Federal authorities have ordered a community activist and event-facility operator to shut down a pirate FM radio station that has been operating on 88.9 MHz since last August.
The Federal Communications Commission has sent a "notice of unlicensed operation" to Charles McCorkle and his GB Ministries, Inc., after finding that a radio station identifying itself as "The Community's Voice" was transmitting from 4225 Snapfinger Woods Dr. in Decatur.
The pirate station, which is still on the air as of this writing, plays gospel music and commercials for the "GB Event Facility" at the same address near Candler Rd. The web page for the facility promotes the unlicensed radio station.
"On February 6, 2019 and February 7, 2019, an Agent from the Atlanta Office confirmed by direction finding techniques that radio signals on frequency 88.9 MHz were emanating from 4225 Snapfinger Woods Drive," the letter states.
"The Commission’s records show no license issued for operation of a radio station on 88.9 MHz at this location" and the station "was causing harmful interference to the reception of licensed broadcast stations," the letter states.
The Communications Act of 1934 prohibits the operation of radio broadcasting equipment above certain low-intensity thresholds without a license issued by the FCC. There is a licensed oldies-music station, WKEU-FM, in The Rock, about 50 miles south of Atlanta, on the same frequency.
McCorkle, a frequent speaker during the public-comment period of Board of Commissioners meetings, was appointed to the SPLOST Citizens' Oversight Group, representing District 7, last summer by then-Commissioner Gregory Adams. According to information on the DeKalb County web site, McCorkle's term expired at the end of 2018.
"You are hereby warned that operation of radio transmitting equipment without a valid radio station authorization constitutes a violation of the Federal laws cited above and could subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, in rem seizure of the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment," the letter to McCorkle states.
The station on 88.9 is not the only unlicensed broadcaster on the non-commercial section of the FM band in the Atlanta area. There is an unlicensed station on 89.1 MHz that plays Caribbean music and advertises local businesses.
