First Micro Radio Conference
Date: Sat. April 6, 1996, 1 PM till 6 PM.
Location : San Jose Multi-Cultural Center, San Jose
CA.
Background: Based on email conversations between Schriener and myself,
as well as statements by Stephen Dunifer, the micro radio conference started
two weeks prior with the idea of Schriener, Dunifer, and staff from FRB
and Free Radio San Jose getting together for a discussion. It turned into
a meeting of Micro Broadcasters from all over Northern California. There
will be another conference in LA in two weeks.
Estimates of attendance characteristics, as well as the size and composition
of the crowd are based on observations by myself. All numbers are estimated.
Total Number in attendance: 100
Ethnicity
Euro: 60 African-American: 12 Hispanic/Latino: 20 Asian: 3 Multi: 5
Gender
Male: 77 Female: 23
Age
under 20: 15 20-30: 31 30-40: 31 40+: 23
Known full age range: 14-70
Radio Stations Represented [cross checked w/other data
to complete info]
| Location |
Status |
Frequency |
Affiliation |
| Watsonville |
on-air |
96.1 |
Radio Zapatista |
| Salinas |
on-air |
106.7 |
Radio Zapatista |
| Santa Barbara |
working |
(equip. bought) |
|
| Fresno |
working |
(equip. bought) |
|
| Point Reyes (Marshall) |
working |
|
|
| Arcata |
on-air |
88.9 |
Free Arcata Radio |
| Hollister |
on-air |
|
Spanish |
| Santa Cruz |
on-air |
96.3 |
FRSC |
| San Jose |
on-air |
93.7 |
|
| Los Angeles |
up in 2 weeks |
101.5 |
|
| LA-South Central |
working |
|
|
| Oakland #1 |
working |
|
|
| Oakland #2 |
working |
|
|
| Oakland #3 |
working |
|
|
| Berkeley |
on-air |
104.1 |
FRB |
| Berkeley |
on-air |
99.3 |
Radio Illegal (6 watt) |
| San Francisco |
on-air |
93.7 |
SF Liberation Radio |
| San Francisco |
on-air |
103.1 |
Radio Libre |
| San Francisco |
on-air |
107.3 |
Radio Rabelde |
| Sacramento |
on-air |
89.7 moving to 91.7 |
(3 watt on for 2 months) |
There was in addition a message from Decatur, ILL and a representative
present from Haiti.
Organizations Represented Unofficially by Members
Pacifica Accountability Committee
KZSC (University of California at Santa Cruz)
Peoples FCC
Committee for Democratic Communications (National Lawyers Guild)
Medical Marijuana Initiative
Food Not Bombs
Zapatista's
Take Back KPFA
Community Homeless alliance
Teamsters Union
Rock and Rap Confidential (independent programmers)
Association of Micro power Broadcasters
Rogue Scholar Project
IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) Union
(Efforts discussed to interest the United Farm Workers with Watsonville
and Salinas Stations.)
Censorship
Both KZSC and Cal-X have pulled PSA's on micro radio.
Agenda
Participants sat in a wide arch facing the micro phone with a facilitator
from Free Radio San Jose (a woman named Katey) and Dunifer. After brief
opening remarks, everyone in the room was allowed to get up and say who
they were, where (or what station) they were from, and why they were there.
That took over an hour. The facilitator also spoke Spanish and translated
for those broadcasters who were more comfortable speaking in Spanish.
After a short break, Dunifer gave an up-date about the court case and
the status of the movement as he saw it. There was then a wide ranging discussion
concerning the rest of the agenda. Considering the short amount of time
it was decided that everyone should break up into small groups. There was
a lot of debate concerning the composition of such groups. Although, it
was decided that a second, longer, and larger conference should be held
soon to allow for further discussion and networking.
By a rough consensus, the following small groups were formed:
1. Legal/court case.
2. Technical (Facilitated by Dunifer).
3. Networking (Facilitated by Schriener).
4. Women in Micro Radio (Smallest at 4).
5. Bilingual/Spanish Radio.
Walter Dunn Jr. (the Black Rose)
Dunn was in attendance with a group of 5 or so from Fresno. I had a chance
to talk with him and found out some more background on him. Evidently, his
station was a classic transition station between old and new style pirates.
Those who helped him to start the station were black media professions from
the area, including television as well as radio. Apparently, they built
all their equipment from scratch. They were all Class C card holders. Dunn
stated that the station started off as a dare and evolved into a statement
on the lack of minority run media in the area. When he was shut down by
the FCC he said he looked at all the cameras and the press and thanked the
FCC official (Nunn) for the free publicity. He said that they we're slowly
dying on the vine when they were busted. The FCC move created an interest
by a wider number of people.
Food Not Bombs (FNB)
The further interaction of FNB with micro radio was evident by the situation
at Free Radio San Jose. Where in San Francisco Food not Bombs is a major
force in Radio Libre, and produce tapes for other micro stations, in San
Jose, the station is being used to help revive a defunct cell of FNB.
IWW (Industrial Workers Of The World)
IWW representatives were circulating a hand-out containing a proposal to
unionize micro stations and use the frame-work of the union to form a network
for program/information/resource exchanges.
Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters (AMPB)
Organized by Paul Griffin (San Francisco), this is a source for tapes and
other information flowing between stations. He is attempting to form a frame-work
for organizing action and programming.
Other Technologies
A former Davis resident and a staff member at the Sacramento micro was handing
out plans for a low power VHF transmitter that he had designed.