On Saturday, May 8, hard working volunteers of Free Radio Santa Cruz moved their studio to a new location and moved to a new spot on the radio dial. FRSC can now be heard on 101.1fm and streaming on the internet at FreakRadio.org. Collective members met in the morning and worked together for five hours to move the studio to the new location. Besides hauling furniture, equipment, and FRSC's audio library, collective members also set up an antenna for the new studio and took down the antenna which was broadcasting on 96.3fm.

FRSC requests that you leave a message on their voice-mail, 831-427-4523, with reports about reception. The collective is still working to finalize the move and has spent a lot of money to make the move happen. Donations are encouraged.

Please send checks or money orders made out to "Free Radio Santa Cruz" to:

FRSC
PO Box 7507
Santa Cruz, CA 95061

or, donate online using a credit card.

Free Radio Santa Cruz is an unlicensed, commercial free, community based pirate radio station that has been operating for over 9 years without a license! FRSC broadcasts alternative news and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in defiance of Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations.

The 3rd Annual May Day Labor Film Festival, titled "Reel Work", will be from April 25th to May 1st in celebration of International Workers' Day. The purpose of the festival is to increase community awareness of the history and culture of the U.S. and international labor movement. Filmmakers, producers, labor historians and union organizers featured in the films will be present to introduce films and lead discussion.

Topics include the recent FTAA protests in Miami, the multiracial grassroots movement of the L.A. Bus Riders Union, the organizing efforts of garment workers in sweatshops in Thailand and Bangladesh, and flower nursery workers in Colombia. Films range from classics such as Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and At the River I Stand, to local premieres about the recent Safeway strike and the Oakland docks anti-war protest of last April.

Reel Work: May Day Labor Film Festival

[ Sunday, A25 at 12pm I Sunday, A25 at 7pm I Monday, A26 at 7pm I Tuesday, A27 at 7pm I Wednesday, A28 at 7pm I Thursday, A29 at 7pm I Friday, April 30 at 7pm I Saturday, May 1 at 1pm ]

The Najaf Emergency Peace Team, "Peace Between Peoples", includes two members of the Santa Cruz activist community. Meg Lumsdaine and Peter Lumsdaine are among the handful of determined volunteers who have placed themselves "nonviolently, symbolically and physically" between the U.S. armed forces massed nearby and the civilian population of the ancient holy city, Najaf.

As numerous people from nonprofit organizations working in Iraq evacuated the country during the past week, an independent emergency delegation of U.S. civilians was preparing to enter the conflict-torn nation, traveling to the tense stand-off around Najaf, where the U.S. military recently deployed almost 3,000 troops for a looming assault to crush Shiite rebels there.

[ Peace Between Peoples Update: Najaf 4-28-04 I Peter Lumsdaine on Democracy Now (4/27/04) I AP article (4/30/04) ]

[ Indybay's Iraq page I Al-MuaJaha I Occupation Watch I Electronic Iraq ]

The Federal Communications Commission’s Localism Task Force announced that its next broadcast localism hearing will be held in Rapid City, South Dakota, on May 26, 2004. Further details regarding the Rapid City hearing will be released as they become available.

Scheduling conflicts and logistical difficulties required the Task Force to change its original timeframe for the remaining localism hearings. Dates for the California, Maine and Washington, D.C. hearings will be announced as they are established.

[ Media Reform: FCC Town Meetings I Support LPFM and Reclaim Radio I Media Monopoly Made Simple ]

Jeff Perlstein is the Executive Director of Media Alliance in San Francisco, a media resource and advocacy center for journalists, activists, nonprofits, and the community. Jeff initiated campaigns for Press Freedom during Wartime, greater community accountability at Clear Channel station KMEL-FM, and public hearings on the FCC's media ownership rules. He is also co-founder of the website Indymedia.org, which launched during the Seattle WTO protests in 1999 and now links over 120 Independent Media Centers in more than 22 countries.

You can listen to a presentation Jeff gave in Santa Cruz on March 4 titled, "The Real Media Indecency and What You Can Do About It."

Today five corporations control more than 80 percent of what the American people see and hear, down from fifty companies just ten years ago. At the urging of Chairman Michael Powell, the Federal Communications Commission voted last year to make it even easier for these five corporations to gobble up more local outlets.

Along with the opposition of millions of Americans and organizations across the political spectrum, Media Alliance has temporarily stopped the FCC give-away in the courts.

This spring, Chairman Powell is bringing his new FCC Localism Task Force to Monterey.
>> It is time to organize!

The next meeting to prepare for the FCC's visit to Monterey will take place on Tuesday, March 16, at 7:00 PM

Audio: Rockin' the Boat: Jeff Perlstein on Media Reform

* Free Radio Santa Cruz Needs and New Location NOW *

[ Jeff on the IMC and WTO I Clear Channel Stumbles I Day one as Executive Director of Media Alliance I Media Alliance I Writers' Roundtables for Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties ]

Gorilla drive in and DWK the youth activism coalition are joining to present to you The southlander: diary of a desparate musician. This brilliant movie features an amazing cast beck, elliot smith, beth orton, hank williams3, ross angeles and more Come check it out on the29

Two activists are still in jail for defending the first amendment in the recent Grand Jury witchhunt. More activists are receiving subpoenas daily. Today the war on Free Speech in San Diego was escalated to a new level.

This morning, July 21st, at approximately 11AM, Pirate 96.9 was raided by the FCC.

Interview on radioActive sanDiego (.mp3) | Interview on Free Radio Santa Cruz | Please replay on your free, community and pirate radio stations.

The broadcast location of Pirate 96.9 was raided by a number of FCC agents with marshalls. No one was present at the location, so the FCC broke the locks on their doors, entered by force, took their equipment and left. They left a warrant behind them.

The antenna was taken as well as a number of other major components of broadcasting equipment.

Pirate 96.9 is currently off the air. More information at www.pirate969.org

Read a blog entry from just after the raid here: steadydietofnothing | more photos at San Diego Indymedia

Independent Media Group subMedia (submediatv.com) has released its first DVZ (DVD/Zine) ‘‘Molotov’’ as a free download on the Bittorrent network. subMedia founder Franklin Lopez made the announcement last week, after the last ‘hard copy’ of ‘‘Molotov’’ was sold to a costumer in Norway.

Disney KABC Radio in Los Angeles Targets Mexicans

The States of Utah and Michigan are reigning in Free Speech on the Internet.