PRESS RELEASE
WILL INDEPENDENT RADIO BE SILENCED?
Radio Patapoe THREATENED with fines
Will the airwaves finally become totally commercially unadventurous with this decision to pursue Radio Patapoe?!
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 2010: Radio Patapoe is a legendary, independent radio station that has been on the air for 25 years now. Its fans, supporters and listeners in Amsterdam [and globally] include alternative thinkers, artists, poets, DJs, musicians and those listeners interested in new and non-commercial music and local activist radio.
Radio Patapoe has received a letter from Agentschap Telecom [National Communications Agency, FCC, etc.], in the name of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which lists a number of complaints against the radio station.
The Ministry accuses Radio Patapoe of numerous illegal broadcast activities on the FM dial in the Amsterdam region.
Radio Patapoe points out that there are very few independent or pirate stations left. Radio Patapoe is one of the surviving few.
The Ministry states that "illegal" [but tolerated for over 25 years] broadcasting is interfering with the programming of license-holding broadcasters. The Ministry further points out that this has led to economic losses, nuisance and interference complaints from neighbors in the area of the antenna, and interfere with aviation communication and other vital communications systems such as C2000. The Ministry further claims that it has also received numerous interference complaints from license-holding stations.
Radio Patapoe counters with the argument that it uses an interference-free transmitter. This means that its broadcasts never interfere with those of other, license-holding stations. Radio Patapoe has not received or ever been made aware of any complaints by neighbors in the area. Radio Patapoe poses no threat to important communications systems such as C2000 or aviation communications systems. In fact, if Radio Patapoe had indeed ever interfered with any of the above it would most certainly have been disciplined and removed from the airwaves long ago.
The City of Amsterdam has always had a policy of toleration regarding Radio Patapoe as an independent radio station because it does not disrupt the broadcasts license-holding stations. Furthermore, it has no commercial goals, and does not compete with any other broadcasters.
Radio Patapoe serves a social and creative function in the city, offering its listeners and radio-makers a creative space without EVER having accepted any subsidies or funding. Radio Patapoe is wholly financially independent with no bureaucracy or paid employees. Radio Patapoe offers the creative diversity that is so absolutely necessary for any city that profiles itself as a capital of culture.
If the Ministry of Economic Affairs decides to pursue this policy of intolerance, it will be one further step toward a radio situation that is totally commercially determined – and by definition, leaves no room for free and independent radio broadcasting that has no economic interests or significant financial capital. This, of course, means a further shift toward boring, homogenous radio and a further curtailment of the Freedom of Speech constitutionally guaranteed by the EU and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human rights. The end result can only lead to airwaves and a radio soundscape totally dominated by economic interests and financial considerations.
We are here to stay!
Listen or Perish
Radio Patapoe 88.3 FM
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