Distant stations and home entertainment hi-jinks

Week Two of BYOTV welcomes Brooklyn, NY’s free103point9 into the airspace with a collection of works from their affiliated transmission artists! Founded in 1997, free103point9 is a nonprofit arts organization focused on establishing and cultivating the genre Transmission Arts. This genre encompasses a diversity of practices and media working with the idea of transmission or the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. Several transmission artists are featured in this week of BYOTV, expect exciting orchestrations of/in the electromagnetic environment! From shortwave symphonies in Tom Roe’s Snowstorm and Todd Merrell’s analog elegy The Last Transmission to Tianna Kennedy and Chad Laird’s Frankensteinian foray 18 19 20, LoVid’s CCRT Transcontinental Streaming Performance and other works, these transmissions are high-intensity!

Also! eClECTiC ELeCTRoNiCs!! On Saturday April 5th, 7pm and FREE!!

The Video Gentlemen will host their first “in-studio” event as part of BYOTV. A live showcase entitled Eclectic Electronics, this event will unfold in real-time. Improvisation and suspense await…anything could happen! Bring your own TV or use one in the gallery to tune in to the broadcast! Audience members can call-in to ask questions! The guests this eve are the audio-visual artists behind such local and regional acts as Instinct Control, Disjunct and Warning Broken Machine. Tonight, unfathomable televisual trajectories are explored as home entertainment systems are turned inside out, short-circuited and rewired to reveal new audio-visual capabilities. Pursuing circuit-bending and other vernacular electronic arts, Portland’s Ryan Dunn, Eugene’s Don Haugen and special guests engage in discussion and demonstration of these curious pursuits

Two job openings at Prometheus Radio Project

The Prometheus Radio Project is hiring for two permanent full time jobs -- a Station Support Organizer and a Campaign Director. Please read the e-mail below for short descriptions of our organization, of the jobs, and for details on what you'll need to send us to apply. Full job descriptions can be found on our website:
http://www.prometheusradio.org. Send all materials to jobs @ prometheusradio.org with the appropriate job mentioned in the subject line.

The Prometheus Radio Project is a grassroots organization that works to expand and protect community radio stations, and to promote a more democratic and accountable media in the United States and around the world. From Black Panther-led community centers in Tanzania to farmworker groups in Oregon, we help groups build their own radio stations as tools for their vital social justice organizing.

Every day, Prometheus advocates for these groups and their stations, helps them organize with allies near and far for their rights, and works with them to keep their stations thriving and to help leaders teach new radio pioneers the skills needed to own your own media. Prometheus helps community groups navigate the Federal Communications Commission and the radio licensing process, and we provide technical assistance to groups building radio stations. Prometheus also advocates in Congress and at the FCC to protect community radio, and we actively participate in the broader campaign for a better media. Prometheus are tireless in their fight to make community radio stations and other appropriate technologies available to every neighborhood, every city, every town that needs them.

Airwaves Up for Grabs: How much free space is left in the broadcast spectrum?

From Chris Wilson in Slate:

Just a day after Verizon Wireless spent nearly $10 billion in its bid for a valuable slice of the airwaves last week, Google asked the Federal Communications Commission to open up other unused pieces of the spectrum for wireless broadband. The plan calls for allowing companies like Google and Microsoft to beam wireless Internet access on frequencies between those allocated for television channels—in the so-called "white space"—as well as frequencies reserved for channels that don't exist in a given area. How much of the broadcast spectrum is still up for grabs?

It depends where you are. The "broadcast spectrum" refers to a portion of the full electromagnetic spectrum that is ideal for telecommunication, with frequencies much lower than infrared or visible light. Federal law grants the FCC the authority to determine who can broadcast on which frequencies between 9 kHz and 400 GHz, i.e. the entire range of radio waves and microwaves, to prevent interference between stations. For example, the 410 MHz band is reserved for radio astronomy, while the range from 88 to 108 MHz is for FM radio. (If the government didn't keep track of who broadcast in which frequencies, there would be tremendous interference between broadcasts, making a clear signal very difficult to find in congested areas.) But frequencies allocated by the FCC aren't always in use. Whether a given region of the spectrum is occupied depends on the size and demand of the local population. An urban area with a lot of broadcast stations might fill up most of the spectrum allocated for radio and television, while a rural area would leave much of it unused.

Google's white-space plan concerns television broadcast frequencies, which are divided up by channel throughout the spectrum. The chunks that the FCC just auctioned off to Verizon and others, in the 700 to 800 MHz range, have long been reserved for television stations broadcasting analog signals. But once TV broadcasting goes fully digital in February 2009, the stations will clear out of those frequencies. Meanwhile, companies are interested in using parts of the spectrum that are already allocated, but not always occupied. To accomplish this, they'd need to produce devices that can search for competing signals and suss out any frequencies that happen to be vacant. Proponents like Google say the vast majority of the airwaves go unused most of the time and will remain so until these devices are widespread.

So far, early testing of these "White Space Prototype Devices" has not gone particularly well. In an initial round conducted in July 2007, two prototypes were either unable to detect competing signals or detected signals that were not actually present. (Microsoft claims they sent a defective version of their model to the FCC.) This poses a real problem for the white-space plan: If a device tries to initiate a broadcast at the same frequency as an existing signal that it failed to detect, it could cause interference. Digital broadcasts might begin to skip or freeze, like a scratched DVD. Opponents of the white-space plan, including the National Association of Broadcasters, cite these reports as evidence that the technology is not ready for public consumption. The FCC is currently conducting a second round of tests.

Off the Grid

March 30, 2008 – June 1, 2008
at Neuberger Museum of Art
Purchase College, SUNY
735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10277
http://www.neuberger.org/

Off The Grid features contemporary works which formally and/or conceptually challenge conventional and commercial infrastructures.

Checklist of exhibited works:

Matt Bua
World Grid – Square World, 2008
ink, collage, paint, pencil on paper
39 x 63 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery, New York.

Benjamin Cohen, Dylan J. Gauthier, and Stephan von Muehlen
Mare Liberum, 2008
blueprint, distributed broadsheet, boat
broadsheet: 24 x 36 inches, boat: 12 feet
Courtesy of the artists.

EcoArtTech: Christine Nadir and Cary Peppermint
Environmental Risk Assessment Rover - AT, 2008
solar panels, recycled shipping pallets, industrial garden wagon, video projector, MAC-mini computer, GPS, WiFi, found built and natural surfaces
Courtesy of the artists.

eteam International Airport Montello, 2007-08
three-channel projection, map, figures, photographs
Courtesy of the artists.

Max Goldfarb
Ambulant Transceivers, 2008
vintage first-aid kits made into two-way radios
Courtesy of the artist.

Louis Hock
Nightscope Series, 1985-2003
digital pigment prints
17 x 24 inches each
Courtesy of the artist.

Louis Hock
Feral, 2004
two-channel video installation
sound: Louis Hock and Peter Otto
Courtesy of the artist.

Nina Katchadourian
Quit Using Us, 2002
c-print mounted on aluminum
18 x 96 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Sara Meltzer Gallery.

Nina Katchadourian
Ant Static, 2003
video loop with sound
Courtesy of the artist and Sara Meltzer Gallery.

Kristin Lucas
More Melting, 2008
wax, wick, fire
Courtesy of the artist.

Joe McKay
Hi Hat Phone, 2007
cell phone, high hat stand, wood, speakers
Courtesy of the artist.

Trevor Paglen
Workers / Las Vegas, NV / Distance – 1 mile, 2006
from the series Limit Telephotography
video
Courtesy of the artist and Bellwether Gallery, New York.

Trevor Paglen
Chemical and Biological Weapons Proving Ground / Dugway, UT / Distance – 42 miles /
10:51 a.m., 2005
from the series Limit Telephotography
C-print, 3 from an edition of 5
50 x 50 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Bellwether Gallery, New York.

Trevor Paglen
Unidentified Light Source / Cactus Flats, NV / Distance – 17 miles / 9:45 p.m., 2007
from the series Limit Telephotography
C-print, 1 from an edition of 5
30 x 36 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Bellwether Gallery, New York.

Temporary Services
Personal Plastic, 2007
photocopied and offset publications, mounted photographs, banners made from plastic
bags, unwanted plastic bags
Courtesy of the artists.

Seth Weiner
Cryptographic Payphone, 2008
interactive payphone, chaotic motion system
63 x 15 x 10 inches
Courtesy of the artist.

Bart Bridger Woodstrup
Gathering Lore, 2008
computer, custom video software, electronic sensors, weather
Courtesy of the artist.


Co-presented by the Neuberger Museum of Art and free103point9. Curated by Jacqueline Shilkoff (Neuberger Museum) and Galen Joseph-Hunter, Tianna Kennedy, Tom Roe (free103point9).

Curators’ Statements

Has humankind’s irresponsible production and consumption of energy and resources reached its peak? While regulatory agencies scramble to meet and control the demands of a wireless-obsessed market, a burgeoning urgency about the need to be ecologically responsible has emerged. Off The Grid presents work by thirteen artists examining and reacting to these currents. Works on view propose alternate territories. They repurpose, reuse, and recast communication devices, consumer byproducts, and environmental data. Our culture has long relied on creative practice to invent, innovate, and inspire. Here, the participating artists do so with works that inform, alarm, and entertain.
– Galen Joseph-Hunter

Most of us live, work, and play on the grid. The artists in Off The Grid do not present utopian solutions to complex problems (unsustainability, overconsumption, waste, alienation), but rather invite us all to reinvent, reimagine, and subvert our daily practices through accessible work completed on a human scale. I've enjoyed my conversations with the artists in this exhibition and have been reminded that cultural gridlock is best addressed not with sweeping gestures and apocalyptic arguments, but by working within, around, and perhaps a little outside expectations of art and engagement.
-Tianna Kennedy

The grid is a shifting network of power, distributing social, ecological and intellectual resources. Individuals have agency to engage or withdraw, privatize or empower, collude or disclose. By reevaluating what resources exist and how they are allocated, we redefine our collective identity and personal ideology. It is hopeful that art as activism, as intervention, can produce awareness and change.
-Jacqueline Shilkoff


For more information see:
http://www.free103point9.org/events/1678/



((((( ECOARTTECH EVENTS FOR OFF THE GRID )))))

March 27, 2008: 7 p.m. – March 29, 2008
at Neuberger Museum of Art
Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10277
http://www.neuberger.org/
http://www.ecoarttech.net/

Thursday, March 27
Friday, March 28
Saturday, March 29
Meet at the Neuberger Museum of Art at 7 p.m.

Join EcoArtTech (Christine Nadir and Cary Peppermint) for three evenings of performances with the Environmental Risk Assessment Rover–AT (ERAR–AT), a mobile, solar-powered, networked video installation that will accumulate and aggregate the environmental threats and risks that Purchase residents face everyday.

What kind of environmental risks does Purchase face? How far is the closest superfund site or nuclear power plant or agribusiness? How do the 148 industrial chemicals already in every American human body interact with the synthetic hormones and antibiotics in the dairy products we eat? How many chemicals are in human breast milk? How do the chemicals in your toothpaste interact with the pesticides on your food? Why has modernity, which was supposed to create a sense of security, produced more anxiety and threats than ever? Can scientific data and research help us understand the “riskiness” of contemporary life?

ERAR-AT performs the difficulty of perceiving, evaluating, and understanding risk scenarios and presents an assessment of its given locale by producing a unique fourteen-tiered threat level embedded live within video projections onto local natural and architectural surfaces.

“Sooner rather than later, one comes up against the law that so long as risks are not recognized scientifically, they do not exist--at least not legally, medically, technologically, or socially, and they are thus not prevented, treated or compensated for. No amount of collective moaning can change this, only science. Scientific judgment's monopoly on truth therefore forces the victims themselves to make use of all the methods and means of scientific analysis in order to succeed with their claims.”
—German risk theorist Ulrich Beck

For more information see:
http://www.free103point9.org/events/1906/



((((( OFF THE GRID: LIVE PERFORMANCES )))))

April 2, 2008: 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.
at Neuberger Museum of Art
Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10277
http://www.neuberger.org/

Curated by: free103point9. In conjunction with the exhibition Off The Grid, April 2 will feature a day of live performances by artists whose work subvert and circumvent conventional infrastructures.

4 p.m.: Radio 4x4
Four performers -- Joshua Fried, Matt Bua, Alexis Bhagat, and Tom Roe -- perform into four transmitters with performances transmitted to radios throughout the performance area. Audiences are encouraged to walk among the radios, "mixing" the collective and individual improvised performances. For this Radio 4x4, performers will all use battery-powered equipment, and all transmitters and radios will also not be plugged in. Brief explanation and discussion of Radio 4x4 with the artists after performance.
http://www.free103point9.org/transmissionprojects/

4:45: Joshua Fried, Radio Wonderland.
Fried performs his "Radio Wonderland" show with a car battery.

5:30 p.m.: Jeff Stark, Secret Dinner
The Secret Dinner project is just that. The dinners are collaborative and they happen in clandestine spaces. The first was in a grain elevator in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in 2006, and we lowered a singer into an echoey steel silo. The second was the site of the 1964 World's Fair in Queens, where we suspended an aerialist from the massive steel Unisphere. And at the third, we ate in the Freedom Tunnel, under Riverside Park in Manhattan. The Secret Dinner project was influenced by Dark Passage, a group of New York explorers, and the Suicide Club, a long defunct group of San Francisco pranksters. The project is a reaction to a culture of permission, including expensive venues, city permits, and institutional funding. It reminds participants that the most important thing is doing the thing, and that it's possible to create work that compromises only to logistics. This talk will feature gorgeous photos by Tod Seelie that document the project.

6:15 p.m.: Matt Bua.
Artist talk.

Sunrise to Sunset:
Mare Liberum workshop. Mare Liberum Sunup-Sundown Build A Boat Workshop: Benjamin Cohen, Dylan Gauthier, and Stephan von Muehlen will construct a 12' Grand Banks dory over the course of a day using materials salvaged from construction sites, basic tools and old-time intuition. The artists will be available to discuss the project over pauses for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

Earlier in the day:
There will be a Kites are for Peace exhibition. Kites are For Peace and Love is a one-day social engagement with the surrounding Westchester community. It is an open invitation to come together to make and fly kites in the wind and sun, all the while keeping in mind that the same wind power that fuels a kite, can also generate our electricity. Information will be on site relating to simple and effective ways that we as individuals can make a substantial difference in the path toward environmental sustainability. In addition, there will be kite-making workshops held at the Neuberger Museum of Art leading up to the event. This event is organized by John Daquino.

For more information see:
http://www.free103point9.org/events/1860/


For more information about all the "Off the Grid" shows, see:
http://www.free103point9.org/

AIRtime residencies

free103point9 defines “Transmission Arts” as a conceptual umbrella that unites a community of artists and audiences interested in transmission ideas and tools. This genre encompasses a diversity of practices and media working with the idea of transmission or the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. Transmission art is generally a participatory live-art or time-based art, and often manifests as radio art, video art, light sculpture, installation, and performance. The annual AIRtime application deadline is April 1.

The AIRtime residency program provides artists with valuable space in which to concentrate on new transmission works and conduct research about the genre using free103point9's resource library and equipment holdings. Ten residents are selected from an open application process each year. The residencies take place at free103point9's Wave Farm, a retreat-like setting on 30 acres in upstate New York.

AIRtime residents present their work on free103point9 Online Radio during their stay. free103point9 shares resources regarding preservation and archiving models with our residents. Artists are encouraged to archive recordings and other reproducible media with the free103point9 Study Center collection.

SCHEDULE AND FEES
Ten artists (or collectives) are selected from an open application each AIRtime season. Residency durations are flexible based on the schedules of participating artists, but typically last one week. The program is active July - October. Residents are provided with a stipend of $200. Groceries and meals are provided by free103point9 as well as local transportation for supplies. One resident is on-site at a time. Both program directors are available on site during the residencies for technical assistance and critical feedback. Artists are required to archive completed works related to their residency with the study center research collections.

For more information see:
http://www.free103point9.org/airtime/

North Korea denounces radio broadcasts from the South

From Media Network:

North Korea has accused South Korean conservatives of stepping up propaganda radio broadcasts against Pyongyang in collaboration with the US and Japan. A spokesman for the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, a communist party-run body, warned the broadcasts would only increase tension in inter-Korean ties. The spokesman claimed radio stations such as “Broadcasting for the North,” “Missionary Broadcasting for the North” and “Voice of Freedom” were “an intolerable confrontation campaign against the nation and reunification,” he said in a statement. Pyongyang’s regime for decades has banned its residents from accessing outside broadcasts with all radios or TV sets tuned in to state-run domestic media to tighten control further over the country. The spokesman said recently launched South Korean radio channels were teaming up with Japanese and US-funded radio broadcasts like “Radio Free Asia” and “Voice of America” to beef up their campaigns against Pyongyang. “The South Korean conservative ruling quarters… should be held fully accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by their smear broadcasting moves,” the spokesman said.

City of Troy shuts down The Sanctuary for Independent Media

free103point9's friends at The Sanctuary for Independent Media are in trouble up in Troy, New York, for standing up to censorship at RPI. The school closed Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihadi" show there because, apparently, a subtle piece about an Al Queda remix of an anti-Al Queda video game didn't win rave reviews from a few students. From RPI free culture wikipedia:

The banned "Virtual Jihadi" exhibit was moved from RPI to The Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 Sixth Avenue in Troy. A press conference was held Monday, March 10, at 4:30 p.m. about the controversial “Virtual Jihadi” exhibition, featuring short statements by representatives of the RPI Arts Department, The Sanctuary, and Wafaa Bilal. A reception was held at 6 p.m. and Mr. Bilal spoke about his work at 7 p.m. Area Republicans, led by Robert Mirch, held a protest outside The Sanctuary beginning at 5:30 p.m. On the other side were local citizens showing their support for Bilal and protesting how RPI handled this situation.

The very next morning, Public Works Commissioner Bob Mirch (leader of the protest) ordered The Sanctuary to close down operations because of code violations. "They put us out of business," Steve Pierce of the Media Alliance said in an article in the Times Union. "They said we had doors that were not up to code." (Listen to the city's phone call here.) According to the Sanctuary website this action occurred less than 24 hours after an inspection by code enforcement and fire officials cleared the building for use.

Boing Boing: 'Tell the FCC not to let telcos censor your text-messages!'

From Cory Doctorow in Boing Boing:

Verizon's new policy on text messaging could give it the ability to go on blocking political text-messages that its customers have asked to receive. Public Knowledge wants you to tell the FCC that you don't want your phone company deciding what kind of political speech you can enjoy:

This past September, Verizon blocked its customers from receiving NARAL Pro-Choice America action alert text messages—messages that Verizon’s customers asked to receive...
Explain to the FCC now how you use text messages. Tell them if you subscribe to alerts from causes you believe in, if your organization text messages or short codes to reach its supporters, and tell them every other way in which text messaging and freedom of speech on our phone networks are important to you.

Verizon also seems to cut free103point9 off whenever we stream audio or video from New York City locations. It seems to run sweeps to cut off anyone uploading any content except VOIPs. So we are now using Skype to send out a series of audio web streams this month from Experimental Intermedia in Manhattan.

OPEN CALL: 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs

From Kurt Gottschalk:

I'm pulling together a performance of John Cage's '49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs' for April 26 (rain date April 27) at 3 p.m. The piece calls for "49 Performer(s) or Listener(s) or Record Maker(s)" at given locations. Play, dance, make a field recording or just sit and listen. I'm going to try to find a place to host written reports, photos and audio recordings after the fact. You can see the addresses at
http://spearmintmusic.blogspot.com/

Once one address is taken, the other two in the section are eliminated. 'Richmond' refers to Staten Island. It'd be great to get people who live on, or are willing to go to, Staten Island, since there are a lot of them. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you think might be interested. E-mail me with your chosen location (anyone dare try JFK Airport?) and what you'll be doing (instrument, recorder, listener), and I'll update the blog and notify you. I'm also open to suggestions for a good, central place for an after-show meetup.

FCC releases list of groups of mutually exclusive applications for new noncommercial FM stations

From David Oxenford in Broadcast Law Blog:

On Friday, the FCC released a Public Notice setting out several groups of applications for new noncommercial FM stations which are mutually exclusive with each other. These applications were filed in the October window for new noncommercial FM stations (information about which can be found here). According to the Public Notice, the identified groups are those where there are 4 or fewer applications which are mutually exclusive with each other. The list can be found here. The Commission is asking that applicants named on this list advise the Commission within 30 days whether the FCC's determination of mutual exclusivity is correct, and also whether the named applicants anticipate reaching a settlement or share time agreement. If nothing is filed within that 30 day period, the Commission's staff will start applying the point system to determine which of these applicants should be preferred and granted.

The Public Notice also makes clear that there are other applications which are part of larger mutually exclusive groups. These applications will be dealt with at a later date. The Commission has already processed over 800 other applications which were either granted as "singletons", not mutually-exclusive with other applications, or which were dismissed because the applicant exceeded the 5 station filing cap. Thus, the FCC is moving quickly to process these applications for new noncommercial stations. Applicants should carefully review their options in light of this new public notice.

free103point9's application for a full-power FM station covering most of Greene and Columbia counties in New York on 90.7-FM is included on the list. free103point9 has three competiting applications, but all law and broadcast experts consulted say that free103point9's application will prevail under the FCC's point system.

OPEN CALL: Experimental Sound Studio Artists Residency Program

Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) will offer four 30- to 40-hour residencies through the 2008 Artists Residency Program (ARP). At least three of these residencies are for Chicago area artists, and one residency will be open to non-Chicago US artists. Each residency includes access to the ESS recording facilities with engineering assistance. The ESS recording facilities include:
• one 600-sq-ft live recording studio with 16-track ProTools system, baby grand piano, isolation booth;
• one soundtrack, mixing, and mastering studio with ProTools and MAX-MSP/Jitter;
• multi-channel playback and sync-to-image capabilities;
• various digital and analog processors and recorders.

The purpose of the ARP is to facilitate the production of finished works that will be presented to the public, so please propose only projects that can be completed within the allotted time frame. An ESS Artist Residency does not carry with it any commitment from ESS to present the finished work, but we often do work with ARP artists in facilitating presentation. Application deadline: April 5, 2008

OPEN CALL: DIGit Media Festival 2008

Delaware Valley Arts Alliance is now accepting video and audio submissions for DIGIT 2008, scheduled for June 13-15, 2008 at various venues around Narrowsburg, NY and the Upper Delaware Valley region. Cash prizes will be awarded to Best in Show for both audio and video works. Submission deadline is April 5, 2008.

DIGIT is an annual digital media exposition, sponsored by the DVAA, encouraging creative and technical excellence and experimentation among individual artists working with digital tools. Forms are also available on our website:
VIDEO SUBMISSIONS: http://artsalliancesite.org/documents/DIGIT2008_VideoSubmission.pdf
AUDIO SUBMISSIONS: http://artsalliancesite.org/documents/DIGIT2008_AudioSubmission.pdf
For more information, visit http://artsalliancesite.org/programs/digit.html or call (845) 252-7576.

About DVAA
Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, founded in 1976, celebrates 30 years as a medium-sized,not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that serves as Arts Council for Sullivan County, New York. Our mandate is to lead collaborations that advance the arts; to encourage and support cultural programs relevant to all citizens; and to provide services to individual artists, arts organizations, and the area’s arts community. The DVAA has over 300 members, many of whom live here and in New York City. The staff advocates for advancement of the arts on the local, state, national, (and now) international level. As a catalyst for events not generally available, DVAA sponsors an outstanding variety of arts and cultural programs in its facilities, the Delaware Arts Center,on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Tusten Theatre, a fully-renovated 160-seat facility. The DVAA provides free services to artists that include grant conduit support, information networking, grant-writing assistance, collaborative project incubation, fellowships, space, and promotion support. Our organization provides commissions, fiscal sponsorship, and technical training.

Record number of New York City pirate radio stations contacted by the FCC

From New York Radio Guide:

Following the December 23 New York Times article on pirate radio broadcasters in Brooklyn, the FCC's New York field office has been spending a great deal of time visiting Brooklyn neighborhoods, tracking down illegal broadcasters and issuing more than a dozen "Notices of Unlicensed Operation" (10 day notices). Some of the broadcasters identified include a pirate on 88.5-FM broadcasting from central Brooklyn, a pirate [Frito Destra] on 90.9-FM broadcasting from Flatbush, [Jean Cleophat] a pirate on 88.1-FM broadcasting from central Brooklyn, and a pirate on 91.9-FM broadcasting from south of Williamsburg. The FCC also sent a Forfeiture Notice to Trevor Whitely for broadcasting on 102.3-FM from the Eastern Parkway area. as "102.3 Red Hot FM." Listeners in Brooklyn have noticed somewhat clearer signals for a number of stations, but at least 20 unlicensed stations remain on the air.

That story barely touches the recent enforcement action in New York City, which seems to be at some sort of historic level. Judging from the location and the name Moshe Ezagui on the FCC's "Notice of Unlicensed Operation," the 91.9-FM station was the long-time Hasidic station that was sort-of day-parting with the 10 a.m.-midnight hip hop station that uses that frequency. The landlords of the Hasidic station's location also got a "Notice of Unlicensed Operation."

The report above also missed the Feb. 8 Notice of Unlicensed Operation to Clement Viau/Biau allegedly operating on 90.1-FM also near Flatbush, Brooklyn. And it neglects to mention Esther King or Ambassador Courts Associates who both got a Notice of Unlicensed Operation for operating at 102.5-FM in Brooklyn. Pietro Russo also got a Notice of Unlicensed Operation for operating at 90.9-FM in Brooklyn. And there's also Newkirk Realty, LLC, south of Park Slope, Brooklyn, operating on 88.1, with a Jan. 31 "Notice of Unlicensed Operation." They also missed another "Notice of Unlicensed Operation" to operators on 88.5-FM in Brooklyn, Nachla Associates, LLC in central Brooklyn and Felix Leonard, Aries Communications, in Brooklyn. Clearly, the FCC is also contacting landlords as well as suspected pirates these days.

So that is 12-15 stations, depending how you count them, receiving notices so far in 2008. By any measure that is a record number of pirate radio busts in New York City.

The premise of the New York Radio Guide story, that the Dec. 23 story in The New York Times started this all, is also wrong. Three days before the story, the FCC also took action against a slew of New York pirates. Notices announced on Dec. 20, 2007 include Randel and Shawnett Palmer, no location given, at 95.9-FM; Moshe Realty LLC, Brooklyn, 102.3-FM; Latesha Johnson, Brooklyn, 107.9; Anthony Goolchalan and American Heritage Management Corporation, Brooklyn, 95.1; and AG 815 LLC, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 107.9. So clearly, the action started before the Times story.

The FCC also posted a "Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture" to Joaquim Barbosa, Amateur Extra Class licensee, call sign N2KBJ, of Elizabeth, NJ. FCC officials observed him operating on 296.550 MHz, a government operations channel. The Notice says Barbosa admitted he knew he was on a government channel. The FCC also sent a "Notice of Unlicensed Operation" to a Bedstar Associates, Inc., a business operating 463.375 MHz. They also posted a Citations to Job Lot Wholesale & Retail Stores #4, 32-29 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway, Brooklyn; C.H. Martin, Inc., 148-22 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica: and Joy Electronics & Appliances, 156-16A Northern Blvd, Flushing, for selling analog televisions to consumers without warning them of the imminent switch to digital transmission.

Add it all up, and that's about 20 FCC enforcement actions against pirates in the last 80 days in New York City, a pace of one every four days. But at least one rabid anti-pirate crusader, posting on the New York Radio Message Board, says, "All those notices were sent out in early February and everyone of those frequencies still is occupied by the same pirates."

The New York Radio Guide story also does not get to the "why" of the story, which in this case seems to be that minority communities find the need for low-power broadcasting in New York City so great, that they are willing to break the law. Tom Roe and Dharma Dailey of free103point9 met with the FCC last week, within a larger group organized by the Prometheus Radio Project about low-power FM. The FCC's Peter Doyle said in that meeting that if the current LPFM bill passes Congress, a new station might be available in Brooklyn Heights. This is the first time there's been any hint of the possibility of LPFM being an option In New York City. A better plan: find the couple of frequencies that do have some space in the city (the pirates have proved there are a couple of holes, though clearly some are on top of licensed stations' signals), and spread very-low power 10-watt stations in each neighborhood in the five boroughs.

Intel’s rural connectivity platform

From Daily Wireless:

C/Net’s Charles Cooper spent Thursday hanging out at Intel Research Berkeley Lab where the company held an open house to showcase what it’s working on. Berkeley is one of three “lablets” (research projects) that Intel operates in association with two other universities. One is in Seattle (collaborating with the University of Washington), and one is in Pittsburgh (collaborating with Carnegie-Mellon).

Cooper says Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform is a low-cost way of providing roughly 10 megabits-per-second connectivity to remote areas. Without obstructions, Intel says the wireless long-distance nodes can connect every 60 miles. The Rural Connectivity Platform (video) meshes point-to-point long-distance wireless links between villages, augmented with a number of broadband satellite connections. Intel researchers are currently assessing the performance of point-to-point 802.11 and 802.16 (WiMax) long-distance links in a wireless testbed in and around Berkeley, California. They also have deployed several test links in India and more recently, in Ghana, where they have demonstrated a bandwidth of 5-7 Mbps over an extremely long distance: 10.5 kilometers. Researchers will continue testing and modifying the technology in additional deployments in India in 2006.

A key component of this solution is a variation on IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology. While the 802.11 Media Access Control (MAC) protocol was not designed for long-distance communications, researchers believe that modifying the MAC layer should resolve the problem, without the need for hardware or driver modifications. The Berkeley lab will collaborate with other researchers from Intel, UC Berkeley, the University of Washington, and UC Riverside as well as consultants from Thinkbank and ACME Laboratories. In its simplest configuration, RCP has at least two end-point units that can be separated by line of sight (LOS) up to 100 kilometers (62 miles). RCP relay units can be used to extend the communications path across geographical barriers or to make “drops” to other communities between end-point units.

The hardware and software for the RCP end-point and relay units are designed to be reliable in highly challenging rural environments. The end-point and relay units utilize a single-board computer with an embedded 533 MHz Intel® IXP 425 network processor, Compact Flash Storage, 10/100 power-over- Ethernet (PoE) -capable Ethernet ports, long-haul radios (one to three depending on the configuration), and support for a Wi-Fi 802.11 access-point radio. The long-haul radios, which are commercially available from many suppliers, can be selected to accommodate different frequencies. They can potentially be upgraded to support WiMAX technology. RCP also utilizes parabolic antennas radiating in 900-MHz, 2.4-GHz, or 5.8-GHz spectrums to address tradeoffs associated with licensing, distance, and interference.

Anna Friz

From Grammerfight:

This month, I'm featuring one of my favorite women sound artists each week. This week, it's Anna Friz. Friz is a sound and radio artist who divides her time between Toronto and Montréal. From the childhood fiction of "the little people in the radio" to documentary remixes of live political events, she creates dynamic, atmospheric works equally able to reflect upon public media culture, urban soundscapes, or to reveal interior landscapes. She has performed and exhibited installation works at festivals and venues across North America, Europe, and in Mexico. Her radio art/works have been commissioned by national public radio in Canada, Austria, Germany, Danmark and Mexico, and heard on independent airwaves in more than 15 countries. Anna also designs and composes sound for live theatre and dance. Anna Friz is a free103point9.org transmission artist.

Dates set for comments on the relationship between Low Power FM stations, FM translators, and Full Power FM upgrades

From Broadcast Law Blog:

Federal Register publication of the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Low Power FM (LPFM) stations and their relationship to FM translators and upgrades of full-power FM stations occurred today. This sets the comment dates in that proceeding - with comments due April 7, and replies on April 21. This proceeding looks at technical issues of whether LPFM stations (which were originally authorized as secondary stations, subject to being knocked off the air if they caused interference to full-power stations (including new stations or increases in the facilities of existing stations), should be protected against interference from such new FM facilities. Also, the proceeding looks at whether LPFM should get a preference over FM translators, perhaps even being able to bump existing FM translators off the air to make way for new LPFM stations. We wrote more about this proceeding, here. FM station and FM translator licensees should be sure to file comments with the FCC on how this proceeding could affect their operations.

Also, free103point9's Tom Roe and Dharma Dailey met last week with the FCC in Washington, with a large group of low-power FM advocates organized by the Prometheus Radio Project, and were told they would publish the MX groups for the recent full-power non-commercial filing within "two to three months."

Stars Like Fleas at Wave Farm

Stars Like Fleas July 2006 performance at free103point9's Wave Farm in Acra, New York.

LIVE BLOGGING: Fifth annual Grassroots Media Conference

free103point9 is live today at the fifth annual Grassroots Media Conference at Hunter College. We have a table next to the Cupcake Broadcasting Studio, and our friends at Prometheus Radio Project, and in a little while Ryan Holsopple of 31 Down and free103point9's Lee Azzarello will be holding a workshop on our efforts to create a "Protest Radio" station to cover this summer's Democratic and Republican National Conventions. We were going to have live video webcasts of many of the panels, but CUNY's strange no-streaming policy kiboshed that at the last minute.

FCC denies petitions to bring back Morse code testing

From National Association for Amateur Radio:

In a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MOO) released today, the FCC denied two petitions calling for General or Amateur Extra license applicants to demonstrate proficiency in Morse code. In December 2006, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O) in the "Morse code proceeding," WT Docket 05-235, that eliminated Morse code testing as of February 23, 2007.