Refugee Radio Station Blocked by Red Tape 420
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. "
Sounds similar to my experience in Dallas... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.aarong.thinkcomputer.com/essays/index.
Information Control (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Information Control (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [fsrn.org].
Re:Information Control (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Information Control (Score:4, Informative)
Not so. You can fit a transmitter that will broadcast to the entire Astrodome, and several city blocks around it, in the palm of your hand [ramseyelectronics.com].
Re:Information Control (Score:5, Informative)
Free speech has never meant that you have a right to be heard. The only people who would argue for that are telemarketers. Do you also think that coke employees should be able to muscle their way into paid pepsi ads?
That said, I have a real problem with the way NO is being handled. If people want to provide some service, why not let them? Same thing with the boaters who tried to get in day one with chainsaws and provisions but were turned away. It seems as if whoever was/is in charge thinks that only "official" response is acceptable and good.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Information Control (Score:3, Insightful)
The Bush team originated these "First Amendment" zones. I doubt we'll find a judge, after this flurry of installations these past five years, who''l put a stop to this.
Forget about the Supreme Court. They'll probably put their stamp on executing anyone who speaks outside the designated "free speech" zone.
And the peeple won't care. That's the core, the crux, the whole damned problem. Wha
Re:Information Control (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Information Control (Score:3, Informative)
You really shouldn't trust the press/media for news, nor leftist websites (Kos et al). They have a habit of not pointing out things Democrats do, and obsessing over Republicans when they do the same thing. The fact that two thirds of journalists across the USA, and nine tenths of journalists in Washington DC, self-identify as Democrats in confidential polls probably has something to do with this.
FYI, I am a foreigner living in the USA, and find it r
Re:Information Control (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No, that's incorrect (Score:2, Redundant)
Exactly
Re:No, that's incorrect (Score:5, Insightful)
If there are important things to say that the refugees need to hear over the radio, why not get one of the dozens of existing radio stations in the area to broadcast it. If your message is really that crucial, it shouldn't be a problem finding someone to play it.
I think you're missing the point of a micro broadcast radio station. Is a local station that serves the needs of the entire Houston area going to broadcast a message like "lunch of the day for the astrodome is cheeseburgers" If you really think that, you're just naive. This isn't about broadcasting ultra-important messages to everyone, it's about keeping people informed about the resources available to them, giving them something to do, etc.
This is just a bunch of geeks that got told, "No, your idea won't actually help anyone", so they went and complained to
Very true, but that doesn't diminish the fact that it WILL help people. This isn't some wild crazy techno geek idea of giving out free Wi-Fi internet access to people that don't have laptops or computers in the first place. Radios are dirt cheap, and anyone that has a few dollars can buy a portable one. They're cheap enough that someone could buy a thousand of them and distribute them to everyone in the Astrodome.
Re:No, that's incorrect (Score:3, Interesting)
s/could/did/
Re:No, that's incorrect (Score:4, Informative)
Indeed, they had already arranged a donation of 10,000 radios, so that there would be plenty for all.
Very true, but that doesn't diminish the fact that it WILL help people.
Indeed. A psychiatrist was mentioning somewhere that one of the worst things for people who have been through disasters is to sit around with nothing to do and nothing but the disaster to think about. For people developing PTSD, it can intensify and lengthen their problems.
And there's a lot to be said for community-building and morale. Heck, just the music alone would help. Imagine you're on a long road trip and the radio breaks. How sad would you be? And now imagine somebody else is driving, you don't know where you're going, and you're not sure when you'll get there.
Re:Low-Power AM (Score:3, Informative)
Re:"We are still in hurricane season," (Score:2, Insightful)
Google news [google.com]
Re:Insightful! (Score:3, Insightful)
freedom of the press.
freedom of speech.
these american citizens have every right to set up their own radio station.
Unfortunate (Score:4, Insightful)
I am of the opinion that, overall, the American Red Cross is well organized and operated (I'm speaking with over six years of experience with EMS, SAR and Disaster Relief here). However, I have to sigh at the bureaucracy and lack of "out-of-the-box" thinking that sometimes crops up when I'm volunteering with them.
The politically-unfriendly truth will be told. (Score:2, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Quit playing the blame game (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't play the blame game, but it's all the state and local governments' fault.
Re:Quit playing the blame game (Score:2)
Re:Quit playing the blame game (Score:3, Interesting)
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 ske
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The politically-unfriendly truth will be told. (Score:2)
Re:Unfortunate (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole radio thing, however, is part of a larger press blackout. If you can't fix it, try and cover it up and hope people forget.
Re:Unfortunate (Score:2, Insightful)
The Feds are certainly not blameless in this affair, but let's give credit and blame where it is actually due.
Re:Unfortunate (Score:3, Informative)
From the Red Cross web site: (emphasis mine)
Direct angry calls about FEMA bumbling to the White House, c/o Prez "Mumbler" Bush, and calls about the Red Cross being bl
It's all about.... (Score:5, Informative)
From the Villiage Voice:
Re:It's all about.... (Score:4, Insightful)
That seems to be the right idea in this case- if you can't broadcast from inside the astrodome, then get the FCC to increase the power of your license and broadcast from *outside* the astrodome.
Re:It's all about.... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's the basis of your racist bullshit from FEMA, right there. Someone got their whole family drowned, has been starved, dehydrated, literally dragged through shit, kept in a stable under the conditions of a hog farm feed-lot... Listening to Kurupt is gonna' put 'em over the edge.
Re:It's all about.... (Score:4, Informative)
Just as bad as right here in Portland. The Multnomah County Sheriff has a brand new jail that was built right before the recession. It's a minimum security facility- 535 beds, no bars, full service medical hospital, kitchen, Internet Access (both Wifi and brand new cubicles with two-year-old but never used computers in them on the wired network), flat screen TVs everywhere. He offered it as a shelter when it was thought that we'd get 2500 refugees here- hey, it's better than a cot in a gym of an abandoned high school, which is the other two sites offered. But because it's a J-A-I-L, the Red Cross got all racially and southern culturally sensitive and turned him down. I say, when or if refugees arrive- the Sheriff should make his pitch directly to those involved- it's a damned sight more comfortable in the barracks of the Wapato Correctional Facility than in a disused gym.
Re:It's all about.... (Score:2)
Re:It's all about.... (Score:2)
My thoughts exactly. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My thoughts exactly. (Score:3, Insightful)
"Reach for my revolver" is a reference to German playwright Hanns Johst's play Schlageter, which has in it the (translated) phrase "Whenever I hear the word culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!" The last part is more often translated as "I reach for my revolver." Often the quote is attributed to
Re:My thoughts exactly. (Score:3, Insightful)
Where singular focus becomes a problem
Re:It's all about.... (Score:2)
FEMA Nixes Grassroots Radio Station for Hurricane Evacuees
Bureaucracy KO's info source at the Astrodome
by Sarah Ferguson
Since when has the dutchess of york been a journalist?
Re:It's all about.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Now this makes perfect sense... If you're a refugee forced to live in a room with 10,000 other people do you really want reporters taking pictures and invading what little privacy you have?
Re:It's all about.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's all about.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, so the world can know about the conditions you are living in, and can press the authorities about it.
Re:It's all about.... (Score:3, Interesting)
These [flickr.com] people [flickr.com] deserve [flickr.com] privacy. [flickr.com]
If a group of refugees want to hold a press conference about mistreatment, that's a different story.
The New FEMA (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The New FEMA (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The New FEMA (Score:3, Funny)
I vote for "horse show judge" as the new euphamism for any incompetent unexperienced individual.
Re:The New FEMA (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Re:The New FEMA (Score:2)
But they seem to be getting off on _preventing_ people from being helpful. The Red Cross. Other nations. National guard units for other states that keep mobilizing and having nowhere to go. Now this radio station.
Politics in the way (Score:3, Insightful)
Indymedia? Village Voice? (Score:3, Insightful)
Haha, now you know how the left feels (Score:3, Insightful)
Indymedia's sole purpose . . . (Score:2)
It's a lousy job but somebody's got to do it.
Fascists Out in Force (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Fascists Out in Force (Score:2)
Sieg heil!
Re:Fascists Out in Force (Score:2)
That said, the bureaucrats involved were most likely just as stupidly bureaucratic before last week. That's why they were in a position that wasn't at all urgent at the time-- it wasn't a
Public Safety Bah! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Public Safety Bah! (Score:2)
This damage control isn't for you. (Score:5, Insightful)
Having a radio stations where people affected could speak their minds openly, or even potentially openly would hurt this damage control.
Ryan Fenton
Re:This damage control isn't for you. (Score:2)
Agreed. But, aren't they kinda shooting themselves in the foot, by letting their management of the news become news?
WOW (Sarcstic) (Score:3, Insightful)
Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
'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
Re:Why? (Score:2)
A bit of "unexpected" red tape to force the new radio station to shut the hell up, at least temporarily, might be very welcome by the administration and the FEMA...
Put itin a van (Score:5, Insightful)
They can just put their equipment into a van and broadcast from the parking lot like regular pirate radio. They can still do interviews within the dome using portable radios and cell phones.
Re:Put itin a van (Score:2)
Do it anyway? (Score:2)
Tell the JIC to go fuck off and broadcast anyway.
-Charles
Not a real issue (Score:5, Insightful)
What is not apparent to anyone outside Reliant City (as the astrodomain is now being called) is that it is utter CHAOS in there. It's not that the guests are anything but orderly, that the volunteers are anything but helpful, or that the involved agencies dont care, but there just isnt time for the responsible parties to even think very hard about it. Keep in mind that this is a gargantuan effort on the part of almost everybody involved - every agency I've come in contact with has expressed amazement at the vastness of the task and the speed with which it is being accomplished. And by now they are all pretty much exhausted. Sunday there were 25,000 guests on the ground - today it's far less than half of that. Meeting immediate needs is pretty much all that they can do. I alone have worked over 40 hours on this event since last wednesday, in addition to my regular full-time job.
It would certainly be wonderful if the guests were being entertained, or even efficiently informed. And when I first heard about this effort I thought it was a great idea. But providing a communications channel without professional guidance as to content and application could just as easily cause more harm then good. After the event there will be a great deal of effort to review procedures and decide what went right and what went wrong, and I really hope that this specific option is included in future plans. I think it is awesome that the organizers of this effort did so much, this option has a great deal of potential. But please dont assume that some "lower-level official" just decided to be mean or felt power-hungry - it is just as likley that they thought it was a good idea, but just didnt have the time to give it a chance or make sure it was done right.
Wayne Barker AD8A
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Emergency Coordinator, SouthWest Harris County, Houston, TX
Re:Not a real issue (Score:4, Insightful)
eep (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does this statement make my blood run cold?
Re:Not a real issue (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like just the sort of thing the Communist Chinese government says when they censor the Internet, jail dissident journalists, run tanks over protestors, and so on. It's shameful to have anybody in the USA express such a position.
Re:Not a real issue (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it would be shameful for someone in the USA to be unable to express such a position.
I can't say I completely disagree with him, either. With access to public airwaves comes public responsibilities. Should some half-assed radio station start spewing out false information, with thousands of people listening and believing them, they quite literally could cause a lot of harm. Proverbially shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre.
I have no idea
Re:Not a real issue (Score:2)
The federal government is a faith based organization. You give them your money, and have faith that it'll be spent wisely. You cast your vote and have faith that your candidate will speak for you and not big business. This faith is about as well founded as the faith other religions are based on.
Information wants to be controlled (Score:2)
Kind of like how the National Guard is preventing people from photographing the reportedly huge number of corpses in East NOLA.
http://organicwarfare.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
Fed vs. Local... or is it? (Score:2)
The only problem I could see is if the owner of the LPFM station was trying to use the infrastructure of the stadium (power, physical plant, etc) to run the station. That can be blocked by the entity responsible for the building without any recourse.
Re:Fed vs. Local... or is it? (Score:2)
Re:Fed vs. Local... or is it? (Score:2)
Illegal to block it (Score:2)
So the officials that are refusing to allow it, are overstepping their authority and sooner or later someone else will come down on their heads like ton of bricks.
Re:Illegal to block it (Score:2)
Set It Up Next Door? (Score:2)
While there are obvious advantages to being inside the dome -- access to information -- being next door might be better than nothing.
Houston IndyMedia? (Score:2, Insightful)
You want a radio station catering to the evacuees run by people who literally believe things like the Bush administration is not only responsible for the poor response[1], but is actually responsible for the hurricane itself [huffingtonpost.com]? Or who would invite those who believe the levees were blown up by the government as a plot to remove all of the black people from New Orleans so the rich whites could take it over [laweekly.com]? (After all, they needed more room!)
Yeah, that'll really help the situation!
Bullshit. In
What is required for me to do this? (FM station) (Score:2, Insightful)
Is there additional requirements to broadcasting non-royalty free music? If I do decide to broadcast music then how much do I pay and to whom? I would LOVE to learn more about this.
"Refugee"? How about using proper English. (Score:3, Informative)
If you meant victims of the natural disaster hurricane, that's another word entirely.
Bottom line, "normal" societial issues in the damaged area will be suspended until things are under control. That's the way it has always been and the only way thing work. These "volunteers" want to place braodcasting equipment in a damaged building from which they will broadcast whatever they want to people in the damaged area? How incredibly selfish of them. They would not only increase physical security issues for their equipment, as noted above, they'd bring confusion to the people and create more things for the authorities to try to watch. What absolute guarantees are there that these folks wouldn't broadcast erroneous information? This is not a time for civics 101, it's a time for survival.
If these people truely wanted to help, they'd offer themselves and their services are actual volunteers, not prima donnas who want a competing power during emergency times.
Remove Tinfoil Hats (Score:3, Insightful)
go back to sucking GWB (Score:2)
These guys arent asking for power to use 1000 laptops.
The smegs in charge want to do it their way so they can up their career, and not be upshowed by some amatures.
Typeical govt workers, corrupt to hell.
Re:go back to sucking GWB (Score:2, Troll)
fuck you.
I have never seen any goverment employee* do anything corrupt, not once.
as a government emplioyee I must repeat:
Fuck you.
*as opposed to elected official.
You must be joking (Score:2)
Tell me, when was the last time your department spent
Re:go back to sucking GWB (Score:2)
In fact, my fiancee's 3 coworkers (normal bankers) at a bank just racked up $150 in a bar tab for "business expenses" and that's after they booked a client meeting next week at the Bellagio. I don't think typical government employees get away with doing stuff like that for very long.
Re:FEMA was voter approved, hippie radio was not (Score:3, Insightful)
They will be the final arbiters of what can and cannot happen in the dome. If you do not like it, you need to elect representatives who can change the system.
A rag-tag group of washed up hippies cannot be alowed to over-ride federal control or military control.
I'm sorry, but this is the harsh reality of life.
Everything is not about your pleasure.
It is about a chain of command.
Re:FEMA was voter approved, hippie radio was not (Score:2)
This wouldn't be such a big deal if the dome-dwellers were kept informed of what was going on by FEMA or whatever agency in the first place. But from what I glean from the press, the people were getting absolutely no information on what was going on.
If you do not like it, you need to elect representatives who can change the system.
Part of electing representatives is voicing your opionions. Free speech is vital to the process.
If it is about chain-of-command then s
Re:Sheesh, just get a CB... (Score:2)
Whoa whoa...whoa!
The military and FEMA should have NO business telling people what to say over the radio in Houston. New Orleans may be a disaster area and under de facto martial law, but the military telling you what you can and cannot do elsewhere is a troubling idea.
IF the
Re:Sheesh, just get a CB... (Score:2)
What, like how to enrol your kids at school? How to apply for aid? What's happening to their homes etc? Or maybe the officials are worried that the people will find out that the leaders of their nation let them down at their most desperate time of need?
Can't have anyone questioning the nations leadership. Everyone repeat after me, "The leader is good,
Re:black people (Score:5, Informative)
You might want to check Snopes before you try to repeat urban legends as fact [snopes.com], lest we think you're a part of the current administration (who all seem to be so media illiterate that they probably can't spell snopes let alone look up to see if their information is accurate before spreading it).
Re:black people (Score:4, Informative)
Well, let's see the options. A well known website that debunks or supports urban ledgends based on sound research, or "news" programs well known for actually buying stories from the government. I think I'll take the first.
I heard on a news broadcast that GWB was trying to get the local officials to declare a need for federal aid.
And if you check snopes, that urban legend has been debunked. Yes, the administration itself has been trying to put forth that image to make a very bad excuse for not showing up sooner- and yes, elsewhere on Snopes you'll actually find support for such things as underwater buses and other mistakes made by local officials- but the point is to try to tell the truth, otherwise you do more harm to your side than is needed. And repeating stuff you heard on a single news program with no colaberation for the story? That's just drinking the kool aid without checking it for poison first.
And you don't care to comment on the other parts of my post?
No, because the other parts of your post were mere logical extensions of a fact that did not exist to begin with, and thus were invalid by extension.
The actual meat of the comment?
The actual meat of the comment seemed to be that local officials needed to call for federal aid before federal aid would be offered. The link to snopes in my message shows the real timeline that was recorded- and that it was actually 3 days between the local officials asking for a mandatory evacuation, declaring a state of emergency, and formally asking for federal help, all of which were done BEFORE the hurricane hit; and the federal government actually responding at all. It was an additional 2 days before NBC broke the news in an interview to the head of FEMA that there were people in the convention center- something that the entire rest of the country knew the entire time.
I'm sorry- the basic excuse of "but we couldn't go in until the local governments asked us to" falls completely flat on it's face- and that is obvious from the Snopes article on the subject that I linked to.
Like I said the first time- next time check snopes before you repeat urban legends you heard on the "news".
Re:black people (Score:2)
Actually, it was just a convient story link for something I also saw elsewhere- including a big story back on August 27th in my local paper about the mandatory evacuation and declaration of State of Emergency.
And those were reports from some "reporter" analyzing said events out in Florida?!
Not only- partially, but there has been a lot more written on the subject than just that.
Hmm.
Re:black people (Score:3, Informative)
The mayor of New York called almost immediately for federal aid.
Yeah, but the Gov. of LA called for aid before the disaster. There is no way the mayor of New York called for federal aid before that disaster! Check the date of her memo [louisiana.gov]. Asking for Federal Aid the day before the disaster is not enough time? Please explain your illogic.
Also Washington sat on a request for New Mexico's national guard to help [yahoo.com]
Re:black people (Score:3, Informative)
Who cares about michigan? What about the federal ok on the New Mexico guardsmen you ignored?
This is a better story for some of the reasons behind the delays. Best quote of the article: "Nobody told me that I had to request that,
Yeah, she is talking about ACTIVE duty military troops. The pentagon was saying that wednesday and thursday they were hesitant to send active duty troops in the area for law enforcement purposes. In the same
Re:black people (Score:3, Interesting)
The part where it contradicts the National Response Plan [dhs.gov]. 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
Re:why not set up outside the dome? (Score:2)
Re:very simple reason... (Score:2)
Uhh.
Depleted uranium isn't dangerous because it's radioactive; it's dangerous because it's poisonous. The level of radioactivity given off by DU is completely insignificant -- hence "depleted" -- the problem is that breathing in DU dust causes cancer, for reasons completely and totally unrelated to radioactivity. Conclusion: the half life is completely irrelevant.