FCC fails to capture clandestine broadcasters
Tue, 4 Aug 1998

For Immediate Release: 
from frbspd@crl.com

FCC Raid on Community Radio Broadcasters Unsuccessful

Microradio activists in the Berkeley hills were chased by FCC and Law
Enforcement agents on Sunday, August 2. The low-power broadcasters,
identifying themselves as Covert Broadcasting Services, were
delivering a free speech statement from 8 PM until 11 PM on 104.1 FM,
a vacant radio frequency. The agents converged on the "covert" radio
outpost using high-tech direction-finding equipment. But when the
agents attempted to arrest the wily radio activists, a three-hour
manhunt ensued featuring high-speed off-road pursuit, floodlights, and
a ground search team scouring the dense shrubbery. The chase was
unsuccessful and the agents returned empty-handed. The FCC regional
office in San Francisco declined to comment on the botched operation,
stating only that as a matter of policy they refuse to discuss
micropower radio. The FCC has taken an increasingly miltaristic
approach toward microradio stations, which has resulted in "no-knock"
commando-style raids on residences, arrests, confiscation of
equipment, and heavy fines. According to Lena Lopez, a spokesperson
for Covert Broadcasting Services (CBS), "No amount of law-enforcement
crackdown will obscure the central issue: our right to free speech on
our public airwaves." Another source close to the covert broadcasters
stated "this is the latest occurrence in a long series of futile,
high-budget attempts to criminalize the rapidly growing free speech
microradio movement."

The microradio movement seeks to re-establish low power community
radio stations to contrast the completely corporate-owned radio
spectrum. Micropower stations attempt to provide services for the
local community, unfettered by advertiser's whims and corporate
ownership. For example, CBS provides the Bay Area with news not heard
on any other station, announcements of community events, commentary on
public events and media, non-commercial and local musics, historical
segments, and novelties such as radio plays and humorous segments. A
CBS formal statement read, "Not only is the microradio movement
outraged by this excessive use of force to suppress our constitutional
rights, but the members have vowed to confront the FCC directly by
non-violent civil disobedience in the very near future"