Monkey Man Fined!

Daniel K. Roberts, (San Francisco, California) - also known as "Monkey Man" - has been fined $10,000 by the FCC’s San Francisco District Office, for willfully and repeatedly operating Pirate Cat Radio, (PCR) an unlicensed broadcast radio station on 87.9 MHz.

The station founder, Daniel Roberts (who later legally changed his name to his on air persona, Monkey), started broadcasting Pirate Cat Radio out of his bedroom in Los Gatos, California (a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area) at the age of 15.

In 2008, Roberts began operating PCR from a radio studio located at the Pirate Cat Cafe and Studio in San Francisco. According to its website, PCR describes itself as "unlicensed low powered community radio station." The Bay Area is the capital of pirate radio stations.

The FCC said there is no record that Roberts and PCR have ever received authority to operate this broadcast station. "Additionally, the 87.9 MHz frequency used by Roberts and PCR is not allocated to the FM broadcast band." The FCC noted that it has issued numerous warnings and Notices of Unlicensed Operation to Roberts and PCR detailing the potential penalties for operating an unlicensed radio station.

As Roberts tells it, the FCC would send him a warning and he would send back a quote from the agency's Web page, which says that radio stations can operate without a license in times of national emergency or war. He argues that the current war on terrorism, and before that drugs, falls under that definition.

On April 28, 2009, FCC agents, using radio direction-finding methods, traced a radio signal on 87.9 MHz to an antenna on the roof of a residence. Section 15.239 of the Rules provides that non-licensed broadcasting in the 88 to 108 MHz band is permitted only if the field strength of the transmission does not exceed 250 mV/m at three meters.

The measurements indicated that the signal was more than 4,000 times greater than the maximum permissible level for a non-licensed Part 15 transmitter in the 88 to 108 MHz band and more than 10,000 times greater than the maximum permissible level in the 76 to 88 MHz band.

The following day, the agents observed Roberts operating PCR on 87.9 MHz from the Pirate Cat Cafe and Studio in San Francisco. The agents located the signal again radiating from same residence as the previous day.

The FCC said its "Forfeiture Policy Statement"), and Section 1.80 of the Rules provide for a $10,000 forfeiture (fine) for operation of a radio transmitter without an instrument of authorization. Roberts was ordered to pay the fine within 30 days. The Commission will not consider reducing or canceling the fine unless he submits tax records going back three years or other financial records.