FCC Cites San Diego Radio Pirate…Again

FCC inspectors recently revisited the Golden Hill pirate station calling itself Free Radio San Diego at 96.9 MHz. An FCC Notice of Unlicensed Operation document signed by Bill Zears of the San Diego field office details an April 3 trip to the new 33rd Street transmitter site that found field strengths measuring over a thousand times Part 15 allowances. Station equipment, including the transmitter, was confiscated last summer in an FCC raid. Apparently this latest notice means that enforcement processes have started anew.

The website normally associated with the pirate station is down. The station normally plays a variety of free form music not heard on local commercial outlets, as well as community information and political talk.

We posted an interview with the station manager known only as Bob Ugly in July 2005.