How to make a radio station

From Free Radio Berkeley via Mediageek:

The venerable Free Radio Berkeley has a (relatively) new video demonstrating all the parts in the air chain of a micropower unlicensed radio station, fresh from their Oakland, CA shop:

How To Make a Radio Station from Free Radio on Vimeo.

F.C.C. pulls plug on H.F.R.A. Radio Free-radio pirates remain determined

From Santa Cruz IMC:

On Sunday, December 16, the Federal Communication Commission paid a surprise visit to the Humboldt Free Radio Alliance studio wielding a cease operations order. Two agents, reportedly from San Francisco’s FCC office, delivered the order in response to an unspecified complaint. The agents did not confiscate any studio equipment and left without verifying the exact location of the studio. The in-studio D.J shut down the transmitter and contacted other HFRA members. Because of the visit, the station is off the air until further notice.

This is not the first time the FCC has tried to curtail the 45-watt transmission from this small radio station. At least two other visits have been made over the last several years never resulting in a significant shutdown of HFRA. “We are usually able to get back on the air a couple days after the FCC visits, but this hiatus will be prolonged because we have to find a new studio.” says Downbeat, a long time HFRA member. In addition to the cease operations order, the FCC contacted the owner of the property and the property management company of the studio’s location. “That is the first time the FCC has gone after the property owners when trying to shut us down.” laments a DJ who broadcasts under the name Ann Archy.

The Humboldt Free Radio Alliance has broadcast without a license in the Humboldt Bay area since 1999. It is part of a long tradition of free-radio activists broadcasting in Humboldt County going back to the early nineties. In recent years, HFRA moved to 99.9 FM where it broadcasts Thursdays through Sundays. “We believe that local communities should dictate the content of their airwaves. Out of touch bureaucracies like the FCC base their actions and laws around the profit gains of big media, not free speech.” asserts DJ Thrash, who broadcasts several hours a week on HFRA. The FCC crackdown on HFRA came two days before FCC chairman Kevin Martin pushed through a ruling that loosened media ownership regulations allowing media companies to further consolidate control in local markets. Thrash indignantly adds, “Can you believe the nerve? Harassing our small community station with one hand while stroking the pockets of media giants with the other. This is exactly why HFRA and other low power stations are more important than ever.”

Despite the setback, HFRA is determined to continue broadcasting in Humboldt County, however they remain off the air until a new home for their studio is found. Downbeat claims with confidence, “We not only plan to remain on the air in defiance of the FCC order, but we intend to expand our radio transmission so we can reach more Humboldt Bay [WINDOWS-1252?]communities.” He adds, “We are an all-volunteer collective that needs financial and community support from individuals and businesses alike.” From: http://www.freakradio.org/

FCC on track to meet/beat enforcement record

From DIYMedia:

As the graph above shows, the agency's Enforcement Bureau is well on pace to meet or exceed last year's record-breaking enforcement action effort. Looking more closely at the data, one can see how FCC field agents are escalating the initial levels of the enforcement protocol much more quickly now (for example, the New York field office has cut the time between visit to warning letter down to as little as eight days).

Nevertheless, the FCC's not keeping such a good record when it comes to excersising actual muscle to shut pirate stations down: the number of Notices of Apparent Liability and actual forfeitures issued appears relatively unchanged from last year, and these actions remain but a small fraction of the Enforcement Bureau's overall enforcement effort. The number of raids/seizures conducted against pirate stations may edge up this year, but this is due to state-level enforcement efforts, most notably in Florida, where unlicensed broadcasting has been criminalized as a felony.

As far as what happens during the last three months of the year, it's anyone's guess: historically-speaking, there's a tertiary spike in enforcement actions against unlicensed radio stations in November, and it will be interesting to see whether this trend continues. Nevertheless, it's safe to say the agency's still a paper tiger, as unlicensed microbroadcast activity continues to blossom, especially in the nation's largest urban areas. However, recent developments, like the Enforcement Bureau's new online pirate complaint form and the possible installation of an anti-pirate attorney general, may change the game, but it's too early to tell by how much.

Attorney General nominee no friend of pirates

From DIYMedia:

Recently, former federal judge Michael Mukasey was nominated to be the next Attorney General of the United States. There's lots of punditry going on within the mainstream media about his past legal leanings (surprise, they're reactionary!), but Mukasey's also been involved in microradio case law to a degree not experienced by any other contemporary Attorney General. It was back in 1998, when the [Lower East Side-based] Steal This Radio collective preemptively sued the Federal Communications Commission in hopes of stopping a station raid or other major, life-threatening enforcement action.

STR's lawsuit was not the most well-thought-out piece of legal argument. It took a shotgun approach to the FCC’s licensing authority: some claims alleged the Communications Act itself was unconstitutional because it gave the FCC excessive latitude to restrict access to the airwaves via the licensing mechanism; one claim specifically attacked the practice of auctioning off commercial radio licenses for limiting "free expression" only to those who can afford it. Another posited the radio spectrum as a public forum, which necessitated the strictest scrutiny of government attempts to regulate it; under such analysis, the broadcast licensing regime was overly restrictive and therefore also unconstitutional.

Then-judge Michael Mukasey, working the Southern District of New York, first used a "jurisdictional wiggle" to avoid addressing some of STR's more substantive allegations. After doing so, he savaged their claims. Steal This Radio’s open display of lawlessness [on 88.7-FM] coupled with the scarcity rationale were enough to doom their case. However, Mukasey’s ultimate reasoning disqualified them based on the preemptive nature of their lawsuit - they had no standing to seek redress for harm not yet suffered, irrespective of whether the rights in question exist.

Now, as (possible) Attorney General, Michael Mukasey will not be adjudicating such cases any more. But he will be in a position to change the entire federal prosecutorial stance on select "crimes," such as unlicensed broadcasting, so as to give the FCC more muscle with which to pursue pirates. For example, Mukasey could write a memorandum cordially requesting all United States Attorneys to be more cooperative to the FCC's pleas for enforcing its fines and/or pursuing injunctions or other criminal-prosecution tools.

After all, Mukasey has personal experience with the issue, and a stance on crimefighting in general which borders on jack-bootery. It's just another reason why he isn't an optimal choice for the job.

New York state legislators introduce bills to criminalize microcasting, regulate RFID signals

New York state assembly legislators "A. LATIMER, GALEF, AUBERTINE" introduced a bill (A1214) sponsored by "M. of A. BOYLAND, CLARK, DelMONTE, D. GORDON, GRANNIS, McENENY, MILLMAN, PHEFFER," according to the New York State Assembly web site, that would make a person convicted of unauthorized radio transmission guilty of a class D felony, "punishable by imprisonment and a fine in the amount of not less than $10,000.00." A version passed the New York State Senate in 2006 (S.7074/A.9647-A); another has been introduced by Volker this year.

Assemblyperson Pheffer also wants to enact the "radio frequency identification right to know act" (A222) which would, "require retail mercantile establishments to disclose the use of RFID devices." Pheffer also has introduced two other RFID bills, A225B and A261. One establishes a task force on the privacy implications of radio frequency identification technology and the other requires the labeling of retail products or packages containing a radio frequency identification tag and provides for enforcement by the attorney general.

Free Radio Olympia off-air but online, for now

From DIYMedia:

It seems that the FCC's sweep of microradio is not leaving the old guard alone. Several long-running microradio stations have been visited by the FCC recently, including two individuals specifically targeted from the Free Radio Olympia collective, which sent out this missive: "Free Radio Olympia, a 6-year-old consensus-run pirate radio collective, has come under heavy harassment from the FCC. Although we have temporarily gone off the air while maintaining our internet stream, we have decided to continue broadcasting once we have found a new, willing transmitter site, despite the strong possibility of an immanent FCC raid...We especially would appreciate your being alert for any news of an actual raid, and spreading the story as rapidly and widely as possible."

Mediageek details another communiqué which details the station's long history of being a good steward the airwaves while posing a radical challenge to the FCC's licensing policies which deny the existence of stations like FRO. The station may consider separating its studio from transmitter via webcasting, which seems to at least complicate the FCC's enforcement process, if not stymie it.

Court rejects S.F. pirate radio station's appeal

From KPIX-TV San Francisco:

A small unlicensed radio station's challenge to the seizure of its equipment by federal officials in 2003 was rejected by a U.S. appeals court in San Francisco Wednesday.

San Francisco Liberation Radio was shut down when agents of the Federal Communications Commission raided its studio in a home in the city in October 2003 and seized its equipment without notice.

The unlicensed station had been operating on 100 watts of power for 11 years. Since then, the station has been broadcasting via streaming on the Internet. The group challenged the seizure, arguing that it had constitutional rights to notice and a hearing before its equipment was confiscated. Its appeal was based on the First Amendment right of free speech and the Fifth Amendment protection against unreasonable seizures.

But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said those rights didn't apply because the unlicensed broadcasting was illegal. The court said, "Neither broadcasters nor listeners have a First Amendment right to engage in or listen to unlicensed broadcasts." The court also said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that notice and hearings before a seizure are not needed if the action serves an important government interest and is carried out by government officials. The station's lawyer, Mark Vermeulen, of San Francisco, was not immediately available for comment.