Another petition drive has been launched by the station – this time in support of an effort to place the question of its legitimacy in front of the community itself.
The proposed referendum question reads:
Shall the voters of Brattleboro give to radio free brattleboro (rfb) authority to broadcast until such a time that a Low-Power FM license is issued to radio free brattleboro or to another non-profit, locally-based, community group which is prepared to offer to the Town of Brattleboro diverse, all-access, non-commercial, community radio? Continue reading “Radio Free Brattleboro Seeks Community License Referendum”
Month: December 2003
The Paragraphs Lift Bush For Lyrics
Last night I made a rare excursion out to see some live music on recommendation from a friend. Headlining the night were The Paragraphs, a combo band/art project out of Milwaukee that sets music to “found text.” They’ve released albums with lyrics solely culled from Field & Stream magazine and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Major Francis Yeats-Brown’s 1930 chronicle of his life and times in India and the Middle East.
Their latest – and most popular – project is “The Case for War,” which involves music with lyrics completely culled from George W. Bush speeches on the Wars on Terror and Iraq. Key to this effort is the band’s stage presence behind a large map of Iraq, presidential podium, and costumes including the standard suits and incredibly life-like masks (Bush sings, Cheney does lead guitar, Rumsfeld’s on drums, and Colin Powell handles keyboard duties; incidentally, Bush is also played by a woman, which you can’t tell from the audience’s perspective). Continue reading “The Paragraphs Lift Bush For Lyrics”
Radio Non Grata Makes Nice Try
Banned from speaking at the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society last week in Geneva, Reporters Without Borders attempted to stay involved in the debate via pirate radio: it launched “Radio Non Grata” at 95.8 FM last Tuesday and planned to spend the time airing interviews with WSIS critics. People had even gone to Geneva and handed out portable radios with flyers to advertise the broadcasts.
Radio Non Grata lasted less than a day before French police showed up and busted the operation (the station was located just over the French/Swiss border in Ferney-Voltaire). The station’s operators were given the choice of going off the air voluntarily or having all of their equipment seized; they chose the former.
Corporate Pirate Two-Way @ JFK Fined $5,000
This actually went down a month ago, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Gateway Security Systems, Inc. provides security to Terminal #4 at New York’s JFK International Airport. Its contract with the airport began on August, 2001, and it inherited a two-way radio system from the Port Authority. In May, 2002, someone contacted the FCC to report unlicensed two-way radio broadcasts at JFK; two frequencies were in use, and they were being used by Gateway Security Systems employees.
After investigating the FCC hit Gateway with a $10,000 fine for unlicensed broadcasting this past August. Gateway pleaded ignorance of the law: less than a month after it took over security operations at Terminal #4, terrorists hit, and it simply never got around to applying for a license for its radios. Continue reading “Corporate Pirate Two-Way @ JFK Fined $5,000”
December Amendment One: A Push for LPAM
As part of the FCC’s current study of localism, an effort’s afoot to lobby the agency to leaglize a form of low power AM radio service. Not only would LPAM be a good supplement to LPFM in general, but it might allow for placement of new community radio stations where congestion on the dial precluds new LPFMs.
Included in this month’s A1 is a supplement that summarizes the process for filing comments with the FCC’s Localism Task Force, and contains a list of recommended issues to emphasize.