Boston Radio: FCC Consent Decrees Penalizes Pirates

The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday reached settlements with two Boston-area pirate radio operators, Acerome Jean Charles and Gerlens Cesar, following FCC Enforcement Bureau investigations.

Through these Consent Decrees, the two operators will pay monetary penalties, admit to violations of section 301 of the Communications Act, agree to 20-year compliance commitments, and agree to dispose of any remaining broadcast equipment in their possession. 

Unauthorized radio broadcast stations—also known as pirate radio stations—operate illegally, undermine the Commission’s efforts to manage radio spectrum, and can interfere with licensed communications, including authorized broadcasts and public safety transmissions. 

In December, the Commission issued two Notices of Apparent Liability to Acerome Jean Charles and Gerlens Cesar for their apparent unlicensed operations of broadcast radio stations—Radio Concorde and Radio TeleBoston, respectively—in the Boston-area in violation of section 301 of the Communication Act. The Enforcement Bureau negotiated the two Consent Decrees, which provide for a strict compliance plan over a period of 20 years to prevent Jean Charles and Cesar from ever resuming unlicensed broadcasting. Jean Charles has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $4,000, and to pay a further penalty of $75,000 if he violates section 301 of the Act or violates the terms of the Consent Decree; Cesar has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $5,000, and agreed to pay a further penalty of $225,000 if he violates section 301 of the Act or violates the terms of the Consent Decree.

As part of these compliance commitments, both Jean Charles and Cesar have ceased their own pirate radio broadcasting and have agreed not to materially assist anyone else committing such acts. Each has agreed to destroy any broadcast equipment remaining in their possession.

The FCC received complaints from residents of Boston and Randolph, Mass., of illegal stations operating at both 90.1 MHz and 92.1 MHz.

Randolph is a South Boston city, and here locals should be able to clearly tune to WUMB-FM 91.9, the University of Massachusetts-Boston noncomm, and WPRO-FM 92.3 from Providence — a Class B monster owned by Cumulus Media.