Dutch government tussles with pirate radio stations [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Dutch Gov't Wants to Shutdown Pirate Radio Before It Can be Legalized
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 12:04:48 -0500
From: David Solomonoff <dsolomon () nycap rr com>
To: rumori () detritus net
CC: declan () well com

On May 23, The Dutch government auctioned off radio frequencies
to the highest bidders as part of their new Zerobase Radio Frequency
Policy. As a result only the biggest, most commercially and mainstream oriented
stations are able to exploit Dutch radio frequencies for the eight year term of the
licenses. The auction was preceded by "Project Etherflits" in March -- a 
crackdown on
pirate radio stations which are technically illegal but were previously 
tolerated. Studio
equipment was confiscated and large fines imposed on the operators. Most stations
have now been forced off the air.

The ZeroBase Policy acknowledges only two kinds of radio: public and commercial.
Any radio formats that don't fit within either of these categories have in 
effect become
criminal organizations and can never be granted a legal broadcasting permit.

Now the mayor of Amsterdam has granted permission to use police and riot-control
forces to get rid of the country's last remaining Free Radio stations. Radio 100,
 http://www.radio100.nl/_eng/,  Radio Patapoe, http://freeteam.nl/patapoe/ and
Radio de Vrije Keyser, http://www.vrijekeyser.nl/ are all based in Amsterdam. On
Monday February 9th the Telecom authorities tried to raid Radio Patapoe. Their 
attempt
failed because they were unable to locate the transmitting equipment but they 
promised to return.

The justification for the crackdown has been the prevention of interference with
licensed broadcasters. Ironically the Dutch government was so anxious for space to
be found for additional commercial stations - meaning extra revenue - that 
interference
between licensed radio stations has become a serious problem in many areas of the
country. Due to poor planning on the part of the government access to existing
transmitters for powerful commercial stations has been allocated very poorly. And
there is a shortage of suitable sites in the Netherlands where broadcast 
transmitters
can be installed without falling foul of planning and environmental regulations.

But since radio pirates transmit at unused frequencies and without interference 
(owing
to their limited range) they do not interfere with commercial broadcasters 
-except to
compete for listeners as Telecom officials admit in the case of Radio Patapoe.

Until 1964 there were no legal commercial radio or television stations in the
Netherlands and the government programming was extremely limited. Free Radio
culture in the Netherlands has played an important role in filling that gap. It 
remains
innovative, popular and highly valued as an important cultural and political 
resource.

As result of a huge outcry Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst
has been ordered to investigate easily accessible ways to give permits to local free
frequencies. This widely supported resolution specifically aims to make room for
existing free radios and radio pirates. Yet the phenomenon itself, with its 
importance to
a healthy democracy, is about to disappear. It will be hard to get back once 
it's gone.

Radio Patapoe is requesting letters in support of their continued existence 
which can be used
to make the case for legalization of pirate radio. Letters can be sent to 
patapoe () freeteam nl
--
David Solomonoff
dsolomon () nycap rr com

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