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nomination on the commission is difficult to
predict and would probably be decided on a
case by case basis.
Meanwhile, the staff at the Board of
Elections office report an apparent low inter
est in the primary, judging, for example, from
the lack of requests for absentee ballots,
even though the primary falls during prime
vacation time.
To vote in the Republican primary, voters
must request a Republican ballot, but that
does not, of course, obligate them to vote
Republican in the general election, where
there will be only one kind of ballot. Voters
should remember, also, that some form of
picture identification is now required at the
polls.(Pete McCommons)
END
TRANSMISSION
Athens’ Pirate Radio Walks
the Plank
After approximately one year of intermit
tent, unpredictable and totally illegal activity,
pirate radio station 96.7 FM — which, rather
un-piraticaliy, called itself “The Voice of
Athens” — is off the air.
One of the key operators of the station,
who goes by the nom de guerre “DJ Rock,”
notified Flagpole in an e-mail last week that
“the current legal climate prevents us from
continuing in a non-clandestine manner.”
The pirate station’s transmitters only pro
duced 50 watts of power — making it audible
downtown, on the east side, and on campus
— but its operation without a Federal
Communications Commission license at any
level is an infraction the feds are taking
increasingly seriously: David Fiske, of the
FCC’s Washington-based public affairs office,
says the commission has closed down rough
ly 200 unlicensed radio stations around the
country due to concerted efforts over the
past 10 months. Last November, according to
Tampa, Fla. weekly Daily Planet, federal
agents raided three Tampa-area pirate sta
tions, seizing equipment and arresting two
people.
When the Athens station ceased opera
tions earlier this summer, rumors that the
FCC were investigating 96.7 were circulating,
though Rock says the main reason the sta
tion closed was due to its losing its down
town headquarters. Rose Bond, a compli
ance specialist with the FCC’s Atlanta field
office, said they were not investigating in
Athens.
During its brief existence, the Athens sta
tion was known as an outlet for local music,
including avatars of DJ culture and live
bands like Athens’ Landspeeder and
Atlanta's William Carlos Williams.
Listenership spread by word-of-mouth.
“It was an outlet for local people to do
whatever they were Interested in,” a down
town listener told Flagpole.
A member of a local band who, like every
one involved, preferred not tc be identified,
said the station was “very hush-hush. We
didn’t want anybody to go to jail. I’d book
out-of-town bands and we’d broadcast
shows. People would come into town, punk
rock bands, and I’d take them down there.”
Though broadcasts reportedly often tend
ed toward the loosey-goosey, DJ Pock’s e-
mail announcing the demise of the station
makes an articulate case for tne need for
greater community involvement over the
radio waves, giving a mini-history of the now
non-existent class D FM license for small sta
tions, lamenting the loss of local input at
Athens’ NPR affiliate, and blasting commer
cial FM ventures for formats chosen “by
teams of marketing analysts” and playlists
“generated by computers."
“I believe all of those political points,"
Rock told Flagpole. “As far as radio content
itself, I don’t think it has to be rigid and per
fect for people to like it. People want to hear
a human being on the other side. They don’t
want to hear a robot. That community con
trol is gone. It’s been gone so long people
don’t even know it used to De there.”
(Richard Fausset)
VIVE LA FRANCE!
Fans of the French National Soccer team gather around the UGA Arch after watching
France defeat Brazil ^0 Sunday to win the World Cup. Photograph by Christine Harness.
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