On this penultimate edition of mediageek I take a look back at two segments exploring unlicensed radio. First, we revisit some audio from the Radio Access Democracy conference in 2004, including interviews with participants of a transmitter building workshop. Then we listen to an interview with filmmaker Michael Lahey who produced the documentary Making Waves, which looks at the pirate radio scene in Tucson, AZ.

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The big news this week is that the House finally voted on and passed the Local Community Radio Act of 2009. Now that we’re half-way to the restoration of LPFM I thought we’d take a look back at some of the pressure that caused the FCC to create LPFM in the first place. We revisit two interviews about Radio Free Brattleboro, a Vermont-based unlicensed micropower station that would–at least in spirit–be reincarnated as Brattleboro Community Radio.

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The mediageek radioshow is coming to a close with the end of 2009, so for the last four shows we’ll be listening to some of Paul’s favorite interviews from the last seven years. On today’s program we listen to two different interviews with media pranksters and identity correctors, the Yes Men. First we listen to an interview that first aired on Dec. 24, 2004, after the Yes Men impersonated Dow Chemical spokesmen to take responsibility for the Bhopal disaster, live on the BBC. Then we listen to an interview that aired May 16, 2006 after the Yes Men successfully demonstrated Halliburton’s new Survivaball that helps corporate executives survive the rising tides of climate change.

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This week we discuss the ten-year anniversary of Indymedia and the “Battle in Seattle.” Also, an important announcement about the radioshow.

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At a time when media and information technology continues to become more pervasive, it stands to question whether all this tech actually gives us access to the information we need to live our lives better as individuals and citizens. The Knight Commission was formed to investigate the information needs of communities in a democracy and recently released a report that assesses the types of information needed and makes recommendations for meeting those needs. Already the report has garnered attention from both government agencies like the FCC, industry and citizens groups. Charlie Firestone, Aspen Institute Executive Director of the Communications and Society Program and Knight Commission Project, joins to tell us more about the Knight Commission and its findings.

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John Anderson from DIYmedia.net joins us this week to review recent news in digital and pirate radio. First he tells us about a proposed power boost for HD Radio that would increase interference on the FM dial. Then we discuss the recent voluntary shutdown of San Francisco’s Pirate Cat radio in response to an FCC threat.

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John Anderson from DIYmedia.net joins us this week to review recent news in digital and pirate radio. First he tells us about a proposed power boost for HD Radio that would increase interference on the FM dial. Then we discuss the recent voluntary shutdown of San Francisco’s Pirate Cat radio in response to an FCC threat.

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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is showing no trepidation about jumping in to Network Neutrality, a subject that he advised President Obama on prior to the election. The Commission recently approved a proceeding to create new rules enshrining principles of internet freedom into policy. On this week’s show we discuss the proposed rules and their possible impact.

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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is showing no trepidation about jumping in to Network Neutrality, a subject that he advised President Obama on prior to the election. The Commission recently approved a proceeding to create new rules enshrining principles of internet freedom into policy. On this week’s show we discuss the proposed rules and their possible impact.

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