Paul Griffin

FCC raids radio station

Fri Dec 13 04:50:33 2002
208.152.73.166

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FCC raids radio station
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 23:35:59 -0800
From: ampb@global.california.com  (Paul Griffin)
To: ampb@california.com

For Immediate Release - Thursday, December 12, 2002

Further information:
Bryan Smitha, aka BPM Smith (415) 987-6169
email: berklibradio@juno.com

FCC Agents Radio Berkeley Liberation Radio

Berkeley, Calif.

On the morning of December 11, 2002, agents of the Federal Communications
Commission confiscated the broadcast equipment of Berkeley Liberation Radio
104.1 FM. Using a little known legal tactic, the FCC acquired an arrest
warrant for the transmitting devices. "This is a free speech issue and the
FCC is trying to prevent us from exercising our First Amendment right,"
said Bryan Smith (BPM Smith), a Berkeley Liberation Radio DJ. "If more
people ran radio stations without their endorsement then the FCC would lose
power. That makes them attack us but the FCC cannot govern us and they
cannot extort money from us by way of fines." The station has been on the
air since the summer of 1999 providing music and information to the San
Francisco Bay Area. Operating without a license, BLR has defied the media
monopoly and federal government by exceeding the one tenth of a watt power
limit imposed by the FCC. by exercising our right to free speech
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the United Nations Declaration on
Human Rights, we challenge the FCC's authority and demand that they return
our community property. Beyond the confiscation itself, we question the
timing of this act of repression, as the U.S. government prepares for war.
It cannot be our music that the government fears, but our speech. The last
thing a government bent on war wants is a vocal opposition, and the last
thing we can afford to lose is that - our voice. The only barrier to
endless war is endless reason. We, the volunteers of BLR, vow to return to
the airwaves, with the support of free speech lovers everywhere. We refuse
to surrender our rights to any bureaucrats. Please join us for a protest
rally at the Oakland Federal Building, 1301 Clay Street, on wednesday
december 18 at noon. This is our statement of purpose: Berkeley
Liberation Radio exists to provide a voice for the diverse community within
the Berkeley / Oakland area and beyond. Further, it is a vehicle that we
establish to bring about social change. Consistent with a vision of
creating an alternative diverse hybrid society free of sexism, homophobia,
racism, and all other forms of oppression, programming on Berkeley
Liberation Radio will be reflective of those goals and ideals.
====================================

Welcome to Free Radio Berkeley. Founded on April 11, 1993 as a Free Speech voice challenging the regulatory structure and power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Free Radio Berkeley has been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with the FCC. Until it was silenced by a court injunction in June 1998, Free Radio Berkeley was broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 104.1 FM with 50 watts of power as the alternative voice for the greater Berkeley/Oakland area. The original Free Speech mission to provide community news, discussions and interviews, information, a wide range of music, and more has now been taken up by Berkeley Liberation Radio.

http://www.freeradio.org/


This site connects you to the movement to reclaim the airwaves
Welcome to RADIO 4 ALL
http://www.freeradio.org/

"This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."
-----Frederick Douglass


"The FCC can kiss my Bill of Rights"
----Stephen Dunifer

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