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Hacking the airwaves:
Outlaw broadcasters fight for America's right to rant
by Brock Meeks

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 -  The stench of scandal hangs heavy in the air around
Capitol Hill. Sex drips from nearly every conversation like the persistent
drizzle of rain overhead. Halfway across town somebody flips a switch, a
transmitter hums and the air crackles with revolution. A band of 50
"pirate radio" operators openly commit a defiant act: broadcasting without
a license. It's civil disobedience at 97.5 FM. God, I love the smell of
freedom in the morning.

CALL THEM WHAT you will, "outlaw broadcasters," "radio rebels"
"microbroadcasters" or "frequency freedom fighters." The government calls
them criminals. These low-tech rebels are the vanguard of a movement aimed
at wresting control of airwaves from media conglomerates and returning
them to their rightful owners: the American public.

Fact is, microbroadcasters operate illegally - that is, without a license
from the Federal Communications Commission.

However, those operating pirate radio stations claim they have a First
Amendment right to the public airwaves and don't need a license.

The FCC, it seems, isn't interested in such trivial free speech arguments.
In fact, in the few cases in which pirate radio stations have fought back
in the courts, claiming abridgment of their First Amendment rights, the
FCC refuses to debate the point. Instead, the Commission points to
antiquated law, dating back to 1934 refusing to even argue the merits of
First Amendment claims in court.

So microbroadcasters came to Washington Monday to protest the heavy-handed
tactics of the FCC that have shut down some 318 pirate radio stations in
the last 13 months. The radio rebels also came to lobby Congress asking
for help in getting the FCC air police off their collective backs.

Pirate radio stations are an eclectic mix of radical, conservative and,
for the most part, selfless individuals who are filling a niche in
countless communities throughout the United States. These communities can
be as big as San Marcos, Texas, (population of 50,000) or as small as a
few square blocks of New York City's Lower East Side. The programming is
diverse, edgy, educational or just plain fun.

Steal This Radio was a dinky 20 watt station that for two years served the
Lower East Side of New York until the FCC raided the place and took it off
the air. It broadcast block parties on Fridays and even had its own
medical call-in show hosted by a real doctor.

In San Marcos, pirate radio station KIND operates with the blessing of the
mayor. KIND is the only station in the area providing local programming.
The majority of its airwaves are filled with noise streaming in from
Austin. Its outlaw status hasn't deterred the Washington politicos from
appearing on its morning call-in show. And although it has had some
run-ins with the authorities, San Marcos Mayor Billy Moore is on record
supporting the station: "It seems like less of a pirate renegade station
now, and more like a National Public Radio, public service-type thing."

AMERICAN RANT

Until 1980, students and nonprofit organizations could get a "Class D"
license that allowed them to operate a station of 10 watts or less. But
that changed when commercial interests and the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting were successful in having Congress repeal those licenses,
claiming too many "unprofessional" radio stations were cluttering the
airwaves.

Microbroadcasters say their programming fills a niche abandoned by the
"blandification" of corporate owned stations, according to Jessie [sic]
Walker, an associate editor for Reason magazine who has written
extensively about the subject. Local flavor and local interests are now
muted as more and more programming is being pumped into small towns from
large metropolitan areas.

Since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which erased the
caps on how many media outlets a single company could own, about 4,000 of
the nation's 12,245 radio stations have been sold. Total worth of those
deals: $32 billion. The top 10 owners have doubled their holdings; the
number of independently owned stations has been cut in half, and the
percentage of stations owned by minorities dropped from 3.1 percent to 2.8
percent..

IT'S OUR DEMOCRACY, TOO

A "free" radio license costs about $250,000, after all the lawyers are
hired, the engineering tests done and paperwork filed. Not exactly the
most democratic entry level fee.

The system is badly broken. The airwaves now belong to the billionaires
and media giants.

Yet with about $600 and a little soldering work, you can start cranking
out your own home grown radio station. That's even more democratic than
the Internet, where you have to have a computer from which to exercise
your free speech rights.

"These folks are the broadcast equivalent of the old anonymous
pamphleteers or alternative newspapers," says Paul McMasters, First
Amendment ombudsman for the Freedom Forum. McMasters says
microbroadcasters aren't more democratic than those using the Net, but
that they are "more democratic right now, in the sense that they can reach
the people that can't read and the people that don't have access to the
Internet."

McMasters gets agitated when he talks of the FCC's apparent lack of regard
for the First Amendment in the moves it has made to squash pirate radio
stations. No court case has ever tested whether the FCC actually has a
right to shut down these stations, McMasters said. "And I think that is
scary in light of the fact that the government is slapping these people
around with great frequency and force," he said.

TAKING A STAND

The good news in all this is that pirate radio is merely [I think he means
"merrily"] thriving, not dying in the face of egregious FCC actions. And
don't hand me "well, they are operating illegally" line. Those marching in
Memphis during the civil rights protests of the 1960s were acting
"illegally" too. Just because something's "in the law" doesn't make it
right.

Sometimes a little civil disobedience on the FM dial may be just what's
needed to bring the issue to the surface and spark some change.

The FCC also says that pirate radio is dangerous because it interferes
with air traffic control frequencies. But the records show only a small
number of such infractions and in fact, the overwhelming number of
problems come from officially licensed stations.

There is change in the wind. The FCC is considering several proposals that
would license low-power broadcasters. FCC Chairman William Kennard favors
a proposal to create special one-watt licenses which would cover up to a
mile in rural areas and a few blocks in the cities. That's a good
intention, but it's not good enough. Other proposals would license
stations at much more reasonable ranges, such as 50 or 100 watts.

"Let 10,000 antennas bloom," is the battle cry of these frequency freedom
fighters. Long may those transmitters hum and air crackle freedom. This
merry band of pirates isn't going away any time soon. And in fact, may be
coming to a neighborhood near you real soon now. Stay tuned.

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