“To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction, noted, registered, enrolled, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished.”
— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

“The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free...”
— Utah Phillips

“The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”
— Stephen Biko

“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.”
— Sean O'Casey

“If large numbers of people believe in Free Speech, there will be freedom of speech”
— George Orwell

“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
— Howard Zinn

“The FCC can kiss my Bill of Rights.”
— Stephen Dunifer

“..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority to set brush fires in people's minds.”
— Samuel Adams

``When in the course of human development, existing institutions prove inadequate to the needs of man, when they serve merely to enslave, rob and oppress mankind, the people have the eternal right to rebel against, and overthrow, these institutions.''
— Emma Goldman

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the
freeness of speech.”
— Ben Franklin

“[T]he right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon ... has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.”
— James Madison

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”
— Patrick Henry

“A practical scheme, says Oscar Wilde, is either one already in existence, or a scheme that could be carried out under the existing conditions; but it is exactly the existing conditions that one objects to.  And any scheme that could accept these conditions is wrong and foolish.  The true criterion of the practical, therefore, is not whether the latter can keep intact the wrong and foolish; rather is it whether the scheme has the vitality enough to leave the stagnant waters of the old, and build, as well, sustain life.”
— Emma Goldman
 
 

Updated at 7:59p (PT)
   In the wake of being dropped by CLEAR CHANNEL for what the company determined were offensive broadcasts, BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE today released the following statement:
 
 

"I am deeply saddened and confused by the actions of CLEAR CHANNEL this past Monday evening. I have been a dedicated and valued employee of CLEAR CHANNEL for the last 12 years.

"I understand the pressures forcing CLEAR CHANNEL to act in the manner that it has. These pressures still trouble me since I have always striven to be a responsible broadcaster and entertainer. The success of my shows, my deep involvement in the community and significant support of many charitable initiatives fully attests to that belief.
 

"I am carefully evaluating my options and anticipate detailing my next steps within the next week to 10 days.
 

"My concern and confusion over this entire matter was best put today by conservative talk show host RUSH LIMBAUGH who said, 'We're in the free speech business. It's one thing for a company to determine if they are going to be party to it. It's another thing for the government to do it.'"
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ALL ACCESS hears there's another CLEAR CHANNEL morning show off the air, as WKLS (96 ROCK)/ATLANTA morning stars THE REGULAR GUYS will be off the air FRIDAY (2/27) and until further notice. All mention of THE REGULAR GUYS on 96 ROCK's website, www.96rock.com, has been removed at this time.

The GUYS (LARRY WACHS and ERIC VON HAESSLER) want clarification from the company about Pres. JOHN HOGAN's comments that CLEAR CHANNEL hosts will be personally liable for the financial repercussions of any alleged on-air indecency. HOGAN included that provision in his "zero tolerance" policy unveiled on the eve of his Congressional testimony.
 
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO Pres. JOHN HOGAN told the HOUSE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE that he was "ashamed" of BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE's show, that CLEAR CHANNEL was "wrong to air that material" Hogan added, "I accept responsibility for our mistake and my company will live with the consequences of its actions."

The mea culpa, firing of BUBBA, and suspension of HOWARD STERN's show by CLEAR CHANNEL was called a "good standard" by incoming HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE chair JOE BARTON (R-TX).
 

HOGAN joined executives from ABC, FOX, NBC and PAX in testifying before the subcommittee, which voted earlier this month to increase the maximum fine for indecency from $27,500 to $275,000.
 
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   WXRK/NEW YORK morning man and syndicated "KING OF ALL MEDIA" HOWARD STERN said on THURSDAY's show (2/26) that he didn't know what to say about CLEAR CHANNEL's suspension of his show from its stations but said he had predicted this since the JANET JACKSON incident, saying, "I knew it would come down to me. JANET JACKSON is now forgotten and I'm on the front page of every newspaper."

STERN said he wasn't sure whether his show had been suspended or dropped, and noted that the move came the day before CLEAR CHANNEL's JOHN HOGAN was to testify before CONGRESS ("I feel bad for him," STERN said). He said he had gotten a call from agent DON BUCHWALD on WEDNESDAY (2/25) telling him he had been suspended, initially in SAN DIEGO for two days (he said he learned that it covered six stations only by reading THURSDAY's papers).
 

CLEAR CHANNEL pulled STERN's show yesterday off all of its station's due to the show's content where he asked RICK SALOMON -- the male co-star of the famed PARIS HILTON sex video SALOMON -- if he engaged in anal sex; referring to the size of his penis -- and a caller who asked if he'd had sex with any famous black women using a racist term.
 

"I hung up on the caller who used the `n-word,'" STERN said. "I could blow my stack. I'm trying to be cryptic. To tell you the truth, I don't know what's going on. They are so afraid of me and what this show represents. They admitted to me that I did nothing wrong and they need to do this -- because they are being hauled in front of Congress."
 

"This is like MCCARTHY all over again ... CHARLIE MCCARTHY," STERN joked, adding that he later received calls warning him not to criticize Rep. HEATHER WILSON (R-NM), who wept when challenging VIACOM's MEL KARMAZIN at a previous House committee hearing. "We have no clue what's going on," STERN said, reading newspaper accounts and questioning why the NEW YORK POST called WEDNESDAY's show "a vulgar show."
 

HOWARD talked about what he could and couldn't talk about and spoke of "shutting his mouth" but spoke about the stations who cancelled his show as "being in breach (of contract)". Sidekick ROBYN QUIVERS said "We woke up in a different country this morning."
 

WXRK VP/GM TOM CHIASANO at one point was literally hovering in the studio, admonishing HOWARD when he thought he was going over the line. At one point, he was been begging CHIASANO to fire him. But it was ultimately HOWARD as usual. Regular character WENDY THE RETARD did a bit with HOWARD who was posing as an FCC Commissioner. HOWARD led WENDY THE RETARD into claiming she was gang banged by all the male FCC Commissioners. And, there were tons of calls from listeners swearing they going to march on WASHINGTON.
 

Meanwhile, Day 1 of the STERN exile in CLEAR CHANNEL markets passed with WTKS (REAL RADIO 104.1)/ORLANDO airing a rerun of the MONSTERS OF THE MIDDAY local show in STERN's place. Local WKMG-TV reports that a handful of angry STERN fans held a protest outside CLEAR CHANNEL/ORLANDO's MAITLAND, FL broadcast center. Protesters were seen holding various signs, the most clever of which read "FCC Killed The Radio Star." A man in a wheel chair was brandishing a sign that read "Unreal Radio," a dig at WTKS' slogan.
 

WTKS doesn't show any signs of relenting to the pressure, however, as a statement on the STERN portion of the station's website (www.wtks.com/sternshowinfo.html) reads as follows: "The content of HOWARD STERN's program is not in compliance with CLEAR CHANNEL's content standards. Until the program provider makes those adjustments, we will be unable to air the HOWARD STERN SHOW." The statement is attributed to SVP/Programming TOM OWENS.
 

The same statement is also being run on sister Classic Rock WBGG/FT. LAUDERDALE-MIAMI's site, www.big106.com. Interestingly enough from a decency standpoint, ALL ACCESS noted that the picture of STERN and the link to the OWENS' statement on the station's homepage appears next to a picture and link to a "Babe of the Day." The "Babe of the Day" picture link is directly above a picture and link to the station's "Thong of the Day." The "Thong of the Day" window prominently features a thong-clad woman's backside
 

Two FCC agents, accompanied by two Burlington, VT police officers, yesterday raided Free Radio Burlington and shut down the unlicensed station. The Brattleboro Reformer reports the move came as the FCC offers its final ultimatum to unlicensed broadcaster Radio Free Brattleboro to leave the air or face the consequences. The Burlington station had been broadcasting for two years with a 10-watt signal at 87.9 MHz from a residence in Vermont's largest city, providing local news and syndicated news programs. FRB DJ Patrick Johnson, one of 30 air talents who worked at the station, told the Reformer that the exchange between the FCC agents and station operators was civil, but the agents warned that if the station returned to the air, the agents would be back with U.S. marshals. The Burlington pirate station, unlike the unlicensed Brattleboro station, had never given rise to interference complaints from licensed FMs in the area. Larry Hildes, a civil rights attorney with the Center for Democratic Communications, told Brattleboro Reformer that the FCC "is not being responsible to radio listeners and members of the community. The FCC is acting only in the interests of giants such as Clear Channel."

Radio Jack NOTE: Isn't it strange how one company keeps showing up in all this?

BY LAURIE KELLIHER
 

Eloisa Zamarripa at the control board of WSBL-LP in South Bend Indiana. Photo by Dave Witham.
They bought their equipment on e-Bay. Their antenna is attached to a water pipe on the roof. They have only two staff members, but more than fifty people volunteer in the studio on their time off from jobs as factory workers, busboys, and grocery clerks. Few at the station speak English. Some are illiterate. No one has any previous experience in radio. It's WSBL-LP in South Bend, Indiana, and it's low-power FM.

In the increasingly corporate world of radio, low-power FM isn't about how far your signal reaches but how near. These are neighborhood stations with 100-watt signals that travel single-digit miles. They are run by civil rights organizations, by environmental activists, by church groups and school districts. They are voices that have either been pushed out of the radio spectrum or never invited into it, and the appetite for them speaks to a growing need in this country for community. And with a recent technical study providing leverage in low-power's struggle with big radio, there just might be more of them on air.

Low-power FM licenses were introduced in January 2000 under William E. Kennard, then former Federal Communications Commission chairman. The move was partly a strategy to control the proliferation of unlicensed pirate channels, partly a reparation for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated radio and set the stage for media consolidation. The idea was simple: low-power FM stations would be small enough to fit between the frequencies of existing full-power stations, and their licenses would be granted to noncommercial organizations for educational purposes. "When hundreds of stations are owned by just one person or company," Kennard said in March 2000, "service to local communities and coverage of local issues lose out."

On the west side of South Bend, losing out meant a Hispanic community with no Spanish-language radio station. When WSBL-LP began its Spanish-language broadcast in September 2002, the community not only heard traditional and contemporary Hispanic music but also received English-language vocabulary lessons during the breaks. The station raises money for a local scholarship fund and helps collect corn flour for the local food bank. WSBL-LP regularly runs public service announcements for early-childhood vaccinations, prostate cancer testing, and HIV screenings, and can measure the results. "The statistics at local clinics jumped from last year to this," says Eliud Villanueva, director of WSBL-LP. "We have really made a difference, and that surprised us more than anyone else."

For Villanueva, an electrical inspector with no previous radio experience, the road to WSBL-LP began with a 700-mile drive to Maryland. That's where the Prometheus Radio Project was holding a "radio barn-raising" seminar at the site of another low-power FM station, WRYR-LP in Sherwood, Maryland. Prometheus, a nonprofit organization devoted to the growth of noncommercial community radio, offers legal and technical support to communities that want to build a low-power station — something that can realistically be done for about $10,000. The barn-raising offers three days of classes (including "Intro to Radio Engineering," "Running an All-Volunteer News Operation," "How the FCC Works") and concludes with the raising of a transmission tower and the station's first broadcast. "Once these stations were just a glint in the eye of the village wacko," says Pete Tridish, technical director for Prometheus. "People would say, 'You can't build a radio channel, only Clear Channel can build a radio channel.'"

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, Texas, now owns more than 1,200 radio stations in 230 cities and has become Exhibit A for opponents of media consolidation. Many of its broadcasts originate in locations other than the cities where they are heard, saving Clear Channel considerable money. Low-power FM is technically and philosophically the opposite, originating locally and focusing tightly on local needs and concerns. "The purpose of low-power FM isn't profit," says Tridish. "The purpose is to rethink how we use media to bring communities together."

Mike Shay was a member of a Maryland environmental group battling to prevent a Chesapeake Bay wetland area from being developed into a supermarket when his organization applied to the FCC for a construction permit to build WRYR-LP. "We thought of it as a way to fight billionaire developers and corporations on a playing field that was not level," says Shay. WRYR-LP identifies itself as the first radio station owned and operated by an environmental group. Amid a mix of gospel, jazz, and alternative music, the station runs programs dedicated to local and national environmental issues. WRYR-LP also offers coverage of county council meetings and local elections, with particular emphasis on land-use and zoning issues. The programs on the station feature local musicians and writers, and are hosted by local residents. "We thought if we could celebrate our community, we would make it stronger," says Shay.

As with most low-power FM stations, WRYR-LP is funded through the donations of local residents and businesses. Running the station is a challenge for a volunteer staff with other full-time jobs, but the difficulties haven't deterred them. Shay, who traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to deliver a statement at the FCC's public hearing on broadcast ownership rules there last February, says he is disgusted with media deregulation and the buildup of media conglomerates: "Everything is going in such a wrong direction. Low-power FM is the one bright spot."

The birth of the low-power FM movement is generally attributed to DeWayne Readus, later renamed MBanna Kantako, who in 1987 began a 1-watt broadcast out of his apartment in Springfield, Illinois. "Kantako was the Johnny Appleseed of micro-radio," says Peter Franck, a San Francisco lawyer who advised Kantako on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild when the FCC fined Kantako for broadcasting without a license. Kantako was broadcasting to the African-American community in the John Hay Homes housing project where he lived, and his shows discussed the issues concerning that community, particularly issues related to police brutality in Springfield at the time. "People with alternative concerns of all kinds want to speak to their community," says Franck. "They want media that is not mediated by the government or by corporate advertisers."

But with limited spectrum space, radio has always necessitated some sort of regulation. And it is the apportionment of that spectrum space that is at issue in the low-power FM movement. When the FCC opened its first window for low-power construction permits in May 2000, 720 applications were filed. At the same time, the National Association of Broadcasters, joined by National Public Radio, raised concerns with Congress about the potential interference low-power FM channels might cause to existing full-power channels, and asked that the prescribed minimum dial distance between the two be increased. More distance meant fewer low-power channels. Though studies done by FCC engineers showed that the low-power signals were too small to cause interference at the designated distance, Congress complied with the NAB and NPR request for further study in December 2000. This effectively knocked out of contention more than half the original applications and all but excluded low-power stations from congested urban markets.
 

Low-power advocates were appalled. "It has never been appropriate policy in this country for Congress to make engineering decisions," says Cheryl Leanza, deputy director of Media Access Project, a public-interest telecommunications law firm based in Washington, D.C. "They were persuaded by incumbent broadcasters."

The results of the independent study requested by Congress were released in July and concluded what low-power FM advocates and FCC engineers had always maintained: that the majority of interference issues voiced by the NAB and NPR were not legitimate. A public comment period will now be open until September 12, when the FCC will prepare its recommendation to Congress. "Right now is a very important time for media policy," says Leanza. "Low-power FM is one step we can take on a national level that says we support diversity and localism in media."

While the study is potentially good news for low-power FM, conceivably adding hundreds of new channels to the existing 220, the movement is still mired in bureaucracy with many applications filed more than a year ago still awaiting approval. Chairman Michael K. Powell announced in a press conference on August 20 that the FCC would expedite the approval process but the agency is not currently accepting new applications for licenses and has not said when it will start again.

Which makes a station like Radio Bird Street grateful it has its license. "I would have been a pirate station if it weren't for low-power FM," says Erv Knorzer, general manager of KRBS-LP in Oroville, California. When KRBS-LP moved into an abandoned laundromat, its goal was to bring community radio to Oroville. In the process it brought some life back to a downtown area that had been deserted years ago for outlying strip malls. The station runs public service announcements for the local library, community theater, and senior center. It broadcasts the independent news program Democracy Now!, offering an alternative to the nearby commercial stations, five of which are owned by Clear Channel. Knorzer's daughter, Marianne, serves as the station manager and arranges a programming schedule that includes Hmong-language news broadcasts for the Oroville Laotian community and a labor issues show that keeps local hospital workers up to date with news of the local Steelworkers Union. The station's youngest deejay is ten, the oldest seventy-two. The board of directors includes members of the local Mexican-American, Native-American, African-American, and Hmong communities. The studio on Bird Street is often crowded with people from the sixty-five-member staff of volunteers who make the station run. "This station gives hope to a lot of people," says Marianne.
 
 
 

BRATTLEBORO -- Two agents from the Federal Communications Commission told radio free brattleboro on Thursday that it has 10 days to produce a license or U.S. marshals will seize the station's broadcasting equipment.
Speaking through the closed door to the station's downtown studio, the FCC agents, accompanied by a Brattleboro police officer, asked station co-founder Larry Bloch to produce a license and allow agents to inspect the broadcasting equipment.

Most of the conversation between Bloch, other station DJs and the FCC agents was broadcast live on the air.

When station members refused to let the FCC agents into the studio for lack of a warrant, one federal agent slipped a violation notice through the door's mail slot.

"Larry, you're making this difficult for yourself," said one of the FCC agents.

The violation charges the station with not allowing the agents to inspect the equipment and broadcasting without a license. One of the agents told Bloch that if the station doesn't produce a license or an authority to broadcast, U.S. marshals will seize the station's equipment.

The two FCC agents refused to identify themselves for a reporter, and forwarded all questions to John Winston, the assistant bureau chief of the enforcement division of the FCC.

Winston refused comment on the situation when reached at his Washington office, claiming it was FCC policy to not comment on matters that may end up in court. He directed further questions to information on the FCC's Web site.

"The FCC cannot comment further on this matter," said Winston.

Radio free brattleboro, which has broadcast at 10 watts in town for the past five years, was forced off the air by two FCC agents on June 24 for broadcasting without a license. The station, which has around 70 DJs and more than 50 shows, took a two-month break from the airwaves before returning on Aug. 22.

At the time, station members said a petition signed by more than 2,000 local residents was their authority to broadcast. The station also changed frequencies for the second time this year, to 107.9 FM. The FCC shut down the station in June after receiving two complaints that rfb's previous frequency interfered with a public radio station from Massachusetts.

After the FCC's visit on Thursday, station members vowed to continue broadcasting and Bloch said he would forward the violation notice to Larry Hildes, a Washington lawyer familiar with FCC law whom the station has been working with.

"We're not going to change anything right now," Bloch said. "We'll talk to our lawyer."

According to the FCC, rfb is in violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, which bars unlicensed broadcast over the airwaves. Subjects may face fines of up to $11,000 per day of violation and station operators may face up to $10,000 in fines and up to one year in jail.

In July, a Florida judge ordered Richard Rowland to pay a fine of $10,000 plus costs for operating an unlicensed station in Longwood, Fla. Rowland allegedly broadcast on 97.1 FM in his community in 2000, and in 2001, U.S. marshals seized his radio equipment.

Licenses for small stations with an output of 100 watts or less have been available since 2000, although critics of the FCC say the process is long and arduous. More than 60 groups applied for the low-power FM license in Vermont during the recent application window in 2002; 20 of those, a majority from the Vermont Agency of Transportation, received a license.

Jim Maxwell, a local attorney who is assisting rfb, wondered why the FCC is going after small 10-watt stations.

"From a legal point of view I can argue that the restrictions placed on small community stations are unconscionable," Maxwell said. "Meanwhile this FCC has allowed multi-national corporations to consolidate their media power. It's a rather striking paradox."

In June, the FCC voted to relax restrictions on media cross-ownership, although on Thursday the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to block that ruling.

Critics of the FCC ruling claim it gives too much power to large corporations, will put independents out of business and cause the media to be less diversified.

The matter still has to be taken up by the full House and Senate, although President Bush has vowed to veto any attempt to block the FCC's ruling.

Maxwell said there are two ways for rfb to go legally after this violation notice. The first is to seek local authority to broadcast through petitions and a town resolution. The second would be to push for a change in FCC policy to legalize its station.

On July 19, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative board of that city, voted unanimously to tell the federal government not to interfere with the broadcasting of San Francisco Liberation Radio, an unlicensed station broadcasting at 100 watts.

The resolution asked local law enforcement to refrain from activities that would prevent the station's broadcast and urged Congress to reinstate the media cross-ownership ban recently lifted by the FCC.

San Francisco Liberation Radio, which has broadcast for 10 years in the city, has been visited three times by the FCC, according to its Web site at www.liberationradio.net . On July 2, two FCC field agents went to the station and asked to inspect the equipment and when a DJ refused, a violation notice similar to the one given to rfb on Thursday was issued.

Despite the swelling of community support the station has received, Selectboard Chairman Greg Worden said there is likely little the town can do to help.

Worden consulted with board members Steve Steidle, Joerg Mayer and Town Manager Jerry Remillard Thursday afternoon.

"The consensus of the board is that while it's too bad that this happened, it's not something the town wants to take an official position on," Worden said.

"It's a good station," he added, "I wish they could have gotten a license."

Board member Pat DeAngelo, a vocal supporter of the station who wore a "free rfb" shirt to a recent board meeting, expressed sadness at the news and wondered why the federal government was meddling with a community station.

"I continue to completely support radio free brattleboro and its right to broadcast community radio," said DeAngelo. "The federal government has no right to interfere with our local media."

Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, said rfb was her favorite local radio station. She said she would look into introducing a resolution supporting the station in the Legislature when it convenes in January.

Rep. Daryl Pillsbury, I-Brattleboro, said he supports rfb and what it stands for, but thought there was little the Legislature could do. He also wondered why the FCC would spend its time shutting down a local 10-watt station.

"It seems like muscle-flexing to me," he said.

Sen. Rod Gander, D-Windham, also said there was little the Legislature could do because state law cannot pre-empt federal law. However, he supported placing pressure on the federal government to change its communications laws concerning both community radio stations and the continuing consolidation of media giants.

Gander said he would probably support a resolution asking the FCC to allow rfb to broadcast.

"That would be an act of protest," Gander said. "And I believe in protest."

For more information: www.fcc.gov and www.rfb.fm
 

Stung twice in California by the cities of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, who like their microradio stations unlicensed, thank you very much, the FCC shifts focus and moves on two stations in Vermont.

Radio Free Brattleboro, who just returned to the air two weeks ago after a visit from field agents, got an FCC follow-up yesterday. None of the station DJs actually spoke face-to-face with them; two strained yet cordial conversations were conducted through a locked door.

The first time the agents asked to enter and inspect the station they were prompted to show a warrant. The FCC duo responded by asking to see RFB's authority to broadcast. Someone inside shot back: "the people of Brattleboro had authorized us to do so."

After a stroll over to the Brattleboro police department, the FCC agents came back to the door with an officer in tow. Again they were refused entry. After shoving some papers through the door's mail slot, the agents and officer left. The Brattleboro Reformer reports the agents promised to come back in 10 days and conduct a raid; the station is still assessing its options and its local attorney seems rarin' to go to court.

Not only were the encounters broadcast live (and most of the aircheck taped), but the broadcast itself attracted concerned citizens to come to the station. Some of them also taped the encounter and used their cell phones to feed the station updates on the FCC agents' exact whereabouts and behavior. As they began walking back to their car, some shouted at the agents, "Shame! Shame on you. Go home, we don't want you here. What you're doing is Un-American.."

Leaving Brattleboro, the agents drove 150 miles north-northwest, where they paid a visit to Free Radio Burlington. Here they convinced two Burlington cops to invoke probable cause to enter the building where they thought the station was located.

Curiously, Free Radio Burlington was off the air at the time, and according to a statement issued by the FRB collective, "no broadcasting equipment was found on site at the time of the inspection." Nevertheless, somehow a group of "concerned listeners" found out about the raid-gone-bust and showed up to harass the FCC and cops anyway. Free Radio Burlington plans to stay off the air for the time being but will continue webcasting.

Back in Brattleboro reaction has been swift: in addition to the straight-news coverage of the FCC showdown, the Reformer's editorial today sounds similarly defiant:

The FCC doesn't want to hear arguments that its rules make no sense, that its actions are absurd and its professed support of community radio is a sham. It wants to use the strong arm of the law at its disposal to crush dissenting voices, however small and seemingly insignificant.

But this is not what the people want. More than 2,000 area residents have signed petitions in support of rfb, and it's time for those who agree that this is a battle for free speech to raise their voices, too. In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors recently unanimously passed a resolution in support of Liberation Radio 93.7 FM, an unlicensed low-power station of 10 years standing under threat of FCC closure. The board urged the FCC and local law enforcement not to interfere with the functioning of Liberation Radio and "and other diverse local media."

Whether such an action has more than symbolic value remains to be seen. But even a symbolic protest is better than none at all. The Brattleboro Selectboard should follow the supervisors' example and bring the matter up for discussion and a vote as soon as possible. And Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., among the most outspoken critics of the FCC when it comes to corporate control of the media, has been oddly silent on this issue so far. Our congressman, too, might consider putting his money where his mouth is.

Radio Free Brattleboro's morning show read the piece on-air and used it as a jumping-off point for several rebellious rants, criticizing the FCC for spending its energy busting its 10-watt ass while another mega-media merger looms just around the corner.

On the West Coast, Skidmark Bob managed to tape the Santa Cruz City Council's unanimous approval (MP3, 15:54, 5.4 MB) of a resolution asking the FCC to leave Freak Radio be, and V-Man has supplied the text.

V-Man also tells me he and Dick Jenkins, president of K-LOVE (subsidiary network of Christian translator-monger EMF Broadcasting), will debate live on KUSP's "Talk of the Bay" on Monday. If you've got any ammo for V-Man, do drop him a line.

This could be a lively discussion: Another EMF translator network just threw up a node near Santa Cruz - on Freak Radio's frequency, 96.3. The new godcaster is blotting out part of FRSC's coverage area as a result

The FCC officials, citing information that led them to believe that an illegal action was currently taking place entered the building escorted by local police, without a warrant.

no broadcasting equipment was found on site at the time of the inspection.

Free Radio Burlington plans to keep the internet stream running, and you can find out how to listen at http://www.freeradioburlington.org/

updates will be posted to
http://www.vermont.indymedia.org/

Free Radio Burlington is a volunteer, collectively run, community oriented, webcasting studio in Burlington's Old North End. We embrace and advance alternatives to a capitalist economic system. We embrace and advance directly democratic forms of governance. We endeavor to make our community a healthier and more inclusive place through the promotion of diversity in the collective and our listenership.

FRB Collective Goals

-WE work to bring the voices of community members onto the web and create a space for encouraging dialogue within the community on environmental, social, and economic justice issues largely ignored by the corporate media.
-WE will serve as a resource for training in skills and on equipment related to audio production and will provide support for people empowering themselves to use these tools.
-TO the greatest extent possible, we will operate computer systems with communally developed software and operating systems released under the GPL.
-WE will build alliances within the alternative media organizations in Vermont for content sharing and media distribution infrastructure.
 

Stay tuned....

  Re the CGC #328 article indicating that the FCC has
fined a company $100,000 for operating various microwave
stations without a license, the following letter was received:

  It's very frustrating to see the FCC selectively enforce
things like this when here in Miami the pirate radio situation
is totally out of control.  We've got a pirate right across the
street from us running a 4 bay on a 40 foot tower on top of an
office building!  Hell of a signal, must be 1 kW easy on 99.5.
There's another one down the street about a mile on 94.5 on
another building.  Very bold and brazen.  There are dozens more
all over the area.  I've never seen anything like it.  Zero
apparent enforcement.....

  Gary Blau, Jefferson-Pilot Communications, Miami

  In response to this letter, Richard Lee (head of the FCC's
field enforcement program) writes:

  ....I think that our record in South Florida speaks for
itself.  Please take a look at our news releases for the last
twelve months.  If this gentleman has information to share
about pirate radio operators in Miami - he should contact me:

FM PIRATES OUT OF CONTROL IN MIAMI?

  Re the CGC #328 article indicating that the FCC has
fined a company $100,000 for operating various microwave
stations without a license, the following letter was received:

  It's very frustrating to see the FCC selectively enforce
things like this when here in Miami the pirate radio situation
is totally out of control.  We've got a pirate right across the
street from us running a 4 bay on a 40 foot tower on top of an
office building!  Hell of a signal, must be 1 kW easy on 99.5.
There's another one down the street about a mile on 94.5 on
another building.  Very bold and brazen.  There are dozens more
all over the area.  I've never seen anything like it.  Zero
apparent enforcement.....

  Gary Blau, Jefferson-Pilot Communications, Miami

  In response to this letter, Richard Lee (head of the FCC's
field enforcement program) writes:

  ....I think that our record in South Florida speaks for
itself.  Please take a look at our news releases for the last
twelve months.  If this gentleman has information to share
about pirate radio operators in Miami - he should contact me:

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