Seize the Airwaves Oct 17

[George Lessard (s)]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: xmtrman at pacbell.net
> Date: Thu Jul 24, 2003  5:43:46  PM America/Winnipeg
> To: radio at lists.tao.ca
> Subject: [radio] Seize the Airwaves Oct 17
> Reply-To: radio at lists.tao.ca
>
> Seize the Airwaves!
> Break the Corporate Media’s Stranglehold on the Free Flow of 
> Information, News, Music, Artistic Expression, and Cultural Creativity
>
> Day of Mass Electronic Civil Disobedience
> Celebrating International Media Democracy Day
> Friday, October 17, 2003
>
> You go to the demonstrations, write letters and email to Congress; and 
> yet, you feel as if your voice is not being heard.  What if there was 
> a way for your voice, and the voices of your compatriots, to actually 
> be heard?  There is – it is called micropower broadcasting or free 
> radio. 
>
> Micropower broadcasting began as a means to empower the residents of a 
> housing project in Springfield, Illinois in the late 1980’s.  By 
> creating a low power FM broadcast station, this community established 
> its own voice and a direct means to fight against police brutality and 
> repression.  Unlicensed and unsanctioned by the government, Human 
> Rights Radio, as it is now known, continues to broadcast to this very 
> day.
>
> Since then, micropower broadcasting has grown into a national movement 
> of electronic civil disobedience.  Based on the principles of Free 
> Speech and Direct Action, micropower broadcasting seeks to reclaim the 
> electronic commons of the airwaves – a public resource and trust 
> stolen by the corporate broadcasters, aided and abetted by the Federal 
> Communications Commission (FCC) and other appendages of the US 
> Government. 
>
> Continuing in the rich tradition of the struggle to speak freely and 
> be heard, micropower broadcasting has traded the historic soapbox for 
> the FM broadcast transmitter.  Advances in technology and design have 
> allowed for the creation of FM transmitters at a very low cost in 
> comparison to standard, commercial broadcasting equipment.  An entire 
> FM broadcast station covering a radius of 5-12 miles can be assembled 
> for $1000 or less.
>
> Yes, there are legal risks involved.  Such stations are violating FCC 
> regulations and statutes, and are subject to possible legal actions 
> such as threatening letters or fines, and sometimes seizure of 
> equipment.  Despite this, at any given time, there are hundreds of 
> stations on the air across the United States.  Unfortunately, stations 
> tend to go on the air in isolation from one another, making them an 
> easier target for the FCC. 
>
> Despite the somewhat uncoordinated efforts of the last ten years, 
> hundreds of micropower stations taking to the airwaves forced the FCC 
> to respond to a rapidly growing, ungovernable situation.  William 
> Kennard, former head of the FCC, admitted this is in a documentary, 
> LPFM – The Peoples’ Voice, produced by the United Church of Christ’s 
> Microradio Implementation Project. ( 
> http://www.veriteproductions.net/html/awards.html ; 
> http://www.current.org/in/in009LPFM.html )  Adding further legitimacy 
> to the micropower broadcasting movement, the FCC’s own study on 
> possible interference issues, The Mitre Study 
> (http://prometheusradio.org/release_71303.shtml), failed to show even 
> marginal interference to full power broadcasters by low power FM 
> stations. It went further to recommend the lifting of  burdensome 
> restrictions imposed on the LPFM broadcasting service.
>
> For years, the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB), representing 
> corporate interests, has used interference as a red herring issue in 
> their attempts to stifle the Free Speech Rights of micropower 
> broadcasters.  Joined by National Public Radio, the NAB, using bogus 
> interference claims augmented with political grease, succeeded in 
> getting a bill, ironically titled –The Broadcast Preservation Act of 
> 1999, passed by Congress to severely limit the number of LPFM stations 
> authorized by the FCC when they established the LPFM service in 
> January of 1999. 
>
> Whether it was the Free Speech fights of the Wobblies, folks refusing 
> to go to the back of the bus or hundreds of unsanctioned low power FM 
> taking to the airwaves, mass movements creating ungovernable 
> situations do work.
>
> Therefore, we are calling for a day of electronic solidarity and 
> direct action, marking the beginning of a new chapter in micropower 
> broadcasting by raising the struggle to an entirely new level of 
> engagement.  Between now and October, 17th, we are asking you and your 
> community to create your own broadcast station to further empower your 
> vision of a just, humane, peaceful and sustainable world.
>
> Hundreds of new stations going on the air all at once will be a 
> powerful statement to the corporate media and the government that the 
> airwaves belong to the people who have chosen to seize them back, 
> speaking in one strong collective voice.  With budgets and resources 
> stretched thin, the FCC will be hard-pressed to respond to such an 
> expression of solidarity.   This action will encourage many more 
> communities to set up their own broadcast stations.  Schools, arts 
> centers, housing projects, senior communities; all could be empowered 
> with free radio broadcasting.  Critical mass can be achieved within a 
> very short period of time.
>
> To further amplify this collective voice, a mass 24 hour broadcast of 
> the same programming by hundreds of micropower stations would meld 
> hundreds of small voices into one giant shout for Free Speech Rights.  
> Using the existing infrastructure of the Internet and audio streaming 
> technologies which have been employed by the Independent Media Centers 
> since 1999, a common audio stream would be created for 
> re-broadcasting.  Individual stations would work collectively to 
> create programming for this 24 hour broadcast.  Given the number of 
> IMC sites in the US, they could serve as hubs for the audio streams, 
> both incoming and outgoing.  And, quite possibly, stations outside the 
> US would join in as well, creating a global movement to reclaim the 
> broadcast spectrum.
>
> Setting up a basic FM broadcast station requires the following items. 
> Approximate price ranges are given.
>
> Transmitter - $150 to $600
> Power Supply - $35to $100
> Antenna - $15 to $125
> Antenna cable - $50 to $75
> Compressor/limiter - $80 to $100
> Audio mixer - $75 to $150
> Microphones $25 to $50 each
> Tape and CD players, go to garage sales or get donated units
> Donated 300-500 Mhz computer to work as an MP3 sound file jukebox. 
> Allows unattended playing of program material as needed.
>
> Transmitters are available as kits or fully assembled units.  
> Assembled units are mostly available from vendors in the UK.  A list 
> of vendors follows at the end of this article.  A very serviceable 
> antenna can be built from common ½ inch copper water pipe for $15 in 
> materials or a commercial unit, the Comet 5/8 groundplane, costs 
> $115-$125.
>
> To facilitate the creation of hundreds of new stations, weekend 
> workshops will be scheduled at selected locations around the country 
> between now and October 17th.  At the end of the workshop you will be 
> able to walk away with a fully assembled transmitter and antenna.  As 
> an introduction to setting up an FM broadcast station, Free Radio 
> Berkeley has a Micropower Broadcasting Primer available as a PDF 
> document either on their website – www.freeradio.org  – or by email 
> request – xmtrman at pacbell.net .  Thanks to a collaborative design 
> effort, Free Radio Berkeley will be offering a partially assembled 
> 1-10 watt variable output power transmitter kit for $150.  This 
> transmitter can cover a radius of 4-6 miles and will drive a higher 
> power amplifier of 75 watts which is available as kit for $115.
>
> With your own radio station, you will be able to provide alternative 
> programming that is rarely heard in most communities unless they are 
> fortunate enough to have a Pacifica station or an independent 
> community station nearby.  Thanks to the internet, there is a wealth 
> of programming available in addition to what you will be able to 
> produce locally.  A collaborative web site - www.radio4all.net  - 
> established by the micropower broadcasting community in 1997 has over 
> 2000 radio programs available for downloading in MP3 format.  New 
> programs are being uploaded daily. Democracy Now ( 
> www.democracynow.org ), Working Assets Radio 
> (www.workingforchange.com/radio/index.cfm) and Making Contact 
> (www.radioproject.org), to name a few, offer extensive archives of 
> programs for downloading.  The Independent Media Center Radio Site - 
> http://radio.indymedia.org/  - not only has a large archive of 
> programming but lists other programming sources, web streams from free 
> radio stations, and a variety of other resources as well.
>
> To paraphrase “Scoop” Nisker, if you don’t like the media, go out and 
> make your own.  It is time to move from being a passive consumer of 
> media to becoming a co-creator in a movement which gives voice to the 
> voiceless.  If you can’t communicate, you can’t organize.  If you 
> can’t organize, you can’t fight back.  And, if you can’t fight back, 
> you have no chance of winning.
>
> Stephen Dunifer
> Free Radio Berkeley
>
> Resource list
>
> Equipment sources
>
> Free Radio Berkeley – www.freeradio.org
> Veronica - http://www.veronica.co.uk/
> Broadcast Warehouse – www.broadcastwarehouse.com
> Panaxis - http://www.panaxis.com/
> NRG Kits - http://www.nrgkits.com/
> PCS Electronics - http://www.pcs-electronics.com/en/index.php
> Zzounds, for audio gear – www.zzounds.com
>
> General Information
>
> Radio4all – www.radio4all.org
> Free Radio Berkeley – www.freeradio.org
> DIY Media - www.diymedia.net/
> Hobby Broadcasting - www.hobbybroadcasting.com/
> IMC Radio – http:\\radio.indymedia.org
>
> Programming Sources
>
> IMC Radio – http:\\radio.indymedia.org
> Democracy Now - www.democracynow.org
> Radio4all - www.radio4all.net
> Making Contact - www.radioproject.org
> KPFA programming links - www.kpfa.org/5_link.htm
> KGNU program archives - www.kgnu.org/news.html
> Pacifica Radio Archives - www.pacificaradioarchives.org
> Pacifica Radio - www.pacifica.org
> Resistance MP3’s – www.geocities.com/resistancemp3
> http://www.sozialistische-klassiker.org/dir/sound.html
>
>