Unlicensed station celebrates last birthday
Boston Globe
July 18, 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005/07/18/unlicensed_station_celebrates_last_birthday/
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. --An unlicensed radio station that has been shut down by
the Federal Communications Commission celebrated its seventh birthday with
a final live broadcast.
Disc jockeys for radio free brattleboro blasted their favorite songs from a
gazebo in the park on Sunday.
Radio members said a similar station, which will be licensed, will take its
place as soon as late this year.
"Community radio will continue in Brattleboro one way or the other," said
Larry Bloch, one of rfb's founders.
Founder David Longsmith said the unique statement made by radio free
brattleboro over the past seven years shows that free speech is alive and
well in America.
"I think it's on an upswing. People are reacting, they're working together
now to make freedom of speech more possible."
Radio free brattleboro was never licensed by the FCC. The FCC has been
trying to shut down radio free brattleboro since it was reported in 2003
that the station's signal interfered with the signal of a Massachusetts
public radio station.
Federal marshals seized equipment from its downtown studio on June 22.
Legal action is pending in federal court.
The low-power FM frequency barely spread around the center few blocks of
town but the list of shows grew diverse over the course of seven years.
Christians, Rastafarians, atheists, community guests, artists, big-banders,
political and apolitical disc jockeys lined up back-to-back in one-hour
slots throughout the week, according to the last program printed in Spring
2005.
"We told people, here's your chance to say what you want," Longsmith said.
"It is our belief that people have free speech."
Carol Smiley enjoyed the last show.
"This was a pioneer," she said of the independent station. "It stood up for
itself and it fought for itself and it lost. But it gave us that much more
courage."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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