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A pirate looks at 40 watts

"Bob Noxious" doesn't like FCC or corporate control of radio, so he found his own clear channel - an unused FM frequency - and broadcasts illegally.

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published March 21, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - In the battle of the airwaves, a 35-year-old out-of-work cook calling himself Bob Noxious envisions himself a pirate.

He is making a point out of ignoring the Federal Communications Commission. He skipped licensing, bought a radio transmitter for $600 and squatted on FM, broadcasting within a 5-mile radius a blend of rock, rap, reggae and whatever else he wants across downtown St. Petersburg.

Pirate Radio Network is entertaining. And illegal.

The station motto: "License? We Don't Need No Stinkin' License." Bob doesn't use his real name because, to the FCC and the state, operating a pirate radio station from a 40-watt transmitter in his kitchen breakfast nook makes him a criminal. (The St. Petersburg Times checked his real name against a state criminal database. He came back clean.)

The signal emanating from the antenna attached to the side of his apartment building could earn him federal fines and a felony conviction under a state law created last year that carries penalties of up to five years in prison.

But this pirate maintains he hasn't plundered anything. To Noxious, it's just air. He says he goes out of his way to avoid conflicting with commercial stations' signals. Nobody was using the frequency. If he offends, he suggests listeners turn the dial.

By that description, he's a gentleman pirate, a freelance warrior against government regulation and corporate domination.

He's also a small player in a high-stake debate over airwave access and decency that's only gotten hotter since Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" and the FCC's record indecency fines against shock jocks Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.

It's a battle being fought at the highest government and corporate levels that affects everyone who watches broadcast TV or listens to commercial radio.

Noxious said he doesn't want trouble. He doesn't want to interfere with broadcasters who are paying licensing fees. He doesn't want to be arrested.

He wants to broadcast music unavailable on commercial radio. He wants the freedom to say things the FCC doesn't want radio announcers to say. And that, he said, is worth risking everything else.

C. Patrick "Pat" Roberts, president of the Florida Broadcaster's Association, has a different view.

There must be some control of what's said on the airwaves, and who says it, Roberts says. In the absence of control, there is only static. Random broadcasts would squash each other. Radios would become useless. Besides, there are plenty of legal stations playing by the rules broadcasting enough programming to suit virtually every taste, he said.

Outlaw broadcasters operate without concern for decency, public safety and for the thousands who play by the rules and depend on the airwaves to make a living, Roberts said.

"The pirate thing has become one of our biggest issues. It drives everybody crazy," he said.

From Washington, D.C., National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton said illegal radio broadcasts risk jamming legal channels, air traffic controllers and police frequencies.

"There's a reason that the Federal Communications Commission polices the airwaves," he said. "If everybody had a broadcast license, you wouldn't be able to hear anything that was broadcast."

The government reports there are 13,525 licensed AM and FM stations nationwide.

Roberts and Wharton agree Florida is a hotbed of pirate radio, with as many as 100 illegal operators plying the airwaves.

Noxious is pretty unassuming for someone engaged in criminal activity. His daughters, 2 and 8, live with their mom but visit on weekends. On his fridge, there's a message left by his 8-year-old, arranged in magnetic letters: "I Love You."

He was working as a cook until he cranked up his radio station this winter. So many friends dropped by the restaurant to talk radio, he got fired. So Noxious spends a lot of time broadcasting, compiling tunes he downloads from the Internet in files for nonstop, automated shows.

He posted rules for visitors:

"NO DRUGS!!!," "NO SMOKING!!!," "Food in kitchen area only," "Keep the noise to a minimum (we have neighbors)," and "All drinks on coasters (preferably with a lid)."

Aside from the risk of arrest, there are other drawbacks to running a radio show from his house. Listeners call him sometimes at 4 a.m. to request a song, and there was the time a band showed up to play live, in his kitchen, complete with a brass section.

Noxious isn't just fighting licensing laws and corporate content control. He's also taking on the FCC indecency crackdown.

In addition to breaking the law just by being on the air, Noxious uses some of the FCC's no-no words, the f-word in particular.

Which explains the final rule on his list: "HAVE FUN! F-- THE F.C.C."

"I don't want someone telling me what I can and can't say. I'm protected, too," Noxious said. "I'm not going on the air to cuss, but sometimes it happens. We're here to have a good time. We'll play anything until it's played on commercial radio. Once I hear a song on a commercial station, it's off our list. It's not that we don't like the song, but it's made it, we make room for another song."

One day it might be a punk remake of the Grease tune Summer Nights, another, the Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Some music shrieks, some croons.

"I turn on (commercial) radio now, it's the same s-- rehashed over and over again," he said. "If I want to listen to the radio, I want to hear something different. Commercial radio is stagnant. It's polluted."

Noxious said he tried working with the Tampa Bay area's community radio station, WMNF-88.5-FM. With that station's array of music (jazz, bluegrass, roots rock, folk) and talk, nobody could confuse it with a Clear Channel formula.

But even WMNF has rules, and an FCC license to maintain, and that was too confining for Noxious.

One thing the FCC has in common with Noxious: Its designated spokespeople won't allow reporters to use their names. One such person said the agency usually gets involved in hunting down pirate radio operators only if there are complaints or interference with official channels such as aviation or police communications.

In most cases, violators get a letter requesting they stop, followed by an order that they stop. In fewer than 100 cases a year will federal marshals take action, he said. An agency bulletin states that the maximum fine for pirate broadcasting is up to $75,000, plus possible imprisonment for operating outside the law "willfully and knowingly."

Which is exactly what Noxious says he'll keep doing. He is trying to move his signal onto the Internet and hopes to enlist like-minded people all over Florida to erect repeater antennas, pick up the signal from the Internet, and broadcast it to expand Noxious' reach.

Why won't he try to go legit?

Even if he toned down the language, culled his playlist (including such songs as She Won't Let Me F--) and had plenty of money, a license would be a long shot. About 30,000 broadcast applications were reviewed last year, according to the FCC Web site, and frequencies just aren't widely available.

A small AM station could be established in a rural area with an available frequency for as little as $100,000, Roberts said.

Except the FCC isn't accepting applications for AM stations now, its Web site says.

Noxious could buy a small, existing AM station somewhere in a remote area for $200,000, but that's pretty rich for an unemployed cook.

Five years ago, the government began experimenting with low-power stations, allowing groups to establish small stations for a lower cost in areas with available frequencies. But St. Petersburg isn't rural, and those low-power frequencies are for "noncommercial educational entities and public safety/travelers information entities, but not individuals or commercial operations."

There's also the Internet. With broadband becoming more common, anyone can create their own online "radio station" and be heard by anyone in the world with a computer. Jimmy Buffett does it through Radio Margaritaville.

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington, fights against what he says is traditional government favoritism shown to big corporations. He opposes pirate radio, but he understands Noxious' frustration.

Limits on frequency usage and tougher rules on what can be said on the air could move into other mediums, maybe even the wide-open broadband environment Chester sees emerging in the next 10 years.

"There can be kind of a chilling effect, a government censorship over what we hear and see," he said, noting that Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has proposed extending the FCC's indecency regulations beyond broadcast television to cable broadcasters.

"Today's whack at Fox could be tomorrow's censorship of the news. What we need is a kind of balance between the two extremes, the pirate radio and Sen. Stevens."

Noxious says he hasn't seen any such compromise.

He has a transmitter and a computer and nothing else to lose.

"Anybody else who has something to say, they can print their own magazine or fanzine or whatever," he said. "Everyone could have a radio station. Just drop 600 bucks (for the equipment) and get out there. Be part of the community."

By venturing into the fray, Noxious said he is at least doing something, not standing by while others make a decision for him.

"We're definitely sticking our necks out there. I'm not going to hide," he said. "If they're afraid of me, Bob Noxious, good."

Chase Squires can be reached at 727 893-8739 or squires@sptimes.com

One year in the battle of broadcast standards:

* February 2004: Janet Jackson's breast made a surprise appearance during last year's CBS broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show. The Federal Communications Commission fined the network $550,000.

* June 2004: Clear Channel, which owns about 1,200 radio stations, settled FCC indecency complaints for $1.75-million. Earlier, the company agreed to pay $755,000 in fines for Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, who was fired.

* November 2004: Sixty-six ABC-TV affiliates, including local WFTS-Ch. 28, declined to air the acclaimed World War II film Saving Private Ryan because of concerns that vulgar language could expose them to fines. The FCC ruled it was not indecent.

* Total FCC indecency fines in 2004 were nearly $8-million, compared with $48,000 in 2000.

* February 2005: Paul McCartney highlights a tame Super Bowl halftime show.

* February 2005: Congress considers raising FCC indecency fines to $500,000 per incident, up from $32,500.

* March 2005: Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, says FCC decency standards should apply to cable and satellite television, usually off-limits under the assumption that customers who pay for channels know what they are buying. Restraints could also apply to satellite radio, previously considered a haven for controversial DJs.

* March 2005: President Bush designates FCC commissioner Kevin Martin to replace outgoing FCC chairman Michael Powell. The Washington Post predicts Martin will be more aggressive in pursuing indecency complaints.

Diesel Boy - My Pants Are Falling Down

Tu-Pac with Snoop Dogg - Gangsta Party

Voodoo Glow Skulls - The Band Geek Mafia

Suicidal Tendencies - I Saw Your Mommy

The Transplants - Tall Cans in the Air

Sublime - Smoke Two Joints

The Offspring - D.U.I.

Rancid - Maxwell Murder

Jay Z & Linkin Park - 99 Problems

NOFX - Dinosaurs Will Die

The Prodigy - Firestarter

Waylon Jennings - Good Ol' Boys (Dukes of Hazzard Theme)

The Queers - Burger King Queen

Afroman - She Won't Let Me F--

System of a Down - Pizza Pie

The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated

Pennywise - F-- Authority

Choking Victim - Crack Rock Steady

Nerf Herder - Jenna Bush Army

Tenacious D - F-- Her Gently

[Last modified March 19, 2005, 09:22:35]