On June 28, the Senate Commerce Committee completed its mark-up of comprehensive telecom reform legislation. The Committee included, without amendment, Title VI, the "Wireless Innovation Act of 2006," which directs the FCC to open the vacant, unused TV channel frequencies in each local TV market (also known as TV band “white space”) for unlicensed wireless broadband use (FCC Docket 04-186). Originally sponsored by Senators Stevens (R-AK), Allen (R-VA), Sununu (R-NH), Boxer (D-CA), Kerry (D-MA) and Dorgan (D-ND), the provision is supported by a majority of both parties due to the enormous potential it holds to spread affordable wireless broadband access, particularly to rural areas.

Unfortunately, the broadcast TV and wireless microphone industries oppose the proposal and continue to spread misinformation about it, arguing that allowing unlicensed use of this white space would cause harmful interference to the 13% of American households that continue to rely on over-the-air TV reception (the rest subscribe to cable or satellite TV). New America's Issue Brief—authored by three of the nation's most respected spectrum engineers—demonstrates why the broadcasters' technical claims are unfounded.

“Why Unlicensed Use of Vacant TV Spectrum Will Not Cause Interference to DTV Viewers,” explains why the use of “smart radios,” in combination with the conventional FCC rulemaking process, will be enough to ensure that DTV receivers and other licensed uses of the TV band are not harmed by unlicensed devices. This Issue Brief expands on and updates an earlier one released by New America in October 2005, and incorporates responses to the incumbents’ latest arguments on Capitol Hill. The co-authors are:

Michael Marcus, former FCC Associate Chief for Technology, Office of Engineering and Technology
Paul Kolodzy, former Chair, FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force
Andrew Lippman, founding Associate Director, MIT Media Lab

http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_3166_1.pdf

Other useful documents on the TV White Space debate are available free from New America, including:

Consumer/High-Tech White Space Coalition Fact Sheet: Benefits of White Space
New America Foundation/Free Press Analysis on TV White Space Availability in Sample of U.S. Markets
Wireless Public Safety Data Networks Operating on Unlicensed Spectrum
The Economic Case for Unlicensed Use of the TV White Space

Thanks for your interest.

Michael Calabrese
Director, Wireless Future Program
New America Foundation
www.spectrumpolicy.org

From Media Network weblog:

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PERMA) admitted yesterday that more than 100 seminaries were still operating illegal FM radio stations across the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). At least 115 illegal FM radio stations are in operation all over the NWFP, sources revealed, while requesting anonymity. They said that while most seminaries used FM radio broadcasts to impart Islamic teachings, many used them to spread sectarian hatred.

When PERMA first launched its crackdown on illegal stations, the police claimed to have put 90 such stations out of operation. However, PERMA sources described these claims as being far from reality, pointing out that all these radio stations were still broadcasting on air. They pointed out that if there had been an adequate counter-verification system to check police claims, PERMA officials would have at least have seen the seized equipment following the reported closure of illegal stations.

In addition to being used to stoke sectarian unrest, PERMA officials stressed that the illegal broadcasts posed a serious threat to the police’s wireless systems as well as to passenger and fighter plane navigation systems. The illegal FM stations are hijacking others frequencies since they have not obtained their own frequency waves from the army-run Frequency Allocation Board.

However, PERMA sources admitted that the authority lacked the sufficient staff strength to adequately crack down on illegal FM radio stations. “We have 167 staff members countrywide. We cannot control the whole country with such a small staff body,” they admitted.

(Source: Islamic Republic News Agency)

Eyebeam supports artists through residencies, teaching positions and commissioned projects. As these opportunies arise, information and applications will be made available here. Applications for Eyebeam's Fellows are online now. To apply please visit:
http://eyebeam.org/production/onlineapp/

Applications for Eyebeam's Artists' Residencies are currently on hold until Summer 2006. The AIR Prorgam, now in its fifth year, is being evaluated and adjusted to better meet the needs of our artists. During this time artists from the Fall 2005 Residency cycle continue to work in our recently renovated studios.

From Infowars.com via RawFamily.com:

Vladimir Lagovski and Andrei Moiseynko from Komsomolskaya Pravda Newspaper in Moscow decided to learn first-hand how harmful cell phones are. There is no magic in cooking with your cell phone. The secret is in the radio waves that the cell phone radiates.

The journalists created a simple microwave structure as shown in the picture. They called from one cell phone to the other and left both phones on talking mode. They placed a tape recorder next to phones to imitate sounds of speaking so the phones would stay on.

After 15 minutes: The egg became slightly warm.

25 minutes: The egg became very warm.

40 minutes: The egg became very hot.

65 minutes: The egg was cooked. (As you can see.)

CALL for PROPOSALS - - - - - PETER STUYVESANT’S GHOST

IMPORTANT DATES:

July 21, 2006: 100 WORD TEXT ONLY description of your idea and contact info emailed to: twowhitecats24@hotmail.com
July 30, 2006: Notification of acceptance of idea
August 15, 2006: Bios and descriptive text for program (guide map) due
Sept. 15, 2006: Soundfile due
Nov. 15-19, 2006: Performance dates

Coordinators: Lise Brenner, Ryan Holsopple, Michelle Nagai

Contact for Questions: Lise Brenner - twowhitecats24@hotmail.com

Final Nature of Artistic Contribution: Digital sound files of up to 1 minute to be accessed during performance dates via pay or cell phone. They may also be available on a CD. We are looking for both ‘realistic’ and interpretive reactions to historical information. The terrain this project will cover (pictured above) is the footprint of Peter Stuyvesant’s original farm (Bouwerie), which included the area from 4th Ave. to the original East River shore, and from 4th Street to 22nd Street. Files will be archived and accessible on the internet after the performance dates.

Date of Event: November 15-19, 2006
Specific Event Description: A self-guided walk through the area of Peter Stuyvesant’s farm, using a printed map and utilizing cell or payphones to access a central open-source telephony server (Asterix). The printed material will indicate a route around the farm, with specific points indicated where participants are asked to stop and call into the server. A payphone will be available at all chosen points. After making the phone call, the participant will dial the message code indicated for that particular site, thereby accessing a short (no more than 1 minute) sound file made in response to historical/topographical information provided to the artist about the site, which could include information about Dutch cows and pigs, church bells, hymns, language; memories of shops, streets, sounds of Holland; local sounds of nature (wind, birds, water); local work sounds (blacksmiths, milking, carpentry, printing); or other information suggested by artists.

Overall Project Description: PSG is a civic art project, inspired by the rapid cultural and physical changes engendered in this area by the Dutch colonial period. PSG encourages a multi-leveled understanding of the place that the East Village is now. Using sound as the primary performance medium, tapping into the visceral, non-cognitive response that hearing, like smell, tends to generate, PSG explores the contemporary topography while making palpable the pre-urban terrain of Peter Stuyvesant’s 17th century farm. Through guided walks and discussion forums PSG will facilitate activities that connect past with current truths, and, perhaps, visions for the future, as alternative realities flicker briefly into life, and historical and environmental perceptions are deepened. The overall goal is a rich, many-layered experience of this terrain, literally moving audiences through it, primed for careful listening to what is currently here to be heard, while opening up imagination, and awareness of the past.

Specifically, PSG aims to: facilitate active participation on the part of a widely varied audience; consciously link art and performance making with history; invite contributions from artists that maintain this dual focus on historical relevance and an actively participating audience; bring together NYC- and Netherlands-based contributors; and explore the role of history in bringing the present into sharper focus.



From Tom Roe:

I have always joked that the current low-power FM bill approved by both Senate and House subcommittees, would only get to the floor if it was attached to some bill like the "death penalty for flag burners."

Well, I almost got my wish this week. Congress is voting on a Constitutional amendment against flag burning, and Senator John McCain has attached the "Local Community Radio Act" to the "Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006" (the Senate version of the anti-net neutrality bill), Mediageek reports.

"McCain’s amendment would restore the FCC’s original spacing requirements for the (LPFM) service, allowing LPFM stations to be closer than three adjacent frequencies to other stations," Mediageek reports.

LPFM got through Congress a few years back after focused challenges in the courts, intense lobbying, and thousands of Americans committing civil disobedience on the airwaves. The LPFM service, however, was weakened at the last moment largely due to a fake "interference" claim that has since been scientifically debunked.

Over a thousand new LPFMs would be allowed if this amendment were to be passed and signed. And the phone companies would rule the world/internet.

I almost got my wish/nightmare, and it just gets worse. New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg inserted an exception in the LPFM bill for "significantly populated states," according to Inside Radio. The report is vague, but it may mean no low-power stations for New Jersey.

From Tom Roe:

The New York Radio Message Board is where New York City's radio enginners trade gossip, technical information, and reports of "pirate radio." The hipsters with ties to big media may not be running microradio stations anymore, but underserved minorities throughout Brooklyn sure are. Here is a survey of the stations posters on that board have heard:

*90.1-FM, Caribbean pirate.

*96.7-FM, "The Jewish pirate operates during the day, and can be heard as far east as Route 110 in Amityville." Carribean station at night.

*91.9-FM, Hasidic late night/early morning

*91.9-FM, hip-hop 10 p.m.-midnight.

*104.1-FM and 100.9-FM, East New York. Unknown content.

*96.7-FM, "as far east as Levittown."

*99.9-FM, Brooklyn.

*88.7-FM, free103point9 staff have heard this station from Brooklyn to the George Washington Bridge in the evening.

*94.1-FM, Contact FM" out of Queens Village, has, "been gone for a month now, as the restaurant they were broadcasting out of on Jamaica Avenue and 241st Street has closed. He reappeared for two weekends in Cambria Heights."

*101.5, reggae, heard throughout Queens, Bronx, into South Westchester.

*Stations at 90.9-FM, 95.9-FM, and 103.1-FM have all been visited or sent warning letters from the Federal Communications Commission in 2006. The FCC enforces broadcast regulations in the U.S., though lately is only giving out warnings.

This is a call for proposals for a workshop on user-centred interactions with the internet of things at Nordichi 2006, October 14 and 15, 2006 in Oslo, Norway. In this workshop we intend to build knowledge around the hands-on problems and opportunities of designing user-centred interactions with networked objects. Through a process of ˜making things" we will look closely at the kinds of interactions we may want to design with networked objects, and what roles the mobile phone may play in this. We will focus on the design of simple, effective and innovative interactions between mobile phones and physical objects, rather than focusing on technical or network issues. The workshop is open to participants from human factors, mobile technology, social science, interaction and industrial design. Practitioners and those with industrial experience are strongly encouraged. Prior research work on embodied interaction, social and tangible computing would be particularly relevant. Participants will be selected based on their relevance to the workshop, and the overall balance of the group. Space is limited to 25 participants. Application is by position paper no longer than two pages. The position paper can be visual or experimental in design and content. The themes should cover an issue that is relevant to the design of interactions with everyday objects. Deadline for papers is 1 August, selected participants will be notified on the 9 August. The workshop itself is October 14 and 15, 2006. Papers and any questions should be submitted to timo (at) elasticspace (dot) com before 1 August.

Moon bouncing--sending ham radio signals to the moon and back--is a big story for The Anchorage Daily News, based in an area far more attuned to atmospheric signals. The article quotes Allen Katz, 63, a professor of electronic engineering at The College of New Jersey, calling moon bouncing a "technology sport." "People do it for the challenge," Katz said. "Why do people climb Mount McKinley? Because it's difficult."

Announcing new free103point9 Online Radio shows and general announcements will be a major part of this blog. One new program that we are very excited about is coming this summer from Canadian radio artist Emmanuel Madan.

"A Series of Podcasts Addressing the Limitlessness of Time" is a radio project from Madan, and is also airing on CKUT (Canada) and Kunstradio (Austria). "'A Series of Podcasts Addressing the Limitlessness of Time' continues my investigation into the nature of radio as a communications medium, an exploration which I began over a decade ago as a community radio producer and continued in my recent audio art performance 'Freedom Highway,'" says Madan. This regularly occuring program will begin later this summer, and runs through early 2007.

Madan's "Freedom Highway" stopped at the free103point9 Project Space in Brooklyn in December, 2004, and he performed at "Tune (Out)))side" last summer at Wave Farm. "Freedom Highway" is "a project about mass media and American public discourse. Over a nearly two-year period, the project has been monitoring and intercepting talk radio programming from around the United States. This material is collected, catalogued, and then recombined into a series of new audio documents, each of which is a distilled and concentrated version of what is heard on America's talk radio airwaves," according to Madan's web site.

Forwarded from Stephen Dunifer

Rough translation: "The day of today 14 of June of 2006 has perpetrated in Mexico one of the more aberrant manifestations of the army of the can of whom is govern.

Being the 3:40 hours (hour hand of the resistance) consummated an act more than repression against the social movement in Oaxaca, the early morning of today the |policiacos| body of this state left in a brutal way and violent to school mistresses and teachers that were found from the past May 22 in shoot in the of the capital socle of this city. Also it left to whom it finds |ininterumpidamente| |trasnmitiendo| the situation of our magisterial movement from the installations of radiate shoot 92.1 F.M. hitting to the companions and wasting the equipment with which operates upon this broadcasting that from making a year to played an important paper in the diffusion of the clear information and shows through on which happens in Oaxaca and in our country.

This act is an evidence more than the repression that the governing Ulises Ruiz Ortiz has orchestrated against whom do not coincide with a politics that violates the human fees of whom begins to speak to denounce the social injustice and the martial law in which warrens in Oaxaca.

For this reason, it puts in charge to the Oaxaca governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, and to all thoses that it result responsible for any act that attempts a crime against against the social security of our companions and companions, as well as of whom beens supported this movement that is not single of the teaching, but of all and all those who does not think kneeling life below the fascist regime of Ruiz Ortiz and his officials."

Call for content
"The Residents of the United States of America present
One-Minute Commercials for Democracy"
Delivering Digital Democracy In 60 Seconds Or Less

Deadline Extended: July 4th, US Independence Day
Release Date: Labor Day 2006

Communications Of Tomorrow (CommTom) announces a call for content, urging submission of socially aware, politically motivated contributions from US-based audio artists who are attentive to contemporary political conditions. The compilation will be distributed free of charge to US radio stations and public access media outlets. Submissions must be 60 seconds in duration and be free of language which would violate FCC regulations for radio airplay.

In a follow-up project to the 2004 CommTom release, "Polyphonic Voices Of Digital Dissent", which appeared on Democracy Now, Air America, and numerous radio stations across the United States, CommTom will release this next compilation to 100 targeted broadcasters across the United States. The accepted submissions will also be available for free download from the CommTom website, but will not be sold in stores. Custom packaging, designed and letterpress printed by MATTER will round out the presentation. A single copy will also be offered as compensation to contributing artists whose works are accepted for the project. Additional copies will be available to participating artists at cost.

For more info- http://www.commtom.com/special_projects/CommDem/commdem.html
For PDF guidelines- http://www.commtom.com/special_projects/CommDem/commdem_call.pdf

Call for web works!
ElectroOnline showcases innovative net art, online subversions, peer 2 peer communities & collaborations, arts / culture blogs,wiki’s etc.

Please send URLS to electrofringe@electrofringe.net
with ‘ElectroOnline Submission’ in the Subject

Call for screen works!
The ElectroProjections screen program showcases boundary pushing film, video, animation and documentaries that engage with new technologies, reveal elusive sub-cultures, investigate audio/visual relationships, explode narrative possibilities,explore performance on screen & apply experimental techniques.

Please send submissions as DVD – PAL to
ElectroProjections
2-25 Golden Grove St
Darlington NSW
Australia 2008

Deadline: Friday, July 14, 2006

Wednesday, September 30-Saturday, September 23. At Sala Carlos Chavez, Centro Cultural Universitario, Mexico City, Mexico. The Second New Technologies International Music Festival invites sound artists to apply to participate, submissions are due June 30. Invited artists include Hans Tutschku and Pauline Oliveros among many others.

From Daily Wireless

WiMAX Telecom Group, a multinational operator of WiMax services in Europe, set a new record transmitting live video at ranges of up to 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) of the World Sailing Championships in Austria -- and from moving vessels.

The experience gained will be applied to its network in the coastal region of Croatia. From a yacht moving at 12 knots, pictures of the World Sailing Championships were streamed live – and over a distance of 40 kilometres, thus beating all previous forecasts about the range of WiMAX technology.

By Tom Roe

The Federal Communications Commission is contacting about the same number of microradio stations so far this year as last, but targeting each "pirate" more often.

Now landlords of station locations are also being sent warning letters, and multiple people from several stations getting warnings rather than just the station location receiving a letter. (See complete chart here.)

RadioActive SanDiego also received a letter from the FCC a few weeks ago claiming that the online radio station is also broadcasting on 106.9-FM. "FCC agents showed up at the station (my home) today demanding to be let in so they can 'inspect' the station. We told them to go away," explained a member of the collective on a listserv. "There is a local pirate station that rebroadcasts our shows, but it is totally unassociated with us and isn't located at my house. Our website even says very clearly that we only do internet streaming." In another case, the FCC also sent a letter to a Colorado pirate's parents. Clearly, the FCC hopes that harrassment will work quicker and easier then filling out forms and waiting for warrants.

"Additionally, the FCC's enforcement this year is almost wholly confined to intimidation," the DIYmedia blog reports. "Less than one percent of its enforcement activities go beyond the visit or letter-writing stage. In fact, the FCC hasn't even fined anybody yet in 2006... This may be because the agency knows it doesn't have the time and resources to collect all of the fines it might issue."

Power 103.3 (Quad Cities, Iowa), Pirate Cat Radio (San Francisco) and Portland Radio Authority were among the most high-profile stations contacted during the last two months. The California College of Arts may be the first educational/art institution to receive a warning. Students there have created something called Art Interference Radio (which seems to play pop songs) on 87.9-FM (just below the 88, where the FM band starts on many radio receivers). The Silicon Valley-based college seems to be supporting the illegal station, and may be offering a "Pirate Radio/Radio Matrix" class.

DIYmedia also reports that New York FCC agents warned Moises and Juan Cabrera about operating a station at 89.7 in NYC several times this year without mentioning the $10,000 fine the agency issued the duo last year. "Not only do this year's enforcement actions fail to reference the earlier 'punishment,' the FCC has made no moves to turn its earlier threat of a fine into an actual forfeiture," DIYmedia reports. "It is almost as if the agents in New York are just going through the motions." Or that they think fines are a waste of time and have more success with harrassment.

SoundAsArt Conference
Aberdeen, Scotland
November 24th, 25th, and 26th

SoundAsArt: Blurring of the Boundaries
Call for papers

Over the past several years a growing fascination with the emerging art form Sound Art, has become prevalent within arts communities and academia. But what is it, how is it defined, and what is the impact on current practices of composers, artists, and those working in related fields (video, sculpture, architecture etc.)?

The SoundAsArt conference hopes to explore some of these boundaries, blurry though they may be, with the goal not of definition but of exploration. It is a peculiar characteristic of this art form to revel in the blurring of distinctions, the crossing of disciplinary boundaries, and the redefining of practices.

The conference will take place over a three day period and will feature papers/talks, installations, soundwalks, and performances. The entire content of the conference will be documented for release and made available online in pdf/mp3 format.

The conference is presented by the artist group urbanNovember in partnership with the University of Aberdeen , with generous support of the Aberdeen City Council.

Call For Papers (Abstracts)

We welcome papers on the topic of sound art that address questions of origin, exploration of boundaries between related practices, investigations of current practices, and speculation on the future development of sound art. Papers by individuals wishing to present their own work in relation to these issues are also welcome.

Proposals in the form of an abstract (500-1000 words) should be submitted via the conference website at http://soundasart.urbannovember.org (go to "Abstract Submission" and select "Refereed Abstract and Paper Submission" and "Submit a New Abstract or Paper" no later then July 21st. Please do submit early; you will be able to revisit and change your submission until that date.

All proposals will be peer reviewed and selections will be announced by August 15th. Finished papers will be due by November 1st, submitted in the same manner as the abstract. Papers should be of a length appropriate to a 20 minute presentation (approximately 3000 words). There will be a 10 minute question and answer session after each presentation. Please include a short bio (200 words) and any technical requirements you may have for your presentation. A small sound system, data projector, and docking bay for mac/pc laptops for powerpoint are available.

Please note that only papers that can be presented in person will be accepted. Unfortunately we are not able to provide any financial assistance, although the conference is free for all to attend.

Key Note Speakers include Professor Jonty Harrison and composer/performer Rajesh Mehta. Guest artist include performer Keith Rowe. Others to be confirmed.

The peer review panel includes:

Dr. John Levack Drever
Lecturer in Composition
Goldsmiths College, University of London

Jonty Harrison, BA DPhil (York),
Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music
University of Birmingham

Rahma Khazam, MA
Writer, Music journalist

Dr. Fiona Maclaren
Lecturer of Photography
Nottingham Trent University

Rajesh Mehta
Composer, Performer

Dr. Ken Neil
Head of the MFA in Critical Social Art Practice at
Gray's School of Art
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Dr. David Reid
Lecturer in Photography
Nottingham Trent University

Dr. Pete Stollery
Composer and Reader in Electroacoustic Music and
Composition
University of Aberdeen

Bill Thompson
Performer, Sound Artist


If you have any questions, please contact us at
soundasart@urbannovember.org


Thank you,

Bill Thompson,
Peter Troxler

SoundAsArt Conference
http://soundasart.urbannovember.org
urbanNovember http://www.urbannovember.org/
University of Aberdeen Music
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/music/
Aberdeen City Council http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/
soundasart list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundasart/

Call for Performances, Workshops, Papers
Time, Sound, and Transcendence: Forging a New Vision for Improvised
Music Pedagogy and Practice

The inaugural conference of the International Society for Improvised Music.

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dec 1-3, 2006

Featured Artists/Speakers: Steve Coleman, Janne Murto, Stephen
Nachmanovitch, Pauline Oliveros

The increasingly eclectic nature of the musical landscape yields
fertile ground for new approaches to improvised music performance and
pedagogy. The term transcendence may help us navigate our way through
this maze of possibilities: transcendence of boundaries between genres
and ethnicities within an emergent trans-stylistic expanse;
transcendence of old pedagogical patterns, where improvisation has been
marginalized or excluded in musical study; transcendence of
distinctions between "high" and "low" art in a more inclusive aesthetic
sensibility; and transcendence as in the heightened states of
consciousness that improvisers have long claimed to be central to their
work. In short, improvisation possesses rich unitive and
transformational qualities that can be harnessed in new musical and
educational models that reflect the creative needs and potential of our
times.

In this inclusive spirit, the International Society for Improvised
Music is happy to announce its first inaugural conference and invite
proposals for performances, workshops, and papers from individuals
involved in all kinds of improvised music. Submissions are welcome
from artists/educators working in tradition-specific realms—e.g. Jazz,
traditional Hindustani, European baroque, Arabic maqam—as well as in
trans-stylistic approaches. Given the dearth of trans-stylistic
approaches to improvisation pedagogy, proposals are welcome for
hands-on workshops that present strategies in this regard.

Deadline for submissions: August 15, 2006
Response from ISIM: September 15, 2006

Prospective presenters must be ISIM members for their proposals to be
considered. To download a proposal form online and to join ISIM visit
www.isimprov.org. To request a proposal form or for more information
contact Teri Adams, ISIM Conference Administrator, teri@isimprov.org 734-277-2690

forwarded by Ben Owen




If you've never heard of software-defined radio, that may be because some might liken it to outlaw pirate-radio; it's a wild-west wireless device which will, in theory, receive or transmit radio data on any frequency (or all frequencies simultaneously) by way of software-based controls. Not exactly the device the FCC's been hoping and praying for since, well, it kind of undermines the whole concept of segmented spectrum and delineated radio devices and services. But that's all the more reason why Wired's profile of one Eric Blossom and one Matt Ettus, is rather astounding. As creators of the Universal Software Radio Peripheral, they've managed to fit a modular SDR system into a $550 USB device, capable in theory of doing anything from receiving (and transmitting) HDTV, to GPS, to EV-DO, to AM radio on their specified frequencies, or others. Nothing new or unusual in and of itself, but the cost of the part, and its built-in integration with run of the mill desktop computers is what's unprecedented. Which is why if you think we'll ever see SDR in America, you're crazy; the government, which makes tens of billions of dollars from spectrum sales, has precisely zero interest in allowing software defined radio to run free. Funny, because as the cost of SDR goes down, it could actually end all our wireless transmission problems once and for all. Imagine an SDR-based cellphone that with one chip does GSM, CDMA, EV-DO, HSDPA, DMB, FLO, DVB-T, Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMax, etc. It's not impossible, you know. In fact, according to Blosson and Ettus, it's apparently quite easy.

From Tom Roe

Seton Hall University calls their legal station "Pirate Radio," though it is not, just a metal-loving college radio station. The station's faculty director may have been the only one "pirating" anything at WSOU, The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports.

WSOU (89.5-FM) faculty director Michael Collazo was charged last Thursday with money laundering and theft by deception by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. In all, he took $550,000 in advertising fees, and sub-carrier rights, Jonathan Casiano's story reports.

Collazo allegedly set up a corporation, Warren Sound Options Unlimited, so that when advertisers wrote checks to WSOU he could cash them. More shockingly, he leased Seton Hall's subfrequencies to Radio Verité, a station serving the Haitian community, and EIES of NJ, which provides radio programming for the blind, and pocketed the money.

Subsidiary Communications Authorization or SCA radio are frequencies attached to FM signals which cannot be heard without special receivers. They are common for reading services for the blind and Muzak, but lately former Haitian microcasters in Brooklyn have been leasing signals after getting busted by the FCC for using traditional FM signals without a license.

Shocking as the theft at the Jersey station may be, it is just a trickle compared to some of the overt payola recently uncovered throughout the radio industry.