Pirate Radio DJ Broadcasts from Offshore Barge for Six Years, Discovers He Was Always Fully Legal
Vice City's most notorious underground broadcaster, Ronnie "Two-Watts" Caruso, surrendered himself to maritime authorities Monday after six years of operating what he believed was an illegal pirate radio station from a refurbished oil service barge moored fourteen nautical miles offshore. Caruso, who broadcast under the name "Radio Fugitive 88.6 — The Station They Don't Want You to Hear," had spent the last half-decade developing elaborate signal-scrambling equipment, rotating false identities, and an emergency anchor release system in preparation for what he called "the inevitable crackdown."
The inevitable crackdown never came, for the straightforward reason that Caruso had, without realising it, been operating in full compliance with both Leonida maritime broadcasting regulations and federal FCC statutes since day one. The marine coordinator who received his surrender informed Caruso that his signal licence had actually been approved in 2019 and mailed to his mother's address. Caruso confirmed he had never opened mail at his mother's address because he had been, as he put it, "on the run." He will not face charges. He has announced he is shutting the station down anyway because "it just doesn't feel the same now."
