Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Stephen Dunifer, Ramzy Baroud, Janine Bandcroft Dec. 17, 2012

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook

The modern media age began with radio. In the United States, it was determined, the airwaves belonged to the people and those wanting to access the people's resource must conform to certain standards; namely: "serving the public interest, convenience, and necessity."

This was the first edict of the 1927 Radio Act, proscribing access and defining content suitable for the new medium. It was followed by myriad more orders, demands, and regulations that would create, in less than a century, a media environment almost entirely bereft of its cardinal command: serving the public interest."

Stephen Dunifer is the founder of Free Radio Berkeley of Berkeley, California. Stephen and Free Radio have, over nearly twenty years, fought to bring the public back to the airwaves.

Listen. Hear.

It's a fight waged on varying levels, and in differing venues; a slightly lop-sided battle, with community volunteers, tech. geeks, and anarchists struggling to provide; "...community news, discussions and interviews, information, a wide range of music, and more..." facing the FCC and deep-pocketed corporate concerns. Forced from the air, Free Radio Berkeley nonetheless, created an example and fostered a; "... movement to liberate the airwaves and break the corporate broadcast media's stranglehold on the free flow of news, information, ideas, cultural and artistic creativity." 

Stephen Dunifer in the first half.

And; last month, Palestine was granted "nonvoting observer non-member state" status in the United Nations General Assembly. (This not weeks following yet another unprovoked Israeli military assault against the cities, towns, and overall infrastructure of Gaza, an assault that at the latest count includes at least 172 killed, more than a third of those being children). The conditional recognition has been hailed as the beginning of a new era for Palestine and Palestinians; but is it?

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of the PalestineChronicle.com, whose book titles include: 'Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion,' 'The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle,' and his latest, 'My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.'

Ramzy Baroud and Palestine's New Status: A History Rerun or a New Palestinian Strategy in the second half.

And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the good things going on on our city's streets and beyond. But first, Stephen Dunifer on freeing radio, and the FCC's Low Power Deception.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.