Fw: ampb report #93

tomorrow I am doing a special show with Media alliance. Hopefully we will cover some of these issues. But maybe not, because they seem to be more mainstream.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

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Dear Readers,

Every now and then the authorities get excited and go out and start some enforcement activities. We don’t know if it’s caused by moon phases or solar flares, but probably they are just doing the bidding of their bosses. Right now we seem to be in one of those “heightened enforcement” periods. Stories about the fines against Pirate Cat Radio and Radio Free Brooklyn follow. All I can say is watch out for these FCC guys and whatever you do, don’t let them in to “inspect your facility”. If they’re in your area, a good strategy may be to go quiet until they go away. Changing location also seems to work as a stall tactic. Most enforcement seems to be generated by complaints, so try not to make people want to complain about you. Send out a clean signal and don’t interfere with licensed stations. The movie formerly known as “The Boat That Rocked” has finally made it to the US in a shortened form and retitled “Pirate Radio”. We hope it inspires people to join in the fun. Anyway, enjoy any slack time that comes your way and remember that shortwave stations like to crank it up during the holidays so tune in to the area just below 7 megahertz and see what you can hear!
-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

HUGE BLOW IN WAR AGAINST CORPORATE DOMINATION OF THE AIRWAVES; PIRATES TAKE A HIT.
San Francisco, CA, 10/31/2009 — Pirate Cat Radio, a volunteer-run, community broadcasting organization operating out of the Pirate Cat Café in San Francisco’s Mission district, has ceased its terrestrial broadcast on 87.9FM in response to the latest demands of the Federal Communications Commission. In a notice dated August 31, 2009 the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, “willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934” and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction. By bringing to bear the full weight of the Federal government against continued broadcast operations, the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934, and was given the responsibility of making a “fair, efficient and equitable distribution of radio service”, and to ensure that broadcasters serve the ‘public interest’. It is hard to understand how fining the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, an entirely volunteer run community station, and effectively taking them off the air after 13 years, is an appropriate action and in the public’s interest There have never been any complaints over PCRs content. Pirate Cat Radio provides an important community service one that has been recognized by the Board of Supervisors in a certificate of honor. They are one of the best sources of news and regularly broadcast Al Jazeera and BBC bulletins. The news is read in every 2-hour DJ slot. They make regular valuable PSAs and publicize local events. They take an active approach to involving the community, by bringing local unsung heroes and talents into the studio. Pirate Cat Radio provides a voice and outlet for many sections of the community of the Bay Area which cannot make themselves heard anywhere else. If the public’s interests are to be served then ‘ordinary’ people must be allowed to make their voice heard and to be allowed to express themselves creatively without regard for commercial success. The FCC’s policy instead seems to be protecting the airwaves for the big corporations to pump out their bland, homogenized wasteland offering dull limited playlists, banal chat and censored opinions. Until this happens people must continue to challenge the corporate domination of the airwaves. Looking to the future, PCR can continue as an internet only station and the café/studio on 21st st will continue to operate, but at least for the time being, but it cannot safely broadcast over the terrestrial FM band without possibly jeopardizing its volunteers and supporters. How this will affect the service is not clear yet, although it is true that the majority of their listeners are now online or downloading podcasts. “Obviously this is a major disappointment,” says Monkey, “But we made a collective decision that Pirate Cat Radio must come off the public airwaves, until some method is found to change the law or get it authorized under existing law.”

For additional information:
Monkey
Pirate Cat Radio
415-571-1911
monkey@piratecatradio.com


Radio Free Brooklyn Gets Slapped

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a $10,000 fine against two Flatbush “schlock jocks” who were operating a pirate radio station out of their own apartment. FCC officials said that Jean Clerveau and Jocelyn Edwards were “providing services and facilities incidental to the operation of an unlicensed radio transmitter when they were caught playing their tunes on 90.5 FM. FCC agents uncovered the radio station when they were investigating a complaint of radio interference on East 19th Street back in March 2008. The agent not only followed the signal back to their second-floor apartment, but reportedly found an antenna on the top of the roof, according to an FCC spokesman. The building manager told them that the apartment in question belonged to Clerveau and Edwards, but the couple denied running a radio station out of their pad. Officials admitted that when they finally caught Clerveau at home, they could not find any radio equipment on the premises although the inspection took place after the FCC had sent the couple a letter and had made several attempts to visit the home. Clerveau and Edwards claimed that the unlicensed radio station was actually transmitting from across the street but could not provide any evidence, officials said. Nor could the FCC, who imposed the fine “absent of any other evidence that their agents were mistaken.”
Two times the charm.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB:

A list of FCC actions going back to 2003
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/

Thirty Reasons Why Fox News is not Legit
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200910270002

Eight years later, people still want to know what happened.
http://www.911blogger.com

Turn any youtube video into mp3 audio.
http://www.dirpy.com

Capture that youtube video before it goes away.
http://www.kissyoutube.com

Lots of interesting online stations here.
http://radio.indymedia.org

Got a podcast? Upload it here.
http://www.radio4all.net

Can you believe the government?
http://www.prisonplanet.com

Find out what the major media companies own.
http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php

The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk

What’s a wobblie?
http://www.iww.org

When the pirates took over radio
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/12/pirate.radio.history/index.html