Dawgman: I started DME (Dawgman Entertainment) in 1993. [In 2003] the FCC raided all four locations: [our legitimate recording studio on] John Young, two [pirate stations] on Pine Street, and one [pirate station] on Church Street. They hit them bitches like a fuckin’ drug bust. We been operating underground for seven years, and we ‘bout to fire back up on 89.5 FM. Shit, make sure you put that in there. We ain’t never scared.
How did you find out they’d come to shut you down?
Dawgman: I got a call from [my security system] Protect One at 7 AM. “Mr. Spencer, you’ve got motion in the front door.” I already knew something ain’t right. When I got there [to my main office] there was a whole lot of Tahoes out there. They was already all through my shit, straight disrespecting a nigga. I said, “Look at them crackas all in my shit,” so I kept cruising. Then one of the radio jocks, Baby Lac, hit me on my cell phone. He sayin’, “Dawgman, they over here flippin’ this bitch.” It was that article you did on me in [OZONE’s] Florida Power issue, boy. They came hard. ‘Cause really, in that issue, you had me listed like the number one radio station in Orlando. How the fuck is an underground station gon’ be number one? [The FCC] came four days after that issue came out. They ain’t like that shit.
Who’s “they”? Who reported you to the FCC?
Dawgman: You know who did it. We ain’t gon’ say no names. They hurt me, though. I ain’t want ‘em to know that, but yeah, they hurt me. I been having records since ’87. They took four vans full of my records and they ain’t never gave me that shit back. They had U-Hauls. They needed somebody to stand up and claim the shit. I called the number on the warrant paper they gave me and buddy just basically shitted on me, he told me I had to go to court. I called this little criminal lawyer I found in the Yellow Pages and he was like, “I can’t help you, it’s a federal case.”
When you got to the underground station, what was the scene like?
Dawgman: Baby Lac was there in the cut, checkin’ out the scene for me. Wiz was in that bitch scared, asleep. Crackas had that bitch surrounded. They had called the fuckin’ gang unit. They said they did research on us and found out that everybody had the fuckin’ Clientell tattoos. In fact, they seen that shit in y’all magazine, when niggas be flickin’ it up they remember that shit. They like, “They run real deep, it’s a lot of ‘em.” [The FCC officer] was like, “Y’all a gang, right? Let me see your elbows.” I said, “Man, Clientell is a music thing.” The other dude from the FCC told me he was gon’ take everything and give it back. You know what that means. He told me to relax. I said, “Man, y’all fuckin’ with the wrong one. I sponsor 91.7, it ain’t my station.” I wouldn’t own up to it. They like, “Just tell us it’s your station, because everybody ‘round here telling us it’s your station.” I’m like, damn, they actin’ like this shit is some serious drugs.
So they raided your legitimate recording studio also?
Dawgman: Yeah! I said, “This ain’t no underground station,” and that’s when the other dude started being an asshole. I let them beat me for my cool. I started cussin’ em out cause they were tryin’ me. I had an award for Pirate Radio Station of the Year on my wall, and they took it. One of the FCC officers ripped my picture out of the magazine, the one where y’all had me climbing on the radio tower, and asked me for an autograph. They were fuckin’ with me. I was so legit, I was like, “Man, fuck y’all crackas, I’m gonna call my muthafuckin’ lawyer.” Man, I ain’t have no lawyer. But if I’d had one, he coulda got on speaker phone and said three words and shut them down. There ain’t no underground station operating out of my offices. It’s a recording studio. They [raided] it cause of the affiliation. They went to the judge and [got a warrant] because they said [pirate radio station] WDME and DME is the same muthafuckers. They took all my studio shit. Everything besides the boards.
Were you able to get your legitimate studio equipment back?
Dawgman: I got my shit back in fourteen hours. Print that. I had to pay for it, though. I found a good lawyer, Arthur Sims, paid him a retainer, and he called the judge. My shit had went to [Washington] D.C. already. When they flew my shit back, it had D.C. stickers and “evidence” stickers on it. I thought they had fucked me up. I ain’t really want the shit back. I figured they had put bugs in it or something, but my lawyer said, “They can’t do that. If they did, you’ll be a rich man.” He made me feel comfortable. That’s the same equipment we’ve got now in the new location.
What were the other two locations the FCC raided?
Dawgman: Yeah, they hit our Jamaican spot too, and our Haitian station. But I took a chill pill, anyway, to be with my family and my wife. I wasn’t stressing that shit. I went on vacation with my wife. But we’re back now, 89.5. I don’t own it, but I know the nigga that own it. It’s called Trap Muzik.
How did they find the pirate radio station locations?
Dawgman: Well, they don’t usually do this. You usually get two warnings. The procedure is, the third time they come they take your transmitter. They’ve got a decoder so they could find out where you’re transmitting from. They were supposed to leave [our underground station] but they started taking down our tower to teach us a lesson. That’s how they found the transmitter. It was buried. When they started taking the tower down, this green-ass nigga started jerkin’ on this cable cause he saw it was going into the ground. Baby Lac hit me like, “Dammit, they gonna find the transmitter.” I knew it was over then. When they went in our duplexes, it was their jackpot. One duplex had nothing but records. That was my stash. [The FCC] got six transmitters from WDME that day. That’s how they fucked me up.
Aren’t there permits you can apply for that will allow you to operate a low-powered radio station?
Dawgman: You can have an underground station, but you’re only allowed to operate up to ten watts. We were at a thousand watts. You’re allowed to go to ten watts, freedom of speech, but nobody will be able to hear you past your bathroom. If you was in the projects and you just wanted to lock the projects down, shit, put that bitch up.
Didn’t they recently pass a new law making it a felony to operate an underground station?
Dawgman: It is a felony. I think it’s been a felony. They’re tryin’ to say that a local police office can lock you up now for operating a pirate station. I’m like, what the fuck? You ain’t got nothing better to do with your time? They’ll have a rookie tryin’ to get your ass. He might know [about the station] cause he might be in the hood. He might go walk up to the door and say, “What y’all doing in here?”
Are you going to set up differently now? How will you prevent it from happening again?
Dawgman: It ain’t me, but my homeboy says he ain’t gonna have that problem anymore. There’s new technology now. There’s companies that spend millions of dollars reversing what the FCC does, because they’re tryin’ to sell fuckin’ transmitters and them crackas fuckin’ up their money. So now, they’re like, “Hey, buddy, look. Did you know you can do it like this now?” We don’t even got to be in the same location. I mean, that’s just the game, though. It’s just like being in the streets. You win some, you lose some. If you get knocked down you come back again. Them transmitters come a dime a dozen, and tell ‘em we’ve got a dollar. Quote that shit. We gon’ get our music heard, bottom line, and we represent for the local vocals, baby.
You mentioned earlier that they treated your pirate stations as if it was a drug bust. Why do you think the government takes it so seriously?
Dawgman: It’s just a monopoly game. The government wants a piece of the pie. When we was [broadcasting] for free and for fun, they ain’t give a flyin’ fuck.
So why not keep broadcasting for free and for fun?
Dawgman: The rent man wants his money. The light people want they money. People donate to us for slaving in them hot, raggedy-ass houses. [Corporate stations] think we makin’ all this bread, but I don’t know why they trippin’. We just like, a fuckin’ small-ass tic-tac.
Are you trying to compete with corporate radio?
Dawgman: Negative. We applied for a low-power license, though. But Clear Channel, Cox, and Infinity, they’ve got the game sowed up. As soon as a bitch applies for one, they’re shooting it out with a Russian missle, eyes closed. You basically gotta buy an existing station, which means you gotta come in with enough bread. We tried that too, and that shit ain’t work. They turned down our application. I mean, it takes so long for them to even respond. Right now we’re basically just waiting for the license to come back, and until then we gon’ ride with my niggas at Trap Muzik. The streets want it. The big stations even tried to hire us, but they ain’t payin’ enough. They was tryin’ us like some local jokers and we’re really bigger than that. We ain’t doing [radio] for the money, we doing it to help independents cause we in the same game. Of course the money counts cause it pays the bills, but we just want to be the first to break music. We’ve got a new owner. I’m gonna go ahead and reveal his name. His name is Awu Pierre Jackson, Esq. He practices out of North Jacksonville, Florida. He’s representing us, also. He’s our current communications lawyer, so if there’s any issues he should be contacted.
Do you want me to print your picture, or you’d rather be anonymous?
Dawgman: Hell yeah! Take my muthafuckin’ picture and print it. I ain’t break any laws. I’m just telling this shit from the other side of the game. It’s the FCC vs. DME. They hit me so hard, man, I’m still feelin’ that shit.
