Touch FM

The US Attorney's office reports federal agents seized radio-transmitting equipment from a pirate radio station transmitting from a Brockton home, in part because it was interfering with an air-traffic-control frequency for Logan Airport.

The seizure has nothing to do with Touch FM, an unlicensed station in Dorchester run by Clarence Clemons, who says he is running for mayor of Boston this year. Touch FM has assumed the role of a community resource for Boston's black community with the demise of other programming on licensed radio and TV stations.

The Brockton seizure happened March 1 after, the feds say, residents of the house had been told several times to knock it off. The Globe has more. In recent years, Brockton has become a pirate radio hotspot.

UPDATE: Whoever posted the video has taken it down. It was basically a rant about how awful Touch FM is supposed to be.

Just like the Scientologists: Urban Radio vs. Touch FM.

Earlier:
Avast! Feds fine Dorchester radio pirate.
The anti-violence march and the pirate radio station

The Globe finally covers the saga of pirate radio station Touch FM, but says that the station at 106.1 MHz is an example of an illegal station broadcasting below 100 MHz. Um, no, it's an example of an illegal station broadcasting below 100 watts.

Still, at least it's an interesting story, unlike Kevin "I'm channeling Brian McGrory as fast as I can" Cullen's revelation that, boy, Dyan Cannon sure is old (what, Kev, no Jack Nicholson jokes?).

This Sunday, there's going to be a "Man Up for Liquarry Jefferson Accountability March" from Grove Hall to City Hall, to try to get black men to take more responsibility for stopping violence in inner-city Boston (starts at 11 a.m.; it's named for the little boy shot by a cousin with an illegal gun a family member left lying around).

I didn't read about it in the Globe or the Herald, of course. Instead, I heard about it this morning on Touch FM, the pirate radio station a toothless FCC can't seem to shut down.

But maybe it's not such a bad thing the FCC can't figure out how to dismantle an antenna. For the 20 minutes or so I listened to the station in the car (came in very well in Roslindale, slowly faded out as I got toward Rte. 9 in Newton), I listened to callers discussing what "brothas can do" to change the 'hood - and which song they'd pick as a theme for the march or which best reminds them of somebody they'd lost to violence. The DJ recited names of young victims of violence and reminded listeners that the mainstream media only seem to care about the inner city when somebody gets gunned down - where are the stories about good things in the non-white areas of Boston?

The answer to that one is easy, of course: If you look at today's Globe, you'll notice the paper assigned two metro reporters to the Patriots/Herald story (and another to cover a mock hurricane evacuation on the Cape).

The FCC has ordered a local man to pay a $17,000 fine for running an unlicensed radio station on Blue Hill Avenue.

The FCC says Charles Clemons continued to run Touch FM at 106.1 FM even after FCC field investigators - acting on a complaint from engineers at licensed stations - told him to knock it off.

When confronted with the station's operation, Clemons did not deny operating the station. The agents advised Clemons that he must discontinue the unlicensed operation immediately and outlined the possible penalties for continued operation of an unlicensed station. When the agents asked to conduct an inspection of the station, Clemons refused. When questioned, he stated that the studio was at a different location, but refused to provide the address.

The order is dated Feb. 29, but the FCC ruled this week that Clemons was now a deadbeat because he had failed to pay the fine.

As of this morning, at least, the station was not streaming on its Web site. UPDATE, 3:20 p.m.: It's back, at least on the Web.

Via BostonRadio.org