STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O’RIELLY
Re: Vearl Pennington, Morehead, Kentucky and Michael Williamson, Morehead, Kentucky, File No. 
EB-FIELDSCR-16-00022288
This case highlights how toothless the Commission’s approach to broadcast pirates had become
under past leadership. How could anyone get away with operating a pirate TV station for almost twenty 
years?  No longer a fierce watchdog, the Commission had been reduced to a sometimes annoying, 
sometimes sleepy, but ultimately harmless Chihuahua when it came to protecting broadcast spectrum 
licenses. But all pirate operators should be put on notice that we can and we will turn that situation 
around. I support this Notice of Apparent Liability and look forward to seeing many more to come in this 
area, if our warnings are not heeded. With pirates crowding legitimate broadcasters out of the spectrum 
in several of our major metropolitan areas, we can no longer afford to rest. At the same time, the 
limitations outlined on the proposed forfeiture show that it would be helpful for Congress to revisit and 
restructure the penalties applicable to pirate broadcasting. More tools in the tool box would come in 
handy as we implement a reenergized enforcement approach.