Pirate Cat Radio fundraiser

Here is more information and my reply follows:

"Pirate Cat Radio is holding a fundraiser at Tonic Bar (Polk @ Union). We got fined $10,000 by the man and we need to pay it, stat (read below). So come drink this Thursday at Tonic from 6pm-9pm and leave tips because the tips will go to keeping various PCR members out of jail...

From 6pm-7pm every drink on the menu is 2 for 1. So come early and drink often and tip heavily!

If you’ve been in San Francisco and tuned your radio to 87.9FM, you may have noticed something: silence. Well, not exactly silence but static—the sound of Pirate Cat Radio NOT being broadcasted. And for good reason.

On August 31st, Pirate Cat Radio was fined $10,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for extra-legal broadcasts. The FCC’s order temporarily halted Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming. Pirate Cat Radio has responded to the FCC and is currently challenging this fine.

But the station is operated by volunteers and essentially run as a not-for-profit business. So ten large is hard to come by around here. And that’s why we need your help."

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My reply, based on experience with Free Radio Santa Cruz:

It seems that the biggest mistake Pirate Cat Radio made was to respond to the FCC and challenge the fine. The policy of FRSC has always been to ignore contact made by the FCC. It seems pretty bad to ask the community to fork over 10K to the FCC! After paying 10K, will Pirate Cat Radio come back as a pirate station? Or, will it become a legal station? Or, will it be a web-only station? FRSC has been on the air since 1995 and has not handed any money over to the FCC.

Anyways, good luck.
http://santacruz.indymedia.org/feature/display/11595/index.php