the SHADOW issue #37
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"You're listening to Cycologic-Loco on 104.1 FM, Free Radio Berkeley, so check this shit out,"

says a goateed disc jockey into the microphone as he cues up another D.I.Y. garage band from the local hardcore scene. His own bandmates sit nearby in the studio, picking records for him to play, while a noted East Bay Food Not Bombs activist checks the station's latest schedule of programming. At the live studio for Berkeley's pirate, unlicensed micropower radio station, an informal, drop-in-and-chat atmosphere definitely prevails.

Not content simply to broadcast live 24-7 to the East Bay community, Free Radio Berkeley (FRB) also acts as a kind of electronic Johnny Appleseed for the micropower, autonomous radio movement, seeding stations with constructed kits and technical support available by mail order. Spreading like a rebellion, the Bay Area now features numerous pirate outfits broadcasting on the FM band to their own neighborhoods -- S.F. Liberation Radio in the South of Market area, Radio Libre in the Mission District, Free Radio Santa Cruz down the coast and a new station in the East Oakland community that gave birth to the Black Panthers, which is going on the air presently. Following the pioneering efforts of Mbanna Kantako and Black Liberation Radio in Springfield, Ohio, a new resistance to the juggernaut of corporate-owned and controlled media has caught fire, led by Stephen Dunifer of FRB and members of the People's FCC (Free Communications Coalition).

Kantako and Dunifer have borne the brunt of the government's attack on the movement, each receiving FCC fines for their broadcasts. While Kantako defaulted on his court hearing and has come under increasing surveillance and police harassment for exercising his First Amendment rights, Dunifer met the beast face-to-face in the Federal District Court for the Ninth Circuit, represented by counsel from the National Lawyers' Guild Committee on Democratic Communications, who argued that he was not subject to the $20,000 fine because the FCC has no regulatory scheme barring broadcast under 100 watts. To everyone's surprise, Federal Judge Wilken stayed the fine on Jan. 20th and refused to grant the government an injunction against FRB's continued broadcasting on constitutional grounds.

Many observers familiar with the case warn that the FCC is now drafting new regulatory schemes to clamp down on all unlicensed broadcasting, as part of an overall appeals posture to combat last year's ruling. Their legal justification is not clear: they have statutory authority from congress only to regulate in the public interest, for example to prevent stations from interfering with one another. No other "developed" country attempts to ban low-power stations the way the FCC would like.

The FCC's haste to draft new regulations puts an added urgency to the project of micropower broadcasting, offering a legal window of opportunity for those who would jump in now, be-fore the new regulations make a retroactive legal defense more problematic. But increasingly, the best defense for pirate broadcasters is a moral one, grounded in the philosophy of micropower, neighborhood radio. Micropower broadcasting is defined as transmission under 100 watts -- a large-market commercial station like New York's odious K-Rock typically pumps out 50,000 watts blanketing a multi-state listening area. The FCC considers the licensing of frequencies and the collection of huge fees for that purpose to be its exclusive proprietary domain. Even though it gave away licenses in the early days of broadcasting, it now maintains tight control over them, creating an artificial scarcity so that giant media conglomerates can make millions of dollars by trading in licenses which are supposed to be issued in the public interest. The FCC enforces its turf with heavy fines against those who brave the FM bandwidth without first coughing up the dough. It is a legally enforced monopoly, run in the name of "regulatory efficiency," yet in the interests of capital, which treats media "markets" -- us -- as a commodity to be bought and sold.

The project of micro-power broadcasting seeks to counter the increasingly gargantuan, anti-human tendencies of mass media. The past six months have witnessed a flurry of mergers in media properties. The control of information and the manufacture of consent is now concentrated in very few hands.

Some critics of micropower broadcasting on the left see futility in thinking small, inevitably asking, why not a big station, covering the whole town? But the philosophy of small-scale pirate radio is not to broadcast to mass audiences at all; instead, the democratic success of this strategy is achieved in direct proportion to the amount of real community participation present. For this reason, small is better. By broadcasting at 30 watts or so, an urban station can reach tens of thousands of listeners in its own neighborhood, and shape programming to meet their needs. If nearby neighborhoods can't hear your micropower signal, then they should start their own. In this way, information power devolves downward to communities themselves, and thus a thousand stations bloom.

FRB features dozens of shows by and for its broadcast community. Each day features a Radical News Hour, Food Not Bombs hosts a show, the Copwatch Report informs the community on bad guys in blue, MC Eternal Bliss hosts a weekly show on squatting and land occupations, and the Hemp Power Hour brings the latest buds of information on legalization and medical marijuana. With programming made fluid and responsive to community needs, the station seems to be succeeding. In two days of visiting activists and friends in Berkeley and Oakland last summer, this reporter noted literally dozens of car and home radios tuned in to the station at all hours of the day -- a total repudiation of the classic schlock and consumer rock of the commercial broadcasting band. On October 5, during his recent "Rent is Theft" Tour of the U.S.A., Bay Area Food Not Bombs activist Keith McHenry stopped in at besieged squat ABC No Rio to host a video and info night. On the table before him were all you needed for a micropower station, up and running as a demonstration: transmitter, a.c. power supply, mixer, microphone and tape deck. Leaving the microphone open for those who felt the urge, L.E.S. squatters sent their voices out into the night --tentatively, but for a first step inside the belly of the corporate media beast, it was a start.

[Author's Note: You can reach Free Radio Berkeley and get their newsletter and parts catalogue to start your own station by calling (510)464-3041, or writing FRB at 1442A Walnut St. #406, Berkeley, CA 94710]

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