Oberlin Gets Low-Watt Boost from 90.7 FM

If you can find it, the antenna for the newly created "pirate radio" station, 90.7 FM, towers above the scant Oberlin skyline. Frank, who asked that his last name not be used, is the founder of 90.7 FM. Before we get too far along in the interview, Frank told me that the radio station that he broadcasts out of a friend's house is not really pirate radio.

"It's 'free radio,' or 'liberation radio,'" Frank said. "'Pirate radio' is a term that the FCC gave us, and it's a cool term, but the whole point of it is that it's not 'pirate,'" Frank said with an air of disappointment.

"The FCC is the pirate, since they took what belonged to the American people, the airwaves," Frank said. Despite his strong rhetoric, Frank does not want to overthrow the Federal Communication Commission. He simply wants more free speech. "We just found a blank spot on the airwaves and filled it," he said. He then rhymed without meaning to. "We're trying to give people a choice and a voice."

With an eclectic playlist determined by the diverse tastes of DJs, Oberlin's only free radio station is quickly gaining popularity. Junior Adam Marvel said, "I like how pirate radio provides an alternative to those insubstantial Cleveland stations. My favorite part is when they get drunk and play songs on the air."

Despite his claims to the contrary, Frank is the heart of 90.7 FM right now. Besides being the most knowledgeable on the subject of micropower radio stations, he is also the conscience behind an operation that could easily transgress into a voicebox for obscenity, pornography and an incitement to riot. Though Frank said he understood that creating a voice where there was none is a political act, his aim is not to destroy existing radio stations, but merely to create a new one.

Anarchy is not one of his aims. "I'm having a really hard time walking the line between total paranoia and secrecy and saying 'My name is Frank and I'm operating this protest, come and get me.'"

Junior Alex Bernstein, co-founder of 90.7 FM, agreed that sometimes protest is a necessity. "There's a lot of talk and no action at this school. I could flap my gums about the FCC being an unconstitutional organizationŠbut it wouldn't be doing anything about the problem. Sometimes it's absolutely necessary to go outside the law in order to change things," Bernstein said.

For the most part, Frank has strayed on the side of caution. Because he's new to Oberlin - Frank finished art school and came to Oberlin to be near his girlfriend - Frank doesn't know how the community will respond. "I think it's going to be really hard to get people to think about what we're doing besides the fact that it's illegal."

Bernstein, meanwhile, remains hopeful the station will get the community involved. "We really really do want to reach out to the community, get them involved with shows. God-willing, some will read this article and want to get involved with the station.

"It's absolutely essential that we get community involvement for what we have to do. We don't want to be perceived as stupid college kids who have a radio station," he said.

The legal ramifications of operating a "free radio" station seem harsh to the operators. If the FCC got word of this radio station, they are supposed to send the unlicensed operator a letter warning the operator of possible jail time if the station continues to operate. The jail time is in addition to fines as high as $20,000.

"Our plan is not to stop, [but] to keep going until we get forced to stop," Frank said. As obvious as this may seem, the statement should not be overlooked. Frank mentioned the ratio of 10:1 that Stephen Dunifer, the author of How to Build and Operate Your Own FM Radio Station, came up with. Duniver wrote that for every station the FCC shuts down, 10 more will rise up.

For every Frank, Dunifer posits, there is an entire community willing to stand up for one of its neighbors. I'm not sure how many people besides me signed the Micropower Broadcasting Free Speech Pledge of Resistance.

"On Oct. 31, 2000 I promised to... use my body to block any effort by any agency to shut down a micropower broadcast station within my community. Of course I understood I risked arrest and subsequent legal consequence for my actions," he said.

Still, Frank is cautious. Proactive in his efforts to avoid legal trouble, as well as his seemingly constant fear of annoying Oberlin residents, Frank is painstakingly thorough, working through the glitches even before they occur.

The antenna is a specific measurement to match the precise FCC specifications allowing him to broadcast at 90.7 FM. "It's actually 90.7028," Frank points out. He is genuinely proud that 90.7 doesn't overlap into 90.5 or 90.9. "WOBC overlaps more into these two stations."

Frank has also taken precautions to insure that the station doesn't interfere with television stations, and more importantly, FAA radio transmissions. Interfering with FAA transmissions would be potentially deadly, since the Oberlin control tower is responsible for the Midwest region.

Frank has struggled with the notion of how adamant he wishes to appear in his protest, how blatant he should be. If he's pointing a finger at the system, should this finger be the middle finger? Instead of being obscene, Frank said, "I'm trying to put a positive spin on stuff like that." "In order for free speech to be free speech, you have to tolerate the views you hate most."