AMPB REPORT

AMPB REPORT #101

2011-05-04T08:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

Since the last dispatch (#100), things have been pretty lively. We’ve seen full-scale revolution in the Middle East, a huge earthquake and sunami in Japan, and the near shut-down of the US government. May you live in interesting times, indeed! On the micro-radio scene, supporters gathered in Boston this month for the National Conference on Media Reform. Chuck Rosina gives us the 411 in this edition. Pirate Cat Radio is a shell of its former self while the founder, “Monkey” has left the area. Read all about it! Here in Berkeley, we have recovered from our saboteur and have resumed 24/7 operations. It’s good to be back! Also, we have the latest about how the iPhone keeps track of everywhere you go. All that and the usual music updates. Thanks to everyone who supports our efforts and we’ll be back with another edition when we have something to say.

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

Media Reform Conference Report-Back

by Chuck Rosina

For 3 days in early April, the bi-annual National Conference on Media Reform came to Boston, MA. It brought thousands of media activists together in one location to share ideas, strategies and organize for the future. Sponsored by Freepress.net, the conference featured an impressive array of speakers, workshops, concurrent sessions, activist booths, book signing, and festivities. The conference opened with a live broadcast of Democracy Now. Amy Goodman was in her glory at the conference, chairing panels, delivering a keynote address on Saturday evening, doing independent media interviews and book signings. That woman never stops. She is an inspiration to behold. One of the bigger problems was figuring out which concurrent sessions to attend. There were an average of 10 concurrent sessions at a time, and I wanted to attend at least half of them. Plus I wanted to go around and talk with various vendors at their booths to get up close on what other activists were doing. It was quite a challenge. There were of course lots of media activists, impossible to meet them all. I met up with Pete Tridish of A-info Radio Project. They host the web site Radio4all.net. It was formed in 1996 by grassroots broadcasters to provide means to share radio programs via the internet. The web site allows for community radio producers from around the world to share content. I have posted 2 of the concurrent sessions in full at this web site.

They are:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/50849

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/50956

Boston is fertile ground for activism, and there were many local groups represented. In fact, there was a local host committee to help plan the event and welcome the out of towners. Jason Pramas is editor and publisher of Open Media Boston, an on-line news weekly. He was also a member of the local host committee, and part of the panel discussion in the concurrent session “Building a Media Reform Network in Boston.”

He said that group consisted of grassroots to public media, and even a member of the straight corporate media in town. Jason was impressed that someone from that realm was honestly interested in media reform.

Samantha Clemens, host of a liberal talk show on a commercial AM station also attended that group.

She had high praises for her colleague, Jeff Santos, who started the concept of liberal commercial AM talk radio, called “Revolution Boston.” It is molded after the now defunct Air America for the local market.

I also talked with friend and media cohort, Linda Pinkow. She hosts the public affairs radio show, “What’s Left” on WMBR from the campus of M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA.

Several thousand people all to talk about Media Reform, was very exciting to her. She quoted a comment from Laura Flanders of Grit TV (on the Free Speech TV Dish Network), at one of the concurrent sessions:

“People come here because they want to meet people who look and sound like us. And indeed there were those sort of people here.” Another local group was the MIT Center for Future Civic Media. Regan St. Pierre, is the Community outreach coordinator. She told me they are a joint venture of the MIT Media Lab and the Department for Comparative Media studies. Their mission is to look at civic media, weather on line or texting, or billboards, any medium that strengthens social bonds. “We’re creating media tools and projects that not only allow people to share info, but to do so in a way to inspire them to act on it as well.” Said St. Pierre. The weekend was about media, technology and Democracy. It was about transforming frustrations with the current media system into a vision and action to create a better one. Thousands of people converged on Boston from different backgrounds and experiences because they all believed that an informed citizenry is essential to Democracy, and that better media is key to advancing that cause.

-Chuck U. Rosina

Independent radio producer, Boston, MA.

STATION ALERT

Pescadero radio station moves on

By Julia Scott and Carina Woudenberg

As fledgling Coastside radio station KPDO prepares to sail through its anniversary, its captain has been replaced by his crew -- and they're not looking back.

Station director and chief visionary Daniel Roberts, aka "Monkey Man," abruptly left town for England back in November to attend to some family problems. He left the station without access to its bank account, and he also left behind a lot of questions about the station's relationship with Pirate Cat Radio. The staff of Pirate Cat was shocked to learn that Roberts had sold the cafe to an investor and "transferred" the Pirate Cat Radio stream to Pescadero Public Radio Service, a foundation that operates KPDO, where Roberts was president of the board of directors. Then he suspended the operations of Pirate Cat. "Rather than setting up a new corporation and organize another board of directors, it was easier and cheaper to merge PCR into PPRS," Roberts said in a recent news release. The volunteer staff of Pirate Cat Radio challenged Roberts' right to merge, transfer or suspend the station, and they formed a breakaway group, called the Pirate Cat Radio Collective, which continues to broadcast the station's signature blend of underground arts coverage, eclectic music, in-your-face politics and live guests in Roberts' absence. When he resurrected KPDO last May -- a defunct frequency with a frail signal -- with his vision of creating a truly local community radio station, he made no secret of his plans to broadcast much of Pirate Cat's musical content on the air at KPDO. KPDO founder Maggie Celeste Worden claims Roberts never effectuated any "transfer." "There's no legal way for KPDO to own Pirate Cat," Worden said. "Pirate Cat has a separate account they pay into. We do not co-mingle funds." Roberts' lawyer, Michael Couzens, said there had been an attempt to combine the two radio operations, but it never transpired. "In my view, that transfer was null and void," he said. Roberts did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment. The station's staff recently took control of its operations in a similar vein to the Pirate Cat Radio Collective, albeit with Roberts' tacit consent. After Roberts signed a waiver, the board of the Pescadero Public Radio Service shifted him to vice president. Worden, who acquired the station's FCC license in 2003, is assuming her original position as president. Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian, a KPDO DJ who has also been operating as station manager in Roberts' absence, is assuming the role of secretary. Catherine Peery, host of the station's weekly "Pescadero Pesos" segment, is now treasurer. The station also opened a new bank account since the old one was solely controlled by Roberts, and they couldn't access it. Now focused firmly on its future, KPDO is planning a major fundraising campaign to coincide with a celebration of its anniversary on May 7. Perry said the station sits comfortably "in the black" on a monthly income of $1,500 -- mostly from local businesses that supply underwriting and $25 in monthly dues from each volunteer DJ. In the long term, Worden would like to raise $25,000 in operating expenses and hire one or two staff members. The station is also working to expand its reach. It is in talks to buy a radio frequency down the coast in Boulder Creek, which could open up the airwaves in Santa Cruz. Worden is holding discussions with the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District about moving KPDO into Pescadero High School, which would allow the station to set up a separate production studio geared toward teaching high school students all aspects of radio. KPDO already has several student DJs as young as 16. Worden would like students from local community colleges to mentor the high school kids. The station will give them a creative outlet, teach them how to write, and instill a sense of pride, she said.

"The vision is to allow the kids who live in a strangely isolated rural environment, in the midst of a major metropolitan area, to recognize they are not isolated as it seems," she said.

iPhone Tracking Only Tip Of Security Iceberg

By Thomas Claburn InformationWeek

Revelations that the iPhone stores data about where users have been on the device and on the computer used to sync the iPhone turn out to be less revelatory than claimed. Alex Levinson, a senior engineer at Katana Forensics and the developer of a leading iOS forensics application, says that the purported discovery put forward at the Where 2.0 conference on Wednesday has been known for months. Levinson himself contributed to a book--iOS Forensic Analysis for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, published in December, 2010--that details the database used to store location data on the iPhone and in iTunes. We spoke with Chris Sather, Product Management for Network Defense at McAfee about McAfee's next generation firewalls that analyze relationships and not protocols. Yet, if the privacy risk presented by the presence of this data on iPhones and in iPhone database backups may be less than the researchers reporting the issue this week have suggested, it's nonetheless prompting concern among regulators and businesspeople. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) has penned a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs seeking clarification on how iPhone location data is handled, why the data is not encrypted, and whether Apple's handling of this data is permissible under the terms of its privacy policy. Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has sent a similar letter to Jobs, asking for an answer by May 12--this despite the fact that Apple already explained its location data policy to Markey in a letter sent last July. And Germany's Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection has expressed interest in clarifications from Apple, according to Reuters. Apple has legal cover for its actions under its iPhone 4 software license agreement, which states, "Apple and its partners and licensees may transmit, collect, maintain, process and use your location data, including the real-time geographic location of your iPhone, and location search queries." Nonetheless, the company is likely to be forced to change its ways and/or provide a more specific explanation for keeping location data in unencrypted form on iPhones and iPhone database backups, if only because maintaining this information about minors may be legally risky. Apple has not responded to requests for comment. Though queries from regulators sound like political opportunism more than anything else, Apple's data storage scheme deserves a closer look. For companies that issue iPhones or iPads to their employees, or that allow employees to use such devices to conduct business, the issue goes beyond Apple's failure to provide specific notification about how and where its software stores unencrypted location data. The issue is that the iPhone, just like other mobile devices, isn't all that secure. For example, security firm Zscaler security researcher Michael Sutton on Thursday revealed that JotNot Scanner Pro, an iOS application, stores passwords for other applications unprotected in the iTunes backup database. In a blog post, Sutton explains, "Unfortunately, the authentication credentials stored for Evernote, Google Docs, Apple's iDisk and any WebDav enabled server are stored in plain text. Therefore, anyone that gained access to this backup file, would then have your username/password for these services." Mobile devices present a unique security challenge, particularly because they are often simultaneously consumer and business devices. It's not an insurmountable challenge, however. Frank Kenney, VP of global strategy for Ipswitch, a maker of network security software, says that his experience with companies that implement iPhones leads him to believe that access to users' location data is pretty well covered when organizations lock down computers carefully.

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #101

(download from radio4all.net or archive.org)

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/51367

State Run Radio-Lupe Fiasco

Desencabulada-Luísa Maita

Quick Money-Jahdan Blakkamoore

The Model-Seu Jorge And Almaz

Daddy Loves You-Dead Prez

I want the one I can't have-Janice Whaley

Paddy's Got A Brand New Reel-Black 47

Abstract Relations-Dream Aria

Ahoulaguine Akaline-Bombino

Lágrimas mexicanas-Vinicius Cantuária/Bill Frisell

Creep-Scala & Kolacny Brothers

Esperanza-Salsa Celtica

Ana Maria-Pacifika

Wherever You Are-Steve Krause

Every Day Is Yours To Win-R.E.M.

Detroit City-Macy Blackman & The Mighty Fines

Menina Moça-Dusko Goykovich

The Irish Rover-The High Kings

One Tribe-The Black Eyed Peas

Punky Reggae Party-Bob Marley

RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING:4/23/2011

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS BOSSA NOVA AROUND THE WORLD PUTUMAYO

2 LAGRIMAS MEXICANAS - CANTUARIA/FRISELL EONE MUSIC

3 THE EXCITEMENT EXENE CERVENKA BLOODSHOT

4 LIVE FOREVER BOB MARLEY ISLAND

5 THE SOUND OF SUNSHINE MICHAEL FRANTI BOO BOO WAX

6 THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY LOREENA MCKENNITT QR

7 ALMAZ SEU JORGE AND ALMAZ NOW-AGAIN

8 THE SMITHS PROJECT JANICE WHALEY THE SMITHS PROJECT

9 YEAHWON YEAHWON SHIN ARTISTSHARE

10 WOMAN'S WORLD VARIOUS WOMEN SIX DEGREES

11 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS YOGA VARIOUS ARTISTS PUTUMAYO

12 LERO LERO LUISA MAITA CUMBANCHA

13 SONGS FOR JAPAN VARIOUS ARTISTS UNIVERSAL

14 KISS EACH OTHER CLEAN IRON AND WINE WARNER BROS

15 SUNDOWNER EDDIE SPAGHETTI BLOODSHOT

16 A FUNKY CEILE BLACK 47 BLACK 47 RECORDS

17 LOUD FAST RULES THE STIMULATORS ROIR

18 MEMORY LANE THE HIGH KINGS EMI

19 LIVE LIKE YOU WANNA LIVE GREENSKEEPERS OM

20 SOMETHING GOOD CHARMAINE CLAMOR FREEHAM

21 TWIST-O-LETTZ HOLMSTROM/LOGAN/HODGES MOCOMBO

22 LONELY AVENUE BEN FOLDS FIVE NONESUCH

23 BROKE DOWN BEAUTIFUL STEVE KRAUSE (SELF-PRODUCED)

24 AGADEZ BOMBINO CUMBANCHA

25 PROVENANCE MAYA BEISER INNOVA

26 COMMITMENT SEAL REPRISE

27 DEATH OF A DECADE HA HA TONKA BLOODSHOT

28 COLLAPSE INTO NOW R.E.M. WARNER BROS

29 DON'T YOU JUST KNOW IT MACY BLACKMAN MAMARU

30 SUITE KEVIN BURKE/CAL SCOTT LOFTUS

31 HAVEST THE BEAST BAD COP ROIR

32 ANOTHER APRIL DAY MARIE-THERESE McCARTIN MTM RECORDS

33 SKY POINTING GARRETT WALL BAND COSMIC TRIGGER

34 SOLDIER 2 SOLDIER DEAD PREZ REAL TALK ENT.

35 FIRST MELANCHOLY... RICK CUTLER NEW DUDE

36 MY LAND ORLA FALLON ELVATION

37 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS RUMBA MAMBO CHA CHA CHA PUTUMAYO

38 ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN CAROL EMANUEL ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN

39 FALLEN ANGEL DREAM ARIA (SELF-PRODUCED)

40 ROSLER'S RECORDING BOOTH VARIOUS ARTISTS FINGERS CROSSED

AMPB REPORT

ASSOCIATION OF MICRO-POWER BROADCASTERS

PMB 22, 2018 SHATTUCK AVE.BERKELEY, CA 94704

(510) 525-2704

E-MAIL: ampb@att.net

BLOG: www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

youtube channel: CAPTAINFRED999

latest videos: Berkeley Broadway Singers live at El Cerrito High School

AMPB REPORT #97

2010-07-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

Things in the world pirate radio get interesting whenever the FCC goes on one of their enforcement binges. Free Radio Santa Cruz, Berkeley Liberation Radio, FCCFree Radio and many other stations have recently received letters from the authorities. The meek will comply, the stubborn will forge on. They do their job and we do ours. In these times, the need for micro-power radio is very important to us all. Perhaps some day we will get our freedom of speech restored and the media conglomerates will fade into obscurity. Until that day, we will still be “pirates”.

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

Santa Cruz Pirate Radio Walks Plank ... Again

By CURTIS CARTIER

In a secret broadcasting studio somewhere in Santa Cruz, a ponytailed 62-year-old DJ is speaking crisply into a large, spongy microphone. “That was ‘Heart Full of Soul’ by the Yardbirds,1965, and before that ‘Indifference’ by Moby Grape,” he says. “I’m Uncle Dennis right here at Free Radio Santa Cruz, 101.1 FM and triple-w dot freak radio dot org.” Around him, the walls are covered in faded layers of posters and scribbled graffiti featuring images of the Brown Berets and Mumia Abu-Jamal and phrases like “Is this freedom?” and “Who laughs last?” Above an old Dell computer is a printed, single-sided piece of white paper with a banner reading, “FRSC Transmitter Evicted!” It’s not the first time the anonymous DJs and staff of Free Radio Santa Cruz have been told they’ll need to find a new home for the station’s transmission antenna. As an unlicensed (and therefore illegal) “pirate radio” station, FRSC all but expects that every few years, pressure from the FCC will spook either the tenants or the landlord of whatever property the big four-pronged transmitter is resident at for the moment, and the station will have to find a new set of hosts willing to defy the federal government. “Basically, we got a call saying the landlord had received a notice from the FCC saying a illegal transmitter was found and that he would be fined if he didn’t get rid of it,” explains Uncle Dennis, a veteran FRSC DJ and the current host of “From the Cream to the Dregs.” “This is a typical tactic they use to deal with unlicensed broadcasters.” It’s not a particularly successful tactic from the FCC’s perspective. In the 15 years since FRSC broadcast its first show from the bedroom of local activist Kim Argula, the transmitter, studio equipment or both have been forced to move seven times, according to station co-founder Skidmark Bob. Except for a month-long hiatus following a 2004 raid in which U.S. Department of Justice agents confiscated all the equipment in the studio, the station has managed to keep broadcasting nearly uninterrupted. The staff has also learned to keep its studio gear in one location and its transmitter in another, so if DOJ agents show up again at the signal source, they’ll find only an antenna, not a costly soundboard and microphone system. At the FCC, pirate radio stations are dealt with regularly, although full-scale raids like the 2004 incident are rare. One man who knows the routine of fighting the FCC better than perhaps any is Stephen Dunifer. The founder of Free Radio Berkeley and the man sometimes described as the “Godfather of Pirate Radio,” Dunifer was part of two landmark court cases in 1995 and 1997 in which U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken found that fines levied by the FCC against him for broadcasting without a license were unconstitutional. Besides vehemently denouncing the FCC’s action against FRSC he offers some advice to the unlicensed broadcasters in Santa Cruz and anyone who might be willing to mount an illegal transmitter in the backyard. “You need to understand that the FCC is full of shit,” he says. “They will target the landlords with letters, but a landlord is not criminally or civilly responsible for their tenants. They just need to find a landlord who is willing to tell the FCC to kiss their Bill of Rights.”

San Francisco’s Newest Radio Pirate: Radio Valencia

by Jennifer Waits

Of course I’m biased, but San Francisco seems to have always been ground zero for radio innovators, back from the early days of pioneering technologists, to the freeform FM era, to punk and new wave stalwarts in college and commercial radio in the 1980s, to pirate radio champions like Free Radio Berkeley in the 1990s, to the web radio entrepreneurs of the 2000s and beyond. Although the lure of Internet-only radio is turning the focus away from terrestrial radio for many; there are compelling reasons why radio enthusiasts continue to launch licensed and unlicensed AM and FM stations in 2010. In San Francisco, a brand new unlicensed community radio station, Radio Valencia, is about to get off the ground, with a hoped-for launch date of early July. Housed in artist/musician/activist/former San Francisco mayoral candidate Chicken John’s warehouse “Chez Poulet” in the Mission District, it’s being envisioned as not only an underground radio station, but also as part of a larger non-profit community resource. When I visited the station last Thursday, I got to see the beginning stages of the studio that had been built by Chicken John in a week’s time. One of the founding members of the station, John Hell, talked to me about the collective vision for Radio Valencia and how it will be different from his numerous other radio endeavors. Ironically, it was just about a year ago that John Hell chatted with me about his then-new radio project, FCCFree Radio. Although enthusiastic about the possibilities of that particular station at the time, John Hell recently parted ways with FCCFree Radio after having philosophical differences with the station owner. Because of his strong passion for and commitment to radio, it was clear that it wouldn’t be long before he landed at another radio start-up. John Hell is no stranger to radio, having worked at college stations KCSM and KFJC, pirate stations San Francisco Liberation Radio, Pirate Cat Radio, and FCCFree Radio, as well as on the crew that founded the LPFM station Radio Free Burning Man that operated out in the Nevada desert during the annual arts festival from 1994 to 2008. When John Hell was approached by his long-time friend Chicken John, the initial idea was to start up an Internet radio station. As they discussed things further, the concept for Radio Valencia developed even more and the hope is that eventually it will be a community center with an open-door policy and a full schedule of events. Chicken John, John Hell, and other early participants presented the idea of this new station to other like-minded folks in their social networks and reached out to former college and pirate radio DJs and friends with deep connections in various arts and culture scenes in San Francisco. John Hell said that he’s been amazed by the response and told me that he already has 30 DJs committed to hosting a total of 24 different shows at Radio Valencia. When I asked him how this station will be different from others in the area, he said that it will be much more community-based, community-oriented, and community-run with “no central leadership.” He pointed out that they will not have mandatory meetings and will shy away from having too many rules at the station. Although Radio Valencia will officially be Internet-only, they are “expecting” to also broadcast at 89.9FM in San Francisco, although they won’t be hosting that signal themselves. With so many people listening to radio online, I asked John Hell why it was important for Radio Valencia to be on FM as well. He said, “radio is only really radio when it’s terrestrial radio.” He pointed out that a lot of people can’t afford high speed Internet connections, so for them terrestrial radio is crucial, saying, “Radio is vital for a community.” John Hell said that unfortunately the “LPFM Act made it very hard for urban locations to get a license,” adding that big broadcast groups have lobbied hard to “push out low power stations” in their areas. Although he’s not personally up for the paperwork, he said, “I would be fine if we filed for a LPFM.” He added that in the absence of that, “I believe that the air does belong to the people and the people who really deserve the opportunity to do radio” aren’t able to get access. Although he wasn’t sure how many people might wander in off the street into Radio Valencia, John Hell was excited about the possibilities.

Rinse FM awarded broadcasting license

Sean Michaels

London's biggest "pirate" radio station is going legit. Rinse FM has been awarded an FM broadcasting licence, giving it further opportunity to bring dubstep, UK funky and other new urban sounds into the mainstream. Founded in 1994, Rinse FM played a pivotal role in introducing London listeners to grime, garage and other homegrown sounds, when mainstream radio was still mostly concerned with Take That and S Club 7. More recently, Rinse FM has showcased dubstep producers such as Kode9 and Plastician. Initially an unlicensed radio broadcaster, Rinse has been available as an online stream since 2006. Rinse FM hasn't always had a satisfactory relationship with Ofcom, the body that oversees radio licensing. In 2005, regulators cracked down on illegal broadcasters, disconnecting one of the station's transmitters and landing DJ Slimzee with an Asbo. The station's fans have included the late BBC DJ John Peel, EMI Publishing's Guy Moot, and Dizzee Rascal, who called Rinse FM "inspirational and influential". Feargal Sharkey, CEO of industry lobbyists UK Music, praised Ofcom's decision. "I am hugely impressed with Rinse FM and their groundbreaking work," he said. "With a community licence in place, we believe the station can take that role forward – engaging with a young, dynamic audience and nurturing the next generation of inner-city talent." Rinse has been petitioning for an FM licence since 2007, organising an international petition. According to Spoonfed, the push for legitimacy may have also affected the station's music programming, moving toward to the "more radio-friendly" genre of UK funky. But Rinse FM has no intention to dilute its music. "The [FM] licence will allow us to continue our mission," said a spokesperson, "broadcasting in the pirate format that we and our listeners know and love."

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

Avandia Heart Risks Buried by Drug Company: Report

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diabetes/articles/2010/07/13/avandia-heart-risks-buried-by-drug-company-report.html

RIAA Accounting: Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money From Album Sales

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml

RIAA forks out $64 million to catch music pirates, recovers just $1.3 million in 3 years

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/07/14/riaa-forks-out-64-million-to-catch-music-pirates-recovers-just-1-million/

What’s Wrong With Music Biz, per Ultimate Insider

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/tom-silverman-proposes-radically-transparent-music-business/

Double whammy: The music tax based on deep packet inspection

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/14/prs_music_levy_dpi/

Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages Are the Rich

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/business/economy/09rich.html

Arlo Guthrie Endorses Ron Paul

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/01/29/group-w-grad-endorses-ron-paul/

FCCFree Radio goes quiet

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/07/06/fccfree-radio-pirates-no-more/

A copyright ruling no one can like

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20010428-261.html

How our laws in California are really made

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15452125?nclick_check=1

FCC Issues $10,000 Fine to Florida Pirate

http://www.radioworld.com/article/103328

Over 800 thousand security workers?

http://www.topsecretamerica.com

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #97

(download from archive.org or radio4all.net)

Glitter Freeze - Gorillaz

Africa - K'naan with Amadou & Mariam

Malagasy Shock - Ozomatli

Brasil Em Brasa - Roge

Contact - Telepath

Aloha Hokeo - Kupaoa

Fiesta en el barrio - Heriberto Gonazalez

Nkosi - Blk Sonshine

Sonata for Violin and Turntables, Part 1 - Daniel Bernard Roumain

Long Hard Road - Sade

On Coming from a Broken Home, Pt. 2 - Gil Scott-Heron

I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama - Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Ladyfingers - Charbel Rouhana

Salamalama Aby - Razia

Panacea for the Poison - Flobots

Galway Girl - The Elders

Pariwo - Tony Allen

Don't Shoot (I'm A Man) - Devo

Don't Pull Me Over - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Sinister Kid - The Black Keys

Cedar Smoke - Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra

AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING: 7/17/10

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 SECRET AGENT TONY ALLEN WORLD CIRCUIT

2 PLASTIC BEACH GORILLAZ EMI

3 RISE & SHINE SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALL STARS CUMBANCHA

4 BROTHERS THE BLACK KEYS NONESUCH

5 THAT'S ALL I NEED ANDRE WILLIAMS BLOODSHOT

6 SCRATCH MY BACK PETER GABRIEL REAL WORLD

7 SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY DEVO WARNER BROS.

8 ROUGH GUIDE TO WORLD MUSIC FOR CHILDREN WORLD MUSIC NET

9 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS SOUTH AFRICA PUTUMAYO

10 AL DOBLAR SL ESQUINA TITO GONZALEZ (SELF PRODUCED)

11 MOJO TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS REPRISE

12 PETALS ON THE PATH OTTMAR LIEBERT SPIRAL SUBWAVE

13 POWER UP THE PLANET VARIOUS ARTISTS PLANETWIZE

14 FIRE AWAY OZOMATLI MERCER STREET

15 KARAM KIMI DJABATE CUMBANCHA

16 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ARABIC LOUNGE WORLD MUSIC NET

17 WOODBOX BEATS & BALLADRY D. B. ROUMAIN THIRSTY EAR

18 BURN AND RISE MAD SIN PEOPLE LIKE YOU

19 VOCABULARIES BOBBY MCFERRIN UNIVERSAL

20 ONE STEP AHEAD WOODLEG ODD WOODLEG ODD

21 WE WALK THE ROAD ROBERT RANDOLPH WARNER BROS.

22 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS LATIN PARTY PUTUMAYO

23 ARVO PART - PORTRAIT ANGELE DUBEAU ANALEKTA

24 SEA OF COWARDS THE DEAD WEATHER THIRD MAN

25 SUITE KEVIN BURKE/CAL SCOTT LOFTUS

26 LERO LERO LUISA MAITA CUMBANCHA

27 SOLDIER OF LOVE SADE SONY

28 ON APPROACH EVEREST VAPOR

29 LIVE SEARSON (SELF PRODUCED)

30 I'M NEW HERE GIL SCOTT-HERON XL

31 LIFE GOES ON THE ADICTS PEOPLE LIKE YOU

32 COMING BACK FOR YOU PRESSURE RYMSHOT

33 30 YEARS OUTSIDE THE BOX YO-YO MA SONY

34 SURVIVAL STORY FLOBOTS UNIVERSAL

35 HANK WILLIAMS DIED... JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES (INDY)

36 TRIBUTE TO A REGGAE LEGEND VARIOUS ARTISTS PUTUMAYO

37 REVELATION VALERIE MILOT ANALEKTA

38 ZEBU NATION RAZIA CUMBANCHA

39 BONNY PRINCE BARLEY BARLEYJUICE RYF RECORDS

40 PROVENANCE MAYA BEISER INNOVA

AMPB REPORT

a publication by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters

phone: (510) 525-2704

snail mail:

PMB 22

2018 Shattuck Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94704

email: ampb@att.net

youtube channel: CAPTAINFRED999

blog: www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

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AMPB REPORT #96

2010-05-20T06:55:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

This month brings us one of the biggest crimes against nature ever commited, and the effects of the oil spill in the gulf of mexico will be felt for a very long time. Even the corporate shills in the mainstream media won’t be able to cover this up. Democracy Now! has done some very good reports on this situation. Also, check out the youtube link in this edition for the visual record. It really gives you an idea of the scope of this mess. Thanks to Joe Bryak for the link as well as many others he has sent my way. The micro-radio scene is lively as ever, and it just shows you can’t keep a good pirate down. Check out the articles on Pirate Cat Radio and Free Radio Santa Cruz in this edition. Spain is apparently trying to clean up it’s airwaves, but our pirate dj on the scene, Iris DJ, is not expecting change soon. So, if you want to know “why” this is all still happening here in the 21st century, check out “Confessions of a Radio Pirate”, or even better, check out Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. The Berkeley station is still alive and well. We have a large number of young people joining the crew and the sounds are amazing! Tune in to 104..1 FM when you’re in the area, or you can listen anywhere by directing your web browser to http://www.berkeleyliberationradio.net and click on the link that says “stream”.

- Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

STATION ALERT

Monkey Time

Ben Fong-Torres

After 13 years as the operator of a pirate radio station out of the Mission, Daniel Roberts, who changed his legal name to "Monkey," has gone legit. Since last spring, the 29-year-old Roberts has been fighting a $10,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission for allegedly broadcasting his Pirate Cat Radio on the FM band without a valid license. Now he's taken the reins of KPDO, a moribund community station in Pescadero (San Mateo County). The signal has been licensed since 2006, but its founder, Celeste Worden, an educator, has moved out of town, leaving the station on autopilot. Roberts, who'd long wanted to acquire a license for Pirate Cat, heard about the largely deserted signal late last year and presented a program plan to Worden, emphasizing public service, local news and education. "She called me one morning at 6," said Roberts, "and said she'd read her tarot cards, and said, 'I'm gonna give you the station.' " Roberts has built a small studio ("all from recycled materials"), put together a DJ staff (half of them students from Pescadero High School) and was scheduled to hit the air May 8. The station is a 100-watter for now, reaching north only as far as San Gregorio. But it's online as well, at piratecatradio.com.

Monkey now splits his time between Pescadero and San Francisco's Pirate Cat Radio Cafe on 21st Street, where a volunteer staff serves a menu of vegan doughnuts and unique lattes (including a delish maple-bacon concoction that drew the attention of Anthony Bourdain and his TV show, "No Reservations"). They also take turns as DJs, spinning wildly eclectic music, with plenty of indie stuff, and offering news and commentary out of an adjacent control room. Because of the FCC action, Pirate Cat Radio airs only online and via podcasting. But, Roberts claims, the station's Internet site draws more than a million hits a month.

Spain Planning a Pirate Radio Crackdown

by Paul Riismandel

For Americans it may be hard to believe that Spain only this year passed a law that gives a new Spanish central radio authority the ability to pursue and shut down unlicensed radio broadcasters. Back in January the Spanish radio industry group AERC complained that 3000 pirate stations are operating in the country and need to be shut down. For its part the government recently claimed to have opened 109 cases against pirate operators since 2007. With the recently passed law the secretary of the Media of the Generalitat says the job will become easier. I know relatively little about radio broadcasting in Spain, although I have often heard that the radio dial is more chaotic than in other European countries. Given these kinds of stats I seriously doubt that the Spanish government is likely to make much of a dent in the country’s number of unlicensed stations. The FCC has been around for seventy-six years and I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t at least 3000 pirate stations operating in the US right now. At best the Commission does a pretty good job of keeping unlicensed operators more underground and less organized by playing a good game of cat and mouse. I reckon Spain has quite a way to go before it can even hope to have that level of success.

Santa Cruz still radio-active

From: skidmarkbob

Hey Captain Fred and AMPB. Skidmark here from sunny Santa Cruz where Free Radio Santa Cruz 101fm www.freakradio.org has just passed it's 15th year of unlicensed broadcast. We were inspired to start the station by the likes of Free Radio Berkeley and brave radio warriors like Mbanna Kantako of Human Rights Radio. I've seen alot of changes over the past 15 years and still it continues to amaze me how long it has existed. FRSC continues to operate as a Dj run

collective where programmers who attend meetings decide the programming, pay dues and debate and discuss into the night issues that come and up some can be very contentious and personal and that's one of the things that amazes me to no end how the station has lasted as long as it has. I guess the biggest change I can think of is the increase of Spanish language programs added to the schedule there are now 2 hours of mostly Pacifica Spanish language programs every weekday 10am-12noon. I recently have returned to the station after a hiatus and now do a weekly 3 hour program featuring new and not yet released music also an Al Jazeera English news block and some local news and issues and a Classic rock drive time set to end the show so tune in every Tuesday 3-5pm I also archive my

programs on my blog where you can stream or download the show http://popdefectradio.blogspot.com/

That's about it for now we're keepin it alive and on the air here in Santa Cruz. Cheers, Skidmark Bob

Confessions of a Radio Pirate

Electronic music, as we've lamented time and time again in these pages, is nowhere on the radio spectrum in Chicago. Outside of a record here and there, it hasn't been for years. And while we're stating the obvious, let's add that it ain't coming back any time soon. In fact, there's just about nothing on the radio for people interested in something more than Auto-Tuned pop, paleolithic rock and rabid political talk. This isn't unique to Chicago. Due to the mega-mergers of the last 15 years, it's true everywhere in the United States. The need for a multi-million dollar license hasn't stopped some broadcasters from taking to the airwaves. From the first citizen operators at the dawn of the 20th century to Wolfman Jack and the "border blasters" just across the Rio Grande, unlicensed broadcasting has played a major role in pushing music to the masses in America. It's been even more crucial in other countries. And some are still out there, with all of the romance and mystique of a Rob Roy or Sir Francis Drake on the high seas. This is an excerpt from a lengthy talk with a pirate radio broadcaster who, for understandable reasons, would prefer to remain anonymous for now. His name is not important; what is important is that he's been broadcasting on the West Coast from a homemade radio rig for more than a year. He's faced the agents of the FCC and spent from his own wallet just to broadcast his favorite independent music to his local community.

But with the risks have come rewards. The payoff isn't monetary. Though some of Europe's pirate stations have gone legit, it will never earn him a dime. But it keeps his community energized, informed, and exposes them to some great music.

First, why pirate radio when you could do it legitimately over the internet?

Audience and context. The audience on terrestrial radio is potentially enormous even with a very low power station. You don't need special equipment to listen to the radio. People just need to know the time and the frequency and need to be within so many miles. They can be doing anything they want and can have a huge system or a tiny car radio to listen. And they know I'm down the block, not at a studio in New York.

The airwaves belong to everyone and it was a political decision four or five generations ago to dice it up and sell it off to the highest bidder. This decision had nothing to do with me nor with the majority of citizens - polls have shown consistent support for community-based, low-power radio.

Aren't you running the risk of serious consequences from the government?

I've been busted three times in less than two years. I've heard of stations that use remote locations with recorded music but nobody seems to be able to connect any names to them, so I believe they're just urban legends (pirate radio has a lot of urban legends, which is one of the things that draw us to it). John Draper ("Cap'n Crunch", the very first hacker) ran a pirate radio station out of a van high in the hills above San Francisco, at an observatory. British broadcasters in the rave scene used microwave beams to broadcast to a remote transmitter. That stuff is way beyond me. The reality is that if you broadcast on anything like a regular schedule, in a place where people can hear it, you are going to get caught.

We've discovered a couple of loopholes which is the main reason I'd prefer to remain anonymous in this interview. I expect the FCC to look for our antenna but I don't want to sound like I'm taunting them. The letter of the law is that once they find you, the FCC must send written notice that you are violating the law and a demand that you cease. There are reports they'll try to confiscate your equipment on the spot but it's never gotten that far with us, anyway. I received the first letter about a month into broadcasting and I crapped my pants. I thought I was going to jail. But I'm not the only one involved in our station and someone suggested we should move it to her place. We did. The new location actually improved reception. A month later, the FCC came calling again, sent a written letter notifying my friend that she was violating the law. We moved again. We're now on our seventh location and it's never gone further than receiving a warning letter. Lucky? I have no idea. I'm not a lawyer and this is illegal, and people better acknowledge that risk before they get into this. However, Dave Conway from Little Radio in Los Angeles has written that they encountered this loophole too when they were broadcasting. For the record, we've been "notified" 3 times in 14 months. I repeat: I'm not a lawyer. Whatever risks I take are my own. There are stories of people receiving permanent injunctions. I still might get one. But we have a large team and we feel comfortable playing cat and mouse for the time being.

What does your rig look like? Did you build it or buy it?

We've needed to tailor our rig to local conditions at each broadcasting location. Building the broadcasting rig was my biggest stumbling block - I wanted to do this years before I did. Actually, it's VERY easy. It's NOT expensive, or at least not unreasonably so. You WILL have to do some shopping as few people have a broadcast transmitter or amp lying around, but the equipment is easy to find on the market. The most important thing about a station is reception. The higher you are, the better. There's a reason why radio transmitters are on skyscrapers in major cities. If there are any obstacles, they'll block your reception. So first, before you buy anything, you need a really good location (and as the FCC starts hunting you, more than one). At the heart of my rig is a simple MacBook Pro laptop. I play MP3s with iTunes. A mixer enables us to switch to a Technics 1200 MK2 for vinyl and the microphone. It depends on your style of music, if it's mostly on MP3 or if you want to take the time to rip CDs. To take the mystique out of it, I can break down our rig into three sections:

The Media Players: This is your laptop, CD player, turntables, microphone. This is the fun stuff that everyone that loves music has. You don't need special connections.

The Enablers: You need a mixer even if you're broadcasting from a laptop. As with everything: the cheaper and lighter, the better. The mixer plugs into a compressor limiter. This is great for making a professional broadcast. Without it, you'll sound like a pair of kids talking on walkie talkies.

The Broadcasters: Your compressor feeds into the transmitter, which feeds into the antenna. The power of your signal depends a lot on the location of your antenna. If you score a nice 30 watt micro-transmitter, you're probably all set. If you have a lower watt transmitter, then you can use a 5/7 watt amp to boost the signal. You can begin with something as tiny as a 1 watt transmitter and use the amp to boost it. I started with the cheapest equipment possible and upgraded as I learned. The transmitter is fed by a length of co-ax cable to the antenna. We use a 5/8-wave vertical antenna. They're a couple of hundred bucks new. The longer your antenna, the better your signal. The higher your antenna, the better the signal. The higher your elevation, the better the signal. Long cables will sometimes diffuse the signal, so I try to keep the transmitter as close as possible to the antenna and run less cable. For your frequency, you want something that will minimize the spillover of your signal bleeding into licensed stations but also their signal spilling over into yours. Most free radio stations that I know about broadcast in the high 80s. 88 to 92 MHz FM is the space reserved for "non-commercial radio" which is NPR and churches. They'll drop a dime on you as quickly as anyone, but that's where most free radio stations I've heard of rest.

I asked this in the beginning, but... why take the risk?

The music that I like isn't broadcast on the radio. I've read a lot about the history of radio since I started this. In the "old days" there were so many choices. Even if they were mostly bad, they weren't all bad. Today it's all bad. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a disaster for radio as it allowed a handful of companies to gobble up every station out there and concentrated the entire broadcasting dial between five or six very powerful entities. They ate so many stations and now they're all going bankrupt because nobody likes it. Who loves a radio station anymore? It's background noise. If you are in a community that isn't being served by what's on radio - if you live anywhere in the US and like anything other than right-wing rage and commercial music, then this applies to you - you can do this. You don't have to pay for XM/Sirius to hear your favorite local artist. I think people can take this into their own hands and make a movement. Though not affiliated, the subject of this article recommends anyone interested in more details about free radio to visit the website of what is probably the longest running free radio station in the United States, Free Radio Berkeley, at freeradio.org.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

Favorite download sites

(courtesy of Skidmark Bob)

http://music.is-amazing.com/

http://bolachas.org/

http://www.alternative2punk.net/

http://reloda.tk/

http://ipb.quicksilverscreen.com/

index.php?showforum=96

http://thebox.bz/browse.php

http://www.katzforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=79

India's copyright bill gets it right

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/22/indias-copyright-bil.html

video of spill/gusher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8JHSAVYT0&feature=player_embedded

A Cheap, Portable Wound-Healing Device

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24837/page1/

FCC Adviser Advocates State-run Propaganda to Counter Alternative Media

http://www.infowars.com/fcc-adviser-advocates-state-run-propaganda-megaphone-to-counter-alternative-media/

“We Were Told to Just Shoot People, and the Officers Would Take Care of Us”

http://www.truthout.org/iraq-war-vet-we-were-told-just-shoot-people-and-officers-would-take-care-us58378

How to Create a Diabetes Plague

http://www.yourownhealthandfitness.org/blogs/2010/05/04/how-to-create-a-diabetes-plague/

Is the FCC's National Broadband Plan a Threat to Homeland Security?

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/is-the-fccs-national-broadband-plan-a-threat-to-homeland-securi/19427101/

Sex, Lies and Oil Spills

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/sex-lies-and-oil-spills_b_564163.html

Whose Revolution is this?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033003252.html

A THOUGHT FOR MOTHER'S DAY

http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/state-of-the-worlds-mothers-report/

Slick Operator: The BP I've known too well

http://www.truthout.org/slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well59178

Take the time to watch this video: http://www.miauk.com/

Plastic from Algae: The First Step Toward a Fish-Friendly Gyre?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/biofuel/algae-to-plastic?src=rss

Google admits Street View cars collected Wi-Fi data

http://www.macworld.com/article/151297/2010/05/google_privacy.html

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #96

(download from radio4all.net or archive.org)

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/42793

http://www.archive.org/details/CaptainFredsWorldCruise96Part1

http://www.archive.org/details/CaptainFredsWorldCruise96Part2

Internacional - Brazilian Girls

Born Free - M.I.A.

Superfast Jellyfish - Gorillaz

El Relampago - The Chieftains

Mifohaza - Razia Said

Peligro - Manu Chao

Singapore - Tom Waits

Cumbia Del Caribe - Fruko & Orquesta

Tamagbondorsu - Refugee All-Stars

Spaceships Over Haiti - Daniel Bernard Roumain

Weekend Irish - Barleyjuice

Say Ladeo - Bobby McFerrin

It's Only Paper - Ozomatli

Measure By Measure - DJ Spooky

Running - Gil Scott-Heron

The Moon and the Sky - Sade

Droub Al Lil - Azzddine

Good Soldier - Flobots

21 Guns - American Idiot Cast

Walk Of Shame - Woodleg Odd

RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 15, 2010

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 PLASTIC BEACH GORILLAZ EMI

2 ZEBU NATION RAZIA CUMBANCHA

3 POWER UP THE PLANET VARIOUS ARTISTS PLANETWIZE

4 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ARABIC LOUNGE WORLD MUSIC NET

5 GOD'S FAVORITE BAND ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS YELLOW DOG

6 SURVIVAL STORY FLOBOTS UNIVERSAL

7 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS LATIN PARTY PUTUMAYO

8 I'M NEW HERE GIL SCOTT-HERON XL

9 VOCABULARIES BOBBY MCFERRIN UNIVERSAL

10 FIRE AWAY OZOMATLI MERCER STREET

11 30 YEARS OUTSIDE THE BOX YO-YO MA SONY

12 IMAGINARY TELEVISION GRAHAM PARKER BLOODSHOT

13 GLITTER AND DOOM LIVE TOM WAITS ANTI

14 WOODBOX BEATS & BALLADRY D. B. ROUMAIN THIRSTY EAR

15 CHANGES DON CARLOS DON CARLOS MUSIC

16 RISE & SHINE SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALL STARS CUMBANCHA

17 LIVE AT MAUCH CHUNK WAILIN’ JENNYS RED HOUSE

18 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN STREET PARTY WORLD MUSIC NET

19 THE RUMBA FOUNDATION JESSE COOK E1

20 ONE STEP AHEAD WOODLEG ODD WOODLEG ODD

21 SAN PATRICIO THE CHIEFTAINS BLACKROCK

22 BAIONARENA MANU CHAO NACIONAL

23 SOLDIER OF LOVE SADE SONY

24 HANK WILLIAMS DIED... JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES (INDY)

25 COMING BACK FOR YOU PRESSURE RYMSHOT

26 LIVE SEARSON (SELF PRODUCED)

27 KARAM KIMI DJABATE CUMBANCHA

28 THAT'S ALL I NEED ANDRE WILLIAMS BLOODSHOT

29 ...NORTHERN LIGHTS WHITE STRIPES THIRD MAN

30 ELECT THE DEAD SYMPHONY SERJ TANKIAN REPRISE

31 BONNY PRINCE BARLEY BARLEYJUICE RYF RECORDS

32 BUSHROCK 10 FT. GANJA PLANT ROIR

33 COMMON PROSPERITY PREZIDENT BROWN TOMORROW'S CHILDREN

34 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS SOUTH AFRICA PUTUMAYO

35 MIDNIGHT AT THE MOVIES JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE BLOODSHOT

36 ARVO PART - PORTRAIT ANGELE DUBEAU ANALEKTA

37 IGNORE THE IGNORANT THE CRIBS WARNER BROS.

38 DREAMIN' MAN LIVE NEIL YOUNG REPRISE

39 THE SECRET SONG DJ SPOOKY THIRSTY EAR

40 BORN FREE (SINGLE) M.I.A. XL

NEW ADDS (THANKS TO ALL OF THE RADIO PROMO FOLKS WHO SEND US STUFF):

THE RUNAWAY BUNNY VARIOUS ARTISTS SONY

SEA OF COWARDS THE DEAD WEATHER THIRD MAN

ON APPROACH EVEREST VAPOR

BROTHERS THE BLACK KEYS NONESUCH

The AMPB Report is a publication by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters

AMPB PMB 22

2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

(510) 525-2704

ampb@att.net

AMPB REPORT #95

2010-03-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

Micro-radio continues to perform a great service to many people and in some areas the only station with local content will the the so-called “pirate” station. Operations like Clear Channel have done such a bad job of serving the public they deserve to get their licenses pulled. Every now and then these mega-stations have to renew their licenses and that’s when you will hear these boring announcements about soliciting comments from the listeners. That is your time to act. Write to these stations and tell them what a lousy job they are doing. It may not force them off the air, but it does go on their “permanent record”. Meanwhile, more and more people have started up a micro-station in their area and they deserve your support. We need a free press to keep the politicians on their toes. Here in Berkeley, our local free weekly, the Berkeley Daily Planet, was forced to stop publishing due to strained finances. It didn’t help that their payroll company made off with a wad of their money and the local zionist fanatics organized an intimidation campaign toward their advertisers. The result is that Berkeley, the home of the so-called free speech movement has lost a voice of reason and debate. Still we continue to speak our minds at Berkeley Liberation Radio and we hope you will support us always.

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

STATION ALERT

Pirate radio still playing in Erie

By DAVID BRUCE

One of Erie's radio pirates is broadcasting again, even though the federal government has ordered him to shut down his illegal station. Marshall Jones, 524 W. 17th St., was cited Feb. 2 by the Federal Communications Commission for having an unlicensed radio station. Shawn McKines, 908 Parade St., was also cited that day by the FCC.McKines has stopped broadcasting at 89.5 FM, but Jones continues to intermittently play soul, reggae and gospel music at 90.1 FM. "I'm only broadcasting at the legal limits for a low-power station," said Jones, 40. "As long as I'm legal, I'm fine."

That's not true, FCC spokesman Peter Doyle said. Operating a low-power station requires prior approval from the FCC. Jones said he has not sought approval because the FCC hasn't accepted applications for low-power radio licenses since 2001. He might not be permitted to ever have a low-power license, Doyle said. "Congress has passed legislation stating that anyone who has received a notice of unlicensed operation is banned for life from owning a low-power radio station," Doyle said. "Though they can own a full-power station." Besides not being allowed to ever own a low-power radio station, Jones and McKines each face fines, imprisonment and confiscation of their broadcasting equipment. A club disc jockey and former announcer at Gannon University's WERG-FM, Jones said that he started broadcasting in October because there wasn't enough urban music being played in Erie. "Blacks, whites, Hispanics all had a major concern about the type of music played in Erie 24/7," Jones said. "It was my mission to get this station up and running." Jones said that he started broadcasting at the low-frequency limits, then increased power. "The response from people was so strong that I just turned it up," Jones said. "Then someone ratted me out to the FCC." One problem was that Jones' signal was intruding on the signals of other, licensed, radio stations, said A.J. Miceli. An FCC resident agent from Buffalo visited Erie on Jan. 27 and determined that Jones' radio signal far exceeded the limits for nonlicensed devices. The station's music could be heard in various parts of Erie. "I gave the people what they wanted," Jones said. "The response was overwhelming."Doyle referred questions about FCC enforcement to another agency department. Calls to that department were not returned Wednesday.

How To Turn an FM Transmitter into a Micro Pirate Radio

— Mathew Honan

Corporate radio is preprogrammed junk. But don’t curse the DJ; seize the airwaves! With a soldering iron and a cheapo FM transmitter — the kind used to play an iPod through a car radio — you can transform your humble Honda into a Radio Free Civic that can broadcast your tunes up to 100 feet.

1. Pry open the transmitter’s case with a putty knife and remove the internal antenna (often labeled ant).

2. In its place, solder a telescoping antenna or a piece of copper wire — no more than 35 inches long for broadcasting within the standard FM transmission spectrum.

3. The transmitter may have a resistor, typically marked with an r, to limit the power of the signal. Replace it with copper wire to boost the transmission.

4. Slap a bumper sticker on your ride advertising your station’s frequency. You’ll soon build a grateful audience of fellow commuters suffering through that traffic jam.

STATION ALERT

Pirate radio pair going legit with new station

For years, Bakersfield residents Jake Chavez and Greg Looney have kept one step ahead of broadcast regulators with their "pirate radio" stations -- low-wattage broadcasts operating without a license. Now the pair are making it legal with a fully licensed station they hope will be on the air within the year.

Chavez and Looney met some 20 years ago, when both worked at KBCC, the cable-access radio station that used to operate at Bakersfield College.

"When KBCC got canceled, all of us were left hanging, wanting to do something," Looney said.

Looney said that "something" included operating a number of pirate stations and an Internet radio operation, all of which were shut down by the FCC. The two have also had day jobs -- Chavez has worked at American Fabrication for the last 15 years, and operated Downtown Records for seven years until selling it 15 months ago. Looney works as a bartender in Bakersfield.

Chavez said the inspiration for starting the station came from a representative of the Common Frequency Project, a non-profit group out of Davis that promotes community radio stations, community activism and a non-commercial, eclectic mix of music. Chavez said the representative came into his record store looking for someone who might be interested in applying for a station. "He found the right guy," Chavez said.

Chavez said he and Looney applied three years ago, after the FCC opened up a small number of new stations under the NCE and low-power FM categories. "There wasn't much space on the dial in Bakersfield," Chavez said.

On Nov. 5, the Federal Communications Commission awarded the pair a construction permit to build KSVG, a 180-watt FM station, in Mettler. Chavez and Looney have three years from that date to be broadcast-ready with a format usually described as "freeform" radio.

"We're going to be a cool college radio station," Chavez said. The station is to broadcast on 89.9 FM, part of the non-commercial education band (NCE) that typically includes public radio stations such as KVPR. According to Chavez, a community station can broadcast music, but has some other requirements. "We have to supply some educational programming, get students involved," Chavez said. Chavez said Common Frequency set him up with Bay Area FCC attorney Michael Couzens and Portland, Ore., engineer Michael Brown to assist with the initial application. Chavez and Looney also teamed up with The Empty Space theater group, which has a 501c3 designation, a requirement for the application."They've been really good to us," Chavez said, adding that control of the project will soon be transferred to the station's own 501c3, Kern Community Radio, Inc. Chavez estimates he needs around $100,000 to build the station, half of which he hopes will come from a grant from the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. His business plan anticipates ongoing support from corporate sponsorships. Starting a radio station from scratch -- even a low-wattage station -- seems like a big risk in an economic climate that isn't friendly to any type of business, let alone a business that faces game-altering competition. Jake Chavez and Greg Looney need to raise about $100,000 to get their tower built and broadcast equipment installed and operational. Chavez said he got the figure from a quotation given him by Harris Broadcast Services, which estimates $91,203.64 for the transmitter, antenna, broadcast equipment, transmission lines and other equipment. Chavez said he plans to raise the money through grants, corporate sponsorships, even such grass-roots fundraisers as car washes.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

Former Veep Goes Girly-Man, Has Hissy Fit in Pages of New York Times

http://bigjournalism.com/kashiver/2010/02/28/former-veep

-goes-girly-man-has-hissy-fit-in-pages-of-new-york-times/

School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html

Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/health/policy/20avandia.html

The Snitch in Your Pocket

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233916

We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We Plead Guilty In Court.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/23/we-are-anonymous-we-are-legion-we-plead-guilty-in-court/

Top aide to Sarah Palin resigns

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33429.html

Iraq's New Death Squad

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090622/bauer

Tawkon Measures The Radiation Spewing From Your iPhone

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/04/tawkon-iphone-radiation/

6 Elements Every Conspiracy Theory Needs

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/pl_print_conspiracy/

A Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/a-detention-

bill-you-ought-to-read-more-carefully/37116

Defectors Say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html

All the news the big outlets would rather you didn’t get... in a handy RSS feed

feed://conspiringtimes.com/news/?feed=rss

THE MILITARY IS KILLING HAWAII

http://www.newpacificvoice.com/du/

Check out my youtube videos

http://www.youtube.com (search for CAPTAINFRED999)

AMPB REPORT

record chart for the week ending march 13, 2010

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 GLITTER AND DOOM LIVE-TOM WAITS-ANTI

2 I'M NEW HERE-GIL SCOTT-HERON-XL

3 ESTE MUNDO-RUPA & THE APRIL FISHES-CUMBANCHA

4 30 YEARS OUTSIDE THE BOX-YO-YO MA-SONY

5 BAIONARENA-MANU CHAO-NACIONAL

6 NEW WORLD FLAMENCO-TIERRA NEGRA-CGD MUSIC

7 HANK WILLIAMS DIED...-JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES-(INDY)

8 SOLDIER OF LOVE-SADE-SONY

9 BORDERS Y BAILES-LOS TEXMANIACS-SMITHSONIAN

10 IMAGINARY TELEVISION-GRAHAM PARKER-BLOODSHOT

11 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS ESPANA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-PUTUMAYO

12 (SELF TITLED)-PROJECT TRIO-(SELF-PRODUCED)

13 THE SECRET SONG-DJ SPOOKY-THIRSTY EAR

14 THE MELODY OF RHYTHM-BELA FLECK & FRIENDS-E1

15 THE LIVE ANTHOLOGY-TOM PETTY-REPRISE

16 KARAM-KIMI DJABATE-CUMBANCHA

17 FOR ROSA, MAEVE AND NOREEN-SAMUEL JAMES-NORTHERN BLUES

18 COMMON PROSPERITY-PREZIDENT BROWN-TOMORROW'S CHILDREN

19 TIME FOR THREE-FERVENT TRAVELERS-E1

20 VAMPIRE-GREENSKEEPERS-OM

21 THE RESISTANCE-MUSE-WARNER BROS.

22 GOD'S FAVORITE BAND-ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS-YELLOW DOG

23 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS JAZZ AROUND THE WORLD-PUTUMAYO

24 COMING BACK FOR YOU-PRESSURE-RYMSHOT

25 DREAMIN' MAN LIVE-NEIL YOUNG-REPRISE

26 WAKKA CHIKKA WAKKA CHIKKA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-(INDY)

27 YA FOY!-SARAZINO-CUMBANCHA

28 BUSHROCK-10 FT. GANJA PLANT-ROIR

29 (SELF TITLED)-STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB-S.S.S.C.

30 PIANO SONATAS...-SUSAN KAGAN-NAXOS

31 IGNORE THE IGNORANT-THE CRIBS-WARNER BROS.

32 THE CRICKET'S ORCHESTRA-MEAGHAN SMITH-SIRE

33 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN STREET PARTY-WORLD MUSIC NET

34 CALLING ALL DAWNS-CHRISTOPHER TIN-(INDY)

35 THE NIGHTINGALE IN LOVE-ROBERT STALLMAN-BOGNER'S CAFE

36 ZEBU NATION-RAZIA-CUMBANCHA

37 SAN PATRICIO-THE CHIEFTAINS-BLACKROCK

38 LIVE AT MAUCH CHUNK-WAILIN’ JENNYS-RED HOUSE

39 PLASTIC BEACH-GORILLAZ-EMI

40 MIDNIGHT AT THE MOVIES-JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE-BLOODSHOT

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #95

this show can be downloaded from:

radio4all.net or archive.org

Taxman-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Yoyoyo-Razia

White Flag-Gorillaz

Soldier of Love-Sade

La Iguana-The Chieftains

One Big World-Sarazino

Lucky Day-Tom Waits

Ntolilo-Massukos

Pasapeanas-BIella Nuei

Multiphonic-DJ Spooky

Me and the Devil-Gil Scott-Heron

More Questions Than Answers-Graham Parker

Love Conquers All-Pressure

Allegretto Scherzando-Susan Kagan

Volkswagen Thing-Asylum Street Spankers

Este Mundo-Rupa & The April Fishes

El Troquero-Los Texmaniacs

Djombé-Kimi Djabaté

Volver, Volver-Manu Chao

Motherless Child-Wailin' Jennys

Kia Hora Te Marino-Christopher Tin

AMPB REPORT#95

A PUBLICATION BY THE ASSOCIATION

OF MICRO-POWER BROADCASTERS

AMPB

PMB 22

2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

Special note for my readers:

I’m still unemployed and looking for work. I have experience as a warehouse manager, retail store assistant, radio dj, editor, painter, audio technician and recently learned how to do electrical work. If you know someone in the San Francisco Bay area, who might need my services, please won’t you put them in contact with me? Thanks!

If you feel you have received this email by mistake, simply reply with the word “REMOVE” in the subject area and we’ll take you off the list. We don’t mean to be a bother. Thanks for reading!

AMPB REPORT #94

2010-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,

Welcome to 2010. Things look about the same from here. World events like the massive quake in Haiti demonstrate the urgent need for micro-power radio to pick up the slack when big-time radio stations are knocked off the air. Of course, our own government must take part of the blame for the chaos in Haiti, since the ouster of President Aristide was planned in Washington DC. If people can contribute to the recovery, probably the Red Cross would be the best charity to contact. Call them at 1-800-REDCROSS or www.redcross.org on the web. We see that small stations are still getting threatened with big fines for illegal broadcasting, while the so-called “Voice of America” is beaming into Zimbabwe with pirate stations. Check the following station alerts for more info. We salute Jayhaed Saade of MIX FM 91.9 for challenging the Canadian authorities and we wish him good luck in his struggles. As someone once said, “direct action gets the goods”. The best way to get an unfair law changed is for millions of people to challenge it repeatedly. Finally, on february 6th at 2:00 PM, there will be a screening of the film, “Pirate Radio” (formerly known as The Boat That Rocked). FCCFreeRadio.com and Indy Arts and Media will present a panel on LPFM radio (often called pirate radio). FCCFree Radio staff will share their stories and answer questions! Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight Street in San Francisco.

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

STATION ALERT

Austin Pirate Fine Is Confirmed

Ten grand is the confirmed penalty for a pirate radio operation heard in Austin, Texas, in 2009. It’s a case in which the station operators argued that the FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction on broadcasts within one state. It’s also of note because it came and went relatively quickly, as FCC enforcements go — it’s been less than five months since the initial complaint — and also because the commission says the illegal broadcasts continued even after agents had notified the operators they were in violation and outlined possible penalties. The FCC this week upheld an earlier notice of apparent liability against Jerry and Deborah Stevens for operation on 90.1 MHz. The commission says the Houston office of the Enforcement Bureau in August used its direction-finding gear to source the signals at the Austin home in response to a complaint. It then issued a notice of unlicensed operation, which the Stevens acknowledged. They requested additional time to provide information in their reply. The commission granted 30 days to provide info but said its agents identified illegal broadcasts on two subsequent dates. The Stevens responded by admitting operating radio transmitting equipment, though only within the boundaries of Texas, and questioned the FCC’s jurisdiction over intrastate communications. In November the FCC issued its notice of apparent liability. Jerry and Deborah Stevens then contested it, citing a question of FCC jurisdiction. They also questioned whether the resident agent who signed the NAL had the authority to do so. The FCC has now reiterated in its ruling that the law “explicitly sets forth the commission’s jurisdiction over all radio transmissions, both interstate and intrastate.” It also explained that “resident agents at each installation are delegated authority by the commission to act upon applications, requests or other matters, which are not in hearing status.” And resident agents may indeed issue a written notice of apparent liability, it ruled. The fine was confirmed by the regional director of the South Central Region of the Enforcement Bureau.

Industry Canada criticized over handling of pirate station

By KENNETH JACKSON

Industry Canada is coming under fire for failing to punish an Ottawa pirate radio station that has returned to the air once again. Radio enthusiasts have been complaining to Industry Canada since the so-called MIX FM 91.9 returned sometime on Dec. 24. The station has been playing pop music around the clock. They've also been voicing their anger online. "The incompetence of Industry Canada is astonishing. I wonder at what point some bright light at IC will come up with the bright idea of actually confiscating the equipment?" wrote one visitor at digitalhome.ca. The technology website broke the story about the pirate station in early December. Since then, a forum thread dedicated to 91.9 has generated more than 850 posts from radio executives, amateurs and enthusiasts. Jayhaed Saade, a.k.a. DJ J, started the station out of his father's Saade International Inn. The 14-year-old told QMI Agency he bought the transmitter and put it up himself. He did so without his father's knowledge, he said. Industry Canada issued a first warning in early December. Saade went off the air for a day but then started back up. Shortly after midnight on Dec. 14, he went silent again. Days prior to this, Saade got his second cease-and-desist order from Industry Canada. He was told he faced daily fines and jail time if he continued. Saade apologized and said he'd apply for a licenceIndustry Canada admits the case with 91.9 isn't common and there is an active investigation. "This type of situation is rare. Industry Canada's approach to enforcement action in such cases begins with an attempt to sensitize and educate unauthorized station operators of unlawful activities under the Radio Communications Act," said spokesman Michel Cimpaye in an e-mail to QMI Agency.

Botswana dismisses pirate radio claims

The Botswana government has responded to reports that it is hosting pirate radio stations broadcasting hate speech against President Robert Mugabe. It referred to the reports as “baseless” and an attempt to divert attention away from the real political issues facing the country. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Phandu Skelemani, said the accusations that Botswana is using the American radio station, Voice of America, to spread hate propaganda against the Zimbabwean government is false because Botswana does not control the station’s editorial content. “The VOA station in Botswana is just a relay station, which has absolutely no control on editorial content. Everything is done in Washington,” said Skelemani in a report published in the Botswana media.Skelemani’s comments comes at the back of a series of scathing attacks in the state owned Herald newspaper in which the Zimbabwean government accused Botswana of hosting Studio 7, a specialist broadcasting station on Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean government also accused Madagascar of hosting Radio VOP which also broadcasts into Zimbabwe. It argued that these broadcasts are spreading hate speech and threatens the existence of a ten-month old coalition government. But VOA’s Director of Africa Broadcasting, Gwen Dillard, said the accusations were completely inaccurate. “The government needs to open its tight regulations for independent and free media. If the government liberalised the media space, there wouldn’t be any need for us,” said Dillard.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

Obama’s Fight Against Secrecy

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wiener6-2010jan06,0,3539119.story

Jeff Leurs is out of prison!

http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/2009/12/jeff-leurs-is-out-of-prison/

A different way to create nuclear energy?

http://thoriumenergy.blogspot.com/

Flight 77 Cockpit Door Never Opened During 9/11 “Hijack"

http://rockcreekfreepress.tumblr.com/post/285492999/flt77fdr

Taser’s new weapon: mobile phone monitoring

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/tasers-weapon-mobile-phone-monitoring/

Cellphones and Brain Tumors- 15 Reasons for Concern

http://www.radiationresearch.org/pdfs/reasons_us.pdf

33 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True:

http://mediamonarchy.blogspot.com/2010/01/33-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out.html

Living on Nothing but Food Stamps

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/us/03foodstamps.html?pagewanted=all

What Was That Weird Blue Light In The Sky?

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m12d12-Two-researchers-attribute-Norway-light-to-HAARP-antiET-spacebased-weapon-of-mass-destruction

2009 FCC Enforcement Action Summary

http://www.diymedia.net/fccwatch/eadtable09.htm

RIAA Tells FCC: ISPs Need to Be Copyright Cops

http://www.pcworld.com/article/187000/riaa_tells_fcc_isps_need_to_be_copyright_cops.html

Digital fundraising still pushing Haiti relief

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/15/online.donations.haiti/

Families "having difficult time": Census

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60E4EO20100115

You mess with Google, they will mess with you right back!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/world/asia/15diplo.html?ref=technology

AMPB REPORT#94

record chart for the week ending 1/16/10

A PUBLICATION BY THE ASSOCIATION OF MICRO-POWER BROADCASTERS

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 BAIONARENA-MANU CHAO-NACIONAL

2 GLITTER AND DOOM LIVE-TOM WAITS-ANTI

3 BORDERS Y BAILES-LOS TEXMANIACS-SMITHSONIAN

4 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS ESPANA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-PUTUMAYO

5 ESTE MUNDO-RUPA & THE APRIL FISHES-CUMBANCHA

6 THE SECRET SONG-DJ SPOOKY-THIRSTY EAR

7 THE LIVE ANTHOLOGY-TOM PETTY-REPRISE

8 SOMEWHERE GONE-EXENE CERVENKA-BLOODSHOT

9 DANCE THE WORLD-VARIOUS ARTISTS-WORLD MUSIC NET

10 HANK WILLIAMS DIED...-JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES-(INDY)

11 FOR ROSA, MAEVE AND NOREEN-SAMUEL JAMES-NORTHERN BLUES

12 AT HOME WITH FRIENDS-JOSHUA BELL-SONY

13 COMMON PROSPERITY-PREZIDENT BROWN-TOMORROW'S CHILDREN

14 VAMPIRE-GREENSKEEPERS-OM

15 THE MAGIC COUPLE-AMADOU & MARIAM-UNIVERSAL

16 THERE IS NO ENEMY-BUILT TO SPILL-WARNER BROS.

17 ...AND THE HORSE...-SCOTLAND YARD GOSPEL CHOIR-BLOODSHOT

18 YA FOY!-SARAZINO-CUMBANCHA

19 THE MELODY OF RHHYTHM-BELA FLECK & FRIENDS-E1

20 IN A DIS YA TIME-THE ITALS-VP

21 DIVIDED BY NIGHT-THE CRYSTAL METHOD-TINY E RECORDS

22 DREAMIN' MAN LIVE-NEIL YOUNG-REPRISE

23 SURVIVAL SKILLS-KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT-DUCK DOWN

24 IN MONSTROUS ATTITUDE-DUFUS-ROIR

25 THE RESISTANCE-MUSE-WARNER BROS.

26 WORLD RISING-BEN DOWLING-VISION SOUND

27 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS JAZZ AROUND THE WORLD-PUTUMAYO

28 PULSE OF THE PEOPLE-DEAD PREZ-INVASION MUSIC

29 SOCA GOLD 2009-VARIOUS ARTISTS-VP

30 LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA IN DUBLIN-R.E.M.-WARNER

31 NEW WORLD FLAMENCO-TIERRA NEGRA-CGD MUSIC

32 IRISH CLASSICS-JOHN O'CONOR-PERFECT SOUND

33 BUSHROCK-10 FT. GANJA PLANT-ROIR

34 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN STREET PARTY-WORLD MUSIC NET

35 (SELF TITLED)-STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB-S.S.S.C.

36 RISE ACOUSTIC SESSIONS-SAMANTHA JAMES-OM

37 KARAM-KIMI DJABATE-CUMBANCHA

38 COMING BACK FOR YOU-PRESSURE-RYMSHOT

39 IGNORE THE IGNORANT-THE CRIBS-WARNER BROS.

40 WAKKA CHIKKA WAKKA CHIKKA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-(INDY)

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #94

(Download from radio4all.net or archive.org)

Huapango - Los Texmaniacs

Living Stone - Refugee All Stars

Cumbia Caimanera - El Combolinga

Ashshimtini - Sami Ali

Medley Of Reels - John O'Conor

The Monkey - Manu Chao

Goin' Out West - Tom Waits

Goldfinger - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

No Quarter Dub - DJ Spooky

Life Goes On - Dead Prez

Hear No Evil - KRS-One, Buckshot

Promenade - Street Sweeper Social Club

I See Rastafari - Pressure

El Camino Del Diablo - Rupa & The April Fishes

Alifata - Kimi Djabaté

Tomorrows Just A Train Wreck Away

- Joe Swank And The Zen Pirates

10ft Ganja Plant And Weed - 10 Ft. Ganja Plant

Fantasia De Fuego - Tierra Negra

One Love - Playing for Change

Ecos de Radio Iguana - Sarazino

Ici la Femme - The Lounge King

ASSOCIATION OF MICRO-POWER BROADCASTERS

PMB 22, 2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

AMPB REPORT #93

2009-11-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,

Every now and then the authorities get excited and go out and start some enforcement activities. We don’t know if it’s caused by moon phases or solar flares, but probably they are just doing the bidding of their bosses. Right now we seem to be in one of those “heightened enforcement” periods. Stories about the fines against Pirate Cat Radio and Radio Free Brooklyn follow. All I can say is watch out for these FCC guys and whatever you do, don’t let them in to “inspect your facility”. If they’re in your area, a good strategy may be to go quiet until they go away. Changing location also seems to work as a stall tactic. Most enforcement seems to be generated by complaints, so try not to make people want to complain about you. Send out a clean signal and don’t interfere with licensed stations. The movie formerly known as “The Boat That Rocked” has finally made it to the US in a shortened form and retitled “Pirate Radio”. We hope it inspires people to join in the fun. Anyway, enjoy any slack time that comes your way and remember that shortwave stations like to crank it up during the holidays so tune in to the area just below 7 megahertz and see what you can hear!

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

HUGE BLOW IN WAR AGAINST CORPORATE DOMINATION OF THE AIRWAVES; PIRATES TAKE A HIT.

San Francisco, CA, 10/31/2009 — Pirate Cat Radio, a volunteer-run, community broadcasting organization operating out of the Pirate Cat Café in San Francisco’s Mission district, has ceased its terrestrial broadcast on 87.9FM in response to the latest demands of the Federal Communications Commission. In a notice dated August 31, 2009 the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, “willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934” and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction. By bringing to bear the full weight of the Federal government against continued broadcast operations, the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934, and was given the responsibility of making a “fair, efficient and equitable distribution of radio service”, and to ensure that broadcasters serve the ‘public interest’. It is hard to understand how fining the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, an entirely volunteer run community station, and effectively taking them off the air after 13 years, is an appropriate action and in the public’s interest There have never been any complaints over PCRs content. Pirate Cat Radio provides an important community service one that has been recognized by the Board of Supervisors in a certificate of honor. They are one of the best sources of news and regularly broadcast Al Jazeera and BBC bulletins. The news is read in every 2-hour DJ slot. They make regular valuable PSAs and publicize local events. They take an active approach to involving the community, by bringing local unsung heroes and talents into the studio. Pirate Cat Radio provides a voice and outlet for many sections of the community of the Bay Area which cannot make themselves heard anywhere else. If the public’s interests are to be served then ‘ordinary’ people must be allowed to make their voice heard and to be allowed to express themselves creatively without regard for commercial success. The FCC’s policy instead seems to be protecting the airwaves for the big corporations to pump out their bland, homogenized wasteland offering dull limited playlists, banal chat and censored opinions. Until this happens people must continue to challenge the corporate domination of the airwaves. Looking to the future, PCR can continue as an internet only station and the café/studio on 21st st will continue to operate, but at least for the time being, but it cannot safely broadcast over the terrestrial FM band without possibly jeopardizing its volunteers and supporters. How this will affect the service is not clear yet, although it is true that the majority of their listeners are now online or downloading podcasts. “Obviously this is a major disappointment,” says Monkey, “But we made a collective decision that Pirate Cat Radio must come off the public airwaves, until some method is found to change the law or get it authorized under existing law.”

For additional information:

Monkey

Pirate Cat Radio

415-571-1911

monkey@piratecatradio.com

Radio Free Brooklyn Gets Slapped

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a $10,000 fine against two Flatbush “schlock jocks” who were operating a pirate radio station out of their own apartment. FCC officials said that Jean Clerveau and Jocelyn Edwards were “providing services and facilities incidental to the operation of an unlicensed radio transmitter when they were caught playing their tunes on 90.5 FM. FCC agents uncovered the radio station when they were investigating a complaint of radio interference on East 19th Street back in March 2008. The agent not only followed the signal back to their second-floor apartment, but reportedly found an antenna on the top of the roof, according to an FCC spokesman. The building manager told them that the apartment in question belonged to Clerveau and Edwards, but the couple denied running a radio station out of their pad. Officials admitted that when they finally caught Clerveau at home, they could not find any radio equipment on the premises although the inspection took place after the FCC had sent the couple a letter and had made several attempts to visit the home. Clerveau and Edwards claimed that the unlicensed radio station was actually transmitting from across the street but could not provide any evidence, officials said. Nor could the FCC, who imposed the fine “absent of any other evidence that their agents were mistaken.”

Two times the charm.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB:

A list of FCC actions going back to 2003

http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/

Thirty Reasons Why Fox News is not Legit

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200910270002

Eight years later, people still want to know what happened.

http://www.911blogger.com

Turn any youtube video into mp3 audio.

http://www.dirpy.com

Capture that youtube video before it goes away.

http://www.kissyoutube.com

Lots of interesting online stations here.

http://radio.indymedia.org

Got a podcast? Upload it here.

http://www.radio4all.net

Can you believe the government?

http://www.prisonplanet.com

Find out what the major media companies own.

http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php

The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame

http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk

What’s a wobblie?

http://www.iww.org

When the pirates took over radio

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/12/pirate.radio.history/index.html

AMPB REPORT RECORD CHART

for the week ending 11/14/09

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 ESTE MUNDO-RUPA & THE APRIL FISHES-CUMBANCHA

2 BORDERS Y BAILES-LOS TEXMANIACS-SMITHSONIAN

3 DANCE THE WORLD-VARIOUS ARTISTS-WORLD MUSIC NET

4 ...AND THE HORSE...-SCOTLAND YARD GOSPEL CHOIR-BLOODSHOT

5 THE RESISTANCE-MUSE-WARNER BROS.

6 HANK WILLIAMS DIED...-JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES-(INDY)

7 SURVIVAL SKILLS-KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT-DUCK DOWN

8 ESCAPE FROM THE CHICKEN COOP-WATERMELON SLIM-NORTHERN BLUES

9 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS ESPANA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-PUTUMAYO

10 (THE ALBUM)-WILCO-NONESUCH

11 THE MAGIC COUPLE-AMADOU & MARIAM-UNIVERSAL

12 (SELF TITLED)-STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB-S.S.S.C.

13 SOCA GOLD 2009-VARIOUS ARTISTS-VP

14 BUSHROCK-10 FT. GANJA PLANT-ROIR

15 THE MELODY OF RHHYTHM-BELA FLECK & FRIENDS-E1

16 PULSE OF THE PEOPLE-DEAD PREZ-INVASION MUSIC

17 COMMON PROSPERITY-PREZIDENT BROWN-TOMORROW'S CHILDREN

18 DIVIDED BY NIGHT-THE CRYSTAL METHOD-TINY E RECORDS

19 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN STREET PARTY-WORLD MUSIC NET

20 YATRA-KAILASH KHER & KAILASA-CUMBANCHA

21 FOR ROSA, MAEVE AND NOREEN-SAMUEL JAMES-NORTHERN BLUES

22 HERE I AM-GROUNDATION-(SELF-RELEASED)

23 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS JAZZ AROUND THE WORLD-PUTUMAYO

24 IN MONSTROUS ATTITUDE-DUFUS-ROIR

25 REGGAE GOLD 2009-VARIOUS ARTISTS-VP

26 EMBRYONIC-THE FLAMING LIPS-WARNER BROS.

27 VAMPIRE-GREENSKEEPERS-OM

28 WORLD RISING-BEN DOWLING-VISION SOUND

29 SONGS FOR THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA-ELDAD TARMU ENSEMBLE

30 AT HOME WITH FRIENDS-JOSHUA BELL-SONY

31 LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA IN DUBLIN-R.E.M.-WARNER

32 SOMEWHERE GONE-EXENE CERVENKA-BLOODSHOT

33 RISE ACOUSTIC SESSIONS-SAMANTHA JAMES-OM

34 THERE IS NO ENEMY-BUILT TO SPILL-WARNER BROS.

35 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFROBEAT REVIVAL-WORLD MUSIC NET

36 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS BRAZILIAN CAFE-PUTUMAYO

37 IN A DIS YA TIME-THE ITALS-VP

38 SAINTHOOD-TEGAN AND SARA-SIRE

39 COME OUT SWINGIN'-THE TWISTERS-NORTHERN BLUES

40 GET LUCKY-MARK KNOPFLER-REPRISE

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #93

this show can be downloaded from radio4all.net or archive.org

Sangare - Vieux Farka Touré

La Rubia y La Morena - Los Texmaniacs

Jhoomo Re - Kailash Kher & Kailasa

Money Over War - Laden

Chan-Chan - Kora Jazz Trio

Runnin' Away - KRS-One and Buckshot

Kling to the Wreckage - The Crystal Method

$Timulus Plan - Dead Prez

Back Off Move Away - Greenskeepers

Soledad - Rupa & The April Fishes

Meditation - Prezident Brown

See The Leaves - The Flaming Lips

Let It Snow - Leon Redbone

Dancing For The Queen Of Bohemia - Eldad Tarmu Chamber Jazz Ensemble

Tomorrows Just A Train Wreck Away - Joe Swank And The Zen Pirates

Radica - Ken Salick

Rail Gaddi - Four Of A Kind

Chantez-Chantez - Amadou & Mariam

The Melody Of Rhythm - Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer

Song Of The Century - Green Day

Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters

PMB 22

2018 Shattuck Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

http://www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

AMPB REPORT #92

2009-09-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

Another 9/11 anniversary passes and still our government stands by the official version of what happened. The current president has even gone so far to connect 9/11 truthers to holocaust deniers. I don’t see the truth coming out any time soon. In Oakland, the 9/11 film festival was a two day event this year, and once again the best work seems to be coming from overseas. Featured films included 7/7 Ripple Effect (from the BBC), Kill the Messenger (France), The New American Century (Italy), and Anthrax War which was made by two americans (Bob Coen and Eric Nadler), but they had to get production funding from a french company. By the way, Anthrax War has a companion book called Dead Silence and I would recommend it to anyone concerned about the billions of dollars spent every year in america for “bio-defense”. It’s hard enough to get people to turn out for 9/11 truth here in the “liberal” bay area. It’s even harder when you live in the deep south, like our intrepid reporter W.C. Moore. His report is included later in this newsletter. Project Censored has released another of their Top 25 Lists. We have the links for you to make it easy. Congrats to Monkey from Pirate Cat Radio for his recent marriage and glowing commendation from the San Francisco City Council. He has also invented something called a Bacon Maple Latte, which seems to be getting very popular. I’d also like to salute everyone at FCC Free Radio for raising the jolly roger antenna and thanks to everyone who came out for the Berkeley Liberation Radio tenth anniversary party. As always, your support is appreciated! -Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

FCC to propose 'Net neutrality' rules

The head of the FCC plans to propose new rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from interfering with the free flow of information and certain applications over their networks. The proposals would uphold a pledge Barack Obama made during the presidential campaign to support Internet neutrality and would bar Internet service providers such as Verizon Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. or AT&T Inc., from slowing or blocking certain services or content flowing through their vast networks. Without strict rules ensuring Net neutrality, consumer watchdogs fear the communications companies could interfere with the transmission of content, such as TV shows delivered over the Internet, that compete with services the ISPs offer, like cable television. Internet providers have opposed regulations that would inhibit the way they control their networks.

Praise for the Pirates

www.sfgate.com

Pirate Cat Radio has been the main pirate radio station broadcasting in San Francisco since San Francisco Liberation Radio was stormed by the Feds. A cafe and pirate radio studio, Pirate Cat Radio stands proudly on the corner of 21st and Florida in the Mission District. Local commercial radio is mostly a bad joke, run from corporations in other cities who choose the programming. Many radio show hosts don't live or haven't even been to San Francisco. College radio and pirate radio helps us all breathe a sigh of relief with local programming and live local DJs. Almost as cool as pirate radio is local government support. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi visited the cafe and radio studio to present a certificate of highest recommendation for outstanding service to San Francisco. Take that FCC. For the station's founder and manager and the 50+ volunteers who keep the station running with fine programming, it's a welcome pat on the tushie from our local government. Congrads Pirate Cat Radio. Thank you San Francisco. Here's the words from the cert: "The Board of Supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco hereby issues and, and authorizes the execution of, this certificate of honor in appreciative public recognition of distinction and merit for outstanding service to a significant portion of the people of the city and county of San Francisco. Pirate Cat Radio, in recognition of your trailblazing efforts towards freeing the airwaves from corporate control, providing the community with training in radio broadcast skills, empowering voices ignored by traditional media outlets; and contributing to the advancement of the City's coffee culture through the unique creations of baristas of the Pirate Cat Radio Cafe; the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, extends its highest commendation!"

FALL OFFENSIVE CALENDAR

September 30th, Wednesday 7 P.M.

“Time for a new economic system”, speakers discuss alternatives to war economy.

Presenting Earl Gilman, Gerald Smith BLR 104.1FM, and others. Refreshments provided. Art House Gallery, 2905 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley

October 1st ,Thursday, 7 PM.

“ Poetry of Protest”, Local poets present work focused on the realities of war and

the current state of Americas Healthcare failures. Featuring Soul of BLR 104.1 FM, Katy Stuck, Bob Randolph and The CHAIRMAN. Open mike to follow. Café’ Mediterranean, Telegraph Ave. Berkeley. Between Dwight and Haste Streets.

October 2nd , Friday, 7 PM. ‘Single Payer Healthcare Not War’ Speakers’ Forum

and open mike at CODY’S PLAZA on Telegraph Ave. at Haste, Berkeley. With Michael

Delacour and Councilman Kriss Worthington.

October 3rd , Saturday, 1-5 P.M.

FREE Concert in the PEOPLE’S PARK, featuring world renowned Rhythm & Blues Artist Mr. JACKIE PAYNE, Dennis Wilmerth of the “Roving Tars”, and presenting Jada Simone, BLR 104.1 FM DJ and singer extrordinaire, Local Hip Hop artists GLOBAL

CULTURE and Yukon Hannibal, BLR DJ and Performance Artist.

Monday, October 5th, 11 AM to 2 PM. Political Rally with Live Music, gathering at

University Ave. and Martin Luther King Blvd. Supporting ‘Single Payer Health Care

Not War’.

Promoting 911 Truth in the bible belt

by W.C. Moore

After having worked as an associative sponsor and host of the San Francisco 911 International Inquiry in 2004 alongside a group of dozens of volunteers, organizing a 911 Truth event as a sole promoter in a southern red state was quite a lonely and exhausting experience. Never-the-less, I consider the event went well, although not due to popular attendance. Merely by the numbers it was quite much a disappointment since I had only about 22 total attendees over both the early and evening presentations. However, from past experience and from an awareness of the mindset of bible belt folks down here, I was not especially surprised though it was a tad disappointing considering the outlay of promotion, advertising and foodstuff. But on the favorable side I had several people who were clearly moved and seemingly even shocked upon becoming apprised of information and testimonials they had never heard or seen before. And most fortunately, I did have 4 of my A-team friends and relatives who volunteered assist for the day of the event. Although I had mailed flyers to some 2 dozen persons whom I knew from earlier days, not one among them showed up. Several people who acknowledged that they were planning to attend, also were no-shows. I had put up flyers at numerous cafes and eateries, etc., more on that later. A few attendants had seen the ad I ran on the local cable channel outlet, sandwiched there among the funeral announcements and such. Some of the more interesting aspects were: a couple of ladies in attendance acknowledged they were from New York and that they had lost a friend in the catastrophe. As the presentation proceeded, with each startling and sobering testimonial that ensued, I noticed them looking at each other. I felt they were maybe on the fence, hoping against hope that our government was not involved but rapidly coming over in recognition that their worst nightmares had been confirmed - that their friend was indeed victim of a maniacal plot orchestrated by our own government. Several others expressed appreciation of the presentation and offered volunteer assist for possible future events. There were three or four of my friends/relatives who, although they had heard much of my talking and a few of my videos over recent years, just then had the disturbing reality gel for them due to the substance of the presentational videos. I spent weeks editing and carefully selecting short segments and did the video DJ approach of making mainly brief introductory commentaries between pieces to keep them moving quickly but to hold attention by keeping them short. At a few of the venues where I had placed flyers, I noticed them to be disappearing over a few days. Presumably, most were taken by truly concerned individuals, but a few may have been removed by conservatives who thought them shameful to imply government complicity. I do know that one person complained to the proprietors of a local eatery that such material should not be up on their bulletin board. But being a regular customer and having apprised most of the personnel about my presentation, they had no problem with them being posted. There was another location, a convenience store out in the country where a flyer had endured a bout of graffitti. At the top was written, "Join all the crazy people here'. And at the bottom it said, "UFO's and aliens will be there too". This was of note because the person had to have taken the flyer out if its plastic sheet protector, written the comments there-on and then replaced it back in the protector. One of my acquaintances who attended was a retired naval vet. He's been totally incredulous all along as to government complicity, at least in part because of his history with the military. But he complimented me on the quality of the presentation and then left fairly soon afterwards. I got the impression that he'd been moved by what he'd seen and that just maybe he was having a hard time dealing with it. Another friend, also from way back with whom I attended junior high was clearly a tad shocked with some of the revelations. He's one who had been avoiding looking at the 911 video I'd sent him over 2 years ago - in part because as he admitted, he was 'trying to get up the nerve to watch it." He also admitted that he planned to attend the earlier presentation for fear of a greater likelihood that someone might be taking pictures or license plates of attendees during the evening event. Also, the community center that I rented had a morning meeting scheduled for a group of mayors from around the county. The evening before, I had moved in most of my equipment and displays. The sign that I made for out front which said, "911 WTC Update", had been left within the room leaning against the back wall but facing towards the front. When we went in after their meeting I noticed that the sign had been turned around facing the wall so that its message was not visible to the mayors. Apparently the set-up crew figured it would disturb the mayors' sensibilities to merely have such a sign visible. If they only knew - the week before I had repainted the sign from its previous message, "911 Was an Inside Job", out of concern for the mindset of these fuddy-duddys.

W.C. Moore is a former San Francisco radio journalist now living in Georgia. For contact: gotowc@aol.com

and now, for your reading pleasure, The Holy Grail of the Unconscious

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html

Project Censored Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation

http://www.alternet.org/world/62728/

# 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA

http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4276

# 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business

http://www.progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308

# 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/774/1/

# 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6377

# 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act

http://www.indypendent.org/2007/11/19/homegrown-terrorism/

# 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking

http://www.splcenter.org/legal/guestreport/index.jsp

# 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/12/senator-whitehouse-has-taken-proper.html

#9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify

http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier

# 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/21/cia_sere/

# 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror

https://nacla.org/node/1499

# 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/14/13170/1926

# 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710

# 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste

http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/outofcontrol/outofcontrol.htm

# 15 Worldwide Slavery

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Global_Secrets_Lies/Global_Slave_Trade.html

# 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights

http://survey07.ituc-csi.org/pressrel.php?IDLang=EN&IDPressrel=6

# 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights

http://us.oneworld.net/node/153160

# 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers

http://www.truthout.org/article/13000-abuse-claims-juvenile-centers

# 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction

http://ictsd.net/i/news/biores/9342/

# 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record

http://www.mpp.org/

# 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/22/nato.nuclear

# 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid

http://revcom.us/a/108/awtw-food-aid-en.html

# 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4716

# 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror

http://www.rense.com/general80/testi.htm

# 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

http://www.truthout.org/article/eliot-spitzer-predatory-lenders-partner-crime-0

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #92

download from radio4all.net or archive.org

C'est La Vie - Amadou & Mariam

Tauba Tauba - Kailash Kher & Kailasa

All I Know - Julian Marley

Afrika Hot! - Dead Prez

Kamussekele - Dog Murras

Charanga E-350 - The Spam Allstars

America - K'naan

Invaders Must Die - Prodigy

Nobody Moves (Til We Say Go) - Street Sweeper Social Club

Cool And Collect - 10 Ft. Ganja Plant

Sine Language - The Crystal Method

Ibajekbe (What If) - Femm Nameless

Own Rebel - Prezident Brown

Look To The Sun - Lawrence Blatt

Should Have Done More - Watermelon Slim

Sixteen Is Too Young - Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

Pra Que Pedir Perdão - Ana Costa With Oswaldo Cavalo

Boris And His Felt - Dufus

Doghouse - The Twisters

Carnival Again - Biggie Irie

Spirit Dance - Ben Dowling

AMPB RECORD CHART

for the week ending september 19

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 PULSE OF THE PEOPLE -DEAD PREZ-INVASION MUSIC

2 DANCE THE WORLD-VARIOUS ARTISTS-WORLD MUSIC NET

3 OM 5-VARIOUS ARTISTS-OM

4 (SELF TITLED) -STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB -S.S.S.C.

5 IN A DIS YA TIME-THE ITALS-VP

6 ESCAPE FROM THE CHICKEN COOP -WATERMELON SLIM-NORTHERN BLUES

7 DIVIDED BY NIGHT -THE CRYSTAL METHOD-TINY E RECORDS

8 THE MAGIC COUPLE-AMADOU & MARIAM-UNIVERSAL

9 COBA COBA REMIXED -NOVALIMA-CUMBANCHA

10 PARIS TO CUBA-MARIO GRIGOROV-WARM & GENUINE

11 BUSHROCK-10 FT. GANJA PLANT-ROIR

12 COMMON PROSPERITY-PREZIDENT BROWN -TOMORROW'S CHILDREN

13 THE COLOR OF SUNSHINE-LAWRENCE BLATT -LMB MUSIC

14 AWAKE-JULIAN MARLEY-TUFF GONG

15 IN MONSTROUS ATTITUDE-DUFUS-ROIR

16 SOCA GOLD 2009-VARIOUS ARTISTS-VP

17 INVADERS MUST DIE-THE PRODIGY-TAKE ME TO THE ....

18 BACH IN HAVANA-TIEMPO LIBRE-SONY

19 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFROBEAT REVIVAL -WORLD MUSIC NET

20 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS BRAZILIAN CAFE-PUTUMAYO

21 DARK WAS THE NIGHT -VARIOUS ARTISTS -REDHOT

22 TROUBADOUR-K'NAAN-A & M

23 ...AND THE HORSE...-SCOTLAND YARD GOSPEL CHOIR-BLOODSHOT

24 COME OUT SWINGIN'-THE TWISTERS-NORTHERN BLUES

25 LIVE FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN-CLAPTON/WINWOOD -REPRISE

26 WORLD RISING-BEN DOWLING-VISION SOUND

27 REGGAE GOLD 2009-VARIOUS ARTISTS-VP

28 YATRA -KAILASH KHER & KAILASA-CUMBANCHA

29 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ARABIA-VARIOUS ARTISTS-EMI

30 HERE I AM-GROUNDATION-(SELF-RELEASED)

31 (THE ALBUM)-WILCO-NONESUCH

32 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS SALSA VARIOUS ARTISTS-PUTUMAYO

33 FAR-REGINA SPEKTOR-SIRE

34 GET LUCKY-MARK KNOPFLER-REPRISE

35 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN STREET PARTY -WORLD MUSIC NET

36 SENTIMENTAL AND ANIMATED-VARIOUS-TRONE MUSIC

37 MONTEGO BAY-QUEEN IFRICA-VP

38 FROM THE ROOT-ZAC HARMON-NORTHERN BLUES

39 THE RESISTANCE-MUSE-WARNER BROS.

40 RACHMANINOV ETUDES-ALEXANDER ROMANOVSKY -DECCA

AMPB REPORT #92

a publication by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters

AMPB PMB 22

2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

AMPB RREPORT #91

2009-07-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

The Berkeley station is celebrating ten years on the air.

Please come to our party!

Soul Presents: A Pirated Midsummer Night’s Dream

Purple and Black Ball

HEADLINING:

Lolita Sweet – CD I’m Taking Applications

The Chairman – CD This Pain in My Soul

Triple Ave – CD The Working Class Heroes

FEATURING:

Yukon Hannibal – BLR DJ

Chela Simoné – BLR DJ

The Understudies - Dems and Citizen BLR DJ

DJ Blak & Divinity – BLR DJ’s (DJing Event)

Special Guests: Global Culture

BENEFIT FUNDRAISER FOR 104.1FM

BERKELEY LIBERATION RADIO

Come Celebrate With Us A Night of Love, Laughter, and Merriment!!!

Help Us Keep Free Speech ALIVE!!!

Food Provided by: Food Not Bombs

COST:

$5.00 before 7:00pm, $10.00 after 7:00pm

FRIDAY, JULY 31

Doors open: 6:00 pm

Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship

1924 Cedar Street (at

Bonita), Berkeley CA

Co-Sponsored by: BFUU Social Justice Committee

BerkeleyLiberationRadio.net

STATION ALERT

States ask FCC's OK to jam prison cell phones

By MEG KINNARD (AP) — A Southern prison official says correctional leaders from more than two dozen states have signed a petition asking permission to jam cell phone signals inside state penitentiaries and thwart inmates' forbidden phone calls. South Carolina Corrections Director Jon Ozmint said his petition was filed Monday with the Federal Communications Commission. He said it bears signatures from corrections directors in 25 states and three cities. Ozmint says contraband cell phones allow inmates to communicate and plan other crimes. Inmates in several states have been accused of doing just that. Under current law, however, the FCC can only allow federal agencies — not state or local authorities — permission to jam cell phone signals.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:

Policies to Promote Rural Radio Service

The FCC has adopted a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking (NPRM), seeking comment on a number of procedures designed to

streamline the process of allocating new FM channels and AM frequency assignments,

with an emphasis on encouraging policies that foster new and modified channel

assignments favoring smaller communities, rural areas, and Native American and Alaska

Native tribal areas. The Commission proposes a number of rule and procedural changes

addressing channel assignment and allotment priorities under Section 307(b) of the

Communications Act of 1934, as amended, including proposing a new priority for Native

American and Alaska Native tribes and their members seeking to provide new radio service

to tribal lands. The Commission also proposes a number of smaller but significant procedural changes designed to make the allotment and assignment of radio channels more efficient.

From: Boulder Freeradio

Hello BFR friends and family,

Recently Boulder Free Radio was visited twice by the FCC, asking us to stop broadcasting both times. If you're an occasional or avid FM listener you have probably noticed that we have not been on air since the second FCC visit. We are taking this downtime as an opportunity to re-organize, get started on new projects, and bring some new faces into the group. In the past we have primary focused on DJ's, but as a part of our re-organization process we are now looking for help in various other areas. If you might want to help out with any of these things please don't hesitate to get in touch! boulderfreeradio at gmail dot com

One of BFR's core operating principals is that the radio waves be seen as a natural resource AND not a means of revenue generation. By embracing this drastically different approach to radio, we have room for innovation, ideas and music that corporate and even community stations simply cannot have. We have the ability to test new ideas with out fear of failure, our content is then driven by what people ejory listening to, not by what will yield the most donations or sell the most advertising (regardless of what Abritorn says, we do not believe that ad-revenu is an accurate mesaure of community listener base). We see a future for FM radio that is vastly different than what we have now, and are ready and willing to work and learn for it. With every FCC bust we grow stronger and more dedicated to our cause, more people reach out, more people get involved. If you like what we are doing but dont have time or resources to get involved more, consider heading over to our website and making a donation. http://boulderfreeradio.com Thanks for your eyes and ears.

with love, BFR

NLE 09-coming soon to your back yard!

BY TEXLAHOMA

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Dick Cheney was running several war games in the north eastern portion of the United States. These drills included many hijacking scenarios, where commercial jets were hijacked and flown into buildings. A fictional "scenario" of multiple bomb attacks on London's underground took place at exactly the same time as the bomb attack on July 7, 2005. With these facts in mind you can understand why I'm just a bit apprehensive about the upcoming drills starting on July 27th. National Level Exercise 2009 is a White House directed, Congressionally- mandated exercise that includes the participation of all appropriate federal department and agency senior officials, their deputies, staff and key operational elements. In addition, broad regional participation of state, tribal, local, and private sector is anticipated. This year the United States welcomes the participation of Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom in NLE 09. The NLE 09 scenario will begin in the aftermath of a terrorist event outside of the United States, and exercise play will center on preventing subsequent efforts by the terrorists to enter the United States and carry out additional attacks. This scenario enables participating senior officials to focus on issues related to preventing terrorist events domestically and protecting U.S. critical infrastructure. NLE 09 will be an operations-based exercise to include: activities taking place at command posts, emergency operation centers, intelligence centers and potential field locations to include federal headquarters facilities in the Washington D.C. area, and in federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector facilities in FEMA Region VI, which includes the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

What is the the first global revolution

http://www.green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html

U.S. Preparing a Military Response to Coming Social Chaos

http://silverbearcafe.com/private/04.09/pandemonium.html

Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=10710770

RED ALERT: The Total Takeover Of America Enters Its Final Phase

http://www.prisonplanet.com/red-alert-the-total-takeover-of-america-enters-its-final-phase.html

9/11 FEMA videographer at Ground Zero goes public

http://www.voltairenet.org/article160636.html

ASCAP Wants to be Paid for Ringtones

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/ascap-wants-be-paid-

Many in Congress Hold Stakes in Health Industry

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/us/politics/14cong.html

Do we want ISPs to penalise our fans?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/18/billy-bragg-copyright-music-internet

Surfing the web? Bored? Check out these guys!

http://www.anoraknation.com/

Genachowski Begins at FCC; Announces Senior Staff

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2009/06/genachowski_begins_at_fcc_anno.html?hpid=news-col-blog

Captain Fred’s World Cruise #91

(This show can be downloaded from radio4all.net or archive.org)

Omen-The Prodigy

Yest-KMC

Ruperta-Novalima

Crazy Afrobeat-Tony Allen

Bush Rock-Ten Foot Ganja Plant

Refuse To Lose-Dead Prez

If Rap Gets Jealous-K'naan

Shock You Again-Street Sweeper Social Club

Violence In the Streets-Julian Marley

Smile?-The Crystal Method

I Feel So Good-Scott H. Biram

In The Wind-Homemade Jamz Band

Compagnon de la Vie-Amadou and Mariam

Man Next Door-John Holt

Violet Blue-Lawrence Blatt

El Shing-A-Ling-Poncho Sanchez

Hattie Mae-Zach Harmon

Taxi-Mishal Al Arouj

You Don't Care-The Itals

Head First Omega-Alland Byallo

The Beast-VP Crew

AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 18, 2009

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 SOCA GOLD 2009 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP

2 (SELF TITLED) - STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB - S.S.S.C.

3 COBA COBA REMIXED - NOVALIMA - CUMBANCHA

4 DIVIDED BY NIGHT - THE CRYSTAL METHOD - TINY E RECORDS

5 FROM THE ROOT - ZAC HARMON - NORTHERN BLUES

6 AWAKE - JULIAN MARLEY - TUFF GONG

7 TROUBADOUR - K'NAAN - A & M

8 LIVE ... - CLAPTON/WINWOOD - REPRISE

9 NOVEL SOUNDS OF... - HA HA TONKA - BLOODSHOT

10 INVADERS MUST DIE - THE PRODIGY - TAKE ME TO THE ....

11 THE COLOR OF SUNSHINE - LAWRENCE BLATT - LMB MUSIC

12 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFROBEAT REVIVAL - WORLD MUSIC NET

13 WELCOME TO MALI - AMADOU & MIRIAM - NONESUCH

14 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ARABIA - VARIOUS - EMI

15 PENTHOUSE SHOWCASE VOLUME 2 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP

16 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS SALSA - VARIOUS ARTISTS - PUTUMAYO

17 SOUL TUB! - CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS - TUBTONE

18 BACH IN HAVANA - TIEMPO LIBRE - SONY

19 I GOT BLUES FOR YOU - HOMEMADE JAMZ - NORTHERN BLUES

20 DARK WAS THE NIGHT - VARIOUS ARTISTS - REDHOT

21 SILENT RIVER - VARIOUS ARTISTS - GREENSLEEVES

22 SOMETHING'S WRONG - SCOTT H. BIRAM - BLOODSHOT

23 IN A DIS YA TIME - THE ITALS - VP

24 PULSE OF THE PEOPLE - DEAD PREZ - INVASION MUSIC

25 OM 5 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - OM

26 VOICES - YANNI - YANNI WAKE

27 20 YEARS IN SIN SIN - MAD SIN - HEPCAT

28 (THE ALBUM) - WILCO - NONESUCH

29 BUSHROCK - 10 FT. GANJA PLANT- ROIR

30 ELLAN - MONIKA JALILI - (SELF PRODUCED)

31 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP

32 SMOKIN'S 88'S - BARRELHOUSE BOB PAGE - HOTTRAX

33 AT CARNEGIE HALL - BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB - NONESUCH

34 REGGAE GOLD 2009 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP

35 SLIDE TO FREEDOM 2 - COX/BHATT - NORTHERN BLUES

36 THIS TIME - DAVID LANDON BAND - WHIP RECORDS

37 FAR - REGINA SPEKTOR - SIRE

38 REVOLUTIONARY RHYTHM - JADE SIMMONS - E 1

39 WITHIN MY WALLS - IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT - CUMBANCHA

40 MONTEGO BAY - QUEEN IFRICA - VP

The AMPB Report is a publication by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters. Contact us if you would like a free copy of our newsletter.

AMPB

PMB 22

2018 Shattuck Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

http://www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

AMPB RREPORT #90

2009-05-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I’m still waiting for that “change”. I don’t see it happening yet. Still us radio rebels continue our struggle. One of my favorites right now is an angry guy who goes down into his basement and makes videos for youtube. The show is called “The Stench of Truth” and I recommend it highly. We still have a little free speech in this country so let’s use it before we lose it. I see the ever-widening powers of federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and I get concerned. I see regular military troops at traffic stops and I get concerned. I see outbreaks of never-seen-before contagious diseases and I get concerned. During the Bush years, it felt sort of like Germany in 1938. Now we have Obama and it’s starting to feel like Germany in 1941. I’m currently reading “The Rise of the Fourth Reich” by Jim Marrs. I would also recommend that to you. I’m not all gloom and doom though. What I see is most Americans going about their daily activities, reporting for work, paying their taxes, and obeying the law. That’s where our strength is-in the people. Folks are worried. They have good reason to be worried, but if we all can keep it together and hold our “leaders” accountable, I have faith that we as a nation can pull through. Here in Berkeley, our local pirate station will be celebrating ten years on the air come july 31. There are plans for a big party. I’ll update you in the next newsletter two months from now. Until then, keep on fighting for freedom and support your local micro-power station. -Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

STATION ALERT

The Prometheus Radio Project Storms Capitol Hill

Last week, from April 22-24, 2009, Prometheus wrapped up our third Low Power FM Leadership days in DC. It was a great trip; we made significant headway on our campaign to expand low power FM, traded stories with allies from around the country, and made (radio)waves with our giant corporate robot street theater piece!

Over 50 people, representing diverse communities ranging from farmworkers from Florida and Oregon, artists and musicians from Chicago to New Jersey, media activists and youth organizers from Atlanta to Detroit, low-wage workers from Baltimore, members of the faith community from rural North Carolina and radio programmers from Idaho to New York City, gathered in Washington DC to demand more Low Power FM radio through the passage of the Local Community Radio Act. Watch the You tube video, check out the photos, or listen to Free Speech Radio News story on the events.

The days of action began with a three-hour lobby training at St. Stephen's Church. Members of the Allied Media Project, Detroit Summer, the Media Mobilizing Project, and People's Production House presented on media justice and the importance of telling untold stories in the building of movements to end poverty. Members of the United Workers and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers shared stories about their campaigns for better wages, decent working conditions, economic human rights, and the role that media played in these campaigns. Lobbyists from US PIRG, the Consumer's Union, and the Media Access Project shared lobbying tips and provided an overview of the Congressional landscape of today.

On Thursday, April 23, 3 dozen people, including local participants as well as people from across the country, marched from Union Station to the Capitol Steps chanting, "Low Power Radio for our communities." We were being trailed by a Big Robot Puppet, which represented the Corporate Media and the powerful broadcast lobby industry. Upon arriving on the Capitol steps, the street theater piece "Corporate Media vs. Community Media" began, in which we struggled to take the giant microphone away from corporate media and gain access to the airwaves.

We met with over 46 Congressional offices and were assured support, through cosponsorship, in a number of the visits. Later, a the policy briefing, Representative Doyle (D-Pa.) assured his continued support for the Local Community Radio Act and enthusiastically announced that Chairman Boucher was also "inclined" to move this legislation to a vote. Liz Humes from WRIR-LP in Richmond addressed the importance of Low Power Radio to Emergency Response. Pop-musician Nicole Atkins from Neptune City New Jersey voiced the importance of Local Radio to musicians. Although she has a large following around the word, she still faces difficulties when she tries to get her music played on the radio stations in her own town. Erubiel Valladares, from KPCN-LP spoke of the importance of Low Power Radio in the farm worker community of Woodburn, Oregon where he lives and organizes. Cheryl Leanza from the United Church of Christ and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released a report on Minority ownership of Radio and the ability of Low Power Radio to diversify the media landscape. Parul Desai from the Media Access Project moderated the Panel and gave an important recap of the 2003 MITRE study which disproves the National Association of Broadcasters claims about interference caused by LPFM (an opposition which had originally been an obstacle to expanding LPFM).

On Friday, April 24, Low Power Radio advocates brought their demands to the Federal Communications Commission, asking the FCC to grant more rights to LPFM stations so that larger stations cannot take over Low Power signals. Many groups spoke of their inability to get a radio station unless FCC gives preference to LPFM license applications over the satellite repeater signals of preexisting non-local stations.

After taking it to the streets, to our Congressional Representatives, and to the FCC, there was only one place left to go: the White House! Over 40 of us met with Susan Crawford, who is responsible for technology issues on President Obama's transition team, and Jim Kohlenberg, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Chief of Staff. There in the White House Conference Room we demanded that President Obama's words of support, as demonstrated through former cosponsorship of this legislation and his call to diversity media ownership, be transformed into action. We delivered a letter, signed by groups from across the country, expressing support of Low Power FM Radio and demanding that President Obama release a statement in support of the legislation.

After our hard days of advocacy and action we spent some time reflecting on our next steps, and how grassroots folks will continue to lead the way in the fight for more local community radio. People headed back to their homes with a heightened commitment to this work. Whether using their existing stations to inform people of the legislation, working to pass City Council Resolutions, setting up more lobbying visits in their home districts, or doing political education in their communities about the importance of community radio, we are organizing to win. We will expand Low Power FM radio to towns and cities across the country. Join us in the fight!

The Swine Flu Hoax

by W.C. Moore

One hasn't had to go very far lately to become thoroughly acquainted with the highly propagandized issues regarding swine flu. But, unfortunately, the majority of what you've learned from the mainstream sources amounts to little more than a promotional campaign for specific vaccines designed and marketed by the pharm-chem industry. Anyone who has done a dab of in-depth research into the highly controversial issues of the origins of AIDS may well be aware from the earliest research of Dr. Robert Strecker, and later of Dr. Len Horowitz highlighted in his book, "Emerging Viruses", that animal viruses cannot normally cross species by themselves. An elaborate bio-engineering process is required through which viral components are recombined ultimately with human blood cells to produce a contaminant which can live and thrive in humans. Dr. Horowitz recently produced a 10 minute video alert, available on YouTube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs which provides many of the details tracking the origin of this current swine flu outbreak from Mexico to the U.S. and the collusion among key operatives within the CDC and Novavax Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland. And this alert comes from Dr. Patrica A. Doyle DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics Univ of West Indies. " PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT TAKE ANY VACCINE THAT IS PURPORTED TO PREVENT THIS FLU. Remember 1976 and the so called Swine Flu outbreak that was purported to be a coming pandemic? It only infected recruits at Ft. Dix. Why? Because I believe that the so called Swine Flu virus infected the recruits due to the vaccines they were given. Whether the government developed the Swine Flu 1976 virus and infected the recruits as a means to test the public to see if people would comply with a call to take vaccination against Swine Flu, or the recruits became infected via contaminated vaccine they were given as part of the recruit regimen, that outbreak was as phony as they come. I was one of the people duped into taking a Swine Flu shot and it made me so sick. I was sick in bed for three months after taking the vaccine."For info warriors such as myself, it's sometimes hard to fathom how legions of an ill-informed public can still take the bait on repeated curtain calls of this nature, but an awakening process is at least underway. As of 5/12/09 there had already been 147,500+ viewings of the Horowitz alert video, and there have likewise been many other heads-up mailers circulating on the internet focusing on the issue as well. Sadly though, there will remain a lion's share of those who suck up to the network airheads. There's yet another YouTube piece called, "Creating a Nation of Zombies", www.brasschecktv.com/page/506.html that clarifies this side of the coin very well. But not to worry, it's likewise a short that won't eat up nearly as much of your time as "Night of the Living Dead".

W.C. Moore is a former co-programmer of San Francisco Liberation Radio and Systems Engineer for Westwood One Broadcasting, San Francisco.

'Anaconda' harnesses wave power

By Christine McGourty

Science correspondent, BBC News

A new wave energy device known as "Anaconda" is the latest idea to harness the power of the seas.

Its inventors claim the key to its success lies in its simplicity: Anaconda is little more than a length of rubber tubing filled with water. Waves in the water create bulges along the tubing that travel along its length gathering energy. At the end of the tube, the surge of energy drives a turbine and generates electricity.

The device is being developed by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd, which has been testing a small-scale 8m-long prototype in a wave tank owned by the science and technology company Qinetiq. Paul Auston, chairman of Checkmate, says the tests have proved the concept works. The company is now looking to raise £7m from investors to build a larger version to test at sea. "We've seen excellent results in scale-model testing, and now we are gearing up to attract the necessary investment to develop Anaconda and begin producing the first full-sized units for ocean testing within the next three years," he told BBC News.

"The UK is known for its engineering excellence and politicians from all parties have been keen to challenge companies to come up with renewable energy projects that can be sold around the world.

"With Anaconda, we have an invention that changes conventional thinking and it can help to meet government targets for cutting CO2 by providing renewable wave energy from our coastal waters.

"It will also help cement the UK's world-leading position in this technology." The co-inventor of the device, Professor Rod Rainey of engineering design consultants Atkins, has been working in the field for several decades. He said: "The beauty of wave energy is its consistency. However, the problem holding back wave energy machines is that devices tend to deteriorate over time in the harsh marine environment.

"Anaconda is non-mechanical. It is mainly rubber, a natural material with a natural resilience, and so has very few moving parts to maintain." The long-term plan is to have hundreds of these devices offshore where waves are big, in northern Scotland for example. Other potential locations would be on western seaboards - off the coast of America, Australia, Ireland and Japan, to name a few. It is claimed that a group of 50 full-size Anacondas - each 200m long - could provide electricity for 50,000 homes. Professor Godfrey Boyle, an expert in renewable energy at the Open University, said the device sounded quite promising. If the required investment capital can be raised, the team "could be on to a winner", he said.

But he cautioned that the developers would need to achieve very long lifetimes for the device and the very high reliability required to withstand decades of battering by the waves - combined with low capital and maintenance costs and high-energy conversion efficiency.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB:

Aide resigns over Air Force One fiasco — Biden not involved

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/05/09/aide-resigns-over-air-force-one-fiasco-resigns-biden-not-involved/

Everything You Need to Know About Oil, Gas, Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan and Obama

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/139983

Tucker: Bilderberg to Exploit Swine Flu Hysteria to Strengthen World Health Regulations

http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20090508_tucker_bilderberg.htm

Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afrdATVXPEAk&refer=worldwide

US Military Deaths in Iraq War at 4, 285

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/08/us/AP-US-Iraq-US-Deaths.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

Report: FBI Mishandles Terror Watch List

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/fbi-gets-f-in-handling-terror-watch-list-ig-finds/

Huge U.S. camp arises in Afghan Desert of Death

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSISL43643820090507?sp=true

After Boston Crash, Cellphone Ban May Loom

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/09/us/AP-US-Trolley-Crash.html

Zadari: Osama was an “Operator” for the United States

http://www.infowars.com/zadari-osama-was-an-operator-for-the-united-states/

Max Keiser: Vampire Bankers Speculating on the Corpse of Chrysler and Workers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N61NZv-XLYA

Media Breakthrough! 9-11 Press for Truth to Be Shown on Mainstream Television

http://www.911blogger.com/node/20021

Rumsfeld greeted as ‘war criminal’ at White House Correspondents dinner

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=3418

Obama adminstration reverses itself, won’t release detainee abuse photos.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/13/obama-cancels-photo-release/

Blogging Can Kill You

http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/05/05/blogging-can-kill-you/

NY FED chair resigns, Arlen Specter’s dubious website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA8PSz6fRCc

Thousands join Army to escape recession

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6251988.ece

AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING: 5/16/09

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 WELCOME TO MALI - AMADOU & MIRIAM - NONESUCH

2 INVADERS MUST DIE - THE PRODIGY - TAKE ME TO THE ....

3 WITHIN MY WALLS - THE IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT - CUMBANCHA

4 DIVIDED BY NIGHT - THE CRYSTAL METHOD - TINY E RECORDS

5 BIG BLUE BALL - VARIOUS ARTISTS - REALWORLD

6 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS SALSA - VARIOUS ARTISTS - PUTUMAYO

7 DESTINY - GLEN WASHINGTON - VP

8 AT CARNEGIE HALL - BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB - NONESUCH

9 LIVE VOL. 1 - MASTER MUSICIANS OF JAJOUKA - JAJOUKA

10 DAY BY DAY - FEMI KUTI - MERCER STREET

11 KNOWLE WEST BOY - TRICKY - DOMINO

12 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFROBEAT REVIVAL - WORLD MUSIC NET

13 VICTROLA FAVORITES - VARIOUS ARTISTS - DUST TO DIGITAL

14 DEATH WAS TOO KIND - SUBHUMANS (CANADA) - ALT. TENTACLES

15 THE GOLDEN HOUR - FIREWATER - BLOODSHOT

16 TROUBADOUR - K'NAAN - A & M

17 AROUND THE WORLD - SENOR COCONUT - NACIONAL

18 SLIDE TO FREEDOM 2 - DOUG COX & SALIL BHATT - NORTHERN BLUES

19 COBA COBA - NOVALIMA - CUMBANCHA

20 UNRELEASED RECORDINGS - HANK WILLIAMS - TIME-LIFE

21 YES WE CAN - COCOA TEA - ROARING LION

22 IN C - TERRY RILEY - SONY

23 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ARABIA - VARIOUS - EMI

24 JAI GANESHA - EMAM & FRIENDS - ETERNAL

25 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO LATIN STREET PARTY - W.M.N.

26 VIPER OF MELODY - WAYNE HANCOCK - BLOODSHOT

27 MR. LUCKY - CHRIS ISAAK - REPRISE

28 KEEP IT HID - DAN AUERBACH - NONESUCH

29 BACH IN HAVANA - TIEMPO LIBRE - SONY

30 DAMN RIGHT REBEL PROUD - HANK III - THE SIDEWALK

31 VOICES - YANNI - YANNI WAKE

32 (SELF TITLED) - FINBAR FUREY - COSMIC TRIGGER

33 THE OPTIMIST - STAN HARRISON - EDGE ARTISTS

34 RADIO RETALIATION - THIEVERY CORPORATION - ESL

35 IRISH PIRATE BALLADS - DAN MILNER - SMITHSONIAN

36 FROM THE ROOT - ZAC HARMON - NORTHERN BLUES

37 YO BABA - FUNKADESI - (SELF RELEASED)

38 DEFINING COOL - J.C. SMITH BAND - COZMIK

39 SOMETHING'S WRONG - SCOTT H. BIRAM - BLOODSHOT

40 LUV IS THE FOUNDATION - ROCKER-T - EPIPHYTE

NEW ADDS (thanks for sending them!)

YEARS IN SIN SIN - MAD SIN - HEPCAT

EVERYTHING REPRISE VOLUME SEVEN - REPRISE

CAPTAIN FRED’S WORLD CRUISE #90

(this show is downloadable from www.radio4all.net and www.archive.org)

Omen (Reprise)-THE PRODIGY

C'Mon Baby-TRICKY

Judgement Day-SCOTT H. BIRAM

Got To Be Free-GLEN WASHINGTON

Burn You Up, Burn You Down-PETER GABRIEL

Bhangra Bros-FIREWATER

Abbey Rockers #1-THE SUPERPOWERS

Puerto Rico Pa Gozar-CANDELA ALLSTARS

Habibi-MELISSA AND DR. ALBAN

Sekebe-AMADOU + MARIAM

The Forgotten People-THIEVERY CORPORATION

Wavin' Flag-K'NAAN

Mokihana-KANE'S HAWAIIAN

Quizás, Quizás-BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB

Let's Make History-FEMI KUTI

Because I Should-DAN AUERBACH

This Too Shall Pass-IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT

Ten Thousand Miles Away-DAN MILNER

Freight Train Boogie-WAYNE HANCOCK

Se Me Van-NOVALIMA

Make A Better World-DOUG COX AND SALIL BHATT

Voodoo Dreams-SENOR COCONUT

Drown In the Now-THE CRYSTAL METHOD

AMPB REPORT #90

a publication by the association of micro-power broadcasters

AMPB PMB 22

2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

www.ampbreport.blogspot.com

2009-03-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

As we get into the new year, 2009 is starting to look a lot like 1984. Of course I am referring to George Orwell’s book. Read it if you haven’t already. We see Obama backpedalling on most of his campaign promises, the economy worsens by the day and the wars show no sign of letting up. Part of the so-called “war on terror” seems to include shutting down micro-power radio stations nationwide. Here in Berkeley, our local station continues to get harassed. If you have a “pirate” station in your town and you appreciate what they do, please won’t you let them know? Even a letter of support could help. If they get raided by the FCC, show up and let the authorities know you don’t approve. Rally support and speak out. Better yet, get your own transmitter and go on the air. For those of you who want to stay legal, consider a small AM transmitter. Contact www.trutham.com for one of their type 15 packages. Of course www.freeradio.org is still selling FM transmitter kits. Check them out too. The prospects for freedom are looking dim right now, so use your rights before they get taken away. Please check out my new blog. You’ll find this newsletter and other information there. The URL is:

http://ampbreport.blogspot.com/

-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)

Free 103 point 9 Gets a Full-Power License

The Greene/Columbia community radio project is a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. Our inclusive programming connects diverse voices, and distributes information across the public spectrum in New York's Greene and Columbia Counties. We will launch a 3,300-watt community radio station on 90.7-FM throughout Greene and Columbia Counties in 2010, and an online radio station in 2009. The project will be much more than just a radio station, including media training for youth and other members of the community, and a blog, local calendar of events and meetings, photography, and more. This will be an interactive multi-media project engaging the community to report about what's going on in Greene and Columbia counties. To launch this radio station, members of the community in Greene and Columbia Counties in New York will have to become involved and help to form the station so it reflects the community. To do that we will hold many public meetings, as well as media training workshops. The aim is to create a new team of citizen journalists, radio hosts, DJs, and media makers who will make the Greene/Columbia radio project their own.

Massive Layoffs Hit The RIAA: Maybe Focus On Building Business Rather Than Suing Customers Next Time?

from the just-a-thought dept

Details have been spilling out over the last few days that the RIAA has been making pretty massive cuts to staff. We already knew that EMI was cutting back on its support of the RIAA/IFPI, and it seems that with the rest of the RIAA's major label supporters also having economic troubles, the writing is on the wall that the RIAA is about to go through a major transformation. I'm sure some will somehow "blame piracy" for this turn of events, but it's hard to see how that's even remotely the issue. The real issue is that the RIAA has basically managed to run one of the dumbest, most self-defeating strategies over the last decade. Rather than helping major record labels adjust to the changing market, it continually, repeatedly and publicly destroyed its own reputation and the reputation of the labels -- each time shrinking their potential market by blaming the very people they should have been working to turn into customers. They may claim that they "had" to take this strategy because it's what the labels wanted (and, indeed, that was Hilary Rosen's excuse), but that's ridiculous. It was evident to pretty much anyone who took the time to understand the issues back in the mid- to late-90s, that the internet represented an opportunity to those who embraced it. The RIAA's decision to fight progress and its own customers at every turn has been nothing short of a complete disaster. That the group is now being gutted is the inevitable result of a poor strategy that could have easily been avoided.

BBC's secret war with the pirates

By Chris Hastings, Public Affairs Editor

Previously unseen documents from the BBC archives disclose how the corporation was so alarmed at the rise of the stations that it launched a secret “dirty tricks” campaign to have them shut down. The files show the extraordinary lengths to which the corporation went to undermine their new rivals, which operated without restriction from ships or wartime forts outside British territorial waters. Measures included lobbying acts such as The Beatles, Cliff Richard and Ken Dodd to ban their records from being played by the stations and blacklisting pirate DJs such as Tony Blackburn and Simon Dee. The BBC banned its own presenters from broadcasting any reference to Radio Caroline, the most popular of the pirates, and suppressed audience research on the stations’ popularity. Bosses also put pressure on the Conservative Party not to support the pirates. The public broadcaster, which had a monopoly of the radio waves at the time, even complained about an episode of the ITV spy thriller Danger Man which was set aboard one of the ships, claiming that the show gave pirate stations undue publicity. It was also upset by a review in The Sunday Telegraph of one pirate programme which, although critical, would have “drawn attention” to the station. This newspaper has obtained the documents ahead of the release of a new British comedy film, The Boat That Rocked, by the makers of Notting Hill. It stars Kenneth Branagh, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy in a story of the often farcical attempts to close down a fictional pirate radio ship inspired by Radio Caroline. However, the official papers suggest that the on-screen events are not far removed from reality. They disclose how the BBC routinely taped Radio Caroline’s output, in the hope that its DJs would say something derogatory about Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, which they could pass on to Downing Street. Nonetheless, a report of Caroline’s coverage of Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965 concluded: “They proceeded to play music of such a funereal character that it made our own solemn music sound like a wedding march”.

In 1964, the BBC introduced a ban on employing anyone involved with the pirate stations. A list of names included Tony Blackburn, Simon Dee, Tom Lodge, Doug Kerr, Chris Moon, Gerry Duncan, Terry Withers, Errol Bruce and Bobby Brown, all pirate DJs. When Dee quit Radio Caroline in 1965 so he could work at the BBC, some managers argued for the ban to remain. However, he was eventually allowed to join the corporation and other former pirates would follow. The BBC believed that the pirates were part of attempts to break up its monopoly via the backdoor. Its dirty tricks campaign was prompted by the reluctance of politicians to take action against the stations, for fear of alienating young voters. The BBC conducted extensive research into Radio Caroline, which had ships off Felixstowe, Suffolk, and the Isle of Man, including finding out how many of its listeners were under 21 – the voting age, at the time – so it could prove to MPs that a ban on the pirates would not damage their election prospects. However, the corporation decided not to release its research because “the potential disadvantages to the BBC outweighed the potential advantage… some aspects of the report could be interpreted in such a way as to be favourable publicity for Caroline”. The BBC’s campaign did nothing to dent the success of the pirates which, by the mid-1960s, had audiences in excess of 20?million. The campaign ended in 1967 with the introduction of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, which made it illegal to work for, advertise on or supply pirate stations. They all closed with the exception of Caroline. A month later the BBC launched Radio 1, its first pop music station. Commercial radio was not introduced until 1973.

NEW MUSIC FEE COULD CRIPPLE RADIO

by Bob Lonsberry

Government is the enemy of business. And as it is business and not government that brings prosperity to Americans, it often follows that government is the enemy of the people. Which is extra disappointing as the Founding Fathers intended the government to be the servant of the people. In this world, however, the government is the servant of the special interests. Like millionaire entertainers and the billionaire companies that employ them. The latest example is the radio you listen to. The government is attacking the American radio industry. Last week, another Democrat senator called for hearings and laws to rein-in conservative talk radio. But this week, the attack is on music radio. This week, the Congress wants to bankrupt it. Here’s the background. Every time a song is played on the radio, the person who wrote that song gets paid. That’s because singers and recording companies have traditionally cut songwriters out of most of the profit from record sales. Money for the songwriters comes from licensing fees that radio stations pay to organizations representing song writers and publishers. It’s been that way forever.

Under new legislation, however, radio stations would also have to pay fees to the person singing the song, and to the company that owns the “master recording” from which the song comes. This would, essentially, be a doubling of the cost of broadcasting a song. The problem is, radio companies can’t afford that. The radio industry is in the midst of real turmoil caused by the economic downturn, layoffs have been and will be widespread. Radio companies literally are in a death struggle to survive. And this is too much. It is also unfair. See, the sponsors of the legislation say that radio companies make money playing the songs of singers and recording companies. In actuality, singers and recording companies make money because radio stations play their songs. It is not the music industry that helps radio, it is radio that helps the music industry. Without radio, there would be no recording industry. Yes, television and the Internet play a part in record sales and concert promotion, but the lion’s share of record promotion – and all of the music industry’s history – has been a free gift from radio. Every time a song is played on the radio, it is a free advertisement for that singer and that singer’s recording company. Record sales directly reflect air play. That’s why recording companies and singers have, from the very beginning, worked very hard to get their songs on radio. That desire is so great, in fact, that it has prompted tough radio-ethics rules and even federal laws to make sure that recording companies and singers aren’t bribing radio stations or disc jockeys. If you hear a car-dealer commercial on the air, the radio station didn’t pay the car dealer. Likewise, the radio station shouldn’t pay the singer. Both the car dealer and the singer are receiving airplay that makes them money. This would essentially be a national performance tax put on music radio. The exception, of course, is public broadcasting which is essentially exempt from the new fee and has two things that make it unique: 1. no listeners and 2. taxpayer subsidies. Another troubling aspect of this is that a lot of this money would be going out of the country. The largest recording companies are foreign – like Universal, Sony and EMI – and to take money out of the American economy in these troubled times, just to send it overseas, makes no sense. There is also the interesting fact that – just like the bailout and the salary cap – this new intention of government financially rewards those who supported the new president and financially punishes those who supported his opponent. Singers and recording companies – just like all the entertainment industry – lined up behind Barack Obama. The owners or executives of radio companies had a greater likelihood to support George W. Bush or John McCain. So this ends up being a policy that smells a lot like payback. The music industry is lining up behind this policy because, obviously, it brings it a great deal of money. Politicians are lining up behind it because we have entered the era of corporation bashing, and the phrase “big radio” has been coined with all the classist hatred of “big tobacco,” “big pharma” or “big box store.” But this is a case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Singers sell CDs and downloads and concert tickets because radio stations play their songs. Without radio – or a lucky break on “American Idol” – most of the people in the music industry would be waitresses and short-order cooks, or standing in the welfare line. Far more importantly, radio is how most people listen to music. Sure, we have iPods and computers and a whole bunch of “new media.” But when you get down to it, plain-old radio is just what it always has been – America’s favorite, best and most convenient way to listen to music. And this new fee threatens to destroy that. It is framed as a fee for radio companies, but it really will be a fee on music listeners. It is a case of the government turning on the people. The special interests win – the millionaire singers and the billionaire recording companies – but the people lose, the people who just want to turn on their radio and listen to their favorite songs on their favorite stations. Maybe the American people should tell Congress to stand up for them, instead of the foreign recording companies and the Britney Spears of the world.

AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB

Download and watch this, if you dare!

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Obama_Deception

Check out this podcast!

http://www.piratesweek.info/

One generation is all they need

http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/136744

Booz Allen Hamilton-Staged Cyber Attacks

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=87140.0

Obama government fines company for links with Havana

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/march/mier11/multa.html

Still think your cell phone is safe to use?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12857411/

Another Florida Pirate Shut Down

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/ODD_Drug_Radio.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm

This guy always makes sense.

http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=090309_2735,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml

Sacramento tent city is just one of dozens in an ailing America

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5898237.ece

Pirate Radio Ship Returns

http://www.mbmclub.com/auto/newsdesk/20090204175604mbmnews.html

Radio, Someone Still Loves You

http://londonist.com/2009/03/radio_someone_still_loves_you.php

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring'

http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20090313030704502

Letters from our soldiers

http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/willtheyevertrustusagain/index.php?archive=show

Ban Bush From Canada, Says Lawyer

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Bush+from+Canada+lawyers/1379603/story.html

The U.S. Financial System Is Effectively Insolvent

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/global-recession-insolvent-opinions-columnists-roubini-economy.html

The Selling Out of America

http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/reports/sold_out.pdf

AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING 3/14/09

# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL

1 BIG BLUE BALL - VARIOUS ARTISTS - REALWORLD

2 THE GOLDEN HOUR - FIREWATER - BLOODSHOT

3 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO LATIN STREET PARTY - WORLD MUSIC NETWORK

4 KNOWLE WEST BOY - TRICKY - DOMINO

5 THE UNRELEASED RECORDINGS - HANK WILLIAMS - TIME-LIFE

6 COBA COBA - NOVALIMA - CUMBANCHA

7 DEATH WAS TOO KIND - SUBHUMANS (CANADA) - ALT. TENTACLES

8 DAY BY DAY - FEMI KUTI - MERCER STREET

9 AT CARNEGIE HALL - BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB - NONESUCH

10 DIG OUT YOUR SOUL - OASIS - REPRISE

11 YES WE CAN - COCOA TEA - ROARING LION

12 LIVE VOL. 1 - MASTER MUSICIANS OF JAJOUKA - JAJOUKA

13 ALL REBEL ROCKERS - MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD - ANTI

14 PLUTONIUM BLONDE - LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - ROIR

15 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ARABIA - VARIOUS ARTISTS - EMI

16 RADIO RETALIATION - THIEVERY CORPORATION - ESL

17 KEEP IT HID - DAN AUERBACH - NONESUCH

18 IRISH PIRATE BALLADS - DAN MILNER - SMITHSONIAN

19 AROUND THE WORLD - SENOR COCONUT - NACIONAL

20 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS WOMEN OF JAZZ - PUTUMAYO

21 WITHIN MY WALLS - THE IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT - CUMBANCHA

22 AYOMBE! - VARIOUS ARTISTS - SMITHSONIAN

23 WAITING - CECILE - SOBE

24 JAI GANESHA - EMAM & FRIENDS - ETERNAL

25 (SELF TITLED) - FINBAR FUREY - COSMIC TRIGGER

26 CHARACTER - PNUMA TRIO - 1320 RECORDS

27 DESTROY ALL EVIDENCE - REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY - ALT. TENTACLES

28 VICTROLA FAVORITES - VARIOUS ARTISTS - DUST TO DIGITAL

29 MY NAME IS RED ROSE - ANTHONY RED ROSE - RAGGEDY JOE

30 DAMN RIGHT REBEL PROUD - HANK III - THE SIDEWALK

31 YO BABA - FUNKADESI - (SELF RELEASED)

32 INVADERS MUST DIE - THE PRODIGY - TAKE ME TO THE. . .

33 FLAVORS OF ENTANGLEMENT - ALANIS MORISSETTE - MAVERICK

34 DESTINY - GLEN WASHINGTON - VP

35 HAWAIIAN STYLE 5 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - NEOS

36 MR. LUCKY - CHRIS ISAAK - REPRISE

37 THE 3RD WORLD - IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE - VIPER

38 YOU ARE ALL MY PEOPLE - I'M NOT JIM - BLOODSHOT

39 CROSS MY PALM - ANNE FUREY - COSMIC TRIGGER

40 LIVE AT CANTERBURY HOUSE - NEIL YOUNG - REPRISE

NEW ADDS: (Thanks for sending them, folks!)

WELCOME TO MALI - AMADOU & MIRIAM - NONESUCH

VIOLENCE AS FIRST NATURE - SUBMERGED - OHM 10M

DEFINING COOL - J.C. SMITH BAND - COZMIK

MEMORIES OF SUMMER... - THE BEYMAN BROTHERS - DHARMAMOON

SUN DOWN MOON UP - DEREK JONES - (SELF-RELEASED)

WORLD CRUISE #89

(This show can be downloaded from radio4all.net or archive.org)

Coalition-Tricky

Vampires-Thievery Corporation

Mandinga-Buena Vista Social Club

Goodie-Cecile

Around The World-Senor Coconut

Aaref Eh-Samo Zaen

Day By Day-Femi Kuti

A Place Not So Unkind-Firewater

If the Moon Loves You-The Master Musicians of Jajouka

Coba Guarango-Novalima

Oro, Oro-Finbar Furey

Rov Ha'Sha'ot-The Idan Raichel Project

Apocrypha-Immortal Technique

Big Blue Ball-Karl Wallinger

Lonely Road-Funkadesi

La Vida Tómbola-Manu Chao

Ain't Too Proud To Beg-Glen Washington

Tailgate Party-Koa'uka

Street Walkin'-Dan Auerbach

Big Idiot Buys A Pig-He Zemin - Huang Peiying

Workin' Man-Hank Williams III

Mind Your Own Business-Hank Williams

Stand Up-The Prodigy

AMPB PMB 22

2018 SHATTUCK AVE.

BERKELEY, CA 94704

ampb@att.net

http://ampbreport.blogspot.com/

The AMPB REPORT is produced by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters.

AMPB REPORT #77

2007-04-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

AMPB REPORT #77
a publication by the association of micro-power broadcasters
Dear Readers,
The latest news is mixed, very mixed. On a sad note, San Francisco Liberation Radio suffered a defeat in federal court challenging the confiscation of their equipment (see story later in this edition). On the bright side, Rod Moses, owner of Radio Goldfield in Pahrump, Nevada was able to get a temporary permit to operate his low power station. The law firm of Leventhal, Senter and Lerman, which represents many big-time broadcasters, has challenged this stationÕs existence on the grounds that Moses was cited for broadcasting illegally after february 26, 1999, and that makes him ineligible for a LPFM license. Never mind that this provision of the ÒRadio Broadcast Preservation ActÓ was already thrown out of court as unconstitutional. It might be argued that the entire existence of the FCC and their ÒauthorityÓ might also be considered unconstitutional. Whatever... In any case, we salute Rod Moses and his stamina and hope he stays on the air forever. It should also be noted that one of the dirty little secrets about big-time radio biz is that just about everybody in the industry has violated a FCC regulation at one time or another, so letÕs just cut the crap here. This whole thing is about money and the big time guys donÕt want to share any of it with the little broadcasters. ThatÕs why class D stations (remember them?) got outlawed in the first place. So if you want to get a breath of fresh air, check out the Anarchist Book Fair in San Francisco on March 24th, then hop on over to the Long Haul Info Shop in Berkeley for a screening of ÒPirate Radio USAÓ. ItÕs a great documentary about the whole micro-power radio thing and the screening is a benefit for Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM. They could really use your help, so come on by. The address is 3124 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley and it starts at 6:30 PM,
-Paul Griffin (for the AMPB)
STATION ALERT
SFLR Loses One in Court
Federal agents acted legally in raiding the Castro neighborhood office of San Francisco Liberation Radio in 2003 and seizing equipment that was used to run the unlicensed, low-power "pirate" FM station, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Liberation Radio was not entitled to advance notice or a hearing before the raid by federal marshals and Federal Communications Commission representatives. The station had been denied a federal license and accused the agency of a politically motivated crackdown on so-called micro-broadcasters. Liberation Radio, which had broadcast music and "radical progressive'' politics on 93.7 FM for 10 years, was driven off the airwaves by the raid and now operates over the Internet. "Neither broadcasters nor listeners have a First Amendment right to engage in or listen to unlicensed broadcasts,'' the three-judge panel said in Wednesday's ruling, rejecting the station's argument that seizure of broadcast equipment without a hearing violates free expression.
The court also said advance notice might have allowed owners to move, hide or destroy equipment that was legally subject to forfeiture. Liberation Radio will probably ask the full appeals court to order a new hearing before a larger panel, said Katherine Alfieri, a lawyer for the station. She said the station might not have been able to save its equipment if it had been given a hearing before the seizure, but it was hoping to establish rights for anyone facing government interference with communication.
BOYCOTT MONSTER CABLE
Fighting the MonsterCity supports boycott of company that outsourced 120 jobsBy Chris Albon
› news@sfbg.com">news@sfbg.com On Valentine's Day, Yi Jun Huang, a smiling 65-year-old Chinese immigrant, walked into the Apple store near Union Square and handed the manager a large chocolate heart and a pink valentine as about 40 laid-off Monster Cable workers and their supporters rallied outside. It was one of several appeals to electronics stores to honor a boycott and stop carrying Monster products. Huang had worked in a Monster Cable factory producing high-end audio cables for 16 years and was fired last October with more than 120 mostly Chinese immigrant workers when the company decided to outsource their jobs. "The production manager openly told us that production was moving to Mexico," Huang said. Now, despite a boycott launched by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), a slew of protests by the workers, and a resolution passed Feb. 13 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors urging the company to address worker concerns, Monster Cable still refuses to budge. "A multibillion-dollar company should not springboard off their workers for the sake of profit and then kick them to the curb," said Shirley Lorence, an organizer with Rise Up, a caucus within the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. "That's wrong." The recently laid-off workers have an average tenure of eight years, with many having around 15 to 20 years, according to the CPA. Many workers are in their 40s and 50s. With these layoffs, Monster Cable broke from its previous policy of providing four weeks' severance pay plus one week for every year of service, and it did not offer job placement, retraining, or community support for any of the workers. The Board of Supervisors resolution asks Monster Cable, which spent $6 million buying the naming rights to the city-owned Candlestick Park, to give $2 million for a Worker and Community Transition Fund and its workers a more generous severance package. "We saw no evidence that times are tough," Huang said. "We know their sales are up to a billion dollars annually. We're the ones who work there, and there have been no signs that things are slowing down."
Leith FM sets course to capture pirate ship
ADAM MORRIS
IT was the pirate radio station which gave big breaks to DJs such as Tony Blackburn and Johnnie Walker. And now the last vessel from which the legendary Radio Caroline broadcast could soon be based at Leith Docks. Under ambitious proposals by community radio station Leith FM, the Ross Revenge would be moved from its temporary home on the Thames to the Leith shoreline, at a cost of around £50,000. If successful, it is hoped the project would not only provide the station with magnificent studios, but deliver a tourism boost for Leith. "We've seen the difference the Britannia has made to the area, which is astounding," said Leith FM chairman and presenter Stewart Lochhead. "But I think it's very mainstream too, and if we were to get the Radio Caroline boat, not only would it do Leith FM good, but it would give the area a bit more of a bohemian edge, bringing a different kind of tourist to the area." Not only does the Leith FM presenter - known for his part as one half of the popular Grumpy Old Men show - want to move the studios on to the ship, but he thinks a centre in honour of Radio Caroline could be established to boost visitor numbers. He is working closely with John Ritchie, who runs Newtongrange community radio station, Black Diamond Radio, on the proposal and the pair intend to make an approach soon. Leith FM was recently awarded a five-year licence and should be live to coincide with the Leith Festival at the end of May. "John and I remember the days of Radio Caroline in the 60s and thiswould be a great move for the station," he continued. "Our current offices are a touch cramped and to broadcast from the Radio Caroline ship would be something very special. "We had a lunch last Thursday where we discussed it and agreed we should try and pursue funding for it. "It's a shame for something like this to be lying unused in the Thames, it's got such a fantastic history. There's also a ship in the Orkney area which we may look at, although the Ross Revenge would be the main one because of the heritage, the history and the stories." Although public access is currently forbidden, the two studios on board the vessel are in good shape. The vessel, which would have to be towed, is maintained and owned by the Radio Caroline Support Group. The group has previously stated its intent to move the boat to a permanent quayside location in the UK. Radio Caroline itself broadcasts online and digitally from on-land studios in Maidstone and proprietor Peter Moore said while his ideal solution would be to keep the boat in the south of England, if a good enough offer came along he would have to listen. "It's an expensive business moving such a vessel all the way to Edinburgh, and I've not been approached by anyone from Leith FM about this as of yet," he said. "But everything has its price and of course I'm keen to keep the Radio Caroline brand alive." Leith Links councillor Marjorie Thomas said the idea to bring the former Grimsby trawler to Leith was an exciting one. "I think it's an excellent idea, and perhaps a place on the shore would be ideal. "Lots of young people come down to Leith to socialise and I think this would be the kind of thing they would visit."
NASA - What Are They Hiding From US?
By W.C. MooreÊ
Having just returned from the 16th Annual International UFO Congress Convention, I can tell you beyond a reasonable doubt that whatÕs being hidden from us is quite over-whelming and NASA is only one among the culprits.ÊÊ But since NASAÕs moniker has oft been clarified as: Never A Straight Answer, I figure thatÕs a good place to start. ÊThe general public is largely unaware that NASA has for many years, at least since the beginnings of the space shuttle missions, maintained satellite links which have distributed camera feeds from the shuttles and more recently the International Space Station, to transponders which can be picked up by just about any scientific institution thatÕs technically equipped and interested.ÊÊÊ Truth be told, literally anybody who coughs up enough dough for the right type of receiver can also join in on the fun.ÊÊ Quite a few people from the private sector have done just that, and in the process have stumbled across some rather astonishing footage of anomalous phenomena (uh, UFOÕs to be perfectly clear).ÊIn the late 80Õs a former Canadian television station manager, named Martin Stubbs, had his eng tech crew set up one of their unused satellite dishes to receive this signal which he recorded 24 hours a day for the duration of the specific shuttle missions. At home, evenings while having dinner, he would fast forward through these stacks of tapes and hit the brakes when he saw anything that looked a tad peculiar.ÊÊÊ After editing hundreds of hours of these NASA down-linked images, he along with UFO Magazine, UK,Ê put out a 90 minute video called, ÒNASAÕs Secret Transmissions - The Smoking GunÓ.ÊÊ ÊÊWhat was captured that was so visually arresting was scores of spherical objects that buzzed around the shuttles like bees around a hive, albeit much more slowly.ÊÊ The full motion images might best be described as what youÕd expect to see if you were looking at a drop of pond water through a microscope.ÊÊ These were analogous to microscopic paramecium and amoeba in the way they moved squiggly fashion, but their size, which was able to be approximated by referencing the shuttle itself and known camera lens focal lengths, was determined to be 3Ú4 of a mile to 3 miles across!ÊBut that material, going back 7 to 8 years ago is now old stuff.ÊÊÊ The newer imagings, recorded the same way through NASAÕs own cameras, which should be acknowledged as quite a respectable authenticating medium, show similar bright objects that hover in very close proximity to the space station itself.ÊÊ One distinct and noteworthy object was clearly rectangular in shape, like a HersheyÕs candy bar, only white-silverish in color.ÊThis particular film, ÒNASA - What are they hiding from us?Ó, which ran in the film festival competition at the convention, showed numerous instances of this phenomena from an assortment of angles.ÊÊ Although NASA has flatly denied that the images suggest anything life-like from out of this world, one of the astronaut spacewalkers did step forward to talk about having witnessed something very unusual.ÊÊÊ Heide Piper was a crew member of STS-115 which returned to earth on September 22nd, 2006.ÊÊ It had previously been acknowledged that the shuttleÕs return had been delayed for a day because of what NASA referred to as a mysterious object near the Space Station.Ê NASA had initially referred to the phenomena which caused so much concern, particularly among the Russian scientists, as possibly some part of the Atlantis shuttle itself which had come loose and went floating in space.ÊÊÊ Then they said it was a plastic bag, then trash, and finally when theyÕd run out of anything else to call it, they simply referred to it as a mysterious object. ÊWhile standing at the podium during the welcome home ceremony with cameras rolling, space-walker Heide Piper started out by talking about something very peculiar.ÊÊ ÒIt was something that, something that youÕve never seen before.ÊÊ And when I finally got to go out the door that was something very different too.ÓÊÊÊÊÊ But just after having opened up with this acknowledgement and appearing to be ready to offer more descriptive details of the phenomena, her voice began to break as she suddenly became very shaky on her feet and literally fell into the arms of NASA personnel who lowered her to the floor.ÊÊÊ ÊNASA claimed that it was brought on by time spent in weightlessness and the adjustment back to EarthÕs gravity.ÊÊÊÊ The suggestion from others, not directly associated with NASA was that she was so traumatized by witnessing this bizarre space phenomena that she suffered an attack of post traumatic stress syndrome.ÊÊ But there is another explanation as to why it might be that an apparently physically fit and experienced astronaut would collapse upon merely recounting a visual sighting that was unusual.Ê ÊÊIt has been long acknowledged within Dr. Stephen GreerÕs Disclosure Project material that the black ops government does indeed have Ôoff-the-shelf technologyÕ that can remotely trigger strokes or even heart attacks if ÔtheyÕ feel the need for suppression of unwelcome revelations is urgent enough.Ê Although it is clearly conspiratorial in nature, it is also possible that NASA felt it had to stop her from the releasing of revelations that it considered top secret .ÊEven if you are fairly attentive to the daily news headlines, you most likely would have heard no more than just information about the female astronaut who fainted during a press appearance.ÊÊ Her actual words spoken and certainly this footage of her fainting were censored from the mainstream media.Ê Should you be interested, this presentation from March 3rd, 2007, by Jaime Maussan and Santiago Yturria Garza is accessible at the UFO Congress website:Ê ufocongress.com.ÊW.C. Moore is a commercial radio broadcast veteran of stations KFRC and K-101 in San Francisco, as well as a past co-programmer of San Francisco Liberation Radio.ÊÊ His website is: CareerinRadio.com and he can be reached at: gotowc@aol.com.
AMPB record chart for the week ending 3/17/07
# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL
1 IN THE GRIP OF OFFICIAL TREASON - JELLO BIAFRA - ALT. TENTACLES
2 (SELF TITLED) - MOONDOG - HONEST JON'S
3 ONE WORLD, MANY CULTURES - VARIOUS - PUTUMAYO
4 REBIRTH OF A NATION - PUBLIC ENEMY - GUERILLA FUNK
5 THE OUTSIDER - DJ SHADOW - UNIVERSAL
6 GRAVEYARD SHIFT - SCOTT H. BIRAM - BLOODSHOT
7 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO LATIN-ARABIA - WORLD MUSIC NET
8 SOUKSONIK - JEF STOTT - SIX DEGREES
9 THE HEALING - STRANGE FRUIT PROJECT - OM
10 M'BEMBA - SALIF KEITA - DECCA
11 YELL FIRE - MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD - ANTI
12 STRICTLY THE BEST VOL.36 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP
13 RHYTHM OF THE RIVER - VARIOUS ARTISTS - RIVERBOAT
14 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS A NEW GROOVE - PUTUMAYO
15 AGAIN AND AGAIN - DESTANI WOLF - BRAVE WOLF
16 DIVA LA GRANDE - CANDYE KANE - RUF
17 FREEDOMÕS ROAD - JOHN MELLENCAMP - J. MELLENCAMP
18 COLORBLIND - ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND - WARNER
19 ANGEL VOICES - LIBERA - EMI
20 THINK GLOBAL BELLYDANCE - WORLD MUSIC NET
21 DJ SNOWBOYÕS AFRO-CUBAN KALEIDOSCOPE - EMUSIKA
22 DON'T TELL COLUMBUS - GRAHAM PARKER - BLOODSHOT
23 WAR, JOURNALISM... - ROBERT FISK - ALT. TENTACLES
24 MY NAME IS BUDDY - RY COODER - NONESUCH
25 FOOT FETISH - WOODLEG ODD - WOODLEG MUSIC
26 POLO CLUB - GREENSKEEPERS - OM
27 THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO - JJ CALE / ERIC CLAPTON - REPRISE
28 WOMEN OF THE WORLD ACOUSTIC - PUTUMAYO
29 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SALSA DURA NYC - WORLD MUSIC NET
30 SURYAGHATI EP1 - ZAMAN 8 & HAFEZ MODIR - SIX DEGREES
31 CRUCIAL REGGAE FROM OUTSIDE JAMAICA VOL.2 - SKANK
32 SUPER POP VENEZUELA - LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES - GOZADERA
33 STEEL GUITAR HEART ATTACK - JON RAUHAUSE - BLOODSHOT
34 THE IN SOUND FROM WAY OUT! - BEASTIE BOYS - CAPITOL
35 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO WORLD MUSIC AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST - WMN
36 TONGUE BATH - XTATIKA - TZADIK
37 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS GYPSY GROOVE - PUTUMAYO
38 LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST - NEIL YOUNG - REPRISE
39 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE BLUES - WORLD MUSIC NET
40 MY TIME - HUTCHY - RUFF CUT
CAPTAIN FREDÕS WORLD CRUISE #71
this show is downloadable from radio4all.net or radio.indymedia.org
HELLO BONJOUR-MICHAEL FRANTI
RABBIT HOP-MOONDOG
AH GHANILEK-REINES DE SABA
BULA BULA-MABULU
DO YOUR KNOW-MR. VEGAS
LIGHTEN UP-BEASTIE BOYS
110TH AND 5TH AVE-TITO PUENTE
SHARA SAIDI-GAMAL GOMA
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKINÕ-CANDYE KANE
SONO ONE DROP-JEF STOTT
TWISTED SENSE OF GOD-FINE ARTS MILITIA
BROKEN LEVEE BLUES-DJ SHADOW
JIM CROW-JOHN MELLENCAMP
ICE PICK-ALBERT COLLINS
SMINBE-TAMA
THE LOST SONG-THE CAT EMPIRE
18 WHEELER FEVER-SCOTT H. BIRAM
IÕM AFRAID OF AMERICANS-DAVID BOWIE (REMIXED)
HOLIDAY IN GUANTANAMO-JELLO BIAFRA
AMPB PMB 22
2018 SHATTUCK AVE.
BERKELEY, CA 94704
ampb@california.com