Radio Resistors Bulletin #15, Fall 1996

The Local Advisory Board of WBAI-fm, Pacifica Radio's New York Station, passed a resolution on September 18 dissenting from Pacifica National's attempt to virtually decertify WBAI's union. The resolution is significant in light of a declaration by the Pacifica National Board in July 1995, which asked dissenters from national policy to resign. Pacifica's current by-laws allow the National Board to dissolve local station boards unilaterally. This has occurred in the past on more than one occasion.

Pacifica's national management, headed by Executive Director Pat Scott, is attempting to exclude unpaid staff from the collective bargaining units at WBAI and KPFA-fm, Pacifica's station in Berkeley.

Pacifica has filed a case against the workers at the National Labor Relations Board. WBAI's workers, who are represented by local 404 of the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America are fighting back and have recently filed an unfair labor practice charge against Pacifica.

These unpaid workers have been part of the union since it was formed nine years ago and constitute about 90% of the members. This action by Pacifica is seen as part of management's current strategy to transform a loose confederation of 5 community stations into commercial-style network with decisions controlled from the top.

Pacifica's National Board of Directors will meet in New York City on September 26, in closed session. Since Pat Scott has taken over as Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation 2 years ago, these meetings and the decisions made in them have been kept secret from the public.

Pacifica's national management has given various rationales to justify what many believe is a violation of the law. A formal complaint regarding these closed meetings has already been lodged with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Legal action is being considered.

Free Pacifica, a nationwide coalition of workers, community members, organizations and media activists has been formed to preserve community radio, advocate free speech broadcasting, grassroots access and democratic governance at Pacifica.

FreePacifica will be opening a Website on Oct.1, 1996 where the issues, arguments and evidence will be available. An announcement will be sent out when we actually open. You can join our on-line discussion group, the freepacifica mailing list, now. Write to: [email protected] to subscribe.

Pacifica's National Board of Directors will meet in New York City on September 26, in closed session. Since Pat Scott has taken over as Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation 2 years ago, these meetings and the decisions made in them have been kept secret from the public.

Pacifica's national management has given various rationales to justify what many believe is a violation of the law. A formal complaint regarding these secret metings has already been lodged with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Legal action is being considered.

People who wish to make their feelings known in New York this week can contact [email protected] or call the Hotline at (212)465-7562.

A report on the WBAI resolution follows:

Things related to the WBAI Local Board and the current crisis at WBAI:

At its meeting of June 18, 1996, the WBAI Local Board moved and seconded that, "The Station Board of WBAI opposes the current effort to change the composition of the WBAI bargaining unit." Passed 9 yes -0 no -2 abstentions.

At its meeting of September 19, 1996, the WBAI Local Board voted in favor of a motion, the exact wording of which I do not have in front of me, to bring a motion to the Pacifica National Board that it should reverse the thrust of current Pacifica management to exclude Unpaid Staff from the Collective Bargaining Unit of WBAI.

At this latter meeting, one member of the Local Board also voiced the opinion that Pat Scott should be impeached.

http://www.interport.net/~rpmartin,

The Sunday morning meeting of the Pacifica National Board was enlivened by the participation of the Paid and Unpaid Staff along with a number of WBAI listeners.

The open portion of the meeting was on Sunday and lasted from 9:00 AM to noon.

The National Board had some discussions and accepted the budgets of the stations.

Board Chair Jack O'Dell brought up the motion by the WBAI Local Board to reverse the policy of trying to bust the WBAI Union by removing the Unpaid Staff from the Collective Bargaining Unit. National Board Vice Chair, and WBAI Local Board member, Cecilia McCall spoke for it. Then Roberta Brooks and Pat Scott took turns to speak against it. They simply said that it wasn't right and that it wasn't done anywhere else. The same reasons/non-reasons they've been giving all along.

What took place on this issue next was _ nothing! That was it. They moved on. I still do not know what that was. No vote was taken, no one else said another word on the subject and they moved on. This leaves the matter as it was and certainly told me that the Pacifica National Board has de facto decided to vote in favor of the union busting policy of Pat Scott.

The National Board said it would next meet in Berkeley, CA from January 21 to 25, 1997, and it would meet again from June 12, to 15, 1997, this second venue TBA.

They then went to the public comment portion of the meeting. There were 30 speakers who got 2 minutes each to say what they would.

The public portion went a bit over an hour and everyone who signed up got to speak. The place really came alive.

Listeners brought up the gag rule, ACG, spending any money at all on union busting firms, the purges at KPFA, the formats of some of the other Pacifica stations, national programming, and lots more.

One Paid Staff member pointed out that WBAI had had a million dollar membership drive, followed by a $700,000 membership drive, and then said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

I told them that we'd fight them to the Supreme Court on this, and anywhere else that we had to fight them. One of the producers of "Union Summer," which is airing on Pacifica, told them, among other things, to internalize their politics and stop trying to bust our union.

There were some quite emotional presentations from various people during the public portion of the meeting and folks said many good things.

The good news is that no one needs to rely on my memory on this. It was all video taped. There was some confrontation on this. At one point I saw Pat Scott go stand directly in front of one of the video tapers, and Scott even appeared to lean against the woman at one point. There was also some thing with Mark Shubb coming into physical contact with this woman at one point. I don't know if there was shoving involved or if it was an uncoordinated stumble, it happened behind a pillar from my perspective. But it all got taped.

In closing, Pat Scott gave the tired line of only having spent $1,000 on ACG, and that the AFL-CIO has never heard of ACG being union busters. Mark Shubb got up and said that they had to get rid of those people whom they'd gotten rid of at KPFK. He talked about the format of KPFK and KPFT not being dominated by music, and said that some folks had to be fired because they'd screamed at and acted badly towards the Program Director. He then went on to say that he'd never paid any money to ACG. Of course there had been that guy whom ACG had recommended, and, gosh, that guy may have worked for them in the past, but, oh well, they're no longer using him either.

The meeting ended and a number of National Board members came up to us and said they were uncomfortable with what Pacifica was doing vis-a-vis the union and they liked what we'd said, etc. Too bad none of them had said anything during the meeting.

BOTTOM LINE ------> The Pacifica National Board came to New York with a giant problem hanging over it. They have the power to solve that problem. They didn't. I have to assume that they are quite comfortable with the union busting going on and that they require significantly more moral suasion before they'll stop their attacks on us. So be it.

Aftermath - On Saturday night Pat Scott said that she was going to talk to various people at WBAI and try to reach a compromise on the Unpaid Staff issue with them. I told her that this was illegal. Roberta Brooks laughed at this (apparently she has never heard of Section 7, sub-section 8(5)d of the NLRA). Scott and Brooks also said that it might have been solved by WBAI management's attempted meeting with whomever would show up after one day's notice in May to discuss all of this. They didn't want to hear about it being illegal to go behind the backs of the culy elected union representatives.

Pat Scott was told that she'd have NLRB charges filed agains her if she indeed carried this plan out at WBAI. We also put out a Bulletin to the Staff of the station letting them know what had happened and also letting them know that Pat Scott would try this. We gave them instructions to report the details of any such attempt to the Shop Committee.

At a meeting with the assembled Staff at WBAI on Tuesday morning Scott announced that she'd seen this "memo" from the Shop Committee and would not attempt to discuss Contract negotiation matters with the Staff.

Having people not break the law is a small victory, but it's a victory. -- http://www.interport.net/~rpmartin

On Friday, producers, Paid Staff, Unpaid Staff and listeners from WBAI-FM will hold a protest demonstration outside the Tudor Hotel, at 304 E. 42 St. in Manhattan, site of the Pacifica Foundation's National Board meeting.

Demonstrators will be calling for an end to the Pacifica Foundation's policy of attempting to bust the Union at WBAI by removing 90% of the current Collective Bargaining Unit from Union protection, and they'll be demanding an end to the long series of Pacifica National Board meetings which have been held in secret over the past two years. The National Board is the self-perpetuating Board of Directors which is legally in charge of the Pacifica Foundation.

In the current round of Contract negotiations WBAI Management has demanded that the Unpaid Staff of WBAI, who have been a part of the Union since its inception in 1987, be removed from the Collective Bargaining Unit and denied any protection by the Union.

Unpaid Staff have always been the largest category of workers at WBAI, and while performing work in every area of the station, they represent the majority of on-air voices and producers. WBAI Management has said that the demand to remove the Unpaid Staff from the Union comes from the Pacifica Foundation.

Besides betraying its long time on-air stance of supporting Unions and workers by attempting to bust the WBAI Union, and employing the services of the Union busting firm called The American Consulting Group, the Pacifica Foundation's National Board has held all but a couple of hours of its last two year's of meetings in secret sessions, which many believe is in violation of the California Sunshine Laws and of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's rules for stations receiving public funds.

Besides the Pacifica Foundation spending $30,000 on the union busting firm, WBAI has also spent listener-sponsors' money on legal expenses to try and get the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to remove the Unpaid Staff, and one Paid Staff member, from the Collective Bargaining Unit at WBAI.

WBAI's workers are represented by amalgamated Local 404 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (U.E.). The U.E. has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against WBAI Management over its conduct in the current Contract negotiations.

Http://www.interport.net/~rpmartin

by Lyn Gerry
The Board of Directors of the Pacifica Foundation met in secret again in New York city at the end of September. Pacifica's management has been calling these meetings "retreats" in order to circumvent the legal guidelines set by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides taxpayer funds to qualifying public broadcasting entities. Pacifica receives about 1.5 million annually from the CPB.

Angry WBAI-FM workers and listeners picketed, but were kept out until a token public participation session in the final day of the three-and-a-half-day meeting.

The Board, which is the decision making body of the Foundation, meets three times per year. Since Pat Scott was confirmed as executive director of the Foundation in February 1995, these three-day meetings have each had approximately one hour open to the public. Financial and policy decisions formerly made openly, are now decided behind closed doors by a small unelected and unaccountable cadre. Pacifica Foundation holds the licenses for the five Pacifica stations (KPFA-FM (Berkeley), KPFK-FM (Los Angeles), WBAI-FM (New York), KPFT-FM (Houston), and WPFW-FM (Washington, DC).

This new secrecy is part of a constellation of actions that Executive Director Scott calls "positive." Since the secret meetings began, the Foundation has retained anti-union consultants against it's unionized workers, eliminated more than a hundred community- based programmers nationwide, centralized finances, compelled stations switch to "strip formats" in order to increase Arbitron ratings, and raised management salaries while laying off workers. There have been wholesale firings and purges of those within the organization who object to Pacifica radio's transformation from community-based media to a "professional" radio network.

Pacifica's management defends its actions as being for the good of the Foundation, and furthering the spread of "progressive" ideas. They also claim these secret meetings are legal.

A nationwide coalition of community and worker groups, known as Free Pacifica, is considering testing Pacifica's claims of legality in court. The dissenters are demanding to know why such an allegedly benign objective requires secrecy. It just doesn't make sense, they say.

Two weeks before the New York Board "retreat" was to take place, attorney William Schaap wrote to dissidents, "It seems highly unlikely that the Pacifica Foundation board could be contemplating three and a half days of matters that fall within the exceptions. Certainly general policy discussions relating to unionization in general, general status of paid versus volunteer staff, and related matters would not seem to fall within the exceptions. "

Schaap is also one of the publishers of the Covert Action Quarterly, which specializes in bringing to light the objectionable covert activities of the military/industrial complex and its front groups.

SECRET MEETINGS

The secret meeting issue has been on the table since 1995. Complaints have been made by community groups which led to an abortive investigation by the CPB. The investigation is still pending, but CPB seems disinterested in vigorously pursuing the charges.

The history of the CPB investigation reads like something from the Covert Action Quarterly: unsubstantiated claims of death threats against Pacifica management; a CPB investigator suddenly fired after a personal call to his boss by Pacifica's attorneys; the investigation files transferred to the Inspector General then left to sit; and recently, the Inspector General's sudden departure due to a heart attack.

Schaap expressed puzzlement at Pacifica's announcement that the New York meeting would be another closed session, " it seems hard to understand why the Foundation has already made such an announcement, unless they believe that the regulations in question will not be asserted by anyone, or, conceivably, that the CPB will ignore any violations of the regulations."

If the secret meetings are found to be illegal, Pacifica would forfeit its CPB funding, according to William Schaap. This is ironic, as Pacifica has been making fundraising appeals based on the alleged enmity of the CPB, and the threat of loss of funding.

CPB regulations allow a limited number of topics, such as personnel and legal matters to be held in closed session. The guidelines also permit "retreats" as long as policy decisions are not made. At the recent session in New York, finances, programming and the authority of the executive director were all discussed behind closed doors.

In the past year and a half, major policy decisions have been made in areas which do not fall within the permitted exceptions to the CPB's open meeting rule. In June of 1995, Pacifica's Finance Committee passed a resolution which closed all future finance meetings to public scrutiny. Access to minutes of these meetings have also been denied to the public.

GREETED BY PROTESTS

In New York last month, workers and community members picketed the hotel where board members were housed.

R. Paul Martin is a WBAI programmer and Chief Shop Steward for The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) which represents more than 200 paid and unpaid workers at WBAI. He reported the events in New York to the FreePacifica mailing list:

"On Friday we had a picket line outside their hotel. On Saturday we had a picket line outside the gallery that they had the reception for [Pacifica National Board Chair] Jack O'Dell in. Some of us went in and talked to O'Dell and others. I was amazed at how ignorant they were of what's going on! "

At the three hour public session on the final day, 30 speakers voiced their objections to various aspects of the new Pacifica conduct and policy. There were no speakers supporting the Scott administration, according to witnesses.

R. Paul Martin reported:

"The open portion of the meeting was on Sunday and lasted from 9:00 AM to noon.

The National Board had some discussions and accepted the budgets of the stations.

Board Chair Jack O'Dell brought up the motion by the WBAI Local Board to reverse the policy of trying to bust the WBAI Union by removing the Unpaid Staff from the Collective Bargaining Unit. National Board Vice Chair, and WBAI Local Board member, Cecilia McCall spoke for it. Then Roberta Brooks [a Director and staffer for Representative Ron Dellums] and Pat Scott took turns to speak against it. They simply said that it wasn't right and that it wasn't done anywhere else. The same reasons/non-reasons they've been giving all along.

What took place on this issue next was _ nothing!... No vote was taken, no one else said another word on the subject and they moved on. This leaves the matter as it was and certainly told me that the Pacifica National Board has de facto decided to vote in favor of the union busting policy of Pat Scott.

The National Board said it would next meet in Berkeley, CA from January 21 to 25, 1997, and it would meet again from June 12, to 15, 1997, this second venue TBA.

They then went to the public comment portion of the meeting. There were 30 speakers who got 2 minutes each to say what they would.

The public portion went a bit over an hour and everyone who signed up got to speak. The place really came alive.

Listeners brought up the gag rule, ACG [the union-busters hired by Pacifica], spending any money at all on union busting firms, the purges at KPFA, the formats of some of the other Pacifica stations, national programming, and lots more.

One Paid Staff member pointed out that WBAI had had a million dollar membership drive, followed by a $700,000 membership drive, and then said, `If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

I told them that we'd fight them to the Supreme Court on this, and anywhere else that we had to fight them. One of the producers of `Union Summer,' which is airing on Pacifica, told them, among other things, to internalize their politics and stop trying to bust our union."

[UE has publicly condemned union-busting efforts by Pacifica management, which is attempting to decertify unpaid workers, who constitute 90% of the bargaining unit. Pacifica has asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to rule on this. The NLRB is scheduled to release it's decision regarding the unpaid workers this month.]

R. Paul Martin continued:

"There were some quite emotional presentations from various people during the public portion of the meeting and folks said many good things.

The good news is that no one needs to rely on my memory on this. It was all video taped. There was some confrontation on this. At one point I saw Pat Scott go stand directly in front of one of the video tapers, and Scott even appeared to lean against the woman at one point. There was also some thing with Mark Shubb [Manager of KPFK-FM, Los Angeles] coming into physical contact with this woman at one point. I don't know if there was shoving involved or if it was an uncoordinated stumble, it happened behind a pillar from my perspective. But it all got taped.

In closing, Pat Scott gave the tired line of only having spent $1,000 on ACG [ The American Consulting Group, which specializes in union-busting], and that the AFL-CIO has never heard of ACG being union busters [this is false].

Mark Shubb got up and said that they had to get rid of those people whom they'd gotten rid of at KPFK. He talked about the format of KPFK and KPFT not being dominated by music, and said that some folks had to be fired because they'd screamed at and acted badly towards the Program Director.

He then went on to say that he'd never paid any money to ACG. Of course there had been that guy whom ACG had recommended, and, gosh, that guy may have worked for them in the past, but, oh well, they're no longer using him either.

The meeting ended and a number of National Board members came up to us and said they were uncomfortable with what Pacifica was doing vis-a-vis the union and they liked what we'd said, etc. Too bad none of them had said anything during the meeting.

BOTTOM LINE ------> The Pacifica National Board came to New York with a giant problem hanging over it. They have the power to solve that problem. They didn't. I have to assume that they are quite comfortable with the union busting going on and that they require significantly more moral persuasion before they'll stop their attacks on us. So be it.

Aftermath - On Saturday night Pat Scott said that she was going to talk to various people at WBAI and try to reach a compromise on the Unpaid Staff issue with them. I told her that this was illegal. Roberta Brooks laughed at this (apparently she has never heard of Section 7, sub-section 8(5)d of the NLRA)..... They didn't want to hear about it being illegal to go behind the backs of the duly elected union representatives.

Pat Scott was told that she'd have NLRB charges filed against her if she indeed carried this plan out at WBAI. We also put out a Bulletin to the Staff of the station letting them know what had happened and also letting them know that Pat Scott would try this. We gave them instructions to report the details of any such attempt to the Shop Committee.

At a meeting with the assembled Staff at WBAI on Tuesday morning Scott announced that she'd seen this "memo" from the Shop Committee and would not attempt to discuss Contract negotiation matters with the Staff.

Having people not break the law is a small victory, but it's a victory. "

**********************************************************************
To learn more about the issues and the battle for the soul of Pacifica radio, visit the Free Pacifica Community Radio Forum on the World Wide Web-- http://www.freepacifica.org If you don't have Web accesss, you can join the e-mail discussion group by writing to [email protected] and asking to subscribe to the FreePacifica mailing list.

Pacifica Radio's Executive Director, Pat Scott, has justified the recent actions of her administration as being necessary to "find solutions to benefit our audiences." She claims Pacifica is now embarked in building a "modern, effective, relevant radio network, which will challenge and impact the status quo." Something that can not be done, "as long as we speak only to ourselves."

At KPFK, Pacifica's Los Angeles station, listeners are now "benefitting" by having timely material on Ralph Nader withheld in order to extort their contributions. Pacifica's founder Lew Hill, who developed listener-sponsorship as a freely made covenant between the broadcaster and the listener, can only be gagging in his grave.

A memo posted at KPFK-FM, shows how its new "program director" Kathy Lo is "impacting the status quo."

_________________________________________________________ August 23, 1996

To: Diane James
Roy Tuckman

From: Kathy Lo

>From now until October 20, do not broadcast any Alternative Radio programs that include Ralph Nader. If there are any changes, I will notify you of this in writing. Thanks for your cooperation.

______________________________________________________________
Is this a plot to censor Nader's message? An attempt to keep Nader from participating in the presidential debates? No, Kathy Lo is unaware of the political implications. This is about the bottom line.

KPFK's next on-air fundraising drive will start on October 4, and run to October 18. A tape of KPFK's broadcast of Nader's acceptance speech will be offered as an incentive to subscribe. A recently mailed fundraising letter from station manager Mark Schubb mentions KPFK's live broadcast of Nader's speech as one of the reasons listeners should contribute. It appears listeners will not get to hear more of Nader, until they do contribute.

Lo also attempted to prevent Roy Tuckman, the producer of a late night program, from broadcasting Nader's speech for his night owls; fortunately for his listeners, Tuckman had already run the speech before the memo from Lo was issued. Otherwise, they would not have heard Nader's acceptance speech on KPFK until the fund drive, when they would also be asked for money to support "their " station.

As a former KPFK staff member who spent 7 years deeply involved in fundraising at the station, I am completely appalled by current management's obliviousness to the public service Pacifica's mission mandates. . In the old, "irrevelant, elitist" Pacifica, a "fundraising strategy" such as Lo's would have been shouted down in outrage. Now, of course, anyone who shouts about anything is fired for "insubordination."

What I want to know is: what exactly is it going to take for the alternative media to cover the story of what the so-called "positive changes" at Pacifica Radio really entail? I pose this question particularly to The Nation magazine and FAIR----as two media entities who have broadcasts on Pacifica radio which they are using to increase their own subscriber bases. Since those Pacifica listeners who are also now their subscribers are in many cases completely unaware of what is occurring due to a gag rule imposed at Pacifica---- what moral obligation do these organizations have to these individuals?

Pat Scott has also said, "But our opposition has chosen to couch this in terms of a moral struggle," a framework she apparently doesn't consider "relevant." Perhaps The Nation, which produces RadioNation at KPFK, and FAIR, whose previous Los Angeles Chapter Director, Mark Schubb, is now general manager of KPFK (and FAIR's current LA Director, Jim Horowitz, sits on the KPFK advisory board) share Pat Scott's view of "moral struggle" as no longer "relevant" to an organization founded to promote peace and justice.

To The Nation, FAIR and the other organizations who may have kept silent for fear you too will lose access to airtime, haven't you realized everyone is now expendable in the Brave New Pacifica?

Many people have expressed private qualms about the situation at Pacifica, but have hesitated to take public action for fear of "destroying the institution." Can't you see that is already happening?

If you want to do something about it, you can. Be journalists---report the story--all of it. There has been enough silence.

Lyn Gerry
former KPFK staff member
fired--and proud of it!

There's a lot of interesting reading in the FCC's Web pages at URL-- http://www.fcc.gov/ not just the name of the commissioners but also stuff relating to broadcasting generally.

• (a) within provisions of the 1996 Communications Act relating to freeing up competition between/against the existing telecomm corporations, also within the "universal service" provisions of the Comm. act, and
• (b) under the provisions of August 1, 1966 FCC order relating to implementation of the Comm Act.

I'm reading the legislation and the FCC ruling rather carefully, and it seems to me that any "information provider" now has been given the power to demand access and to get access to the telcomm (phone and cable) companies' transmission lines for the transmission of its information to the ends of the internet. This means that the programs of any station can be put out and received everywhere, not just in a recognized reception area [60(?) mile radius for KPFA], and may also be "heard" live or at a more convenient time just as we now handle e-mail. The technology is there, the broadcasters will have to transform their output into digital form, and the recipient will have to have some kind of "box" to receive/store/play what is put out. In this respect "pirate" radio and the most powerful commercial radio stations will be on identical footing, the FCC's "rationing" of scarce radio spectrum will be much less important than it is now, and the "listener" will totally control access to "broadcast" material, because no longer totally dependent on what comes over the "airwaves".

I'll have more to say about this subject in due course; but the time frame involved is a matter of months rather than of years or decades.The technology is already there as is the multiple choice of paths for sending wide bandwith material from a source to a receiver.[Realaudio is already available for you to pick up selected programs with next to no audio quality.]

thought you'd be interested.
Michael

"and behind the most creative aspect of that insurrection looms a band of reality hackers, merry pranksters, ontological anarchists, psychedellic warriors, and intelligence agents; the bastard progeny of Toronoto's own McLuhan: The Media Collective"

'Bringing Culture Back To Resistance'

The Media Collective is a spontaneous, dynamic, holistic organization, that includes the universe as its membership. We are artists, activists, and people interested in reclaiming our environment, reclaiming our minds, and thus reclaiming our lives. The Collective itself is a conduit for change.

The term 'Media' does not refer to an institution, or a technological artefact, but rather to the environment in which we all live. Media are the methods in which we communicate with ourselves, each other, and the world at large. As we communicate, we forge the material reality in which we exist.

Centuries of empire, appropriation, and exploitation have consolidated and centralized control of the majority of media. Corporate concentration manifests itself as the realization of a true media monopoly, declaring the birth of a new regime, and the end of history. His story has robbed us of our sovereignty, robbed us of our land, robbed us of our voice, and may soon rob us of our minds.

The Media Collective is a spontaneous proclamation of the self. It is an uprising of the free individual spirit, shedding the chains of mental colonialization, screaming shouts of joy with the self-realization of identity.

We break the homogeneity of the media monopoly by expressing ourselves with our own media. We take back our media, taking back our freedom, igniting a chain-reaction of self-expression, a revolution of many minds uniting against a common enemy.

We use guerrilla tactics and any means necessary to defend our freedom of speech which is not defined according to profitability. We are involved in video, mirco-power broadcasting, radio, art, graffiti, zines, performance art, food, street theatre, cartoons, faxing, fasting, civil-disobedience, newspapers, music, hacking, phreaking, luddism, the web, television, writing, email, video-conferencing, elite-crashing, talking, loving, reading, ranting, telephony, protesting, analysis, and straight-out revolution.

We are the virus of unity. All may take claim under our banner as all are subject to media, and all have an interest in controlling their own media. We seek to decentralize power by decreasing the degree of mediation between us. Together we can all help each other help ourselves.

The Media Collective meets on the 27th of each month. The meetings act as a forum for members to exchange experiences, thoughts, ideas, and actions. The next Toronto meeting will be held at 7pm at XXX, 7 Fraser, near Dufferin and King.

Members outside of Toronto are encouraged to organize local meetings, events, and take part in their own spontaneous actions. We will soon have a comprehensive web site available as well as other resources in other media to encourage the spread of the virus. Send comments, questions, and reports to[email protected]

"And one day all the slaves ran free, Something inside of them died. The only thing I could do was be me And get on that train and ride."

We're planning an International gathering in Toronto for October 27. The purpose of this gathering is to draft an International program for an International Media Collective.

NGOs & the ITU: A possibility for cooperation?

Bruce Girard
Director, Agencia Informativa P�lsar

You may not know much about it. You may not even have ever heard of it. But if you are a broadcaster the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has undoubtedly had a significant impact on your work and will continue to do so. Established in 1947, the ITU is a specialised agency within the United Nations system. Its stated goal is to promote the development of telecommunications globally, and its broad definition of telecommunications includes telephones, radio broadcasting, satellite communication, and the so-called information superhighway. It is organised into three sectors:

# The Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) works for the "rational, equitable, efficient and economic use of the radiofrequency spectrum". It is within ITU-R that it is decided what frequencies will be able to be used in your country and for what purposes.

# The Standardisation Sector (ITU-S) studies and adopts recommendations regarding technical standards and tariffs. ITU-S recommendations will be influential in the current debate over what technical standards should be adopted for digital broadcasting - a debate with important repercussions for all broadcasters.

# The Development Sector (ITU-D) works as an executing agency for projects which develop communications infrastructures, particularly in lesser developed countries.

Given the tremendous social and economic importance of telecommunications as we near the end of the 20th century, the decisions, recommendations and actions of each of these sectors have tremendous social impacts. For example, in the 1970s, ITU-R set about distributing frequencies for satellite use. At the time, few of the lesser-developed countries took notice and the predictable result was that a few Northern countries snapped up tremendous bandwidth. ITU-R also determines which frequencies will be available for social communication, and which will be reserved for military or commercial use.

The case of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) provides an example of the social importance of ITU-S. The recommendations of technicians not only determine frequency propagation and audio quality, they also can favour a technology that supports a more centralised broadcast system or one that facilitates access and encourages a more pluralistic broadcast environment.

For its part, ITU-D has an entire department dedicated to supporting and advising countries wanting to privatise state- owned telephone companies, and little information for a country that might prefer to maintain an important state presence in a key sector.

ITU members - Big M and little m

Unlike other UN agencies (UNESCO, the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organisation), which have adopted mechanisms enabling the participation of non governmental organisations as representatives of civil society, the ITU only admits two categories of members. The 184 "big M members" are States within the United Nations system, and the 375 "small m members" include all the major telecoms service providers, equipment manufacturers and satellite organisations. In a forthcoming article, the ITU's Secretary General, Dr. Pekka Tarjanne describes the role of the private sector in the agency as "perhaps the single most important strategic issue which we at the ITU have to face. If we are to remain responsive and relevant to the telecoms industry, enhanced private sector involvement is vital." Given that there are already twice as many "small m" members as "big M" ones, that private sector members can generally call on greater resources in their research and lobbying efforts, and that the wave of privatisation of telecoms infrastructure that is sweeping the world is reducing public influence in the area, it is becoming increasingly important to consider a third category of membership, one that will ensure the participation of civil society within the ITU.

In October 1995 Se�n O Siochr�, produced a report entitled "International Telecommunication Union and Non-Governmental Organisations: the Case for Mutual Cooperation". The report, prepared as an initative of the MacBride Round Table with the approval of the Secretary General of the ITU, not only presents a strong case for closer collaboration between the ITU and the NGO sector, it also makes recommendations for how to go about establishing the mechanisms that will enable this collaboration to happen.

Action

In March 1996 AMARC adopted the O Siochr� report's recommendations in principal and decided to embark on a campaign to ensure that they are studied seriously and eventually adopted by the ITU. In cooperation with other international NGOs working in communications, we have requested that the ITU study the report and make recommendations to its plenipotentiary conference in 1998. While we have not yet received a formal answer, sources within the ITU say that the campaign is being taken seriously and we are hopeful that the ITU will consider our request and that civil society will be able to participate formally in the ITU's structures.

Readers of InteRadio are requested to write the ITU requesting that the agency give serious consideration to the recommendations in O Siochr�'s report and to the principal of NGO participation within the ITU. Please write or fax the following people: Pekka Tarjanne, Secretary General, Fax: +41-22 730 5137, Don MacLean, Head, Strategic Planning Unit, Fax: +41-22 730 6503, Ahmed Laouyane, Head, Telecommunications Development Bureau, Fax: +41-22 730 5485. The postal address for the ITU is:
Place des nations
CH-1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland

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Bruce Girard
Pulsar - AMARC
Email: [email protected]
http://www.web.net/amarc/pulsar.html Tel: +593-2-525521 Fax: +593-542818
Av. America 3584, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador

My name is Larry Knapp. I am organizing a public radio distribution service with the following mission statement.....

PBRS Mission Statement
PBRS (Public Broadcasting Radio Services) has been organized to strengthen and expand public radio. Our specific goals include (1) gathering radio programming of exceptional quality from radio producers in the USA and around the world and making this programming available to all non-commercial radio stations, (2) development and implementation of methods which will increase public radio audiences at local and national levels, (3) development and implementation of methods designed to bring non-commercial radio stations to a condition of self-sufficiency without sacrificing programming integrity and (4) development and implementation of programs of business underwriting which serve the best interests of both public radio and the businesses who support public radio.

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We are looking for programming in the following categories: Drama, Mystery/Suspense, Children's Programs, Comedy, Music and last but definitely not least - News & Investigative Reports...a Chomskyan news magazine would be nice, don't you think?

PBRS will be picking up programming from the CBC, the BBC and other major systems around the world for quality and name recognition, but I would like to see PBRS operate as a clearinghouse and center of exchange for community based/locally produced programs.

The PBRS Features & Entertainment Catalog which will go to all 1,800 public radio stations in the US. The catalog will have two sections (1) Individual Programs, and (2) 13 Week Program Blocks. Any program sent in will be listed in the Individual Program Section wherein the program provider names the price. The good stuff will go into 13 Week Program Blocks under the categories listed above. The 13 Week Program Blocks will cost $520 for the 13 weeks ($40 per program hour), any program provider who want a piece in a block will have to consent to this price. PBRS will split 50/50 with the program provider. PBRS will cover all costs of marketing, duplication and distribution.

The most important aspect of PBRS will be the PBRS Corporate Sponsorship Program. This program will gather financial underwriting on local regional and national levels and re-distributing this financial support at local regional and national levels. In other words, the PBRS Features & Entertainment catalog will offer stations programming and the money to book the programming at the same time.

Larry Knapp
Public Broadcasting Radio Services
37 Central Square
Lynn MA 01902
(617) 593-4934

Free Radio Press
Michael Braunstein
[email protected]
HTTP://www.wwisp.com/~mbrauns1
The Free Radio Press
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/rrb.html