FCC dissasembles Radio Free Brattleboro

[Scott Fybush]

Sid S. said:

>The comments posted at ibrattleboro.com about the raid are actually
>funny, or perhaps pathetic...can't decide which.  They blame the raid on
>"jack-booted thugs," "neo-cons" and just about any other group they
>don't like.  Funny how nowhere in any of the comments is one word said
>about breaking the law, which has been in place since the 1920's, or
>about the concept (apparently unclear to these yahoos) that when you
>deliberately thumb your nose at authority, you should not be terribly
>surprised when that authority clamps down hard on you.

If you read some of the other topics at ibrattleboro, that mindset is to be 
expected, really - many (though by no means all) of the posters there are 
living examples of the crunchy-granola stereotype that's used by some to 
tar anyone who leans even somewhat to the left. Last year, I was tarred 
there as being a "corporate-loving toady" or something to that effect, 
which was a hoot for anyone who knows me. (In fairness, I responded and had 
a pretty good exchange with several posters there. The guy who attacked me 
had a burr up his saddle about my criticism of Syracuse Community Radio, 
which is a story unto itself.)

What's sad about it all is that the FCC itself has, I'm afraid, contributed 
to the image it now suffers from in the community radio world. There's 
never been a concerted attempt on the part of the Commission to explain to 
the public why it enforces the rules the way it does, and often, the FCC 
never even makes ANY comment to the media when it conducts a shutdown like 
this.

WE know - because we're broadcasters - what would happen if 10-watt FMs 
were allowed on the air without federal regulation. Yes, there would be a 
few new opportunities for community radio, but it would quickly be 
smothered by CSN, K-Love, Air One, AFR and Family Radio on every channel on 
the dial (probably all at once.) As I alluded to in NERW today, the FCC 
hasn't helped matters by opening that misguided translator window (since 
frozen) last year.

But nobody - not the Commission, not the licensed broadcasters - is making 
that case, so the "jack-booted thugs" rhetoric goes unchallenged, which is 
a shame.

s