The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has imposed a civil penalty against a New Jersey man whose unlicensed radio broadcasts posed a risk of interference to licensed communications.
According to a Forfeiture Order issued in late October, the FCC has ordered Winston Tulloch of Paterson, NJ to pay $25,000 for willful and repeated violations of the Communications Act. The origins of the case date back to 2015, when agents of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau first identified the unlicensed broadcasts on 90.9 MHz and traced the broadcasts back to Tulloch’s residence. Despite the issuance of several Notices of Unlicensed Operation (NOUO) over a two-year period, the illegal broadcasts continued until September 2017 when FCC agents determined that the pirate station was no longer on the air.
Tulloch never responded to any of the FCC’s NOUOs, prompting the Commission to issue a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in April of this year. Tulloch’s failure to respond to that Notice ultimately led to FCC’s issuance of the Forfeiture Order.
Read the text of the FCC’s Forfeiture Order issued against Winston Tulloch.
