| DzNutts Pirate Radio XXL Magazine Interview |
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," confides Mac Ran propped on the edge of his narrow single bed beneath walls that are plastered with posters of E40, N2Deep, B-Legit, Mac Dre an d other heroes of his. Some nights up to a dozen people crowd into this small room but tonight it's just Mac Ran, Rick D'z and Weev Dog who's currently at the controls. Within a minute of Rick D'z segueing into hometown star E40's album track "Outsmart The PoPo's" the pager/voice mail starts to fill up with enthusiastic feedback. "We get about a hundred messages a night from people telling us they want to hear local rap, not that same ol' Top 40 shit on KMEL," shouted Rick D'z, lifting one ear of his headphones, as he cued up a CD track from Mac Dre; another Vallejo rap legend. "And everyone will tell you that they want to hear the music the way it was recorded, with the curse words." Although D'z Nutts is a low wattage station run by these Vallejo Vets, who also remain current, it has become the talk of the town in Vallejo with locals, who pick up the five to ten mile radius signal, referring to it as "our station" because of its unique and undying loyalty to the thriving local rap scene. "We just did up some fliers and handed them out at school when we first went on the air," said Weev Dogg. "But then word spread fast coz people started calling their friends and telling them to tune in to hear all this Bay Area and Vallejo rap shit. When people call they tell us that they tape all our broadcasts," he said. Even hometown rap stars such as The Click's D-Shot and N2Deep heard about the station and were so impressed that they stopped by the tiny bedroom studio. "Most people don't even think of us as a pirate radio though," noted Mac Ran. "They just think of us as the Vallejo radio station." Sometimes Mac Ran will wake up on his bed at three in the morning in "the station" to find everyone gone home and the transmitter still on playing a CD on "repeat" mode. Then he turns off the transmitter and the lights and goes back to sleep to be up early for new dank session the next day. THE PIRATE RADIO REVOLUTION
D'z Nutts is just one of approximately 500 to 1000 illegal pirate radio stations currently broadcasting across the US, most of which have sprung up in the past five years. Although pirate radio dates back many years with such stations as Black Liberation Radio, which began broadcasting out of an Illinois housing project in 1987, the current proliferation of stations began in 1993 when Stephen Dunifer, a 46 year old political activist and radio engineer by profession, began his original transmissions of Free Radio Berkeley. At this stage Dunifer would hike into the Berkeley hills once a week and broadcast his station on a tiny transmitter with a battery and a tape deck all stuffed into his backpack. By 1995 Free Radio Berkeley had become a fully fledged 24/7 radio station operating out of a fixed [secret] location with a staff of 40 volunteers programming everything from punk rock and hip hop music shows to bicycle traffic updates and "Cop Watch" reports. In the past three years Dunifer has become the chief spokesperson and leader of the ever escalating pirate radio revolution due to both his outspoken support of micro-powered radio stations [he gives classes on how to assemble the inexpensive pirate radio kits that he sells] and for his much publicized fight with the FCC [Federal Communications Commission]. This heated ongoing battle with the government agency has included him being slapped with a $20,000 fine [later reduced to $10,000] and being dragged through the courts to [unsuccessfully] make him cease broadcasting. On January 20th, 1995 Dunifer's lawyer, with help from members of the National Lawyers Guild's Committee on Democratic Communications, beat the FCC in federal court. These attorneys fought the FCC on the grounds that the FCC regulations, which preclude unlicensed stations under 100 watts of power from broadcasting, are unconstitutional. On two separate occasions US District Judge Claudia Wilken refused to issue injunctions that would force Dunifer's station off the air; most recently on November 12th, 1997. The resulting stalemate of this legal action has opened the floodgates to hundreds of more pirate radio stations popping up across the country, many of them built with do-it-yourself micro-powered radio kits purchased via the Internet from Dunifer himself or fellow pirate revolutionary L.D. Brewer in Florida. (see "how to" box below for details).
THE FCC & THE FUTURE OF PIRATE RADIO
The FCC's recently appointed new chairman William Kennard cites aviation interference as one of the major problems with pirate radio broadcasts. However Kennard, the Commission's first black chairman, does appear to be sensitive to minority ownership. "I am distressed because as a result of this consolidation there are fewer opportunities for new entrants to get into this industry, small businesses and minorities in particular," he said. However Dunifer isn't buying. "When he talks about minority broadcasting I don't think he's talking about radio in the hood but rather capitalists of color. And there's a huge difference between that type of broadcasting and a black or Latino cultural community radio station," he said. Boots is also skeptical of the Government's idea of "minority" radio. "No one can give you your liberation. You have to fight for it yourself and pirate radio is the perfect way to do it," he said. A few months ago Vallejo's D'z Nutts got paid a visit by the FCC. "I looked out the window and saw it was the FCC so I didn't answer the door. I know my rights," said Mac Ran. The two FCC agents left after posting a warning on the front door, telling the pirates to immediately cease broadcasting or they'd be fined since their signal, based on a complaint from the Federal Aviation Administration, was interfering with the nearby Napa airport. Initially a little shaken Mac Ran took the station off the air for a few weeks, during which time he redirected the station's antenna. "Now we only broadcast occasionally, at least until we find a new location," said the teen pirate.
THE AUTHOR'S PIRATE RADIO HISTORY
Billy Jam, who has worked at over a dozen radio stations (commercial, college, and community) since 1984, received his first warning for playing curses in 1990 when the management at KALX Berekely suspended him for playing an unedited version of Ice Cube's "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted." Two years later, after taking his show Hip Hop Slam across town to radio station KUSF, San Francisco he also got suspended [twice] for broadcasting curse words. In late 1994, after playing a pre-release copy of Public Enemy's album Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age in its original uncensored form, it was "three strikes and you're out" time for Jam. Within a week of getting kicked off KUSF he learnt of Stephen Dunifer who was still in the formative days of broadcasting his micro powered station out of the Berkeley hills. With Free Radio Berkeley's "no censorship" policy the station offered the perfect new home for Hip Hop Slam. Since '94, Hip Hop Slam has been broadcast on Free Radio Berkeley and various other US pirate radio stations including Free Radio Seattle and New York City's Steal This Radio. "Hip hop music should be played the way it was recorded. A 'Radio Version' of a rap song is no different than say putting masking tape over a Van Gough painting. It distorts the art form and its wrong," commented Jam. 10 years ago Vallejo CA's D'z Nutts got paid a visit by the FCC. "I looked out the window and saw it was the FCC so I didn't answer the door. I know my rights," said Mac Ran. The two FCC agents left after posting a warning on the front door, telling the pirates to immediately cease broadcasting or they'd be fined since their signal, based on a complaint from the Federal Aviation Administration, was interfering with the nearby Napa airport. Initially a little shaken Mac Ran took the station off the air for a few weeks, during which time he redirected the station's antenna. "Now we only broadcast occasionally, at least until we find a new location," said the former teen pirate.
By BillyJam Images by Michael Sexton |
