Feds shut down Pirate radio station again
A 14 year old teenager, who has been operating a pirate radio station in Ottawa since October, has had his station shutdown by Industry Canada.
The teen, whose studio was located inside his father’s strip club on Bank Street, north of Greely in Ottawa was taken off the air just after midnight this morning.
The teen and his father, Georges Saade, had been warned by Industry Canada on December 2nd to shut down the illegal radio station, however, the father and son thumbed their respective noses at the authorities by continuing to operate until today.
From December 2nd to December 14th, the teen and his father continued to broadcast and became minor local celebrities by appearing on several television shows in the city. In addition to broadcasting illegally, the young teen also set up a website where users could request songs.
Listeners in Ottawa tell Digital Home the radio station was twenty four hours a day on 91.9 FM. Programming consisted primarily of contemporary hit radio songs along with teenage banter.
During this time, Digital Home contacted Industry Canada to ask why they were allowing the pirate radio station to continue but the feds would not comment.
Early this morning, at just after midnight, the teen announced that he would be signing off “for a long time” and at 12:20am a male voice was heard telling the youngster to “shut it off.”
Today, the teen wrote an apology on his website.
I wish to apologize to the Canadian Radio Television Commission for broadcasting on radio waves 91.9 fm without proper permission and license. At their request, I have voluntarily shut down and will remain so until I can properly obtained their permission to broadcast.
I have disconnected my transmitter and excitor and have put it into third party storage until I can legally operate again.
According to the Canadian Radiocommunication Act, the operator of an illegal radio station is liable to a fine of up to five thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.
Comment below or discuss in Digital Home’s Canadian Radio forum.
What a little snot-nosed punk. Very glad to see it get shut down.
Talk hard, “Hard Harry”!
Reminds me of a smaller ten watt transmitter was shut down last summer. The Big difference was it was run by local musicians in the middle of the Alberta prairies, and primarily broadcast Alberta musicians who probably wouldn’t get much airplay anyway, not fitting into corporately controlled radio playlists. They also broadcast local news and information from Carstairs, Alberta.
The question is, what’s the harm? How would a small town transmitter be able to go through all the CRTC rigamarole to get a licence to provide what is basically a non-profit community service.