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WMKL "The Call" Tracks Down Pirate Radio Stations in Miami (2002-2006) Contact us if you're interested in advertising on a relevant page! Entire site copyright 1996-2006 by David Citron {RadioPagesFL [att] netscape [dott] net}. All rights reserved.

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(December 1, 2006 -- Key Largo, FL) ... To paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone complains about pirate radio but no one does anything about it. Until Rob Robbins, that is. He gets things done. Rob Robbins, President/GM of "The Call" WMKL 91.7, recently had the latest in a number of run-ins with radio pirates, which were blocking WMKL's signal in a large part of Miami-Dade County. Using direction-finders and other equipment, Rob and his co-workers tracked down the pirates themselves, for the police to shut down and apprehend. "Most of the pirate antennas look alike," notes Rob. "Maybe they all get them in the same place and follow the same instructions." Here's Rob's interesting tale about how he got to be an expert in tracking down pirates. Following a hands-on introduction to radio broadcasting through WVUM at the University of Miami, I found myself infected with the "radio bug." During the summer of 1994, I organized a group of college-age friends to pursue a vision for a full-time FM radio station targeting young adults with Christian music. "We didn't have a studio," says Rob. "Just an equipment rack for the first two or three months." Besides being told that this was an impossible task, it was clear that a pre-requisite to broadcasting was a license from the Federal Communications Commission. We incorporated a non-profit organization, and all chipped-in our spare change to open a checking account with $100. Over the next year, we applied for and received 501c(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS and filed an application for a construction permit with the FCC for a 45kW non-commercial education FM station centered over North Key Largo. Our application. The FCC determined the application was "mutually exclusive" (in conflict) to applications filed by two other organizations. After a year and half of hard work, we spent the next four years waiting for an opportunity. While we waited, a number of new FM radio stations began appearing all over the FM dial in South Florida: English, Spanish, Dance, Rap, Caribbean radio stations, even a Christian station. Some of the stations broadcasted in stereo and some in mono. Some of these stations only appeared at night and during the weekends and holidays. Some sounded very professional but most did not. As these temporary stations came and went, it was frustrating to explain why it was taking years to see our dream come to fruition. Our opportunity came in 1999 when we were presented the opportunity to purchase WMKL 91.7 FM -- a full power 40,000-watt radio station reaching the upper Florida Keys and southern Miami-Dade. Sometimes pirates can be found in residential neighborhoods, with towers clearly visible from the street, like this one in Liberty City. "The CALL" signed on the air on February 9, 2000 after nearly a year of non-stop fund-raising to gather support. The CALL's fruition was proof that even major market radio station can put on the air legitimately, even by grass roots efforts through great perseverance. (To this day, many claim the right to broadcast illegally without a license because they have no hope of legitimately broadcasting.) Soon after building a listening base, we started receiving complaints that listeners from the areas north of Coral Gables and Pinecrest were hearing another station -- a pirate station -- on 91.7 MHz every evening and all weekend long. On some occasions, the pirate station would come on the air with dead carrier signal (no audio or stereo) which had the appearance from northern Miami-Dade that The CALL's transmitter had been switched off even though WMKL continued airing programming at 40,000-watts from the Key Largo tower site. Soon thereafter, the pirate station began operating 24/7. Imagine the disappointment of our volunteers after years of waiting, to spend hours in the makeshift studio working on new production elements only to run out to the car, turn on the radio and hear the pirate station drowning out all of their hard work and creativity. STORY CONTINUED BELOW...   Web RadioPages.net

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WMKL "The Call" Tracks Down Pirate Radio Stations in Miami CONTINUED We began contacting the FCC to request an enforcement action against the pirate station. We first learned a little about the pirate station from a Miami Herald reporter who called us while writing a story about South Florida as the "Pirate Capital." In 2002, a lawsuit was required to shut down the pirate who was broadcasting from the Hollywood Bread Building in downtown Hollywood. Soon, the biggest help came unsolicited, volunteered by members of the Israeli community who were troubled over the fact that there was a full-time Hebrew language pirate station on the air illegally in South Florida. With the help of an anonymous "informant" who began calling, we physically located the pirate station in Hollywood. We immediately contacted the management of the office tower to inform them of the illegal station. Much to their surprise, they found an unauthorized antenna on their rooftop and forced the removal of the pirate station from their property. Within days, the pirate station resumed operation. Using an adjustable car radio antenna, we quickly located the pirate station operating from a nearby office building in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the owners of the office building harboring the relocated pirate station would be less than helpful in eliminating this nuisance. The management acknowledged the pirate station and even indicated that Federal agents had recently visited the building to inquire about the illegal station. However, the management took the position that this was not their problem and this was a rent-paying tenant. Rob says there has been a lot of pirate activity in the area along US 441 in north Dade. Ironically, this is the area where Lincoln Financial and Beasley have their radio stations. Over the months that followed, the pirate station introduced commercials from a local casino boat company, a Ford dealership, an insurance company, and many other area businesses. WPLG Channel 10 even covered this situation on their evening news, filming the building, displaying a photo of the station's operator, and quoting their discussion with the building's management. While FCC field agents continued surveillance of the building and pursuing a case though the U.S. Attorney's Office, the pirate station continued operating for many more months. After exhausting all options, WMKL filed a civil lawsuit in state court against the buildings owners seeking damages and injunctive relief resulting from the pirate station's operation. This lawsuit brought an abrupt end to the pirate station's operation. The civil lawsuit resulted in a settlement in the amount of $50,000 in damages. In the years that followed, many pirate stations also transmitted on WMKL's frequency. We have mastered the art of locating pirate stations in about 45 minutes using an arsenal that includes everything from aluminum foil and a pocket radio to a field strength meter and even a direction finding Doppler tracking unit. In most cases a conversation with the property owner harboring the pirate station results in the elimination of the illegal station within hours. Recently, the State of Florida implemented a new state law that requires an FCC license to broadcast. This new law gives local law enforcement the authority to arrest the operators and to seize the equipment used to transmit illegally. In the summer of 2005, we identified a pirate station operating in North Miami Beach. The North Miami Beach Police Department responded within two hours of our complaint and cased the building and traced the antenna's transmission line down into an office suite. Obtaining a search warrant, the police made entry into the pirate station's suite and found an unattended operation consisting of a transmitter operated by a "hot water heater timer switch" and fed programming by a PC relaying a Windows Media Player stream from an undisclosed location. First the owner of this Oakland Park property denied there was a pirate station. Then when shown the pirate transmitter, "he got mad when he saw the hole they made in his roof." The detectives turned down the audio on the pirate station's mixer and then waited for an operator to arrive to correct the "problem." Within an hour, the North Miami Beach Police had the pirate station operator in custody and the city electrician dismantling the dangerous pirate-broadcasting rig. The detectives were on the phone with WMKL staff as they switched off the illegal transmitter, which instantly restored The CALL's signal to northern Miami-Dade County. Broadcasting in the United States is a privilege. Broadcasting in the United States illegitimately, without an FCC license, is a crime and unrightfully takes away the legitimate right for people to hear programming that they choose to receive. The CALL is a perfect example that broadcasting is an attainable privilege to those that persevere. Thanks, Rob. Oh, year, about that most recent pirate? Rob says that once they saw him and his crew with their tracking equipment outside their window, the pirate station disappeared! ONE MORE PICTURE BELOW...

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One more picture... Rob presses the CALL 91.7 transmitter switch for the first time, on February 9, 2000.

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