A local pirate radio station called Fernwood Autonomous Radio (FAR) was recently forced to shut down after Industry Canada caught wind of the station tapping into local FM airwaves and raided the station’s domestic location.
Joey Chaos, the individual who started the pirate radio station in Fernwood that was raided on February 23, first came up with the idea when he learned about it in school.
“Some of the equipment I used was even provided by a professor of mine,” he says.
FAR was started as a way for locals to share their thoughts and expressions, he says.
“We had many local musicians play live shows, had locals speak about politics and other local issues, and we even had an acupuncturist perform acupuncture live while explaining the medical benefits of acupuncture on air,” says Chaos.
Bridge People were one of the local bands featured on FAR and were a glad to be a part of it.
“I like the feeling of pirate radio being on airwaves one moment, then untraceable the next moment,” says Bridge People’s Seth Eggler. “Given the chance, I would definitely be involved with pirate radio again.”
Chaos says he was aware of the potential repercussions of being caught for illegally broadcasting on radio airwaves, and believes the recent raid, including a cease and desist order, was a result of recent media coverage of the station.
“We had a code red at our home-based station which would involve looking through the peephole, then hiding the equipment,” explains Chaos. “The day we were caught we were blindsided by Industry Canada, who sent two employees who were rather amused by the situation and treated us well, rather than destroying or ceasing seizing our equipment.”
Industry Canada is responsible for managing the radio frequency spectrum. According to them, pirate radio can cause interference to public safety radio operations and aeronautical radio navigation and communications.
“The pirate broadcaster may not have considered Industry Canada’s requirement to protect the public within the limits of exposure to radio frequency energy,” says Alicia Long, a media relations representative from Industry Canada. “Unauthorized transmission can also interfere with reception of properly licensed radio broadcasting stations in the surrounding area.”
Chaos wasn’t entirely disappointed about being caught because he feels like it has given more attention to the issue of freedom in media.
“We weren’t covering situations that are too controversial and just wanted a medium where locals could be heard.”
Fernwood Autonomous Radio is currently looking into the options of getting a legitimate radio-broadcasting license or switching to digital-only broadcasts.