Making Waves in Seattle

By Walter Buntcake, Free Press contributor

or a long time KCMU, based at the University of Washington, was the only real alternative voice on the airwaves in most of the Seattle area. KPLU has been host to National Public Radio for a good long while, but their jazz-based format and their reliance on the increasingly corporate dominated N.P.R. has, over time, watered down their presentation considerably. KCMU, the sister station to KUOW, another N.P.R. affiliate, is now under the same management as KUOW at the U.W.

This is the management group that fired the entire news team at KCMU and halted news programming altogether when they reported on the management's efforts to move the station to a more commercial format and eliminate live D.J.'s in favor of canned out-of-state programing. This gave rise to a prolonged and well-received effort to affect change at KCMU, but the station's management has responded as university administrators will: with a heavy hand and closed lips. This left many skilled persons who knew radio angry, and looking for another avenue.

Micro broadcasting got up and running several years ago in town when Pearl Jam, a Seattle-based music group, began broadcasting their shows live on micro radio in an effort to inspire others to do the same. This was met with success and the group in time donated most of the equipment that created the pirate station FUCC. FUCC was founded on the idea that the airwaves were becoming increasingly dominated by powerful business interests who represented their views, to the exclusion of anyone with less than the approximately $70,000 required to start even the smallest of legal radio stations. FUCC was free speech radio, and free speech was the agenda. Unfortunately, the station lacked much in the way of an organizing structure. "James," who was the beneficiary of the donated equipment, moved the station a number of times because of a combination of problems with the FCC and problems with landlords. It was variously located on Lake Union, in Belltown, and lastly, on top of Capitol Hill, where the station's beacon-like R.K.O. style antenna proudly stood atop an apartment building. Station meetings were monthly sessions which consisted of James listing the previous months problems, hassles and endless irritations, with D.J.'s responding. When the building sold, another victim of Seatte's booming real-estate market, the new owners were less than excited about hosting an underground radio station, and James was less than excited about being the lone center to an endless effort.

FUCC's operation, none the less, was not only very successful, but a tremendous inspiration to other interested parties in the city. For some time Seattle Liberation Radio had been holding small meetings and working out the fine points of the technical side of a pirate broadcast, tuning and retuning a transmitter. Whereas FUCC was almost all music-based programing, S.L.R. wanted to bring alternative news and politics, as well as spoken word to the airwaves, something Seattle had been sorely lacking ever since the hammer came down at KCMU. S.L.R. was losing enthusiasm when a small group of people affiliated with the local non-profit group Family Kitchen, came back from a conference in which they had seen a micro radio presentation. Charged up, they brought together members of S.L.R. and FUCC to form Free Seattle Radio, currently broadcasting at 87.9 on your FM dial, (as far left as you can get), mostly in the evenings. F.S.R. was organized as a collective and currently constitutes a membership of about 35 people. These include people with technical expertise, legal counsel, news hounds and music talent of all sorts.

Another group, North Seattle Grassroots Radio, is holding regular meetings and expects to get on the air by this summer, presenting both news and music in programing for the Northend. They are holding benefits and encourage participation from the community. Their next benefit will be on March 19th at the Gibson House, in downtown Seattle. The group Community Powered Radio has recently been restablished as well, their purpose is to be a micro radio resource center and to bring together a body to pressure the FCC in their reconsideration of low power licenses. Anyone needing information on setting up their own garage transmitter, technical advice, legal information, instructions on lobbying the FCC, or just soft words of encouragement can feel free to contact C.P.R.

Free Seattle Radio
1122 E. Pike St. Suite #1394
Seattle, WA 98122-3934
(206) 233-1198
Seattleradio@hotmail.com

North Seattle Grassroots Radio
P.O. Box 45133,
Seattle, WA 98145-0133
(206) 292-5113
iwwjmp@speakeasy.org

Community Powered Radio
308 27th Ave. E.
Seattle, WA 98112
cpr@gurlmail.com