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What you need to know about radio...
We think the power of "Radio" is safer in the hands of every man. We are out to prove it.
Given the choice of Corporate Radio or Nothing, we the Pirates of 95.3 FM in Boulder CO have made our own radio station. We are the alternative for alternative sake. The Broadcast spectrum belongs to the public and just like everything else it's "use it or lose it." So we are trying to get it back.
Want to Help... get involved. Send this letter to the FCC
Write letters to the FCC and your Congressional representatives--many of whom are among the biggest lap dogs for corporate control of our public resources, and the biggest obstacles for legalizing microradio. Demand legalization and prioritizing of non-commercial, low power, community-based FM radio. Take the easy route! Use the sample letter below found in the book called Microradio and Democracy, (low) Power to the People by G
reg Ruggiero...its super good... and we think its a great idea to start flowing these in to washington DC..., or if you've for a bit more time, draft one of your own!
Federal Communications Commission
Attn: NPRM # FCC 99-6
445 12 Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554
(202) 418-0260
Email: wkennard@fcc.gov
sness@fcc.gov
hfurchtg@fcc.gov
mpowell@fcc.gov
gtristan@fcc.gov
fccinfo@fcc.gov
Re: NPRM # FCC 99-6, MM Docket # 99-25 & #95-25:
I urge you to adopt rules for licensing Low Power FM radio that prioritize the needs of under-served and under-financed communities. Your office has the power and the mandate to ensure that ordinary people can claim a piece of the pie that big corporations have dominated and controlled for years. I am confident you agree that broad citizen access to information and culture is at the heart of a democratic society.
To support this vision, I urge you to legalize microradio with the following concerns in mind:
1. This should be a completely non-commercial service. The current radio spectrum is dominated by commercial media. LPFM licenses should go to non-commercial communtiy groups who want to use radio to communicate to the constituents and their neighbors, not to make a profit. It should always be free of the muting influence that pleasing advertisers Ialways carriers with it.
2. Microradio licenses should be held locally, be non-transferable, affordable to all communities, easy to apply for and limited to one per license holder; they should NOT be businesses.
3. Power levels should be up to 100 watts in urban areas and up to 250 watts in rural areas.
4. No secondary status should be allowed, that is, microstations should not be subjected to loosign the frequencies just because someone wants to set up a more powerful station in the neighborhood.
5. Microbroadcast pioneers, who created this moment by couragously committing civil disobedience, in the tradition of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, and for their pains have suffered government seizure and fines should recieve amnesty, have their property returned, and be prioritized for new licenses.
6. Problems, technical or otherwise, should be referred to local voluntary micopower organization for assistance or mediation (as is done in the ham radio world). The FCC should be the forum of last resort.
7. LPFM must be included in the future of digital radio.
Thank you for your time and your consideration of these vital issues.
Sincerely,
Or you could
Write to advocacy groups like The Media Access Project and ask them to reconsider their support for pro-business, commercial legalization of microradio. Remind them that the airwaves are already dominated by commercial interests and that the last remaining slivers of available spectrum would best serve the public interest if we consider them the way we consider public libraries, schools, or parks: OFF LIMITS to commercialism. Media Access Project: 1707 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 (202) 232-4300
Contact the Microradio Empowerment Coalition whose purpose is to win non-commercial legalizaion of microradio. Among the Coalition's members are National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communication, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Media Alliance, Media Education Foundation, Libraries for the Future, Project Censored, Paper Tiger Television, New York Free Media Alliance,a nd many others. Principles and documents can be found at many websites including: http://www.nlgcdc.org
Or you could start your own station...
DIY FM Radio Station Set up guide.
(We didn't write this but we think it's good advice)
The FCC has made it pretty much impossible for the average person (or even a group of people) to start and run a community focused radio station that reflects the local listeners interests. Thanks to the National Association of Broadcasters, a few well paid senators and big radio corporations like Clear Channel, there just isn't room on the dial (or so they'd like you to believe).
The reality is Low Power FM could easily fit into the existing spectrum available on the FM dial. The folks above have made sure you can't do this though. They've created rules based on false information that make it impossible to get a license.
Hell with that. Set up your own pirate radio station and go on the air. It's easier than you might think.
What you need:
A Studio Transmitter Link Setup (this is placed in someone's back yard with the antenna mounted in a tree or on the roof).
Gear: Total cost for new equipment: $5000 (max).
-And FM transmitter. Best ones cost about $3000 and are from Broadcast Warehouse out of England. The TX100 is a perfect box.
-A Comet 5/8ths wave antenna. They're easy to tune to your the frequency you want on the dial.
-100 feet of 50ohm cable. Get it when you buy the antenna.
-A cheap laptop. An old one with a wimpy processor works fine. Intalled RealVNC software on it (allows you to control the computer remotely).
-An outdoor plastic case (to put all this gear into). Get it at Home Depot for $50.
-A small mixer (Behringer makes a great one for $50).
-And internet connection.
All of this gear is plugged together into a working FM radio station. Once in place you put a big piece of duct tape over it that says "Ham Radio Repeater".
Your Studio:
-Another computer with a library of music and an internet connection
-Another Behringer mixer.
-A decent microphone. You can get one at Best Buy for $30.
-An account on Live365.
What you're going to do is set up a studio that feeds an internet stream of your show to Live365. You're then going to log into that stream from the cheap laptop sitting in the box, which is plugged into the transmitter which is plugged into the antenna. You get power from the house and you get internet from either a cable running from the houses internet or, better, from a wifi connection between the house and your cheap laptop.
By separating the Pirate DJ from the transmitter, and giving the house where you've got the transmitter plausible deniability, you can play a cat and mouse game with the FCC for years.
When (not if) the FCC shows up, your remote transmitter setup is going to be inspected by the field agents. The person hosting that site simply says: "I thought it was some ham radio thing. I met a guy at a party that asked if they could put it in our back yard because we had a good location and they'd pay our internet bill for us. We had no idea it was an FM transmitter". The FCC may buy it, they may not, either way they have to do the same thing: Ask your host to turn it off (which they do immediately) and then if they can have the setup (the answer is: "No, it's not mine"). The FCC will have what they want: It's off. So they leave. They may leave a Notice of Apparent Liability. This is a letter that says 'show us your license to run this or turn it off in 10 days'. No license, but it's off. They win. They leave.
Your host then calls you. You come 4 or 5 hours later (giving the FCC time to clear out of the area) and you set it up at your next host location (which you've hopefully already set up). Downtime is usually 24 hours or less. Your hosts are (usually) also your DJ's. Or, they're friends and fans of the station.
Some basic rules:
Never use real names. Everyone has a handle. Everyone uses it. No one knows each others real names. This is easier than you think and fun at parties (yell across the room "hey Beerguy.. I saw JuiceBag yesterday" can be very enteraining to the other guests).
Keep your studio and transmitter separate.
No one under 18, no drugs and no guns in the studio. Ever.
This setup was used to run KBFR (Boulder Free Radio) for 5 years. from 2000 to 2005