I have been writing code for 20 years and now want to apply my skills to ?
BIO
Re: Dixie Chicks braver than net artists?
It is possible to be a brave net artist but you may have a point about
performers:
Sept. 29, 2003 | ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) --
The St. Petersburg city council passed a law Monday designed to scuttle
a rock group's plans to feature an onstage suicide.
The hard-rock band Hell on Earth had said that a suicide by a
terminally ill person would take place during a concert Saturday to
raise awareness of right-to-die issues.
In response, the city council met Monday morning to unanimously approve
an emergency ordinance making it illegal to conduct a suicide for
commercial or entertainment purposes, and to host, promote and sell
tickets for such an event.
"While I still think it's a publicity stunt, we still couldn't sit idly
by and let somebody lose their life," council member Bill Foster said.
Tampa-based Hell of Earth, known for such outrageous onstage stunts as
chocolate syrup wrestling and grinding up live rats in a blender,
created the furor by announcing the suicide would happen Saturday at
the Palace Theater in downtown St. Petersburg.
But the theater's owner, David Hundley, promptly canceled the band's
show, and another venue also turned away the event.
Band leader Billy Tourtelot has vowed that the concert and suicide will
still take place at an undisclosed location in the city, broadcast live
on the band's Web site.
"This show is far more than a typical Hell On Earth performance,"
Tourtelot said in an e-mail last week. "This is about standing up for
what you believe in, and I am a strong supporter of physician-assisted
suicide."
A message left for Tourtelot was not immediately returned Monday.
A Florida law already makes assisting in a suicide manslaughter, a
second-degree felony.
Hell on Earth is playing clubs in support of its independently produced
album, "All Things Disturbingly Sassy."
--- "marc.garrett" <marc.garrett@furtherfield.org> wrote:
> Being banned by US radio stations doesn't faze the Dixie Chicks,
> writes
> Terry Reilly.
>
> For Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, the two original Dixie Chicks,
> balancing integrity and diplomacy was the hardest thing when
> considering a
> change of vocalists in 1995. As they saw it, the right voice would
> make the
> difference between languishing in obscurity and getting right out
> there.
> "When I first heard Natalie's voice, I knew anything was possible,"
> says
> multi-instrumentalist Robison.
>
> Natalie Maines, the feisty daughter of Texan steel-guitar legend
> Lloyd
> Maines, had country showmanship surging through her veins. Before
> her, the
> Dixie Chicks, formed in 1989, had singers Robyn Lynn Macy and Laura
> Lynch
> (who left in 1992 and '95, respectively) for three unsung albums.
> Now, with
> Maines behind the microphone, the Chicks have notched three
> triple-platinum
> CDs - Wide Open Spaces (1998), Fly (1999) and Home (2002).
>
> Signature three-part harmonies, unbridled virtuosity and finely honed
> stage
> skills define the Texan trio, and are beautifully apparent on the
> recent
> Live at the Kodak Theatre DVD.
>
> Natalie Maines' clinker of a country voice catapulted the Dixie
> Chicks into
> recording history. But it was on another level that the voice
> unwittingly
> antagonised pro-war hardliners in the US. Last March, Maines told a
> London
> audience: "We're ashamed the President of the United States is from
> Texas."
>
> The backlash in the land of the free was lightning-swift. Radio
> stations,
> leading a national boycott, encouraged listeners to dump their Dixie
> Chicks
> CDs in bins outside the studios.
>
> However, despite a steady flow of death threats and abusive emails,
> the trio
> didn't back down, appearing naked on the cover of magazine
> Entertainment
> Weekly in May. Emblazoned on their bodies were "Dixie Sluts",
> "Traitors",
> "Boycott", "Saddam's Angels" and "Proud Americans".
>
> "It was our idea," says Robison. "People were calling us sluts.
> Therefore,
> if I held a political view, suddenly I was sleeping around."
>
> Boycotts aside, they're confident of maintaining their status and
> enthusiasm. "We can sell two or three million albums without radio
> play,"
> Robison says.
>
> Maines, however, is the first to admit she has a big mouth. She
> knocked Toby
> Keith's anti-Taliban song, Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The
> Angry
> American), which includes the line: "And you'll be sorry you messed
> with the
> US of A/'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass."
>
> "It's ignorant," she says, "and it makes country music sound
> ignorant."
>
> The public sniping continued when Keith allegedly flashed a composite
> photograph of Saddam Hussein and Natalie Maines on screen at one of
> his
> concerts. Maines, putting it on her chest, wore a white T-shirt with
> the
> slogan "F.U.T.K." at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
>
> But it's sheer enthusiasm that drives the Dixie Chicks - and
> sometimes
> affects their apparel. Maines, engrossed in her performance during
> one show,
> was unaware her top had split, allowing one of her breasts to escape
> its
> confines for an entire song. Similarly, Robison kept abreast of the
> music
> during an intense banjo solo in front of 20,000 people. "You try
> something
> new," she says with a laugh, "and your tube top falls and you're
> exposed.
> Either I stop my solo and adjust, or I keep playing. I keep playing
> in
> respect of the music."
>
> The Dixie Chicks play at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, on Sunday
> and
> Monday nights.
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/26/1064083103946.html
>
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
performers:
Sept. 29, 2003 | ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) --
The St. Petersburg city council passed a law Monday designed to scuttle
a rock group's plans to feature an onstage suicide.
The hard-rock band Hell on Earth had said that a suicide by a
terminally ill person would take place during a concert Saturday to
raise awareness of right-to-die issues.
In response, the city council met Monday morning to unanimously approve
an emergency ordinance making it illegal to conduct a suicide for
commercial or entertainment purposes, and to host, promote and sell
tickets for such an event.
"While I still think it's a publicity stunt, we still couldn't sit idly
by and let somebody lose their life," council member Bill Foster said.
Tampa-based Hell of Earth, known for such outrageous onstage stunts as
chocolate syrup wrestling and grinding up live rats in a blender,
created the furor by announcing the suicide would happen Saturday at
the Palace Theater in downtown St. Petersburg.
But the theater's owner, David Hundley, promptly canceled the band's
show, and another venue also turned away the event.
Band leader Billy Tourtelot has vowed that the concert and suicide will
still take place at an undisclosed location in the city, broadcast live
on the band's Web site.
"This show is far more than a typical Hell On Earth performance,"
Tourtelot said in an e-mail last week. "This is about standing up for
what you believe in, and I am a strong supporter of physician-assisted
suicide."
A message left for Tourtelot was not immediately returned Monday.
A Florida law already makes assisting in a suicide manslaughter, a
second-degree felony.
Hell on Earth is playing clubs in support of its independently produced
album, "All Things Disturbingly Sassy."
--- "marc.garrett" <marc.garrett@furtherfield.org> wrote:
> Being banned by US radio stations doesn't faze the Dixie Chicks,
> writes
> Terry Reilly.
>
> For Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, the two original Dixie Chicks,
> balancing integrity and diplomacy was the hardest thing when
> considering a
> change of vocalists in 1995. As they saw it, the right voice would
> make the
> difference between languishing in obscurity and getting right out
> there.
> "When I first heard Natalie's voice, I knew anything was possible,"
> says
> multi-instrumentalist Robison.
>
> Natalie Maines, the feisty daughter of Texan steel-guitar legend
> Lloyd
> Maines, had country showmanship surging through her veins. Before
> her, the
> Dixie Chicks, formed in 1989, had singers Robyn Lynn Macy and Laura
> Lynch
> (who left in 1992 and '95, respectively) for three unsung albums.
> Now, with
> Maines behind the microphone, the Chicks have notched three
> triple-platinum
> CDs - Wide Open Spaces (1998), Fly (1999) and Home (2002).
>
> Signature three-part harmonies, unbridled virtuosity and finely honed
> stage
> skills define the Texan trio, and are beautifully apparent on the
> recent
> Live at the Kodak Theatre DVD.
>
> Natalie Maines' clinker of a country voice catapulted the Dixie
> Chicks into
> recording history. But it was on another level that the voice
> unwittingly
> antagonised pro-war hardliners in the US. Last March, Maines told a
> London
> audience: "We're ashamed the President of the United States is from
> Texas."
>
> The backlash in the land of the free was lightning-swift. Radio
> stations,
> leading a national boycott, encouraged listeners to dump their Dixie
> Chicks
> CDs in bins outside the studios.
>
> However, despite a steady flow of death threats and abusive emails,
> the trio
> didn't back down, appearing naked on the cover of magazine
> Entertainment
> Weekly in May. Emblazoned on their bodies were "Dixie Sluts",
> "Traitors",
> "Boycott", "Saddam's Angels" and "Proud Americans".
>
> "It was our idea," says Robison. "People were calling us sluts.
> Therefore,
> if I held a political view, suddenly I was sleeping around."
>
> Boycotts aside, they're confident of maintaining their status and
> enthusiasm. "We can sell two or three million albums without radio
> play,"
> Robison says.
>
> Maines, however, is the first to admit she has a big mouth. She
> knocked Toby
> Keith's anti-Taliban song, Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The
> Angry
> American), which includes the line: "And you'll be sorry you messed
> with the
> US of A/'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass."
>
> "It's ignorant," she says, "and it makes country music sound
> ignorant."
>
> The public sniping continued when Keith allegedly flashed a composite
> photograph of Saddam Hussein and Natalie Maines on screen at one of
> his
> concerts. Maines, putting it on her chest, wore a white T-shirt with
> the
> slogan "F.U.T.K." at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
>
> But it's sheer enthusiasm that drives the Dixie Chicks - and
> sometimes
> affects their apparel. Maines, engrossed in her performance during
> one show,
> was unaware her top had split, allowing one of her breasts to escape
> its
> confines for an entire song. Similarly, Robison kept abreast of the
> music
> during an intense banjo solo in front of 20,000 people. "You try
> something
> new," she says with a laugh, "and your tube top falls and you're
> exposed.
> Either I stop my solo and adjust, or I keep playing. I keep playing
> in
> respect of the music."
>
> The Dixie Chicks play at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, on Sunday
> and
> Monday nights.
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/26/1064083103946.html
>
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
Re: bloated pork dope
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&imgc=color&safe=off&q=succulent+liver
Lewis LaCook <llacook@yahoo.com> wrote:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&client=REAL-tb&q=bloated+pope+dork
Lewis LaCook <llacook@yahoo.com> wrote:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&client=REAL-tb&q=bloated+pope+dork
dorkbot San Francisco
hi all
dorkbot this wed! details below -hope to see you all there!
WHEN: Wed Sept 24 7:30pm
WHERE: rxGallery (see http://rxgallery.com/)
WHO:
Jonathan Foote - Electronics: Almost as Much Fun as Drugs
Even though Jonathan has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and rather
than spouting off about how clever he is, he would like to show *you*
how clever *you* are. By the end of Jonathan's talk, you will
understand basic electronics through an intuitive "waterworks" analogy.
Using a few of his illuminated works as a motivation, Jonathan will
demonstrate how you yourself can build straightforward LED, laser, and
neon circuits -- easily and cheaply. And yes, there will be high
voltages, audience participation, at least one explosion, and if that's
not terrifying enough, an equation or two.
http://www.fxpal.com/people/foote/follies/art/
Eric Barbour - Electronic Music, The Hard Way - A Demonstration of
Synthesizers Made of Vacuum Tubes
No one had ever made voltage-controlled music synthesizer equipment out
of vacuum tubes--until
1999, when Metasonix released its first tube synthesis products. They
contain unusual tubes intended
for special jobs in TV sets and industrial equipment, resulting in a
tonal palette completely
different from conventional solid-state synthesizers. The demonstration
will feature TM series tube
modules plus a few unique prototype instruments, such as the
one-of-a-kind "Four Voice", believed to
be the only polyphonic tube synthesizer in existence. Some music
created with Metasonix equipment
by various artists will be played.
http://www.metasonix.com/
Edwin Berlin - Capturing Motion for Character Animation
This talk will mostly be a demonstration of the Gypsy motion capture
suit, which captures the
motion of the human wearer. Edwin will talk about different
technologies for motion capture and then
discuss the specific techniques that give the Gypsy suit its
performance and capabilities. Some of
the components used, such as a portable inertial reference and
spread-spectrum wireless link will
be of interest to designers of other devices.
http://secretsoftware.com/
Please feel free to bring your stuff for show and tell after the last
presenter and stay for the mingling.
There is a $5 suggested donation for rxGallery but no one turned away
due to lack of funds...
Many thanks to Will Linn for hosting!
http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsf/
........................................................................
.........dorkbot: people doing strange things with
electricity..........
..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
........................................................................
dorkbot this wed! details below -hope to see you all there!
WHEN: Wed Sept 24 7:30pm
WHERE: rxGallery (see http://rxgallery.com/)
WHO:
Jonathan Foote - Electronics: Almost as Much Fun as Drugs
Even though Jonathan has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and rather
than spouting off about how clever he is, he would like to show *you*
how clever *you* are. By the end of Jonathan's talk, you will
understand basic electronics through an intuitive "waterworks" analogy.
Using a few of his illuminated works as a motivation, Jonathan will
demonstrate how you yourself can build straightforward LED, laser, and
neon circuits -- easily and cheaply. And yes, there will be high
voltages, audience participation, at least one explosion, and if that's
not terrifying enough, an equation or two.
http://www.fxpal.com/people/foote/follies/art/
Eric Barbour - Electronic Music, The Hard Way - A Demonstration of
Synthesizers Made of Vacuum Tubes
No one had ever made voltage-controlled music synthesizer equipment out
of vacuum tubes--until
1999, when Metasonix released its first tube synthesis products. They
contain unusual tubes intended
for special jobs in TV sets and industrial equipment, resulting in a
tonal palette completely
different from conventional solid-state synthesizers. The demonstration
will feature TM series tube
modules plus a few unique prototype instruments, such as the
one-of-a-kind "Four Voice", believed to
be the only polyphonic tube synthesizer in existence. Some music
created with Metasonix equipment
by various artists will be played.
http://www.metasonix.com/
Edwin Berlin - Capturing Motion for Character Animation
This talk will mostly be a demonstration of the Gypsy motion capture
suit, which captures the
motion of the human wearer. Edwin will talk about different
technologies for motion capture and then
discuss the specific techniques that give the Gypsy suit its
performance and capabilities. Some of
the components used, such as a portable inertial reference and
spread-spectrum wireless link will
be of interest to designers of other devices.
http://secretsoftware.com/
Please feel free to bring your stuff for show and tell after the last
presenter and stay for the mingling.
There is a $5 suggested donation for rxGallery but no one turned away
due to lack of funds...
Many thanks to Will Linn for hosting!
http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsf/
........................................................................
.........dorkbot: people doing strange things with
electricity..........
..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
........................................................................
Carl Jung Trading Card
Carl Jung Trading Card
http://www.theorycards.org.uk/card19.htm
The Theory.org.uk Trading Cards
http://www.theorycards.org.uk
Found by way of
http://www.rageboy.com/blogger.html
http://www.theorycards.org.uk/card19.htm
The Theory.org.uk Trading Cards
http://www.theorycards.org.uk
Found by way of
http://www.rageboy.com/blogger.html
Re: Seize the Airwaves!
Freak Radio Santa Cruz, Calif. 8 years without a license. Very
succesful with provocative programming supported by the city
council. May be a good resource if you want to speak to experienced
people about setting up a transmitter.
Streaming now at:
http://www.freakradio.org/
--- "marc.garrett" <marc.garrett@furtherfield.org> wrote:
> Day of Mass Electronic Civil Disobedience - October 17, 2003
> by Stephen Dunifer - Free Radio Berkeley
>
>
>
> Seize the Airwaves!
> Break the Corporate Media's Stranglehold on the Free Flow of
> Information,
> News, Music, Artistic Expression, and Cultural Creativity
>
> Day of Mass Electronic Civil Disobedience
> Celebrating International Media Democracy Day
> Friday, October 17, 2003
>
> You go to the demonstrations, write letters and email to
> Congress; and yet,
> you feel as if your voice is not being heard. What if there was a
> way for
> your voice, and the voices of your compatriots, to actually be
> heard? There
> is - it is called micropower broadcasting or free radio.
>
> Micropower broadcasting began as a means to empower the residents
> of a
> housing project in Springfield, Illinois in the late 1980's. By
> creating a
> low power FM broadcast station, this community established its
> own voice and
> a direct means to fight against police brutality and repression.
> Unlicensed
> and unsanctioned by the government, Human Rights Radio, as it is
> now known,
> continues to broadcast to this very day.
>
> Since then, micropower broadcasting has grown into a national
> movement of
> electronic civil disobedience. Based on the principles of Free
> Speech and
> Direct Action, micropower broadcasting seeks to reclaim the
> electronic
> commons of the airwaves - a public resource and trust stolen by
> the
> corporate broadcasters, aided and abetted by the Federal
> Communications
> Commission (FCC) and other appendages of the US Government.
>
> Continuing in the rich tradition of the struggle to speak freely
> and be
> heard, micropower broadcasting has traded the historic soapbox
> for the FM
> broadcast transmitter. Advances in technology and design have
> allowed for
> the creation of FM transmitters at a very low cost in comparison
> to
> standard, commercial broadcasting equipment. An entire FM
> broadcast station
> covering a radius of 5-12 miles can be assembled for $1000 or
> less.
>
> Yes, there are legal risks involved. Such stations are violating
> FCC
> regulations and statutes, and are subject to possible legal
> actions such as
> threatening letters or fines, and sometimes seizure of equipment.
> Despite
> this, at any given time, there are hundreds of stations on the
> air across
> the United States. Unfortunately, stations tend to go on the air
> in
> isolation from one another, making them an easier target for the
> FCC.
>
> Despite the somewhat uncoordinated efforts of the last ten years,
> hundreds
> of micropower stations taking to the airwaves forced the FCC to
> respond to a
> rapidly growing, ungovernable situation. William Kennard, former
> head of the
> FCC, admitted this is in a documentary, LPFM - The Peoples'
> Voice, produced
> by the United Church of Christ's Microradio Implementation
> Project. (
> http://www.veriteproductions.net/html/awards.html ;
> http://www.current.org/in/in009LPFM.html ) Adding further
> legitimacy to the
> micropower broadcasting movement, the FCC's own study on possible
> interference issues, The Mitre Study
> (http://prometheusradio.org/release_71303.shtml), failed to show
> even
> marginal interference to full power broadcasters by low power FM
> stations.
> It went further to recommend the lifting of burdensome
> restrictions imposed
> on the LPFM broadcasting service.
>
> For years, the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB),
> representing
> corporate interests, has used interference as a red herring issue
> in their
> attempts to stifle the Free Speech Rights of micropower
> broadcasters. Joined
> by National Public Radio, the NAB, using bogus interference
> claims augmented
> with political grease, succeeded in getting a bill, ironically
> titled -The
> Broadcast Preservation Act of 1999, passed by Congress to
> severely limit the
> number of LPFM stations authorized by the FCC when they
> established the LPFM
> service in January of 1999. Whether it was the Free Speech fights
> of the
> Wobblies, folks refusing to go to the back of the bus or hundreds
> of
> unsanctioned low power FM taking to the airwaves, mass movements
> creating
> ungovernable situations do work.
>
> Therefore, we are calling for a day of electronic solidarity and
> direct
> action, marking the beginning of a new chapter in micropower
> broadcasting by
> raising the struggle to an entirely new level of engagement.
> Between now and
> October, 17th, we are asking you and your community to create
> your own
> broadcast station to further empower your vision of a just,
> humane, peaceful
> and sustainable world.
>
> Hundreds of new stations going on the air all at once will be a
> powerful
> statement to the corporate media and the government that the
> airwaves belong
> to the people who have chosen to seize them back, speaking in one
> strong
> collective voice. With budgets and resources stretched thin, the
> FCC will be
> hard-pressed to respond to such an expression of solidarity. This
> action
> will encourage many more communities to set up their own
> broadcast stations.
> Schools, arts centers, housing projects, senior communities; all
> could be
> empowered with free radio broadcasting. Critical mass can be
> achieved within
> a very short period of time.
>
> To further amplify this collective voice, a mass 24 hour
> broadcast of the
> same programming by hundreds of micropower stations would meld
> hundreds of
> small voices into one giant shout for Free Speech Rights. Using
> the existing
> infrastructure of the Internet and audio streaming technologies
> which have
> been employed by the Independent Media Centers since 1999, a
> common audio
> stream would be created for re-broadcasting. Individual stations
> would work
> collectively to create programming for this 24 hour broadcast.
> Given the
> number of IMC sites in the US, they could serve as hubs for the
> audio
> streams, both incoming and outgoing. And, quite possibly,
> stations outside
> the US would join in as well, creating a global movement to
> reclaim the
> broadcast spectrum.
>
> Setting up a basic FM broadcast station requires the following
> items.
> Approximate price ranges are given.
>
> Transmitter - $150 to $600
> Power Supply - $35to $100
> Antenna - $15 to $125
> Antenna cable - $50 to $75
> Compressor/limiter - $80 to $100
> Audio mixer - $75 to $150
> Microphones $25 to $50 each
> Tape and CD players, go to garage sales or get donated units
> Donated 300-500 Mhz computer to work as an MP3 sound file
> jukebox. Allows
> unattended playing of program material as needed.
>
> Transmitters are available as kits or fully assembled units.
> Assembled units
> are mostly available from vendors in the UK. A list of vendors
> follows at
> the end of this article. A very serviceable antenna can be built
> from common
>
succesful with provocative programming supported by the city
council. May be a good resource if you want to speak to experienced
people about setting up a transmitter.
Streaming now at:
http://www.freakradio.org/
--- "marc.garrett" <marc.garrett@furtherfield.org> wrote:
> Day of Mass Electronic Civil Disobedience - October 17, 2003
> by Stephen Dunifer - Free Radio Berkeley
>
>
>
> Seize the Airwaves!
> Break the Corporate Media's Stranglehold on the Free Flow of
> Information,
> News, Music, Artistic Expression, and Cultural Creativity
>
> Day of Mass Electronic Civil Disobedience
> Celebrating International Media Democracy Day
> Friday, October 17, 2003
>
> You go to the demonstrations, write letters and email to
> Congress; and yet,
> you feel as if your voice is not being heard. What if there was a
> way for
> your voice, and the voices of your compatriots, to actually be
> heard? There
> is - it is called micropower broadcasting or free radio.
>
> Micropower broadcasting began as a means to empower the residents
> of a
> housing project in Springfield, Illinois in the late 1980's. By
> creating a
> low power FM broadcast station, this community established its
> own voice and
> a direct means to fight against police brutality and repression.
> Unlicensed
> and unsanctioned by the government, Human Rights Radio, as it is
> now known,
> continues to broadcast to this very day.
>
> Since then, micropower broadcasting has grown into a national
> movement of
> electronic civil disobedience. Based on the principles of Free
> Speech and
> Direct Action, micropower broadcasting seeks to reclaim the
> electronic
> commons of the airwaves - a public resource and trust stolen by
> the
> corporate broadcasters, aided and abetted by the Federal
> Communications
> Commission (FCC) and other appendages of the US Government.
>
> Continuing in the rich tradition of the struggle to speak freely
> and be
> heard, micropower broadcasting has traded the historic soapbox
> for the FM
> broadcast transmitter. Advances in technology and design have
> allowed for
> the creation of FM transmitters at a very low cost in comparison
> to
> standard, commercial broadcasting equipment. An entire FM
> broadcast station
> covering a radius of 5-12 miles can be assembled for $1000 or
> less.
>
> Yes, there are legal risks involved. Such stations are violating
> FCC
> regulations and statutes, and are subject to possible legal
> actions such as
> threatening letters or fines, and sometimes seizure of equipment.
> Despite
> this, at any given time, there are hundreds of stations on the
> air across
> the United States. Unfortunately, stations tend to go on the air
> in
> isolation from one another, making them an easier target for the
> FCC.
>
> Despite the somewhat uncoordinated efforts of the last ten years,
> hundreds
> of micropower stations taking to the airwaves forced the FCC to
> respond to a
> rapidly growing, ungovernable situation. William Kennard, former
> head of the
> FCC, admitted this is in a documentary, LPFM - The Peoples'
> Voice, produced
> by the United Church of Christ's Microradio Implementation
> Project. (
> http://www.veriteproductions.net/html/awards.html ;
> http://www.current.org/in/in009LPFM.html ) Adding further
> legitimacy to the
> micropower broadcasting movement, the FCC's own study on possible
> interference issues, The Mitre Study
> (http://prometheusradio.org/release_71303.shtml), failed to show
> even
> marginal interference to full power broadcasters by low power FM
> stations.
> It went further to recommend the lifting of burdensome
> restrictions imposed
> on the LPFM broadcasting service.
>
> For years, the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB),
> representing
> corporate interests, has used interference as a red herring issue
> in their
> attempts to stifle the Free Speech Rights of micropower
> broadcasters. Joined
> by National Public Radio, the NAB, using bogus interference
> claims augmented
> with political grease, succeeded in getting a bill, ironically
> titled -The
> Broadcast Preservation Act of 1999, passed by Congress to
> severely limit the
> number of LPFM stations authorized by the FCC when they
> established the LPFM
> service in January of 1999. Whether it was the Free Speech fights
> of the
> Wobblies, folks refusing to go to the back of the bus or hundreds
> of
> unsanctioned low power FM taking to the airwaves, mass movements
> creating
> ungovernable situations do work.
>
> Therefore, we are calling for a day of electronic solidarity and
> direct
> action, marking the beginning of a new chapter in micropower
> broadcasting by
> raising the struggle to an entirely new level of engagement.
> Between now and
> October, 17th, we are asking you and your community to create
> your own
> broadcast station to further empower your vision of a just,
> humane, peaceful
> and sustainable world.
>
> Hundreds of new stations going on the air all at once will be a
> powerful
> statement to the corporate media and the government that the
> airwaves belong
> to the people who have chosen to seize them back, speaking in one
> strong
> collective voice. With budgets and resources stretched thin, the
> FCC will be
> hard-pressed to respond to such an expression of solidarity. This
> action
> will encourage many more communities to set up their own
> broadcast stations.
> Schools, arts centers, housing projects, senior communities; all
> could be
> empowered with free radio broadcasting. Critical mass can be
> achieved within
> a very short period of time.
>
> To further amplify this collective voice, a mass 24 hour
> broadcast of the
> same programming by hundreds of micropower stations would meld
> hundreds of
> small voices into one giant shout for Free Speech Rights. Using
> the existing
> infrastructure of the Internet and audio streaming technologies
> which have
> been employed by the Independent Media Centers since 1999, a
> common audio
> stream would be created for re-broadcasting. Individual stations
> would work
> collectively to create programming for this 24 hour broadcast.
> Given the
> number of IMC sites in the US, they could serve as hubs for the
> audio
> streams, both incoming and outgoing. And, quite possibly,
> stations outside
> the US would join in as well, creating a global movement to
> reclaim the
> broadcast spectrum.
>
> Setting up a basic FM broadcast station requires the following
> items.
> Approximate price ranges are given.
>
> Transmitter - $150 to $600
> Power Supply - $35to $100
> Antenna - $15 to $125
> Antenna cable - $50 to $75
> Compressor/limiter - $80 to $100
> Audio mixer - $75 to $150
> Microphones $25 to $50 each
> Tape and CD players, go to garage sales or get donated units
> Donated 300-500 Mhz computer to work as an MP3 sound file
> jukebox. Allows
> unattended playing of program material as needed.
>
> Transmitters are available as kits or fully assembled units.
> Assembled units
> are mostly available from vendors in the UK. A list of vendors
> follows at
> the end of this article. A very serviceable antenna can be built
> from common
>