University of Memphis security officers homed in on a "pirate"
radio station broadcasting from a parking garage and knocked it off the
air for the second time in three months.
Officers arrested two women and a man Wednesday on suspicion
of theft of services - using university electricity to power the unlicensed
20-watt FM station. They had not been charged as of late Thursday afternoon.
Unlicensed operators also could be subject to federal fines and imprisonment.
The station broadcast commercial-free, politically left
music and news, sometimes live, sometimes taped, and could be heard roughly
within a 3-mile radius of the campus.
"Free Radio Memphis" was shut down in September by the
Federal Communications Commission but was reborn Halloween night as "Black
Cat Radio.''
A flier circulating around campus says, "Soon after the
murder of Free Radio Memphis, the severed soul of the station coalesced
and built a new body as dark as the shadows from which it emerged. It is
pure sound, a vibration rich in the dark thoughts of the evening, with
a voice that refuses to speak in the blindingly obvious light of day.''
Created by an organization called the Constructive Interference
Collective, the station was broadcasting about four hours a night on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays.
The seven-member collective is dedicated to legalizing
microbroadcasting to "open the airwaves,'' said Kieran Crosswhite, a 34-year-old
real estate agent-cum-disc jockey who hosted a midnight blues and poetry
show on the station.
"Pirate radio, micro radio is too big to be silenced,''
said Crosswhite, who said he is not a member of the collective.
The startup station began broadcasting in May 1997 from
a house on South Ellsworth but was shut down Sept. 23 when federal marshals
and FCC officials confiscated the station's equipment.
On Wednesday, Richard Lane, chief engineer of WKNO-FM
91.1 used a directional frequency locator and pinpointed the station's
signal atop the parking garage on Deloach next to the Fogelman Executive
Center, according to a U of M arrest report.
The broadcast that day began at about 7 p.m. and was still
airing at 8:48 p.m. when campus security was alerted.
Officers found a brown 1988 Dodge Caravan parked on the
otherwise empty garage top.
Through the van's open rear hatch, officers saw the mobile
radio station: a transmitter, antenna, coaxial cable and a meter that measures
output to feedback.
The equipment was powered by lines running from the van
and plugged into one of the garage's electrical outlets.
U of M security confiscated the equipment.
About 250 unlicensed radio stations nationwide "pirate"
radio frequencies to broadcast illegally, said Marvin Bensman, U of M professor
of broadcast law.
The FCC shuts down unlicensed stations, arguing their
signals can interfere with licensed operations.
"They're being held without being charged for a crime.
They're what I would consider to be political prisoners,'' said Jonathan
Cook, 27, a U of M graduate student who as "Irregular Jonathan" hosted
a political show with commentary and international music.
Whether the station is reborn again depends.
"The first thing we've got to do," Crosswhite said, "is
get these people out of jail.''