coast Guard raid.

That's the difference in the Quad Cities. Here, one of the operators of the station even allowed himself to be intereviewed and pictured in the local newspaper. The Station operators claim to be perfectly legal--and this is just delicious--because the country is AT WAR.

According to these folks, unlicensed radio stations can broadcast, as long as they don't block used frequencies, DURING WAR TIME FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR. I don't know if they are right or wrong but it's a hell of an audacious argument! Can't you just see it? "I'm sorry Mr. FCC investigator, you can't give me a ticket. Shrubbie says we're at war and I've gotta be at my Radio Station to broadcast warnings in case those Weapons of Mass Destruction from Iraq are unleashed upon the Upper Mississippi River Basin!"

Can the tri-state area be far behind? A Boat, a transmitter and post office box to collect the advertising revenues and we're in business. I even know where we can find a very large Station/Manager with a great on-air voice and experience as a radio personality!

The Law and Order Repubs are spawning promiscuous radio behavior!