The FCC warned the Eastside Free Methodist Church in Portland, OR to stop an alleged pirate FM station from operating under its steeple or it could face a $2.3 million penalty. However some online postings question whether the church is in use anymore, according to Inside Radio. The church has 10 days to respond to the agency’s Enforcement Bureau.
In nearby La Grande, the FCC recently proposed a $80,000 fine against Thomas Barnes for apparently operating an unauthorized FM station on 100.5 MHz. The Commission believes he’s been operating a pirate station in La Grande since 2018.
The Bureau’s Portland Field Office agents began investigating Barnes after receiving a complaint of harmful interference on 92.3 MHz. He voluntarily surrendered his transmitter to the FCC at that time. But then he started operating another illegal station, according to the agency, and surrendered that transmitter, too in 2019.
The bureau received a third complaint in March 2022 about a pirate station operating on the 100.5 MHz frequency. Agents traced the signal to Barnes’ house. His wife surrendered two transmitters to agents.
In April 2022, Barnes posted a video on Facebook saying he was operating another pirate station. The agents found 30 videos in which Barnes said he was the “Eastern Oregon Pirate of Pirate Radio Eastern Oregon.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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