[AktiviX] Dutch government tussles with pirate radio stations

Mon Mar 1 12:35:53 UTC 2004

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 at freeteam.nl
- --
David Solomonoff
dsolomon at nycap.rr.com

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(Edward Burroughs, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations,
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864

email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey/index.html

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