Paul Griffin
AMPS #59: speaking out in favor of community radio
Sun Mar 14 23:00:56 2004
64.140.158.79

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ampb report #59
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 14:47:08 -0800
From: ampb@california.com  (Paul Griffin)

Dear Readers,
Lots of news to report this time. I'm gratified that the FCC is
actually speaking out in favor of community radio and taking a close look
at the mega-mergers in the radio business. On the weird side, Janet
Jackson may have single-breastedly caused a puritanical backlash against
explicit anything. Get ready for "safe" broadcasting to further gumpify
the airwaves. It may seem kind of early, but there are already plans to
have an alternative radio convention in San Diego while the NAB show is
going on. The dates are October 6-9. Anybody wanting to get
involved...now's the time! I would like to suggest that we also have a
radio gathering on the internet just after the convention on October 10.
What I have in mind would be a mixture of live audio, video, chat lines,
phone calls and live broadcasting on the airwaves simultaneously. I know
my first attempt at this two years ago was not too successful, but I'm
ready to try again, so how about it? Anybody want to get in on this?
-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

STATION ALERT
From: Berkeley Liberation Radio, berklibradio@juno.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES LIBERATION RADIO
In a unanimous vote (with two abstainers) the mayor and city council of
Berkeley, California passed a resolution in support of a local unauthorized
radio station. The measure urges federal, state, and local authorities not
to interfere with the operation of the station and recognizes their
contribution to the community. It is uncertain whether this resolution
will offer any protection to the low-power "pirate radio" station, but may
discourage local law enforcement from getting involved in any raids on the
station. The cities of San Francisco and Santa Cruz have passed similar
measures without much effect. San Francisco Liberation Radio was shut down
by the FCC just a short time after their resolution was passed. In the
words of DJ Adversary, "We need local radio that people can access".

From: mark burdett, mark@indymedia.org
The next hearing in SFLR's lawsuit vs. the FCC is scheduled for 9 a.m.
April 30th. Judge Susan Illston will hear arguments (and hopefully rule) on
SFLR's motion to dismiss the FCC's case against SFLR (and thereby, SFLR's
"arrested" studio equipment would be returned).

From:Francis Mead, fmead@unicef.org
Our radio prize for children's radio is being extended until the end of
March - get your entries in now, and you could win radio equipment and help
further the cause of children's participation in the media worldwide.
Looking forward to hearing from you! See details below. 2003
UNICEF/OneWorld competition for outstanding children's radio Children's
Lives ? Children's Voices UNICEF and OneWorld are launching their second
annual search for the best radio produced by, for and with children. We
are looking for radio that gives children a central role ? grants them an
opportunity to express their view of the world ? and grabs the attention of
listeners. Last year we had a fabulous array of entries and we look forward
to receivng many more this year! We know there is tremendous talent out
there and we love listening to your work so show us what you can do!
Winning entries will be rewarded with new radio equipment and a
commemorative plaque. The entries will be collected by OneWorld Radio
through uploads to their website and/or through postal deliveries.
E-mail radio@oneworld.net for instructions on how to do this.
From: Bob Ugly, email@pirate969.org
Hey folks! T shirts - STILL on order. There was a problem at print, which
we're getting solved. Ugh.
Signal range - working on it. We actualy damanged our antenna during one of
our last lifts, and should have this repaired within the next couple of
weeks. Shows - all of our shows are on schedule, with the exception of the
ugly morning radio show, because bob has been quite busy over the last few
weeks.
Noam Chomksy interview (from 3/9/04), you can download it over here:
http://www.pirate969.org/audio.aspx
So this is just a quick update. We're still here, busting ass and taking names.

From: Shawn Ewald, shawn@wilshire.net
RADIO FREE BRATTLEBORO WINS LOCAL AUTHORITY TO BROADCAST
A local ballot initiative asking town voters to grant "authority to
broadcast" in lieu of a license from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) won nearly two thirds of the votes in last Tuesday's March 2nd
election. The open-access radio free brattleboro (rfb) began broadcasting
in July 1998 as an independent, all-volunteer, non- commercial community
radio station. The vote is an important milestone for rfb, a non-profit
which utilizes 10 watts of power to cover an area with a radius about 2
miles from its broadcast location, all within the confines of the town of
Brattleboro, Vermont. Spokesperson Larry Bloch stated, "I hope that
communities across the country will be inspired by the endorsement that rfb
has received from voters here", in response to the vote. The ballot
question asked: "Shall the voters of Brattleboro give to radio free
brattleboro (rfb) authority to broadcast until such a time that a Low-Power
FM license is issued to radio free brattleboro or to another non-profit,
locally based community group which is prepared to offer to the Town of
Brattleboro diverse, all-access, non- commercial, community radio?" Radio
free brattleboro has been threatened with shutdown by the FCC since June,
2003, when the FCC demanded that rfb show either a license or authority to
broadcast. Since the FCC has abandoned the 10-watt, Class D broadcast
licensing classification and has thereby neglected its responsibility to
facilitate access to the airwaves by purely local broadcasters, communities
throughout the United States have been left with no choice for locally
originated broadcasting but to act on their own.

From: elvira truglia, elvira@amarc.org
voices without frontiers - voces sin fronteras
Another communication is possible....Community radio against racial
discrimination
Community radio stations across five continents will go on air in a unique
24-hour broadcast co-production on March 21st, 2004, the UN international
Day against Racial Discrimination. The day marks the 44th anniversary of
the Sharpeville massacre, when peaceful demonstrators against apartheid
were killed in a town in South Africa. To commemorate the Day Against
Racism, Radio voix sans frontiers will feature a mosaic of programmes in
various languages, with live and pre-recorded contributions from countries
in Africa, Europe, Asia, North and Latin America.The broadcast will be
streamed on the Internet (www.amarc.org/vsf) and relayed via satellite
services of Channel Africa, Global (in Europe), ALER (in Latin America) and
RFA (in Canada). The programmes will be re-distributed by local community
radio stations worldwide. This year's RVSF is shaping up to be the most
diverse and dynamic yet.
Full broadcast/satellite details and updates will be available at
www.amarc.org/vsf

From: David Solomonoff, dsolomon@nycap.rr.com
On May 23, The Dutch government auctioned off radio frequencies to the
highest bidders as part of their new Zerobase Radio Frequency Policy. As a
result only the biggest, most commercially and mainstream oriented stations
are able to exploit Dutch radio frequencies for the eight year term of the
licenses. The auction was preceded by "Project Etherflits" in March -- a
crackdown on pirate radio stations which are technically illegal but were
previously tolerated. Studio equipment was confiscated and large fines
imposed on the operators. Most stations have now been forced off the air.
The ZeroBase Policy acknowledges only two kinds of radio: public and
commercial. Any radio formats that don't fit within either of these
categories have in effect become criminal organizations and can never be
granted a legal broadcasting permit. Now the mayor of Amsterdam has granted
permission to use police and riot-control
forces to get rid of the country's last remaining Free Radio stations.
Radio 100, http://www.radio100.nl/_eng/, Radio Patapoe,
http://freeteam.nl/patapoe/ and Radio de Vrije Keyser,
http://www.vrijekeyser.nl/ are all based in Amsterdam. On Monday February
9th the Telecom authorities tried to raid Radio Patapoe. Their attempt
failed because they were unable to locate the transmitting equipment but
they promised to return. The justification for the crackdown has been the
prevention of interference with licensed broadcasters. Until 1964 there
were no legal commercial radio or television stations in the Netherlands
and the government programming was extremely limited. Free Radio culture in
the Netherlands has played an important role in filling that gap. It
remains innovative, popular and highly valued as an important cultural and
political resource. As result of a huge outcry Dutch Minister of Economic
Affairs Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst has been ordered to investigate easily
accessible ways to give permits to local free frequencies. This widely
supported resolution specifically aims to make room for existing free
radios and radio pirates. Yet the phenomenon itself, with its importance to
a healthy democracy, is about to disappear. It will be hard to get back
once it's gone. Radio Patapoe is requesting letters in support of their
continued existence which can be used to make the case for legalization of
pirate radio. Letters can be sent to patapoe@freeteam.nl

From: Frank Moore, fmoore@eroplay.com
on valentines day luver started its sixth year of webcasting. it is amazing
how much luver is and does, how much music that is not heard anywhere else
is regularly heard on luver...how many shows, voices, communities, etc. use
luver as their channel of free communication...how much news and
information is covered and uncovered on luver every day. luver has
developped into a powerful force for radical change and for a lusty
community. and our on-demand archives have become an important research
library for exploding all kinds of limiting boxes. we here talk about this
all the time, are filled by it! we are very rich...on that level. and the
fact that over 25,000 people a month either tune into luver or to things
archived is only the icing for us. [yep, that's over 25,000 actual people,
not bogus hits. and that's just for our audio/video offerings, which are
only a fraction of eroplay.com. But..and you knew there was a but!...but
for the last year and a half we here have been operating/living around
$400-$700 in the red...taking that out of our personal savings...cutting
our personal expenses like food and DIRECTV [in that order!]. but we are
still in the red. and it is because we are picking up most of the tab for
luver. Obviously we need more sustained money help to keep luver
webcasting. all donations to INTER-RELATIONS are tax-deductable...yep,
INTER-RELATIONS is one of those faith-based thingies you have been hearing
about. we got our church status over 25 years ago.
Seriously we are in dire straits here in terms of luver!
In Freedom, Frank Moore

From: Tom Ness, jamrag@glis.net
i need your help with something. We've got the neatest pirate radio project
going -- a very novel approach -- and we think it will help force the FCC
to change their rules again and allow for more community radio stations. On
Sat March 27, 2004, the April edition of Jam Rag will go to press,
containing the full 5,000 word version of the WNFC Declaration of Intent.
This gives the full history of the project, and explains exactly what we
are going to do and why. The Declaration will also be published in ENTER
magazine, and we are asking the Mirror Newspapers to print the short
version you see below. All told, this will amount to about 100,000 copies.
Along with these articles, we will print a list of initial endorsers -- and
we'd like it to be a long list! We especially want as many celebrities as
possible. Would you be willing to get at least three people to endorse
WNFC? All they have to do is send me an email saying, "I endorse WNFC Radio
Free Ferndale," and include their name, and contact info for verification.
We are looking for anyone and everyone to endorse (individuals and
organizations, local and national), but especially people with
recognizable, prestigious names of course. We have until just Saturday,
March 27! i promise -- this will be the most fun project you do all year!
Thanks for helping,

LINKS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

GW keeps pushing the 9-11 button. Why?
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_4172.shtml

FCC says Congress should lift restrictions on low-power FM stations
http://www.rcfp.org/news/2004/0226thefed.html

House passes tough indecent content bill
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040312/6000225s.htm

Consolidation deals going back under the microscope
http://www.rbrepaper.com/epaper/pages/march04/04-46_news1.html

"40 Watts From Nowhere"
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertain
ment/107866771356910.xml

The N.A.B. is still trying to squash LPFM
http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=119850&pt=todaysnews

More free press for Pete Tridish
http://www.motherjones.com/news/hellraiser/2004/03/02_401.html

The New Issue of Media Development on MEDIA REFORM is now online at
http://www.wacc.org.uk

Does anyone care what Howard Stern has to say?
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/04/stern/

The chilling effect of the indecency crackdown reaches NPR:
http://cathyseipp.journalspace.com/?entryid=263

Mexico - Community Radio Stations Up Against the Wall
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=3D22659

Focus on the Corporation - still going strong!
http://www.corporatepredators.org

Information wants to be free. Find out more here.
http://www.nyfairuse.org

Directory of Media Activists
http://www.mediaactioncenter.org

News about and of interest to anarchists
http://ainfos.ca/org

Billy Jam has a lot to say!
http://www.hiphopslam.com

AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING 3/13/04

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL
1 LEGION OF BOOM - THE CRYSTAL METHOD - V2
2 EVERYONE DESERVES MUSIC - MICHAEL FRANTI - IMUSIC
3 THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION - BERES HAMMOND - VP
4 WAR (IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT) - VARIOUS ARTISTS - HIP HOP SLAM
5 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SALSA COLOMBIA - WORLD MUSIC NETWORK
6 COMING UP - OZOMATLI - CONCORD
7 THE DUB REVOLUTIONARIES - SLY AND ROBBIE - RAS
8 THE OLIVER MTUKUDZI COLLECTION - PUTUMAYO
9 UNDERNEATH THE STARS - KATE RUSBY - COMPASS
10 ASHKENAZ CELEBRATES 30 YEARS - ASHKENAZ
11 WEAPON OF MASS INSTRUCTION - GREG PALAST - ALT TENTACLES
12 BELLYDANCE SUPERSTARS - VARIOUS - MONDO MELODIA
13 DRAGONFLY - ZIGGY MARLEY - PRIVATE MUSIC
14 LIVE - DIXIE CHICKS - COLUMBIA
15 TUNULA ENO - SAMITE - TRILOKA
16 COMFORT WOMAN - MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO - MAVERICK
17 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN RAP - WORLD MUSIC NETWORK
18 EDUCATED GUESS - ANI DIFRANCO - RIGHTEOUS BABE
19 VERVE REMIXED 2 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VERVE
20 THE BEST OF R.E.M. - R.E.M. - WARNER
21 SOCA GOLD 2003 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP
22 WORLD REGGAE - VARIOUS ARTISTS - PUTUMAYO
23 OUT OF SIGHT! - PONCHO SANCHEZ - CONCORD
24 GATHERING ONE - HAMSA LILA - IN THE POCKET
25 GOODNIGHT GINGER - JOHN McCUSKER - COMPASS
26 ONE FROM THE HEART - TOM WAITS - COLUMBIA
27 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MOROCCO - WORLD MUSIC NETWORK
28 WORLD 2003 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - NARADA
29 PUNK SEVEN INCH CD VOLUME ONE 1988-1989 - LOOKOUT!
30 50 FIRST DATES SOUNDTRACK - MAVERICK
31

• The memory of Americans who died on 9-11 deserves better. — DOUG THOMPSON, Sun Mar 14 23:11