As a matter of duty, NOT BAD is part of the national movement of micro-power (a.k.a. "low-power") fm radio stations designed by and for the underclass. NOT BAD is composed of a group of volunteers committed to quality community radio, standing in direct opposition to the radio pirates commonly known as "licensed corporate radio stations". Such commercial stations, along with the FCC, thwart the constitutional right to freedom of speech. They speak for the dominant culture of violence and do no good for local communities. NOT BAD is proud to be a friend of the Free Radio Dorothy & Free Radio Vegas groups.

Since 1978 the FCC no longer approves of stations under 100 watts ("micro-power" or "low-power" fm ) so that all such "legal" stations disappeared by the mid-1980s. The FCC is now getting ready to begin licensing a few non-profit groups (1000 total owners) in the United States for community-oriented stations operating under 100 watts. This is good and bad news.
THE GOOD NEWS
More voices/diversity will be "legally" allowed on the air.
Radio in the U.S. will have more room for democracy.

THE BAD NEWS
The FCC will not allow enough new stations to be licensed under their stipulations.
There is more room available on the dial, technically speaking, than the FCC will license.
COMMUNITIES in the U.S. should be regulating themselves without the unnecessary imposition of superflous supervision and rules from Washington D.C.
(If a community has the resources to have a dozen FM radio stations, then it has the resources to COMMUNALLY work out all the technical and situational bugs that may arise. Perhaps, instead of the current role they have taken upon themselves, the people of the FCC can facillitate the beginning of community-based regulation in every region, so it would no longer need to worry about stations that are hundreds of miles from Washington D.C.?)





There is much more information on the micropower radio movement in the United States available by seeing the micro-power radio movement site, or by signing up for the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters report, either the audio version by snail.
AMPB
PMB 22
2018 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704
or by eml: Contact Paul Griffin @
ampb@global.california.com


One potential way to support the micropower radio movement in the USA, in the summer of 1999 is to
SEND A NOTE TO THE FCC.