Free underground radio station launches locally

By Ryan Logan

Pirate: Sam Kuhn, is a political activist and part-organizer of the Underground Radio Collective. Photo by Ryan LoganA self-proclaimed Belleville anarchist collective is planning to provide the Quinte area with a free “pirate” radio station.
The “Underground Radio Collective” hopes to have this low-watt radio station functioning within the next few weeks.
A pirate station can be set up and operated with only a limited amount of knowledge, and a limited amount of equipment. The equipment allows the station to broadcast at a low frequency that can be picked up by those in range of its signal.
“A big part of corporate media is that they will push the corporate, or state agenda. We have to put the media in the hands of the people, and that’s what we’re doing.” says Sam Kuhn, co-founder and organizer of the collective.
The concept of pirate radio is nothing new, dating back to the first years after the medium’s conception, says Steve Bolton, a broadcast journalism professor at Loyalist College.
However, popularity of the do-it-yourself radio station has increased significantly over the last few decades because of increased availability of the technology, and the subsequent popularity of citizen journalism.
The nature of “pirating” is to use a good or service without authorization from the government. Technically nobody owns the airwaves, although the CRTC, Canada’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, is responsible for regulating and enforcing policies related to broadcasting.
One of the fundamental rules that separates pirate radio from others is the absence of a licence. Acquiring a broadcasting licence can be a complicated and costly process. The repercussions for not having one and broadcasting illegally, according to CRTC regulation, are a $5,000 fine, or one-year in jail.
“We know we’re going to have a problem with feds, and local police. We know there’s going to be a problem,” says Kuhn, who previously spent two months in jail for unrelated activism.
But to Kuhn, and his associates, the service is vital -- regardless of its cost.
“Unless people take control of our society in a radical way, we’re in trouble,” says Kuhn.