MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Months after being fined more than $100,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for running an illegal radio station, a Miami-Dade man known as “DJ AJ 305” went back to operating the illegal signal ― then kept at it after the feds nearly tripled the penalty, authorities say.
Now, DJ AJ 305, whose real name is Abdias Datis, is staring down a felony charge for the pirate radio operation after Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested him Tuesday.
Datis, 50, was running “Unique FM” on 91.7 FM out of his home in the 1000 block of Northwest 147th Street in the county’s Biscayne Gardens section, authorities said. According to the FCC, he “has been directly involved in the operation of the Station since at least 2018.”
But court records show he was convicted of a charge of unauthorized transmissions to or interference with a public or commercial radio station ― the same third-degree felony he faces now ― back in 2008. That charge stemmed from a 2007 arrest by North Miami Beach police; he received withheld adjudication.
In the intervening period, authorities say Datis hasn’t let fines and penalties deter him from the airwaves.
He received a $120,000 FCC fine on Sept. 26, 2024. On Feb. 27, the agency upped the fine to more than $325,000 after they said they caught him again operating the station in November and January despite facing the fine.
Apparently, that didn’t deter him either. According to an MDSO arrest report, FCC investigators picked up his signal another five times between March and August.
Authorities said they served a search warrant at the home on Tuesday during a live broadcast and seized Datis’ equipment.
In the February liability notice, FCC Secretary Marlene H. Dortch noted that illegal operations like Unique FM “pose a danger to the public because they interfere with licensed stations that inform their listeners of important public safety messages, including Emergency Alert System transmissions that provide vital information regarding weather events and other dangers to the public.”
Following his latest arrest, Datis was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.
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