Enforcement Bureau Recommends $15,000 Fine for Pirate Radio Operator

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $15,000 fine for an alleged New Jersey pirate radio operator who has shown “deliberate disregard” for previous warnings from the bureau, said a notice of apparent liability released Friday. Jean Yves Tullias, who the FCC said operates an unlicensed station on 107.9 MHz in Irvington, New Jersey, “has a history of operating unlicensed FM stations in New Jersey,” the NAL said. The bureau said it sent Tullias a Notice of Unlicensed operation in 2012, and in June 2015, tracked radio signals to a single-family residence, the NAL said. When they notified property owner Nicholas Fonrose about the unlicensed station by letter they received no response, but the home’s FM antenna was removed, the notice said. On Aug. 5, bureau agents tracked the unlicensed signal on 107.9 MHz to another home in Orange, New Jersey, confirmed that Tullias lived there, and contacted the property owner, who had the antenna taken down. On Aug. 10, the station was tracked to another house in Irvington, and Tullias was sent another notice. “Again, Mr. Tullias did not respond to the Notice,” the NAL said. The bureau proposed a $10,000 fine for the unlicensed operation, and adjusted it upward for Tullias’s disregard of repeated warnings, the NAL said.