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Radio activists no longer up a tree

• Berkeley group decides to come down from the perch in Willard Park, escaping a possible FCC equipment seizure 

BERKELEY -- Radio activists who had vowed to keep broadcasting from the branches of a redwood tree until federal marshals hauled them out were off the air Friday after deciding to come down by themselves.

 Billed as "a fight for community control of the public airwaves," Tree Radio Berkeley went on the air Nov. 24 when activists clambered 50 feet up a tree overlooking a residential park.

 The group went out on a limb to protest a court ruling shutting down another station, Free Radio Berkeley. They also were opposing the FCC ban on low-powered stations, known as "micro radio."

 Perched on wooden platforms, rotating DJs kept the 40-watt signal (powered by car batteries) going, sending out an eclectic mix that included commentary, punk rock, gospel and tapes made by death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 The outlaw broadcasters had declared in a news release that they wouldn't come down until FCC agents forced them out. Although they were visited by agents who warned them their equipment would be seized if they didn't stop, they didn't seem to spark much official action.

 Russell Bush, the group's spokesman, said he understood the activists came out of the tree Thursday night, partly to avoid causing problems for city officials, who had been tacitly waiving a nightly park curfew.

 Bush said the protest had achieved its goal.

 "We just wanted to get our message out there," he said.

 The broadcasts, which melded the quintessential Berkeley elements of free speech and civil disobedience, were made from Willard Park, known to residents as Ho Chi Minh Park, a reminder of Berkeley's past as a hotbed of anti-Vietnam War protest.

 Tree radio had drawn support from some residents, who brought hot food and "very fancy chocolates" to the broadcasters, Bush said.

 The weather had been less cooperative, chilling broadcasters with wintry rains.

 On Thursday morning, a DJ who called himself Curious George said via walkie-talkie that "the consensus is it's cold and wet." But he said it was important to take a stand for low-powered radio -- "one of the last forms of grassroots communications that has not been sold down the road."

 At the FCC's Washington office, spokesman David Fiske said he could not comment on an individual case.

 He said the FCC only turns to seizures as last resorts, so it would not be atypical if the tree broadcast had not drawn more than a visit and a warning.

 The FCC maintains that stations must be licensed to prevent chaos. They will not license stations with less than 100 watts of power, something the activists claim is a denial of their First Amendment right to free speech.

 Fiske said the 100-watt minimum set in the late 1970s was intended to expand the number of radio signals, not limit them. He said the agency is looking into exploring licensing smaller stations.

 Although a showdown with the federal government fizzled, Bush said more protests are planned, although probably not in a tree.

 "What we want to do is keep bringing public attention to it," he said.

Edition: CCT,  Section: A,  Page: 5