Pirate station faces closing

Datz Hits, a Massachusetts pirate radio station with community ties in Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury, is facing closing and a $30,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission.

According to an Oct. 1 notice from the FCC, the station was discovered by federal agents a year ago, after the WGBH-owned classical station at 99.5 FM complained that Datz Hits was broadcasting gospel, hip-hop, and Caribbean music at 99.7 FM, and drowning out the licensed frequency for listeners in Dorchester and Mattapan. Enforcement agents tracked the signal to a multifamily home on Ormond Street in Mattapan, where they found an unlicensed station running out of the basement. Lloyd Morris and Robert Brown later admitted to being the station's owners and operators, and they agreed to shut off the transmitter. In February 2010, the station started up again, and agents found an illegal signal emanating from the same Ormond Street home.