Mbanna Kantako (born Dewayne Readus) is a blind African freedom fighter who is active in the Low-power broadcasting (microwatt, FM pirate radio broadcasting) in the United States of America. His history of unlicensed broadcasting in the service of social and racial justice has made him "an early hero of the micro-broadcasting movement." [1]
During the 1980s, Mbanna Kantako had been living in a public housing project in Springfield, Illinois. With the help of Mike Townsend, a professor of social work at a small college in Springfield, Mbanna Kantako obtained a 1 watt transmitter kit from a mail order catalog.
Having constructed the transmitter, Mbanna used to communicate with other Black residents in the housing project under the call letters WTRA ("Tenants Rights Association"), of which he was a member. These transmissions went through more changes of name from Black Liberation Radio to African Liberation Radio.
Mbanna Kantako found himself under investigation by the FCC when his microwatt transmissions expanded in both duration and content by featuring youths who were in trouble with the Housing Project police. Then he was ordered to cease his broadcasts. Like a lot of pirate radio broadcasters at first he complied and then came back on the airwaves. However, he announced his return by informing the FCC of his intention by means of a public announcement to the press. The net result was a summons to appear in court where he faced a $750 fine. Kantako claimed that he could not get a court-appointed lawyer and so he refused to go to court and as a result a default judgment was entered against him.
His press conference inspired others to also start microwatt stations in other cities. Radio Free Detroit [2] took to the air and it was promptly raided by the FCC. But in short order it was followed by Free Radio Berkeley and then San Francisco Liberation Radio.
Kantako also returned to the air from 7pm to midnight every day. His reasoning is exactly the same as Alan Weiner who started Radio Newyork International after first operating both licensed and unlicensed commercial radio stations on land in the New York City area. Kantako claims that he should be left alone because he is just using an open space on the spectrum.
Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world, defined and promoted by the WorldDAB forum. The standard is dominant in Europe and is also used in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia; other worldwide terrestrial digital radio standards include HD Radio, ISDB-Tb, DRM, and the related DMB.
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave transmissions, but also on the longwave and shortwave radio bands.
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio station, while in satellite radio the radio waves are broadcast by a satellite in Earth orbit. To receive the content the listener must have a broadcast radio receiver (radio). Stations are often affiliated with a radio network which provides content in a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both. Radio stations broadcast with several different types of modulation: AM radio stations transmit in AM, FM radio stations transmit in FM, which are older analog audio standards, while newer digital radio stations transmit in several digital audio standards: DAB, HD radio, DRM. Television broadcasting is a separate service which also uses radio frequencies to broadcast television (video) signals.
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" and broadcast translators. LPAM, LPFM and LPTV are in various levels of use across the world, varying widely based on the laws and their enforcement.
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Part 15 is an oft-quoted part of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations regarding unlicensed transmissions. It is a part of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and regulates everything from spurious emissions to unlicensed low-power broadcasting. Nearly every electronics device sold inside the United States radiates unintentional emissions, and must be reviewed to comply with Part 15 before it can be advertised or sold in the US market.
Pirate radio stations have operated in various countries of Asia, often putting over political or nationalist points of view. Offshore stations have attempted to reach China or overseas Chinese residents. Citizens' Radio is an unlicensed Hong Kong pro-democracy station. In Taiwan, what are known as "underground radio" stations have broadcast both pro- and anti-government opinions. Large numbers of unlicensed stations have functioned in the Philippines, of which 107.9 U-Radio (2006–2013) is among the best known. Finally, Radio First Termer was briefly operated by and for U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1971.
The strict definition of a pirate radio station is a station that operates from sovereign territory without a broadcasting license, or just beyond the territorial waters of a sovereign nation from on board a ship or other marine structure with the intention of broadcasting to that nation without obtaining a broadcasting license from that nation.
Unlicensed broadcasting, also called pirate broadcasting is a term used for any type of broadcasting without a broadcast license.
Pirate radio in the United Kingdom (UK) has been a popular and enduring radio medium since the 1960s, despite expansions in licensed broadcasting, and the advent of both digital radio and internet radio. Although it peaked throughout the 1960s and again during the 1980s/1990s, it remains in existence today. Having moved from transmitting from ships in the sea to towerblocks across UK towns and cities, in 2009 the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom estimated more than 150 pirate radio stations were still operating.
Carrier current transmission, originally called wired wireless, employs guided low-power radio-frequency signals, which are transmitted along electrical conductors. The transmissions are picked up by receivers that are either connected to the conductors, or a short distance from them. Carrier current transmission is used to send audio and telemetry to selected locations, and also for low-power broadcasting that covers a small geographical area, such as a college campus. The most common form of carrier current uses longwave or medium wave AM radio signals that are sent through existing electrical wiring, although other conductors can be used, such as telephone lines.
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capable of higher fidelity—that is, more accurate reproduction of the original program sound—than other broadcasting technologies, such as AM broadcasting. It is also less susceptible to common forms of interference, reducing static and popping sounds often heard on AM. Therefore, FM is used for most broadcasts of music or general audio. FM radio stations use the very high frequency range of radio frequencies.
The Prometheus Radio Project is a non-profit advocacy and community organizing group with a mission to resist corporate media consolidation and radio homogenization in the United States. Founded in 1998 by a small group of radio activists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Prometheus has participated in the community radio movement by providing technical training, helping marginalized communities gain access to affordable media outlets, and creating a network of low power community radio stations. A lot of Prometheus' efforts have focused on legal advocacy for low-power FM (LPFM) stations.
WPSU-TV, virtual channel 3, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States and serving West-Central Pennsylvania. Licensed to the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees as a part of Penn State Public Media, it is sister to National Public Radio (NPR) member station WPSU and student radio station WKPS. The three stations share studios at Innovation Park on Penn State's University Park campus in State College. WPSU-TV's primary transmitter is located seven miles (11 km) north of Clearfield in Lawrence Township, with a secondary transmitter in Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania.
A pirate television station is a broadcast television station that operates without a broadcast license. Like its counterpart pirate radio, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting that is unwelcome by the licensing authorities within the territory where its signals are received, especially when the country of transmission is the same as the country of reception. When the area of transmission is not a country, or when it is a country and the transmissions are not illegal, those same broadcast signals may be deemed illegal in the country of reception. Pirate television stations may also be known as "bootleg TV", or confused with licensed low-power broadcasting (LPTV) or amateur television (ATV) services.
A personal FM transmitter is a low-power FM radio transmitter that broadcasts a signal from a portable audio device to a standard FM radio. Most of these transmitters plug into the device's headphone jack and then broadcast the signal over an FM broadcast band frequency, so that it can be picked up by any nearby radio. This allows portable audio devices to make use of the louder or better sound quality of a home audio system or car stereo without requiring a wired connection. They are often used in cars but may also be in fixed locations such as broadcasting from a computer sound card throughout a building.
WMXP-LP is a low-powered FM community radio station located in Greenville, South Carolina. The station broadcasts on 95.5 FM with an ERP of 100 watts.
KJIB-LP, VHF analog channel 6, was a low-powered television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States. The station was owned by Roy Henderson. The station has minimal video modulation, with an offset of its audio modulation to 87.89 MHz. This allows individuals to listen to the TV channel at the lower end of the FM radio dial.
Pirate Cat Radio was a low power community radio station that had been broadcasting since April 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The station was one of many unlicensed radio stations operating in the San Francisco Bay Area.
W2XMN was an experimental FM radio station located in Alpine, New Jersey. It was constructed beginning in 1936 by Edwin Howard Armstrong in order to promote his invention of wide-band FM broadcasting. W2XMN was the first FM station to begin regular operations, and was used to introduce FM broadcasting to the general public in the New York City area. The station, in addition to being a testing site for transmitter and receiver development, was used for propagation studies and as an over-the-air relay station for distributing network programming to other FM stations in the region.
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