The station I operated in Worcester, Mass., WDOA was tonight (10/29) visited by two FCC agents who shut us down. They told us that while the FCC had been operating for a while under a policy of leaving microbroadcasters/pirates alone... recently the word had come down from on high to shut everyone down.

The agents were civil and we had about a 30 minute discussion with them. They told us our shutdown was because they had simply become "aware" of our presence. They said they had not received any complaints of interference because of us. They even said our signal was clean on their scope, however since the word had come down, they had to shut us down. They shut down Radio Free Allston in Boston the night before (the same two agents). From my perspective this is definately a sweep that is underway originating from orders at the top presumably responding to pressure from the NAB. I asked the agents about this and they denied it was pressure from the NAB, and said it was just a change in priorities brought on by the new FCC head. The two agents said they were given information about my station by their boss who had been "accumulating" info on unlicensed operations. To be honest the two agents seemed sympathitic to our situation, but seemed to be "just following orders". WDOA is currently accessing our options.

Mike Malone WDOA 89.3FM Wormtown, USA

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San Francisco Liberation Radio (sflr@slip.net)
Fri, 31 Oct 1997 11:42:31 -0800

The actions taken by the FCC on the east coast over the past few nights demonstrate, I think, more clearly than ever why we should mount a campaign of public pressure against KFOG. If we can get even just one corporate-owned radio station, here in SF, to break ranks from all the others nationwide--that would send a powerful message and ultimately be a significant victory for micro broadcasters everywhere. I don't think this battle is ultimatley going to be won by appealing to the good will of the courts, the FCC or the NAB. Again, I think the weak link in this chain are local commercial rock stations like KFOG. The following is a sample letter we will be giving out at our benefit party here in SF tomorrow night.

People should feel free to copy or borrow from it as they wish.

Richard Edmondson

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