Copyright © 1997 by the Boston Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

This Just In: Media

Score one for pirate radio

By Dan Kennedy

A federal district court judge in California has struck a blow for free speech that could have wide-ranging ramifications for low-power community radio stations -- including Radio Free Allston, shut down by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on October 28 after eight months on the air ("Don't Quote Me," News, November 7).

The immediate effect of the November 12 ruling, by Judge Claudia Wilken, was to keep Free Radio Berkeley -- the informal flagship of an estimated several hundred microbroadcasters nationwide -- from leaving the airwaves. But in a 14-page decision denying the FCC's request for summary judgment, Wilken wrote that she might rule favorably on the core issue of the Berkeley station's argument: that the FCC's 20-year ban on licensing stations of less than 100 watts is an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights.

"We all feel good about that decision, but it's far from definite," says Steve Provizer, who ran the 20-watt Radio Free Allston out of an art gallery at the Allston Mall. "It's certainly welcome, because it keeps them on the air. But precedent has not run in favor of this approach." Indeed, just days after Wilken lent a hand to Free Radio Berkeley, FCC agents shut down three pirate radio stations in the Tampa, Florida, area -- including one operated by Doug Brewer, a leading figure in the underground-radio movement.

Meanwhile, Provizer plans to meet this week with a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts to plan his own legal strategies for reviving Radio Free Allston, which broadcast (in several languages) everything from nonmainstream music to neighborhood events. ACLU staff attorney Sarah Wunsch recently told the Phoenix that the FCC's refusal to grant low-power licenses raised "serious" First Amendment issues.

Provizer is also gathering electronic signatures on Radio Free Allston's Web site in support of legalizing low-power community stations; the site is located at http://www.tiac.net/users/error/radiofreeallston/index.html. Provizer plans to file state legislation in the near future that will direct federal authorities to make frequencies available for community stations. If it passes, he says, "it would probably evolve into a state's-rights issue. We want to build from the state to the federal level."