ABSTRACT
The production of low-cost high frequency transmitters and transmitter kits has fueled the microradio revolution. Stephen Dunifer of Free Radio Berkeley, Doug Brewer, founder of Temple Terrace Community Radio in Florida, and Ernest Wilson, who operates Pan-Com International, produce and sell microradio transmitters for under $150. The availability of transmitters and syndicated programming made it possible for hundreds of micropower stations to take to the air within a couple of years after Judge Wilkens 1995 decision. The Free Radio Santa Cruz organizing committee eventually settled on an open collective structure with decisions made by consensus—meaning that everyone had to agree on the policy. The microradio revolution has also spread to South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina, where there are more unlicensed microradio stations on the air than in the United States. The Argentinean stations broadcast from shanty towns and poor rural areas to populations neglected by that country’s commercial media. Some, like Justicialist Radio, are operated by opposition political parties.
