FCC Action: Wild West Radio - Roseville Ca
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In mid July 2006, the FCC ordered pirate radio station "Wild West Radio" located near Roseville Ca, off the air.
For the past year the station has been broadcasting in the lower end of the FM band with over 300 watts.
The station, built with components bought off of eBay, covered a large area and had developed a popular following with it's varied mixture of bluegrass, folk, twang, rockabilly, Cajun, insurgent country and Americana.
The station's popularity was it's downfall, combined with high power and perhaps a poor choice of broadcast frequency, 92.9 mhz, which is being used in nearby Rio Linda by Christian radio station KLOVE. ("yeah, another christian translator, I would pick that frequency too!" - DJ WA) On July 15, FCC agents delivered a notice of unlicensed radio operation to the owner of the pirate station, Jeff Scammon, who says "his Wild West Radio wasn’t hurting anyone". Initially, Scammon thought he'd try to broadcast legally, but when he came face to face with the bureaucracy and expense of getting a license, he opted to go pirate. "There was no way for me to be operating within the law. If I could have, believe me I would have" says Scammon. Unlike the other local pirate station, KNOZ, Scammon says "I am not going to get a $20,000 fine. I am not going to fight the man. The government has way more money to fight this thing than me." 
Wild West Radio's Jeff Scammon Wild West Radio now has music streaming from web site www.wildwestradio.com |
