One Hundred New Pirate Radio Stations…

One Hundred New Pirate Radio Stations…
By Kirsten Anderberg (http://www.kirstenanderberg.com)

After broadcasting over the radio airwaves in the Santa Cruz, Ca. area for almost 10 years without a license, in defiance of federal regulations, one day this fall, the U.S. government decided to take some action. On Sept. 29, 2004, Federal Marshals, aiding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), raided Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC), seizing radio equipment to disable their broadcasts. I wondered what FRSC volunteers, and other microradio, or “pirate,” radio station volunteers, were feeling about this raid. It seems so often the government does things like this to “set an example” for others, to be a warning to others engaging in similar activity, to deter them from continuing on with defiant behavior…and sometimes that type of governmental intimidation works, and sometimes it does not. Questions linger, such as what the federal government intends to do with FRSC’s seized radio equipment. I interviewed several West Coast microradio station volunteers about their reactions to the FRSC raid for this article.

Before going further, I feel I should provide a little background. Some may be wondering what independent or “pirate radio” is. “Pirate radio” is the taking of public radio airwaves, usually coordinated by a collective of volunteers with a community agenda, without federal or corporate regulation, sponsorship, or censorship. Santa Cruz’s “pirate” radio station, FRSC, is one of many microradio stations worldwide, and it seems the pirate radio movement is only gaining support. Pirate radio broadcasts go out over frequencies and call numbers not taken by others, it is like squatting an abandoned house…but through the airwaves. Many Independent Media Centers (IMCs) have pirate radio arms to them, and more alternative media is beginning to offer their work for broadcast on pirate radio. Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, for example, was aired on FRSC’s radio station. One of the nice things about pirate radio is an ordinary person off the street can become a radio show host there, which also provides the listener with viable alternatives to that typical radio DJ voice, comatose NPR announcers or the proliferation of advertising that saturates mainstream radio so often. Raids like the one recently in Santa Cruz only help to mainstream the pirate radio idea, I would guess, by giving it more exposure, thereby making it accessible to more people. You can read more about microradio stations in ”Seizing the airwaves, a free radio handbook” at http://www.infoshop.org/texts/seizing/toc.html. And a visit to http://www.Radio4all.org will tell you more about this communications movement as well.

FRSC’s mission statement reads thusly: “We go on the air to protest corporate control of the airwaves, to bring local control and local accountability to our community media, to produce and broadcast a diversity of programs that are simply unavailable on corporate controlled stations. We do not air advertisements, we do not do pledge drives, we do not have sponsors or underwriters. We are able to remain on the air because of the commitment by our collective members and the help of our community. RECLAIMING THE AIRWAVES (one frequency at a time).” Another self-description of FRSC on their website includes, "Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC) is a 24/7 Direct Action, civil disobedience in defense of our Free Speech. Besides a wide variety of music, news and culture, you can depend on us to bring you continual updates from the grassroots revolution, which is taking back our communities, our lives, and our souls. We are keeping our airwaves safe from FCC rules, regulations, and corporate domination." Those are pretty good descriptions for most pirate radio stations out there.

A problem FRSC encountered recently, that may have precipitated the U.S. Marshals showing up, was that it was broadcasting on a signal that a Christian rock station had recently purchased…even though the community pirate radio station had used the call numbers 96.3 FM for 9 years! (This case could be likened to adverse possession (squatting) and an argument could be made in a similar defensive manner, that those who used the place now owned the place through regular and blatant hostile usage, if only the airwaves were property under such legal theories). So when the Christian station wanted to take over the previous home of the local community radio station, there was some chaos. Finally, in a good faith effort, the community-run FRSC moved to another unused frequency, 101.1 FM, in May 2004. Federal police visited FRSC just 5 days after it moved to the new spot on the radio dial, which seems odd. It makes it seem that the government had an interest in the Christian station taking the previous frequency used by FRSC. Although these federal police say they did not have complaints of interference from the Christian station, they did have a problem with the station not being licensed and threatened to return with warrants. And according to Santa Cruz community members, federal agents have been sniffing around in Santa Cruz for years over these broadcasts, using various intimidation tactics and threats that have predominantly not worked in the past.

On Sept. 29, 2004, police showed up with warrants at the base of operations for FRSC. Federal agents entered a Santa Cruz house, reportedly with guns drawn. The residents of the house the radio station was broadcasting out of were assembled and questioned, and the broadcasting equipment and antenna were removed from the house and placed in unmarked government trucks. Approximately 150 supporters showed up in solidarity to protest the raid, and when the agents went to leave, 5 of their vehicles were reported to have flat tires, and needed to be towed away. Since the raid in Sept., FRSC is accessible via webstream over the internet at http://www.FreakRadio.org, but it has not gone back on the radio airwaves.

I asked a few pirate radio personalities and volunteers what their reactions to the FRSC raids were. DJ Questionmark, from Free Radio Olympia (FRO), in Wa., said he was not surprised by the raids, nor was DJ Megawatti from FRO. DJ Megawatti said that the U.S. government raided KFAR in Knoxville, Tn. shortly before the FRSC raid, and that they have been cracking down on unlicensed broadcasters in Florida a lot in the last 2 years. She said Radio Free Cascadia was raided at gunpoint after 2 years of operations in Eugene, Or. in 2000. So, he felt these types of raids are not unheard of, and that most involved with unlicensed broadcasting understand there is some potential risk of the FCC “attacking” at any time. DJ Rubble, former San Francisco Liberation Radio (SFLR) broadcaster, and volunteer with Enemy Combatant Radio (http://www.enemycombatantradio.net), the audio group for the SF Bay Independent Media Center, said the raid on FRSC was no shock, as well.

Yet DJ Questionmark remarks that the FRSC raid “is still a serious matter. As anytime you have SWAT teams raid your environment, it is unsettling.” He said the use of SWAT teams on independent radio stations makes it feel like there is an information war, and that unlicensed radio is on the frontlines of that war, defending against the suppression of information. He was not more nervous after the FRSC raid, saying, “If we were nervous, we wouldn’t be doing this.” He said FRO is looking at, and learning from, Santa Cruz. “I think that if Santa Cruz goes back on air that we can do so too, if that happened to us.” Members of the FRSC collective also said this would not deter their involvement in indy radio. One FRSC volunteer, Eve, said, “No. I’m in it for the long haul until we can get equal assess to the airwaves.” And Robert Norse, another FRSC volunteer, replied that the raid would not deter his participation in indy radio either, adding, “though it gores me to say "this is FRSC on the web" instead of saying "this is FRSC broadcasting live."

When I asked several members of FRSC why they think the government chose to shut down their radio station, I got several answers. Lailo, another FRSC collective member, said she was not sure if it was related to elections, or if perhaps the government is just adverse to co-ops and independent, as in uncontrolled by government, news sources. One FRSC volunteer said the previous FCC warnings were foreshocks for the raid. DJ Questionmark from FRO said he thought they chose to raid FRSC most probably because of the lack of corporate control of the independent broadcasts, to keep unlicensed broadcasters “on their toes” and so the federal agents could report to their bosses that they did something. He added, “I think Freak Radio Santa Cruz will be back on the air in no time. I don’t see them settling for internet streams.”

DJ Megawatti from FRO responded that she thought perhaps FRSC was targeted because it had been on the air longer than most other microradio stations in the movement. She said the back to back busts of KFAR and FRSC were perhaps the FCC showing a “decreased tolerance for microbroadcasters.” DJ Rubble from San Francisco said that most stations go through governmental intimidation at one time or another, so he did not interpret the FRSC raid as a personalized one. He said “The FCC has been shutting down similar amounts of stations nationally each year for past few years.” Robert said other California indy radio stations have been hassled by authorities, including stations in Big Sur, Monterey, Watsonville, San Francisco, Berkeley and Venice.

Free Radio Olympia, in Wa., was served with a “Notice of Apparent Liability” in the summer of 2002, which was delivered personally to the place of broadcast by an FCC field agent. They also moved to a new frequency recently, 101.9 FM, and have a press release explaining that move on their website at http://www.frolympia.org. DJ Megawatti said that Eugene’s Radio Free Cascadia (RFC) was raided in 2000, with FCC agents and U.S. Marshals taking everything, including the music. They had no prior warning given, according to DJ Megawatti, but the government agents say a warning mailed many years prior to an old address was valid as the frequency and station identification remained the same. She also said that documents from that FCC action revealed evidence that the government had been spying on RFC for quite some time. DJ Rubble said that San Francisco Liberation Radio was raided and shut down recently, after 10 years on the air, as well. He said that Berkeley Liberation Radio was raided and shut down in approximately 2002, also. Some say that the FRSC raid was just more of the same old story. DJ Megawatti felt that the FRSC raid would help catalyze the microradio movement “to come together in increased solidarity and cooperation.” She added, “I
anticipate technical advances in cheap d.i.y. methods for linking a studio to an off-site transmitter.”

I asked FRSC folks how they felt after this raid. Eve said if an antenna was placed up at the studio right now, she would be nervous, and unsure whether they would go to jail. She was unsure where she stood, as she wanted to broadcast legally perhaps one day and was not sure how this would all affect her later, if they went back to on air broadcasts, as opposed to the “legal” webstream which is currently in place. Eve also commented that she felt this raid would “strengthen the movement.” Robert said “We are now "legal,” that is, we stream on the net rather than broadcast live.” Supposedly some pirate radio stations are broadcasting the FRSC webstream programs on the air in solidarity anyway, which is not the fault of FRSC. But there is still speculation over whether the FCC intend to come back or not. And there is an uneasiness in the air with such uncertainty. Yet, as pointed out earlier, such is the anxiety that pirate radio can bestow upon its participants when actually being effective. Robert added, “…if I worried about it too much, I'd stop what I was doing. That would be worse.”

DJ Megawatti from FRO said, “I am not nervous. Like I said, FCC harassment is expected. We have not changed our mode of operation. Perhaps the raid on FRSC has made the threat of a raid on FRO more real for some of the folks who haven’t been
doing this for long, which is good because people need to take the threat seriously. The community may be more nervous, and people more reluctant to host our facilities when we need to move them, but that won’t keep us off the air. Broadcasting without a license has always put us at risk for losing computers and any other components connected to a transmitter. To date almost no one has been jailed for unlicensed broadcasting, with rare
exceptions like Rayon Sherwin “Junior” Payne in Florida, but of course in the current political climate of degraded civil liberties, historical precedents don’t mean a lot. If the feds want to jail someone for having a link on their website, like (Sherman) Austin, I don’t think having an unlicensed transmitter in the house will make much of a difference. They will come for you either way. It would be foolish to keep certain content on a computer hard drive that is at risk of being seized, but that has always been the case.” Robert said he felt that the FRSC raid would probably both scare people away from microradio and also create a stronger solidarity for it. He felt in Santa Cruz, the raid would most likely end up in creating more support for the station. “The outgoing Mayor came on FRSC last week, for instance,” he said.

I asked some of these activists why independent radio is important. DJ Megawatti replied, “Communities need to have an outlet for information that is accessible, and which is unregulated by the government. I feel very strongly about this. Microradio provides a means for the people of a community to talk to each other, and to express themselves creatively as well. To quote FRO's mission statement, "In order for radio to be used effectively as a tool by the community, we feel that community participation is necessary. Free micro-radio offers the community a means for outreach to communicate, organize, and unify." Eve from FRSC said, “Freedom of speech, equal assess to the airwaves and diverse voices” made indy radio important. Ann commented that the virtue of FRSC was in giving “access to voices that aren't heard elsewhere - even on licensed public radio.” Robert said the reason we needed indy radio was for “Wonderful in-depth programs and interviews made regularly accessible. Unprecedented local community access. Strong community support.” Lailo said, “Indy radio gets the voice of the community out. The suppressed and oppressed voices. The real news, not some fake, irrelevant shit about some celebrities we don’t have anything to do with. It is important to know what’s going on in your community so that you are aware and can protect yourself, and also so that you can relate it to what’s going on outside, say, in Iraq and therefore can connect the dots as to why this fucked up shit in the world is happening.”

“Why is indy radio seen as so dangerous by our government?”, I asked these radio volunteers. DJ Rubble said, “My take is the primary reason is to run interference for the corporate broadcasters, and this is highly documented in their relationships to National Association of Broadcasters lobby and deregulation, insiders say the biggest fear is advertising can be stolen from others, they basically do everything in their power to limit competition within that, microbroadcasters are often very critical of institutions of power in all regards, esp. last couple of years w/ anti-war broadcasting as one example; there is also oligopoly power in music, 10 radio companies own 70% of stations (2 almost half) and get 80-100% of music played from 5 major record labels, according to a study in 2003; so its against progressive/radical politics and alternative culture.” Eve said “It is banned because of mind control, the media owns the people’s minds and opinions. If they lose control of the media, they lose control of the people.” Robert commented, “Hard to fathom the minds of the FCCers who make the decisions. It could be a bureaucratic control thing; it could be a political content-based decision; it could be because of sub rosa complaints from other media in the area (though most media like us and showed unusual solidarity when we were busted, even KSCO which had me "banned" for mentioning the forbidden words "Free Radio Santa Cruz" on the air doing an interview).

DJ Megawatti echoed these concerns, adding, “Regardless of what the legal record claims, I think the ultimate reason for making unlicensed broadcasting illegal is the federal government’s desire for overarching control of all things. Radio, especially, is an interesting case, because ultimately the radio spectrum is a resource, and like all resources, access to it must be controlled to ensure that the federal government can commandeer it when necessary for “national security” or military superiority. There is always the reason given that lack of regulation would result in “chaos on the radio waves” rendering them unusable, but I believe that radio operators would find a way to work through that, as we all just want to have a voice. If anything, deregulation of radio broadcasting in a capitalist environment would most likely result in ClearChannel and like operations monopolizing all the available spectrum with huge signals. There is also the fear that unregulated broadcasts may interfere with aircraft and emergency radio traffic, but in the micropower movement there is a strong ethical current that pressures unlicensed broadcasters to be responsible, and to ensure the technical integrity of their transmitters. Indy microradio doesn’t hurt anyone at all. Fans of Tom Leykis and mainstream top-40 music will still tune in to the commercial stations. Any responsible broadcaster, licensed or not, will take measures to prevent interference to other stations or radio users, and I’m sure that giant megawatt stations are more likely to accidentally fall out of compliance in this respect than a tiny little 100 watt or less transmitter, simply because of the difference of power levels involved.”

I asked some of those involved in pirate radio what the fun parts of this activity were, since we have focused so much on the risky and hard parts. Eve said, “It is totally fun! To have guests, run the boards, get my voice out, produce shows by kids and have callers. It is way fun to have a radio show and to play cool music!” Lailo said, “We do a show about local people being brutalized by the state. I love educating people and ranting about why I hate the state. This way, I get more credibility and more of an audience. I love getting calls and knowing that people are actually listening and actually give a fuck.” Robert Norse said the part he liked about pirate radio was “Getting my voice and that of others out. The prestige of doing a radio show. The opportunity to raise a dialogue on issues that interest me.” DJ Megawatti said, “As a technician, I find some of the hardest aspects to be the funnest as well. The first time I jacked a cell phone into the mixer using a hacked hands-free set, and put a correspondent on the air with a live report from a Mayday rally...patching in correspondents on a two-way radio net...these technical challenges and achievements give me great satisfaction. Even harder than the technical aspects are surmounting social obstacles - finding people willing to host transmitters in their homes, for instance, or picking our way through the thistle-field that non-hierarchical consensus process with fifty people can become.” DJ Rubble said, the “fun is that you can do what you want how you want, hard is lack of resources and having to be guarded.”

After this raid, I asked FRSC if they had any tips for other indy radio stations out there. Eve replied, “Do more! Get as many diverse programmers as possible, have local leaders on, promote the station.” Robert said, “Fund-raise, broaden your base of support, prepare to return to the air (directly or indirectly), seek support from local authorities (but don't be dependent on them).” When I asked what type of help FRSC needs, Robert replied, “Equipment, money, legal advice. Most important: open up one, two, a hundred pirate radio stations. They can't crush us all.” You can visit FRSC at http://freakradio.org. You can find a list of local microstations in your area at http://www.infoshop.org/stations.html. And you can also visit Stephen Dunifer’s “Micropower Broadcasting Technical Manual” at http://www.radio4all.org/how-to.html which outlines how to start your own microradio station.