Quad Cities Pirate Radio DJ Gets 4 Year Suspended Sentence

According to qconline.com: "A Quad-Cities pirate radio station disc jockey was given a four-year prison sentence Tuesday for stealing from a deaf elderly man...[Matthew Herbert Britcher]...DJ for Power Hits 103.3 FM, a popular pirate radio station that hit the airwaves in April, pleaded guilty to the credit card fraud charges and driving while barred...Mr. Britcher and fellow DJ Jason Duncan, 26, filed a civil lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, who tried shutting down the station because it doesn't have a license. The DJs say a wartime clause allows them to operate the station without a license."

Wartime Clause - Loophole?
I especially wondered about that and did a little research. I found another story about Britcher at bobrivers.com which said, in part, "After researching broadcast regulations, they believe they found an opening under the... Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Section 3542...The regulation grants a[n] emergency broadcast on a temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances, under such situations as emergencies involving danger to life and property, a national emergency proclaimed by the President of the United States, and the continuance of war, where such action is necessary for the national defense or security."

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