In late June, KSTV Channel 10 (San Diego’s ABC affiliate) covered Free Radio San Diego’s recent run-ins with the FCC. The angle of the story on the station’s web site carried the headline, “Local Pirate Radio Station Outsmarts FCC,” but the video piece (:48, 4.1 MB) is much more bland, although DJ Bob Ugly does get some (masked) face-time.
Month: July 2003
Free Press Launches TeleLobbying Campaign to Congress
The critters are back on the Hill after an Independence Day vacation and some of the items on the legislative slate are bills that would repeal part or all of the FCC’s media ownership rule changes.
The National Rifle Association mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to flood the FCC with post cards, so Free Press is automating the call-your-congresscritter process, providing everything but the call to make your opinion known on these bills, in three minutes or less.
From Bob McChesney’s call to action: Continue reading “Free Press Launches TeleLobbying Campaign to Congress”
San Francisco Liberation Radio Gets FCC Visit, $17,000 Threat
From SF Indymedia:
“In what may portend a US Marshal-backed raid and seizure, San Francisco Liberation Radio received a courtesy call by FCC agents, who requested permission to inspect the premises and see a broadcast permit, on 7/2. Unlike its East Bay microradio cousins, San Francisco Liberation Radio (93.7 FM) has filed several FCC license applications, which may provide the legal clout to mount a vigorous First Amendment defense. More importantly, SFLR will be relying on the support of its community, including local politicos, as it wages a campaign to safeguard our right to community microradio. SFLR was given a letter warning against unauthorized broadcasting and threatened with jail time and $17,000 in fines…”
The station reportedly has 10 days to respond; it has attempted to apply for a license more than once (for both a regular FM station license and an LPFM one, although there are none available in San Francisco). SFLR has been (mostly) broadcasting for 10 years now, and this is not the first visit the FCC has paid to the station, but it sounds like the enforcement ball is finally rolling on its case. The Enforcement Action Database will be updated later tonight. Continue reading “San Francisco Liberation Radio Gets FCC Visit, $17,000 Threat”
Radio Free Brattleboro: A True Community Resource
Brattleboro, Vermont had its annual Fourth of July parade today, and although it is off the air, Radio Free Brattleboro had a float in the festivities. The station’s always been strongly focused on the community it served – it got its start as a project of the local teen center – and in many ways it transcended that goal. Some examples:
The Brattleboro Public Library, in need of space, was forced to get rid of its entire record collection. This included the LP library of the Chelsea House Folklore Center – an incredible collection of folk music, bluegrass and 1930s/40s-era blues/R&B. The library wanted to keep the entire collection together and wanted it to remain publicly available. There’s no better way to do that than to air it, so the music was donated to Radio Free Brattleboro. When the town of Newfane, VT’s public library had to give up its LP collection it also found a new home at RFB. This doesn’t count the individual record collections donated by several listeners over the years. Continue reading “Radio Free Brattleboro: A True Community Resource”
Like Pump Up the Volume in Reverse
Weirdness in the name of “homeland security” – In April, a Florida company called Safety Cast applied for an experimental FCC license to test its Interceptorâ„¢ technology, which is designed to quickly inform communities about terrorist alerts, lost children messages, and other emergency situations.
Although radio stations are required to have equipment installed that can decode (and, in most cases, automatically relay) such bulletins via the Emergency Alert System, Safety Cast ups the ante. Using remote transmitters installed on emergency response vehicles, the Interceptorâ„¢ will broadcast these bulletins on all AM and FM frequencies – simultaneously – with a maximum coverage area of about a quarter-mile for each vehicle. Continue reading “Like Pump Up the Volume in Reverse”