Ofcom has already shuttered 400 U.K. pirate radio stations lately, and now is making claims that it can save taxpayers a million pounds by closing more.
Produced for Nov. 5, 2016, but can air several days later.
Matthew Lasar reports in Radio Survivor that British broadcast regulator Ofcom has closed 400 pirate radio stations lately, mostly in two London boroughs, and says it could save British taxpayers up to 1 million by cracking down on that city s remaining pirates. How? Pirate stations typically use high-rise buildings for their broadcasts, with illegal transmitters installed on rooftops or hidden in lift shafts, Ofcom says. This is sort-of correct: pirates, like other FM broadcasters, put their antennae high up for a broader reach. This damages residential properties owned by local authorities, disrupting residents lives and putting people at risk from falling equipment, the agency claims. Actually, hanging a pirate radio antenna on a rooftop would not do any more damage than putting a television antenna there would. Ofcom quotes a group called Homes for Haringey saying that pirate operations have delayed key construction projects. One of their board documents blames construction delays on, among other things, Pirate radio aerials [that] have affected the progress of the completion of external works on some schemes. Ofcom makes no effort to itemize that 1 million savings figure, and it is difficult to imagine how an antenna could delay a construction project. Ofcom also says pirate radio disrupts emergency services without giving any examples. In this latest press offensive, their Pirate Radio Summit, Ofcom throws everything at the pirate menace except that old myth that regulators constantly sing about pirate radio bringing down airplanes.
Ofcom's outrageous pirate radio claims for Nov. 5, 2015
Radio news about radio waves.
00:01:53
1
Nov. 5, 2015
Produced at Wave Farm/WGXC in the Hudson Valley, New York.
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
