When Major Steve Anderson of the Kentucky State Militia fired up a shortwave transmitter and gave birth to Kentucky State Militia Radio (KSMR) this month, it’s not clear whether or not he knew he was making history.
The amateur and shortwave radio bands are heavily populated by militia and other “patriot” broadcasters who criticize the federal government for regularly overstepping its Constitutional bounds. In many cases, these broadcasters advocate isolation from anything federal in nature.
Anderson falls into this category: last year he turned in his amateur radio license to the FCC as a symbolic gesture of detachment from the reins of federal authority. Continue reading “KSMR Makes History”
Month: March 2001
2001 "Pirate Hunt" Begins
The U.S. microradio movement is all abuzz over the recent raid on Radio Free Cascadia – the 90-watt unlicensed station broadcast for three years in Eugene, Oregon, and some members of the station conducted a broadcast in Seattle during the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization.
On Thursday, March 15, FCC agents backed by 11 federal and local law enforcement officers paid an early-morning visit to RFC. Guns were drawn, a battering ram was employed, and when it was over the agents had confiscated the station’s broadcast equipment and left Eugene with one less voice on the radio dial.
The RFC collective was quick to respond: “This was an obvious attack on free speech and autonomy,” said a statement posted to the station’s web site. “We will be back on the air!” Continue reading “2001 "Pirate Hunt" Begins”
Party Pirate Attacked Again; Former Pirate to get Second Station
The FCC appears to be experiencing a moment of schizophrenia.
On the regulation and enforcement fronts, the hands of the FCC are working in very different directions.
Yesterday, a new volley was fired in the ongoing battle between the radio police and Doug Brewer, operator of Tampa, Florida’s “Party Pirate” 102.1 FM.
There’s a long history to this skirmish, which has flared up twice before since Brewer put the Party Pirate on the air more than six years ago. Continue reading “Party Pirate Attacked Again; Former Pirate to get Second Station”
LPFM: Back from the Dead?
Those still hoping for a meaningful low power radio service in the United States received a boost in morale last week when Arizona Senator John McCain introduced the “Low Power Radio Act of 2001.”
The bill, officially named S. 404, would repeal the restrictions placed on the FCC’s new LPFM service by Congress late last year. It would also require the FCC to quickly investigate complaints of interference between new LPFM and full-power stations.
McCain’s legislation also contains a provision designed to keep full-power stations from bullying the new “little guys” around: under his plan, if a complaint is found to be unwarranted, the station who brought the action could be subject to a stiff fine – and the money would be given to the LPFM station targeted by the complaint. Continue reading “LPFM: Back from the Dead?”