What do you get when you get a 14 year old boy with a love for radio and talking music with his friends and a 2000 watt FM transmitter?
You get MIX 91.9 Jayhaed Saadé has a little bit of money left to him from his grand-father and decided to spend some of it on building his own radio station. Done mostly online, but Jayhaed decided to set up a 2000 watt FM transmitter with an antenna on the roof of his dad’s business that can reach as far away as 50 miles.
In Canada they frown on this and the young lad has received letters and now an official visit notifying him to immediately cease and if he wishes to continue to file the appropriate paperwork.
I caught up with Jayhaed this afternoon and asked him about his situation and he didn’t seem too concerned. He was still playing his tunes and asked if I could hear him on the radio in Cornwall.
This should be an interesting case. Will the Canadian government shut down this young man’s dream? I asked him why he just didn’t stick to online radio which is out of the grasp of the CRTC and he explained to me that people couldn’t listen in their cars; which of course makes sense; especially if you’re a 14 year old boy with a love and passion for radio.
In the meanwhile he’s getting a ton of media coverage. Maybe it’d make sense for some Ottawa area or online radio station to bring the youngster in and turn him loose on their legal audiences?
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This kid should NOT be rewarded for his criminal behavior. I hope it actually ruins his chances of getting a legit job in radio in the future. Why? Because you can’t just go around blatantly breaking the law and then bragging online about how you’re getting away with it. 14 is old enough to be charged under the Criminal Code of Canada and his disrespect for Canadian law should not go un-punished. I’m all for pushing the boundaries and for self-expression and freedom of speech but this is merely a story of a spoiled kid whose father has given him too much freedom and not enough guidance. The fact that he and his father aren’t sitting in jail this very minute is ridiculous. If you saw some of the things he was writing (and has since removed from the public online forum) you would have not one lick of sympathy for this kid. When I first heard about this story I thought, “cool, a 14 year old kid with a pirate radio station” but once I got to see what was really going on and the arrogant attitude of this kid (and his dad), my perspective changed completely.
The object of being a “pirate” radio station is not to be detected. The foolish kid is misdirected in his
technical endeavours. He is not alone as there is a FM station operating in Orangeville Ontario
without a licence. This station has been on the air for quite some time with no indication that Industry
Canada gives a hoot. The station operator solicits financial support behind the name of some sort
of Religious Organisation. Lets see if Revenue Canadan and Industry Canada are interested ??