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Refugee Radio Station Blocked by Red Tape
Zathrus writes "According to a Wired story, a volunteer organized low power FM radio station is being blocked by local administration and red tape. They've already won the classically big battles -- securing FCC licenses, obtaining the broadcast equipment and radios, getting the manpower, and having some big name backing -- only to be blocked at the last minute by some lower level administrators who don't think information is a worthwhile resource." From the article: "According to KAMP, Royal claimed the Astrodome was not able to provide power to KAMP's low-power FM transmitter. When KAMP offered to bring in enough batteries to power the equipment off the Astrodome's grid, they were still denied. Obey, speaking to Wired News, explained that the JIC couldn't see a use for the radio station when they had the ability to communicate via the loudspeaker system and newsletters. "
For anyone who's interested...
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http://www.aarong.thinkcomputer.com/essays/index.
It is ironic that in a country that goes to war against other under the colours of freedom (much like Constantine used Christianity for) attempts to segregate the very people who claim the right given by the constitution. We had seen similar hypocrisy in New York during the 2004 RNC, when protesters were forbidden from meeting in central park and were arrested for using loudspeakers. Makes you wonder who gets to excercise their rights and who doesn't.
For anyone interested in the FSRN broadcast about Katrina here is the link.
"On Thursday, Obey explained the decision to ultimately refuse the low-power FM station request.
'With limited resources, you err on the side of FEMA and the Red Cross over entertainment.' "
First, the station was going to be providing more than entertainment.
Second, who from the Red Cross opposed to the station? Why?
Third, who from FEMA opposed the station? Why?
If it cost FEMA and the Red Cross nothing, they have no reson to oppose. If either believes it will cost them something, I'd like to hear it explained.
My guess is, they are worried that unhappy people can be incited to riot.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Welcome to Disaster Relief. The one thing I've learned is that, to be an effective volunteer, you have to shelve your ego frequently, smile and nod when the politicos and the power hungry come by, and then get back to doing the business of helping people.
I was at a meeting yesterday for an organization interested in providing some housing options for evacuees, and I recall one idealistic young woman who spoke up who insisted that her idea (not a very practical one, to be honest) be used, because she really "wanted to help people."
Disasters are a really bad time to play any sort of ideological card (although people will anyways). Ultimately, people need to shelve any grandiose notions of being a "hero" and remember the fact that volunteers are "servants"--to those in need.
I hate to harsh anyone's mellow, and I probably would have let the girl go off and do her thing: she'll quickly find out that her idea won't work, and hopefully she'll learn. As a stubborn person myself, I'd rather see idealism tempered into reasonable action, rather than cynicism. Sometimes, you just gotta do it to learn...
What? Nobody's absolving the Feds. There's plenty of blame for everyone. It just seems that in some people's rush to skewer our favorite mumblemouth whipping boy, they're holding up the state and local officials as a bunch of innocent victims. Problem is, they're as much a knot of corrupt, inept fucktards as the feds and they ought to be skewered also. Sure, FEMA's the easy target because they stood around saying "what do we do?" when their only job is to know what to do in an emergency-- but between the city just leaving a bunch of buses to wash away and not bothering to stockpile any supplies for refugees, and the Louisiana State Department of Homeland Security (a STATE agency, not federal) telling the Red Cross they couldn't take their convoy of food, water, blankets, and porta potties to the Super Dome because "we don't want people to stay there"; well, I say burn the lot of 'em. Government is full of shitheads at all levels, and I think there's enough to get angry about here to drag all of them out and tar and feather them for their gross incompetence.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
s/could/did/
The part where it contradicts the National Response Plan. By the time you get to the second page it talks about "proactive" Federal responses to rare, mass-casualty events.
>George Bush had been trying to get the local government to declare a need for federal assistance.
I can't find a cite for this offhand but I did read that Governor Bianco (yes, she has a name, even if she is a Democrat) requested Federal troops on August 26 and a Federal state of emergency on August 27.
>If you don't know what the fuck you're talking about just keep your damn partisan bullshit to yourself!
Well, we can agree on that point.
You likely don't need to have the FCC increase the power of the license - the current legally allowed wattage may very well suffice.
It takes a lot less watts than you think to broadcast from a parking lot into a building.
That close, and the inverse square law of signal power works in your favor.
And there is a heck of a lot less attenuation of FM frequencies (such as 95.3 MHz which is what they were to transmit on) than on cell phone frequencies so if cell phones work, there will likely not be too much attenuation of a 95.3 FM signal.
So if it is legal to broadcast from outside they likely can make do with the power level they are already authorized to use.
Cell towers use about 20 W power output, and they are a high frequency (more attentuation) and they get quite far and reliably when the carrier actually maintains their network.
20 W should be WELL more than enough.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Yes, so the world can know about the conditions you are living in, and can press the authorities about it.
These people deserve privacy.
If a group of refugees want to hold a press conference about mistreatment, that's a different story.
Expressing disagreement with the notion that the solution to all the nation's problems is tax cuts for the wealthy. Ask ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
If armed looters ransacking those 100 houses kill 2 people, then yes.
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.