From Jeffrey Yorke in Radio & Records:

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau on Friday (Jan. 18) said it had slapped a pair of pirate broadcasters with stiff fines for “willfully” operating transmitters without licenses. The commission said Nicolas Paula was operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on 94.5 MHz in Bronx, N.Y., and failed to permit a station inspection. He was hit with a $17,000 fine. In Danbury, Conn., Eliandro B. Ramos did not deny to the FCC’s Boston office of the Enforcement Bureau that he had no license to operate on 296.550 MHz, but he said he could not pay the $10,000 fine levied by the commission. However, the FCC didn’t buy the story and is leaning on him for full payment.

From BBC:

Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a decent night's sleep, research suggests. The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headaches and confusion. It may also cut our amount of deep sleep - interfering with the body's ability to refresh itself. The study was carried out by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US.

This research suggests that if you need to make a make a phone call in the evening it is much better to use a land line. Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45. Some were exposed to radiation equivalent to that received when using a mobile phone, others were placed in the same conditions, but given only "sham" exposure.

Those exposed to radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one. The scientists concluded: "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected."

Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said: "The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system." Another theory is that radiation may disrupt production of the hormone melatonin, which controls the body's internal rhythms. Read entire story here.

Kristin Lucas' radio play "The Dispatcher: Carrying Green" airs as free103point9's contribution to the Radia network, 2 p.m. Th. Jan. 17 (-5 GMT). "The Dispatcher: Carrying Green is a political satire and comedy set in the near future. New York City is nicknamed The Big Orange after decades of relentless government-issued orange alert status. The play chronicles the day-to-day engagements of a radio dispatcher for hire (private contractor of the airwaves). Among dispatch clientele are a neighborhood vigilante patrol of canine-identified humans formed out of a therapeutic support group. They call themselves the Sniff Squad.

Commissioned by 6th Werkleitz Biennale September 1 - 5, 2004 in Halle (Salle), Germany for this year's festival theme Common Property. Written and directed by Kristin Lucas. Sound recording by Tom Roe at free103point9 studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Animals of the Bible of San Antonio and Zom Zoms of Austin provided the music. "The Dispatcher: Carrying Green" is a political satire and comedy set in the near future. New York City is nicknamed The Big Orange after decades of relentless government-issued orange alert status. The play chronicles the day-to-day engagements of a radio dispatcher for hire (private contractor of the airwaves). Among dispatch clientele are a neighborhood vigilante patrol of canine-identified humans formed out of a therapeutic support group. They call themselves the Sniff Squad. Commissioned by 6th Werkleitz Biennale taking place September 1 - 5, 2004 in Halle (Salle), Germany for this year's festival theme Common Property. Written and directed by Kristin Lucas. Sound recording by Tom Roe at free103point9 studio in Brooklyn, New York. Animals of the Bible of San Antonio and Zom Zoms of Austin provided the music. Cast includes Theodore Bouloukos, Edward Campbell, Lori Fine, Erzen Krupka, Kelly McNeill, Jens Rasmussen, Wendy Levy, and Celestina Wolcolo. Kristin Lucas received her BFA from Cooper Union in New York in 1994. She has been screening and exhibiting work in the US and abroad since 1996. Her sci-fi distopias and conspiracy theories balance seriousness with humor, and have resulted in video, internet, sculpture, performance, text, and installation works. Lucas's works are represented by Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) and Postmasters Gallery in New York. Lucas taught performance and video art at University of Texas in Austin in Spring '04. She currently resides in the Bay Area where she is pursuing a Masters degree at Stanford University. Cast includes Theodore Bouloukos, Edward Campbell, Lori Fine, Erzen Krupka, Kelly McNeill, Jens Rasmussen, Wendy Levy, and Celestina Wolcolo.

Kristin Lucas received her BFA from Cooper Union in New York in 1994. She has been screening and exhibiting work in the US and abroad since 1996. Her sci-fi distopias and conspiracy theories balance seriousness with humor, and have resulted in video, internet, sculpture, performance, text, and installation works. Lucas's works are represented by Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) and Postmasters Gallery in New York. Lucas taught performance and video art at University of Texas in Austin in Spring '04. She currently resides in the Bay Area where she is pursuing a Masters degree at Stanford University.

Radia is a network of independent radio stations, including free103point9, who have a common interest in promoting and producing artworks for the radio, and in forming related projects based on broadcasting and cultural exchange. Radia members produce a weekly radio show that is broadcast by each of the member radio stations. The shows represent the local artistic community of each station, whilst at the same time these new works point to an emergent collective notion of self-determined art for radio.

Other stations in Radia network besides free103point9 include Radio Campus (Belgium), Radio Grenouille (France), Kanal 103 (Macedonia), Lemurie TAZ (Czech Republic), Orange 94.0 (Austria), Resonance 104.4-FM (UK), Tilos Radio (Hungary), Radio Zero (Portugal), Radio Panik (Belgium), bootlab (Germany), SounDart Radio (UK), InterSpace (Belgium), and Orf Kunstradio (Austria). http://www.radia.fm/.
http://www169.pair.com/klucas/radioplay/

Giant Ear))) is a webcast produced by the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology. It can be heard from 7-9 p.m. ET every Sunday at www.free103point9.org. Shows feature a wide range of field recordings, interviews and compositions based on field recordings. One of the February shows themes is "Urban Rhythms." Please submit your field recordings (or compositions based on field recordings) of naturally occuring rhythms in your city's soundscape (long or short) via an upload service to jonnysounds@gmail.com or mail to:
Jonny Farrow, Giant Ear)))
C/O Production Resources, Inc.
50 West 17th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Deadline is Friday, February 8.

Off The Grid
03.30 - 06.01.08
Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY.

Off The Grid will feature works that subvert and circumvent conventional infrastructures and are interested in alternatives to corporate and commercial applications and proprietary refinement of communication technologies. Installations will be on view inside the Neuberger Museum of Art and across the SUNY Purchase College campus and include works by Matt Bua; Brett Bloom; Benjamin Cohen, Dylan J. Gauthier, and Stephan Stanford; ecoarttech; eteam; Max Goldfarb; Tovey Halek and Madalyn Warren; Louis Hock; Nina Katchadourian; Kristin Lucas; Joe McKay; Trevor Paglen; Seth Weiner; and Bart Woodstrup.

Co-presented by the Neuberger Museum of Art and free103point9. Curated by Jacqueline Shilkoff (Neuberger Museum) and Galen Joseph-Hunter, Tianna Kennedy, Tom Roe (free103point9).

From Cory Doctorow in Boing Boing via Navy Times:

The threatening message received by a US Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a notorious radio troll known to seasoned skippers as the "Filipino Monkey."

Indeed, the voice in the audio sounds different from the one belonging to an Iranian officer shown speaking to the cruiser Port Royal over a radio from a small open boat in the video released by Iranian authorities. He is shown in a radio exchange at one point asking the U.S. warship to change from the common bridge-to-bridge channel 16 to another channel, perhaps to speak to the Navy without being interrupted... “For 25 years there’s been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats,” he said. “He could be tied up pierside somewhere or he could be on the bridge of a merchant ship.”

And the Monkey has stamina. “He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy,” he said. “But who knows how many Filipino Monkeys there are? Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely.”

The following is the Call for Works for the 60x60 project in 2008. Continuing to promote contemporary composer and their works, Vox Novus is inviting composers to submit recorded works 60 seconds or less in length to included in its sixth annual 60x60 project. 60 compositions will be selected to be played continuously in a one-hour concert. The 60x60 concert season will begin with a debut in New York City and continue throughout the world in venues to be announced. Please submit recording(s) of work and submission form post marked before March 31st, 2008 to:
60x60
c/o Robert Voisey, Radio City Station, P.O. Box 1607, New York, New York, 10101 USA
More information can be found at: http://www.voxnovus.com/60x60/Call.htm and http://www.voxnovus.com/60x60.htm

Comic Harry Shearer (voice of several Simpsons' characters, etc.) is profiled in The New York Times style section for his love of this particular shortwave radio, the Sangean ATS-909. “This is my companion. I’ve always been more about functionality over looks. This has all the buttons I need and not much else. There is one that says ‘Page,’ and I’ve never pressed that. I don’t know what would happen,” he says.

Looks like Joe Milutis has been busy uploading more videos from Wave Farm performances:

Stars Like Fleas forest performance at Wave Farm, 2006. Filmed with Vidster cam.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvcswSsiZy0&rel=1]


Bryan Zimmerman of The Dust Dive performs from pond at free103point9 Wave Farm. Filmed with Vidster.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GsTFCtYuy0&rel=1]


"Car Harp" installation at Wave Farm Radio Festival 2006 by Lily Gottlieb-McHale. Filmed with Fisher-Price Vidster Camera.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH5gsZYuiyg&rel=1]


"Sing Sun Room" Wave Farm sculpture installation by Matt Bua.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Ml0rcB5xs&rel=1]


Then three videos, not shot by Milutis, of Juan Matos Capote live at "DJ Mangoon Presents," at free103point9's Brooklyn studio at 338 Berry Street on December 5th, 2007. (Playing the DIY "Pink Oscillator," a circuit bent Omnichord and pedals.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HqYcYmiVjE&rel=1]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImfzaI5O5A8&rel=1]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3N0owxLflY&rel=1]


And Thick Wisps perform live in the Brooklyn free103point9 studio on 10-31-2007.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNi3TFJJmzM&rel=1]

From CNN Europe:

Members of a Czech art group who hacked into television broadcasting with images of a hoax nuclear explosion were charged and will have to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Thursday.


A freeze-frame from the Web cam shows an image of a nuclear explosion. Watch YouTube video here.

The six members of the Prague-based Ztohoven group were charged last month with spreading false information and face up to three years in jail if convicted, said Dusan Ondracek, the state prosecutor in the northern town of Trutnov, who is in charge of the case. The trial could begin by the end of January, Ondracek said.

On June 17, viewers of a Czech television channel watching a Web cam program monitoring weather in various Czech mountain resorts could see a nuclear explosion taking place in the Krkonose or Giant Mountains in the northern Czech Republic. In December, the project was awarded the NG 333 prize for young artists by Prague's National Gallery together with a cash prize of 333,000 koruna (US$18,350).

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION!

Sunday, March 2nd 2008 at Hunter College CUNY, 68th Street and Lexington Ave., Manhattan. 9 a.m.–6 p.m.

We are now accepting workshop proposals, advertisements, table exhibition reservations and more. Please download the full conference information packet
at http://nycgrassrootsmedia.org/sites/nycgrassrootsmedia.org/files/GMCpacket2008.pdf or visit our website at: www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org to fill out the forms online.

For the past four years, we have come together to explore the political dimensions of media and how it shapes our lives. By developing relationships between community and media organizations, the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition is working to re-imagine issues of access to, control of, and power over our media system. That means defining our struggle as a struggle for Media Justice.

We invite you to join us at the 2008 NYC Grassroots Media Conference as we seek to define our understanding of and relationship to Media Justice as a community and explore how we can not only envision an ideal world, but to make this vision a reality. In addition to a full day of workshops and panels, there will be a full day film festival, exhibition room featuring displays by local organizations, and tons of networking opportunities.

The Tank is currently accepting proposals for Bent 2008: The Fifth Annual Circuit Bending Festival
New York Bent Festival - April 17th-19th, 2008.
Los Angeles Bent Festival - April 24th-26th, 2008.
Minneapolis Bent Festival - May 1st-3rd, 2008.

Proposals:
Proposal Deadline: February 5th, 2008
Participant Notification: February 15, 2008
This call is for all three festivals. Proposals to each festival must be submitted separately. In keeping with the expanding interests of the community, this year we are continuing to open the Bent Festival to performers and artists that create their own electronics as well as to those who hack, bend, modify and destroy them. We are currently seeking performers and artists to participate at each of the above locations and are specifically looking for submissions in these categories:
Performers, Installation Artists, Artwork Submissions and Workshop Instructors. Please send all proposals and questions to the appropriate email address:
Minneapolis Bent Festival - bentmpls@thetanknyc .org
New York Bent Festival - bentnyc@thetanknyc. org
Los Angeles Bent Festival - bentla@thetanknyc. org
Proposals to each festival must be submitted separately.
For more information: http://www.bentfestival.org.

Two new songs from electro-acoustic duo Latitude/Longitude (Michael Garofalo and Patrick McCarthy) are out now as part of free103point9’s Audio Dispatch Series.

On the A-Side, "Solar Filters," banjo and tenor guitar introduce the melody, which is picked up and echoed throughout by melodica. McCarthy’s mystic-cowboy vocals are sung through a contactmic’d banjo head, the strings, tuned to the notes of the song’s minimalist melody, resonating with each syllable. A stomping drum loop drives the song towards its climax of analog synthesizers and shortwave radio static (not sampled, but recorded as a performance, by tuning a radio while wandering around the studio).

The more textural B-side, "Mother Evening," features “found” lyrics taken from various random-text, spam emails. Pedal steel guitar creates a swarm-of-insects anxiety while prepared electric guitar weaves in and out of the vocal line and thumping floor tom.

Record release show with Zeke Healey and Brian Osborne Jan. 9 at Zebulon Cafe in Brooklyn, streamed live via Zebulon and free103point9 Online Radio. Michael Garofalo and Patrick McCarthy perform as Latitude/Longitude with diverse sonic materials: test oscillators, homemade cassette tapes and field recordings, radio transmissions (FM/AM/SW/CB), and toy electronics (broken and functional), as well as more traditional instruments, such as pedal steel guitar, banjo, mbira, and voice. "Solar Filters" and "Mother Evening" are featured on the single (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 031).

More information:
http://www.free103point9.org/dispatchseries/

If you're in New York, you can also pick up a copy at one of their upcoming shows:

1.9.08: L/L Record Release Show, Zebulon (w/Brian Osbourne, Zeke Healy). This show will be streamed live on free103point9 Online Radio.

1.25.08: The Knitting Factory's Old Office (w/The Dust Dive, H*E*R)

2.1.08: Eat Records (w/The Dust Dive). This show will be streamed live on free103point9 Online Radio.

From Networked_Music_Review:

More of the Same by LoVid [Start slowly with 1; close each popup window before launching the next] - More of the Same extends LoVid’s investigation of electrical irregularities and human interactions. After it loads copies of a single sound sample, fissures in the digital veneer are explored as the spoken communication is played back repeatedly. Though each instantiation of the speech is identical, physical constraints affect the timing. This allows the nature of the medium to peek through the cracks in the voices.

More of the Same is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for Networked_Music_Review. It was made possible with funding from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

BIOGRAPHY

LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus) overwhelms the senses with new media in their performances, videos, objects, and installations. LoVid has toured the US and Europe extensively performing, exhibiting, and lecturing at PS1, The Neuberger Museum, The Butler Institute of American Art , The Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv, Exit Art, Evolution Festival (UK), The Kitchen, RISD, Massachusetts College of Art, FACT, Kansas City Art Institute, Chicago Art Institute, University of Wisconsin, Futuresonic Festival (UK), The New Museum of Contemporary Art, Ocularis, and Institute of Contemporary Art London, among many others. LoVid has been artist in residence at Eyebeam, Harvestworks, iEAR, Alfred University, and Stevens Institute of Technology; and has received grants and awards from Turbulence.org, Experimental TV Center, NYSCA, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and The Greenwall Foundation. LoVid is also a free103Point9 transmission artist.

free103point9 Online Radio Top 40 for December 2007

1. Todd Merrell + Aidan Baker + Patrick Jordan, Nagual (ArchivedCD 41)
2. The SB LP, (Qbico 54)
3. Stars Like Fleas, The Ken Burns Effect (Talitres)
4. Radio Ruido, "False Rosetta" 2x7" (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 032)
5. Latitude/Longitude, "Solar Filters/Mother Evening" 7" (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 031)
6. William Basinski, shortwavemusic (Musex International)
7. David Watson, Fingering an Idea (XI Records)
8. Annea Lockwood, Thousand Year Dreaming/Floating World (Pogus)
9. White Rainbow, Prism of Eternal Now (Kranky)
10. David S. Ware Quartet, Renunciation (Aum Fidelity)
11. Jeff Arnal + Dietrich Eichmann, LP (Broken Research)
12. Timeless Pulse Quintet, Timeless Pulse Quintet (Mutable)
13. Tatsuya Nakatani, Primal Communication (H&H)
14. The Peeesseye, Mayhem in the Mansion (Evolving Ear)
15. Charalambides, Likeness (Kranky)
16. Willing, Brotherhood of the Backwards Handshake (Evolving Ear)
17. Manpack, Sticky Wic (digitalis)
18. Cloudland Canyons, Silver Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
19. Phantom Limb & Bison, Phantom Limb & Bison (Evolving Ear)
20. Illuminea, Out of Our Mouths (High Two)
21. Scott Smallwood, Desert Winds: Six Windblown Sound Pieces and Other Works (Deep Listening)
22. Temperatures, Ymir (Heat Retention) LP
23. Scott Smallwood, Electrotherapy (Deep Listening)
24. Duane Pitre/Pilotram Ensemble, Organized Pitches Ocurring in Time (Important)
25. William Parker + Hamid Drake, First Communion/Piercing the Veil 2xCD (Aum Fidelity)
26. Mammal, Lonesome Drifter (Animal Disguise)
27. Robert Ashley, Now Eleanor's Idea (Lovely Music)
28. Ting Ting Jahe, 18(16) (Winds Measure Recordings)
29. Cadaver In Drag, Raw Child (Animal Disguise)
30. Various artists, Songs Most Likely to Succeed Class of 2007 (Radio One New Zealand)
31. Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, glass vs grass (jdw/conc)
32. Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet, Inner Constellation (Nemu)
Bruce Eisenbeil + Jean Cook + Nate Wooley + Aaron Ali Shaikh + Tom Abbs + Nasheet Waits.
33. Zavoloka, Viter (Kvitnu)
34. Normal, Love (High Two)
35. The Kevin Frenette 4, Connections (Fuller Street Music)
Kevin Frenette + Andy McWain + Todd Keating + Tatsuya Nakatani.
36. Various artists, Sweet Earth Flower: A tribute to Marion Brown (High Two)
37. Walter & Sabrina, We Sing for the Future (Danny Dark Records)
38. Shelf Life, Ductworks (Public Eyesore)
39. Garrett Phelan, Black Brain Radio (Ninepoint)
40. Basalt Fingers, Basalt Fingers (Three Lobed Recordings)
Ben Chasny, Elisa Ambrogio, and Brian Sullivan.

To submit CDs, LPs, CSs, etc. for consideration of airplay on free103point9 Online Radio, mail to:
free103point9
5622 Route 23
Acra, NY 12405

Forwarded from George Lessard:

Check out the new Uruguayan Community Radio Bill. This is what all CR regulation should aspire to be.
1. It sets aside one-third of all radio (AM & FM) *and* television frequencies for community-based media.
2. Licenses are granted by a council made up of all the stake-holders.
3. There is no fixed transmitter power or coverage area - the range depends on the size of the audience.

In what the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) calls a "groundbreaking move for freedom of expression in Latin America," the Uruguayan Senate approved a Community Broadcasting Bill that recognises community broadcasting in its own right and says television and radio frequencies should be more equitably distributed.

The bill acknowledges the importance of this "third" broadcasting sector alongside the state and private sectors, and stipulates that one third of the AM and FM radio airwaves and television broadband will be reserved for community-based media outlets, which AMARC says ensures greater diversity of media ownership.

A new council, made up of government, media, university and free expression representatives, will play a part in granting and renewing frequencies and ensuring that the government does not use frequency allocation to indirectly censor broadcasts.

According to AMARC, the bill does not impose limits on the geographical range and signal strength of community media outlets, unlike laws in Brazil and Chile. Instead, the bill says the range of coverage will depend on the outlet's purpose and the audience it is trying to reach.

Community broadcasters will also have the right to secure financing through donations, advertising and government grants.

AMARC and other free expression organisations, including IFEX members ARTICLE 19 and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), have been closely following this development as it sets a crucial precedent for the region. AMARC was also involved in drafting the bill. "This is the first time that transparent and non-discriminatory processes for the allocation of radio and television frequencies have been explicitly laid out in Uruguayan legislation, " says AMARC.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives to approve some amendments made by the Senate. According to government officials, the law will be passed by the end of the year.

From Matthew Lasar in Laser's Letter on the FCC:

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission, by a bare majority, voted to lift its over three decade old prohibition against an entity owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market. Most FCC watchers will now shift their visors to Congress and the circuit courts, where media reform activists will doubtless turn in a bid to reverse this ruling.

But the agency also made four important decisions this month and last that deserve a second glance, not only because they could have an impact on broadcasting, but because they illustrate the extent to which the Commission can promote measures that clearly serve the public interest—when it wants to.

Low Power FM

When the FCC created its Low Power FM (LPFM) service in the 1990s, it ruled that these new, locally based non-profit frequencies did not have to protect so-called "third adjacent" full power FM stations. The National Association of Broadcasters moved almost instantly to quash the provision, using its enormous influence to get Congress to pass the "Radio Broadcast Projection Act," which restored the third adjacent rule.

This meant that a full power FM station at 94.1 megahertz could demand that no LPFM station be built anywhere from 93.5 to 94.7 on the dial. A half dozen big FM stations on the lower end of the dial could thus create a prohibitively large no-fly zone for any prospective non-profit broadcaster.

But the FCC's plucky Media Bureau commissioned a study to test the NAB's assertions, and the engineering firm found that the agency's original ruling was solid.

"Based on the measurements and analysis reported herein, existing third-adjacent channel distance restrictions should be waived to allow LPFM operation at locations that meet all other FCC requirements," the MITRE Corporation's engineers concluded in 2003.

It took a while, but on November 27th, the FCC formally recommended that Congress remove the requirement that LPFM stations protect full power stations operating on third adjacent channels. The Commission's Order also tightened up rules for LPFM that will make sure that these stations keep their broadcasting local and non-repetitious.

And only one LPFM to a non-profit customer, the FCC warned. No more. That move means that the megachurches can't crowd out the rest of us.

Diversification of broadcast ownership

Women and minorities own a pathetically small percentage of radio and television stations in the United States. Last year Howard University's Carolyn M. Byerly looked at FCC ownership data circa 2005 and found that of 12,844 radio and TV stations that filed documentation with the FCC in 2005, minorities owned 3.6% and women owned 3.4% of these frequencies.

On the same day that it relaxed its newspaper/TV ownership limits, the FCC passed a series of reforms that will make it easier for women and minorities to buy and retain broadcast media. The provisions smooth the way for financially distressed stations to sell their signal to a female or minority buyer. They allow minority/women owners more time for construction permits.

The provisions make it easier for big media companies to sell off pieces of "grandfathered" combinations of radio, TV stations, and newspapers to minority/women bidders. And they initiate an annual "access to capital" conference to match minority media buyers with media investors.

It's a hodge podge of provisions that won't change anything overnight, but a "first step," as FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate called it.

"Unfortunately, a step that has already taken this Commission too long," she added, "and therefore we need to move forward expeditiously—beginning today."

Cable subscriber caps

The FCC also approved an Order on December 18th that sets at 30 percent the number of subscribers a cable company can serve.

"In so doing, we ensure that a single operator cannot unduly limit the viability of a new independent network in its formative years," declared FCC Chair Kevin Martin in a comment that does not corroborate his public image as the subservient poodle of big media.

Indeed, Martin found his allies on this issue not with his fellow Republicans, but with his traditional adversaries: Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein.

Both Republicans dissented on this decision, and the cable industry is furious at the move. While Martin's reform does not force any company to sell off properties, the Order limits the reach of Comcast, which now controls around 27 percent of pay television subscriber receipts. That is, if the decision survives a court challenge.

Localism

Like their decisions on media diversity, the FCC's December 18th ruling on localism will not shake the media landscape, but it could knock it about in some potentially interesting ways.

Among other suggestions, the Order asks for public comment on its conclusion that "licensees should establish permanent advisory boards (including representatives of underserved community segments) in each station community of license with which to consult periodically on community needs and issues." The document also says that the FCC should adopt guidelines "that will ensure that all broadcasters provide some locally-oriented programming."

At present, the only broadcast stations that must create community advisory boards are those that receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This is an appropriate requirement. But it also turns CPB stations into conduits for public anger with all of media. It's about time that commercial stations had to take some of that heat.

Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein reacted with cynicism to this Order.

"If history is any guide, the odds are that the Commission will either neglect to finalize these proposals," Adelstein said in his partial concurrence to the decision, "or when it comes time to finalize them, they may be so diluted as to render them meaningless."

All the more reason why the public should tell the FCC that it takes them seriously. The FCC should not only require license holders to create advisory boards, it should require those boards to hold at least two annual public meetings that are announced by the station over-the-air, during the day.

The Commission should also make stations submit accurate summaries of those meetings, with explanations of how the broadcaster will implement the suggestions received.

If we want the Federal Communications Commission to serve the public interest, we have make visible what the agency does right, as well as what it does wrong. We have to reinforce the Commission's promises to do good at least as much as we raise the alarm against the its efforts to reward influence and power.

We may be confronted by a very different FCC relatively soon. So let's think positively. They say that it helps your health.

Today's The New York Times has a severely under-reported story about the plethora of microradio activity on the Brooklyn airwaves for the past fifteen years.

Without any sort of news peg (Ditmas Park Blog is taking credit for tipping off the Times), Alex Mindlin quotes folks from WBGO (88.3-FM) and WFUV (90.7-FM), with George Evans, the head engineer of the latter, going so far as advocating the draconian Florida law that allows local police officers who know nothing about Federal broadcasting regulations to arrest so-called pirate radio station personnel. Since the Federal government, and not the states or cities, regulate the broadcast spectrum, this Florida law will surely be thrown out once it is challenged in court.

Mindlin mentions the January 2007 $10,000 fine charged against Elroy Simpson of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, but fails to mention the Federal Communications Commission's Nov. 2 letter of Notice of Unlicensed Operation to Sean Buckner in Brooklyn for operating on 94.3-FM without a license, or any other recent FCC action.

The FCC is constantly contacting and fining Brooklyn-based microradio stations, and most of the stations remain on the air, operating on the few NYC frequencies that have any breathing room at all between licensed stations. Mindlin correctly mentions the many Haitian-oriented stations, and the several Hasidic operators, and grasps that the Flatbush area is a hotbed of activity. But he fails to mention several prominent hip hop and hipster stations, and fails to address the "why" at all. Mindlin's main news flash: WFUV's web site has received 294 complaints about interference from pirates since August, though they could all be from one person as he doesn't question this number at all.
--Tom Roe

From Sawako's crystal radio page:

My first encounter with crystal radio is in the early 2000 when my friend introduced me Kenji Kobayashi's exhibition. At first, I have no idea what the relationship between a stone and a radio. Then, the fact that the radio without battery and using a stone to get the radio signal fascinates me immediately, and starts to think "I hope I can make the work using the crystal radio system in future. . . "

The chance come to the late 2006 when I got the notice that I am selected for the commission work opportunity by Roulette with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. It lead to "ishi ~ listening stone", my first crystal radio work, premiered in Roulette in November 2007.

In 2008, the variation of the work will be released from unframed, the label which releases audio recordings and art multiples by sound artists. The work will be with more site specific elements, and we are planning to release as the limited 7-inch vinyl with the letterpress printing jacket and the small radio or radio stone.

From Ryan Blethen in the Seattle Times:

The divergent views of the Republicans and Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission is a startling and yet informative glimpse into how the media cross-ownership ban was obliterated.

The commissioners' opening statements spoke volumes about the deep division at the FCC. The Republicans ­ Kevin Martin, Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell ­ spouted nonsense about multiple platforms providing competition, and how a failing newspaper can be saved by acquiring a broadcast outlet.

The new rule permits a company to own a newspaper and broadcast station in any of the nation's top 20 media markets as long as there are at least eight media outlets in the market. If the combination includes a television station, that station cannot be among the top four in that market. The FCC can grant a waiver to companies that
don't meet the criteria.

The FCC also made permanent 42 waivers, and made it possible for companies outside the top 20 markets to gain cross-ownership waivers. The Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein eloquently spoke about the need to preserve a diversity of voices in a democracy. "Central to our American democracy is a rich and varied supply of
news and information," Adelstein said.

Copps and Adelstein also explained the FCC's horrid process used to review media-ownership rules, which ignored the public's overwhelming support of the cross-ownership ban.

Copps: "Everywhere we go, the questions are the same: Why are we rushing to encourage more media-merger frenzy when we haven't addressed the demonstrated harms caused by previous media-merger frenzy?"

The question begs for an answer. Martin, McDowell and Tate all bragged about the deliberative, thorough and open process the commission embarked upon 18 months ago.

"I believe that the process we have engaged in over the past year and a half has been open, transparent, and thorough ­ a true example of our vibrant democracy at work," said Tate.

Life must be magical in Tate's sunshiny world. How she and McDowell rolled over as Martin continually abused the trust of his colleagues and the public is beyond explanation.

Anybody who pays attention to the FCC or covers it witnessed how Martin sprung proposals and hearings on the commission at the last minute, ignored Congress and the public's shouts to halt media consolidation, and ignored studies he commissioned that did not agree with a preordained outcome.

Adelstein and Copps highlighted in their statements how Martin continued with his cloaked process to the end. Copps said that at 9:44 p.m. Monday he received a revised draft of the proposal. Then at 1:57 a.m. Tuesday, the day of the vote, he was told of more revisions, then at 11:12 a.m. another bunch of changes were e-mailed as he was leaving his office for the vote.

"This is not the way to do rational, fact-based and public interest-minded policymaking," Copps said. "It's actually a great illustration of why administrative agencies are required to operate under the constraints of administrative process ­ and the problems that occur when they ignore that duty. At the end of the day, process matters."

The Republican's insistence that newspapers can only be saved by owning a broadcast outlet added to the unbridgeable gulf between the camps.

McDowell said, "The evidence in the record tells us that if you are under 30, you are probably not reading a traditional newspaper or tuning in to your local broadcasters."

He did not elaborate how a company owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market would convince the under-30 set that they should subscribe to the newspaper or watch television newscasts.

It is encouraging that the FCC is concerned about newspapers. But it's unfortunate it does not realize media consolidation has damaged the industry by making it beholden to the aggressive demands of Wall Street. The rule approved Tuesday will only further drive the press toward corporate journalism.

"Newly merged entities will attempt to increase their profit margins by raising advertising rates and relentless cost-cutting," Copps said. "Herein is the real economic justification for media consolidation within a single market."

At best, the FCC majority was confused by the data, which clearly show the damage done by consolidation. This probably is not the case. I fear that they do understand.