1576...Pirate Radio Shutdown For Good? In Ottawa

91.9 MIX FM, the pirate radio station that has been [oh the horror] playing popular music regardless of country of origin, since October of last year, was taken down by the Mounties the other day.

As reported in the Ottawa Sun, on January 15, 2010 at 9:00 am, with a judge-appointed order and with the help of the RCMP, Industry Canada took action to shutdown the conventional broadcast of MIX FM by searching the Saadé International Inn and seizing all of the station's radio equipment.

Station owner Jayhaed Saadé was visibly upset, he was crying and mad, while workers removed the equipment, some of which has yet to be recovered as Jayhaed Saadé admits to hiding some of the equipment from both Industry Canada and his father George Saadé. As Industry Canada removed the equipment, Jayhead Saadé was confined to the lobby of the broadcast site. George Saadé informed the Ottawa Sun that he was not expecting litigation from Industry Canada in regards to the illegal operation of MIX FM as long as all of the equipment was recouped. The internet stream continued to remain on the air until 1:45pm of the same day.

Jayhaed has since made a statement to the Ottawa Citizen in which he stated that "[he] will be back on [the air]" as soon as he can replace the seized equipment.

Wikipedia reports that "...American voice-over talent company Voice123.com claims MIX FM had set up auditions for the station and used the voiceovers without paying the actors. It is believed that the website is questioning whether they can file legal actions against MIX FM."

Cool beans.

WFDS