FCC “Pirate” Advisory Flawed

The following is from a post by Bob Felmly  aka Mram1500 at Part15.us, it is a copy of his own response to Bill. Baker of ISS in relation to an article about the FCC advisory that had been published in the Information Station Specialist news letter...

 

FCC “Pirate” Advisory Flawed

 The FCC has launched a campaign asking the public to turn in Pirate radio stations.  Included in their information are handy resources, which can be used to determine if a station is licensed, or not.  At least two states have enacted laws against unlicensed radio stations.

 The Association of Low Power Broadcasters is troubled by this action as license free, low power broadcasting is permitted by FCC Part 15 rules in the AM, FM, Short Wave and Long Wave frequency bands.

 Legal Part 15 stations will not appear as licensed stations in the handy resources provided.  The general public and local authorities will likely consider legal Part 15 stations as Pirate stations.
 
With a zero tolerance, strong-arm tactic applied by this action, legal Part 15 stations will be considered guilty without due process.  They will be subject to stress and humiliation, as they are held high as examples until the situation has been sorted out.  Defending ones self in a court of law will likely be an expensive task.

 With regard to legal Part 15 stations, the ALPB feels the FCC should first educate the general public and local authorities called upon to assist this with this enforcement action.  Hopefully this will reduce the number of legal Part 15 stations snared by the dragnet.

Part 15 distiction and the battle against piracy

A new FCC ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY has been issued today, and brought to attention of part 15 operators thanks to Bill Defelice of  hobbybroadcaster.net.
DA 16-159 March 1, 2016, Enforcement Advisory No. 2016-02..
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0301/DA-16-159A1.pdf

CLICK HERE TO
READ IN FULL
 

The two page public document doesn't really present any new information, it's more a re-emphasis of the FCC's stance against pirates, and as part of the current increase of battle against pirates, the FCC has sent this advisory out to the following groups and organizations:
"United States Conference of Mayors, National Association of Chiefs of Police, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, National Association of Residential Property Managers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, National Association of Attorneys General, American Advertising Federation, National Association of Realtors, National Property Management Association, and the Rental Property Owners Association."

Of particular note is that the document also provides a distinction between the legal part 15 broadcasters and illegal pirates, on page 1 (excerpts):

Federal law prohibits operating radio broadcasting equipment in most cases without an FCC license.. ..This prohibition does not discriminate by size of operations, applying equally to the rebellious high school kid operating a radio station from his bedroom as it does to slick and sophisticated high-powered illegal broadcast operations...  ..Thus, in order to use or operate a radio station, the Communications Act requires that you first obtain a license from the FCC.2
..There are certain limited exceptions. For example, the Commission has provided authorization by rule to operators of CB radio, radio control stations, and some domestic ship and aircraft radios. In addition, the Commission has
authorized the operation of certain low power radios pursuant to Part 15 of the Commission's Rules. As a result, operators of these radio facilities are not required to have individual licenses. However, these operators are required to operate their stations in a manner consistent with the Commission's operational and technical rules for those services..."

Evidently, some feel the distinction is not being emphasized enough, and maybe it's not, after all the section which clearly points out that part 15 stations are legally operating entities, and do not fall under the category of pirates, is written in smaller print..
But the acknowledgement is at least there; part 15 broadcasting is legal, and that's a good thing.
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0301/DA-16-159A1.pdf

More about this story in Radio World: http://www.radioworld.com/article/fcc-rattles-sword-against-pirate-operations/278268 However, the writer of that article completely omits the part about part 15 in his reporting.. But I was sure to point it out in the user comments..


http://www.radioworld.com/article/fcc-rattles-sword-against-pirate-operations/278268



I was surprised when I received this email:

 

It was enthusing getting the email, and his going back to "tweak" the article was an honorable gesture, but the providing the link to the famed "200 foot" comment, was, unfortunately a bit of a letdown.. But at least legal part 15 was acknowledged, as follows...

 

"[What forms of unlicensed operation are legal on the AM and FM bands? Read the FCC language on that here.] "

For more about the 200 foot, see the previous post here:  http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-200-foot-elephant.html


Be sure to read an excellent article concerning this same topic found in another Radio World issue from June 2015:
Distinguish Pirates From Part 15 Operators
http://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/0004/distinguish-pirates-from-part-15-operators/334395

The nitty-gritty on a part 15 radio station broadcasting copyright music.

Back in the 90's I had an old 45 record jukebox in a little diner of mine for about 5 years..
5 plays for $1.00  It was a free loner from a man I used to work for. I bought the 45's from a store that sold old LP's in town to keep the music selection rotated.

I was well aware that the newer CD jukeboxes all the other businesses had exhibited BMI stickers with some kind of small print claimer explaining the mandatory requirements of it being displayed..

My old jukebox had such a sticker, but it was well expired, and I didn't give it a second thought. It sat there for 3 or 4 years taking in enough quarters per month to cover my electric bill (which at the time averaged about $500), but eventually a customer, who happened to be somehow associated with one of the amusement companies that supplied jukeboxes to the area, began giving me all kinds of grief about my jukebox not having a current license on it. - He was drunk and belligerent, and I pretty much brushed him off.

A week or two later, my landlord who also operated the bar in the back showed me some kind of threating letter he received in the mail, and told me to either get it licensed or get the box out.... I opted to get it licensed, which wasn't much,  less than $100 if I recall right.

The whole point is that for me to legally play that old music in a public 25x15 foot room, meant I had to get a license, because it was for public consumption.. You might be barely able to hear it if you were across the street.
But there is no denying that the legal requirements of public presentation of copyright music is there.

So then, If my part 15 station were to consist of copyrighted music programming, and it was not as a commercial venture. would I pay BMI?..
Honestly, I don't know, it would depend on my pocket, and if coming up with that $250 a year cost would hurt me or not (sometimes $250 can be a lot).

If it were a for-profit station, then definitely.

But what you all do is up to you, but if the emphasis and concern is that of legal broadcasting (as it should be), well then, it's just as relevant as the length of your antenna.

Or you can just kid yourself.

 www.bmi.com/licensing/entry/radio






Here is what RadioPilot, a member at part15.us does, and had to say about the matter:


"..... I have recieved my licenses from BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC...
The BMI license is $200.00yr from the time they grant you the license...
The ASCAP license is $123.00 and it's for one year also... they say the LPFM license was the form to use.... the SESAC license is $85.00 and it's for one year... so I think these are reasonable fees...  The BMI license states that any station earning over $10,000yr in commercial fees must revert to a regular license.. which is $450.00yr +... depending on your earnings for the year... or how you decide to 'hide' the earnings.... I intend on making my station earn it's keep by having commercials so the advertisers must be protected from liability from using music on the air... the fines are pretty steep and I would consult an attorney before you attempt to air music outside the boundary of your yard... This is my take on this and I feel that having the licenses helps to protect you from the big boys calling your station in to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC.. which will get you into hot water.... Radiopilot"
http://www.part15.us/forum/part15-forums/general-discussion/copywrite-fees

Maintaing the quality of your edited MP3's.

Audacity is a great tool for editing mp3's, but one of the problems with editing content of an mp3 -with most any audio editor- is that by saving your changes, it in turn recompresses the new file, and due to the nature of mp3's results in actually degrading the audio quality, as compared to the original.

You can lesson the degradation a little by saving it at a higher bitrate than the original was, but that makes it a larger file, and still doesn't completely eliminate the quality loss.
Another option is that when your finished editing, to save it as an uncompressed wave, which should maintain the audio quality of the original.. but that makes it an even larger file size than the previous option.
So often, what many of us do is just opt to accept a certain degree of audio quality loss for the sake of the final edit.

But there is another option.. Depending on what kind of editing you wish to employ, there is a completely non destructive way to a edit mp3!
If you don't need to enhance the original file with processing, but just want to do basic things like; cut out certain parts, move portions of the content around, adjust or normalize the volume, or have it fade in or out at certain points, or even split sections into entirely separate mp3 files.. Then your in luck, because you can easily do all that with a free program called mp3DirectCut.
This is a fast and simple program to use, that's easy on the resources, and to top it all off, it's free!
This is a Windows program, but you can use it on Linux with Wine.
I highly recommend you include it in your part 15 box of tools.. http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

fast mpeg audio editing
mp3DirectCut

All you need to cut your mp3

mp3DirectCut is a fast and extensive audio editor and recorder for compressed mp3. You can directly cut, copy, paste or change the volume with no need to decompress your files for audio editing. This saves encoding time and preserves the original quality, because nothing will be re-encoded. The built in recorder creates mp3 on the fly from your audio input. Using Cue sheets, pause detection or Auto cue you can easily divide long files.

Features

•Non-destructive cut, copy, paste    
•Volume change, fade, normalize    
•MP3 recording with ACM or Lame encoder    
•Fast MPEG visualisation and easy navigation    
•Layer 2 support (dvd/dvb audio)    
•AAC support    
•Batch processing    
•Cue Sheet support    
•Pause detection    
•Auto cue (track dividing by time values)    
•Track splitting with filename and tag creation    
•Trim · Crop · Fast play · Loop play    
•ID3v1.1 tag editor · ID3v2 tag keeping    
•VU meter · bitrate visualisation    
•High speed recorder · Command line usage   
•Unicode support

Get your copy now.. http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

Brilliant and unique use of ZaraRadio

ZaraRadio is a very popular choice of automation software for Part 15 radio stations, not just because it's free, but because it's so full featured, capable, stable, and simple to comprehend. So I find it fitting to tell you about an add-on of sorts that had been created to extend ZaraRadio's capabilities..

I was recently reminded by a rare visit by an elusive member by the name of dosman, on the part15.us/forum earlier today. He came to post information of an update a program he wrote called ZaraRadio event file dumper . You can read his post by clicking the link you just passed.

But what I was saying - was I was reminded of a little program which I first came across a few years ago and never really got around to experimenting with.. It was also designed by dosman.. And.. because I'm feeling lazy.. I'm just going to copy and paste what I had originally posted about it at http://www.part15.us/blogs/brilliant-and-unique-use-zararadio when I first came aware of it...

...............................................................................

January 25, 2014 - 04:18

This has got to be the coolest Part 15 related thing I've stumbled across since discovering Carls Low Power Hour!..
This guy has a Part 15 station: "The Ocho! operates on the north end of town and can be heard along parts of Old 37 and Walnut Street."  .. I didn't see any mention of what city or state 'Old 37 and Walnut street' might be in, nor if the station is currently is still in operation or not. But it apparently was from 2006 to 20011.

I just ran a search on Part15.us a few moments ago and see that he is a member and has posted here a few times, but it doesn't look as though anyone ever gave a response.. I think it might be because no one understood what the hell he was talking about.

Anyway, I fell across his website and discovered a really brilliant thing he created to use with ZaraRadio (at least I think it's brilliant, it's new to me). He came up with a way of using Zara Radio to control 3rd party scripts for additional automation. He has Zara running on his windows pc and.. well, here it is in his own words..

http://ibmgeek.shacknet.us/ocho

"..We've been able to run a 100% automated radio station using a second linux box to generate text-to-speech updates for weather, news, and the hourly gas price report for our town. So far we've been using a "pull" methodoligy were the Zara playout host downloads updated dynamic content (text-to-speech) from the linux box using batch files and wget for Windows. This works very well for content that only needs to be updated hourly like the gas and weather. The linux box updates the text-to-speech report a few minutes ahead of the playout time, then the Zara host downloads it just before the scheduled playout beings.."

He has some example mp3s there of the text to speech outputs, like: ap news, current events, gas reports, slashdot_headlines, and weather.
The computer voice sounds like a NOAA report, which would be fine (to me) for the weather and gas reports, but not the news and events. But there are better virtual voices availble I know. I can see something like this being very useful.
He goes on to say:

"..I've wanted to have the system annunciate the names of the songs played for a while but only recently figured out a way to do this. ZaraRadio needs a method to call scripts or otherwise initiate the regeneration of a text-to-speech reports except it does not directly support this. However there's no reason the playout log can't also be used to trigger events, if a script can watch the log it can pick up commands from it too. How do you inject commands though? Simple: add fake song names to your playlist. The song names contain metadata which your script knows how to read..."

He go on describing detailed but simple scripts, and also provides a download of the "Automated DJ" program he wrote. And he tried to tell us about it here, but no one seemed to listen!
I think this is so cool! Doesn't anybody else?
Check it out: http://ibmgeek.shacknet.us/ocho/ [updated link]

........................................

I missed this.. Evidently he has an updated version which can run on the same windows pc as zara is running on instead of on a separate pc with linux on it.
Here's the programs features:
Features
* Generates spoken audio from text input sources and websites
* Mixes in randomly chosen background music if desired
* Outputs to either mp3 or wav formats (mp3 is prefered)
* Chooses random sentences from a phrase book file for dynamic reports
Ex: "And now the 1680AM gas prices from around town" and "What a fine $SEASON day for gas, prices that is"
* Garble protection - the script tries to detect errors in html processing and aborts gracefully
Ex: When a website changes their HTML the DJ will announce "Danger! Will Robinson" rather than treat your listeners to the sound of raw HTML being fed into a text2speech engine.
* Script, modules, and support files are self-documented for easy customization
* Modular design allows easy addition of new content
* Has easily updated dictionaries to assist the text-to-speech software pronounce words correctly
Ex: "St." becomes "street", "911" becomes "nine eleven" rather than "nine hundred eleven"
* Experimental support for CGI streaming output
* Cygwin environment includes 12 voices plus 1 male voice for speaking Spanish
Included modules (supported input sources):
* Gas prices from gasbuddy.com
* Current weather from weather.com
* AP News from public RSS feeds
* News from Slashdot headlines
* News from Russia Today's English RSS feed
* USGS earthquake report
* Movie listings via Google by zip-code (based on theaters near a given zip-code)
* Current events for your locality, requires writing your own sub-modules for website calendars in your area

........................................

...we cant be at the console 24/7. and I see nothing wrong or uncommon about using a computer generated voice to automatically provide updated content on certain things like the time, weather, movie schedules, current gas prices, tides, and whatever else can be automatically obtained from outside feeds...
...By no means was I suggesting a computer voice being the primary personality, but only as an assistant. After all, how many part 15 stations would be running 24 hours a day without a computer.. and how many would not be running at all?

Original posting:
http://www.part15.us/blogs/brilliant-and-unique-use-zararadio

Dosman the Programmer:
1680AM The Ocho!

Automated DJ

Hear demo DJ reports

Improving Festival Voices

Using the Zara Radio playout log to control other scripts

How to Dump ZaraRadio Event Files

Check it out.

That was lazy... I'll really have to post about this again after some experimentation..