Fall '99
 wireless |
Digital Self-defense
By Kathy Kennedy
This
is the abridged story of an independent radio station in the former Yugoslavia.
After being banned by its government, a worldwide campaign ensued to reestablish the station as well as to create the widest possible awareness of the endangerment of freedom of speech. From local radio to internationally maintained websites, each of these resources holds a wealth of information
for alternative radio and net radio enthusiasts, and reaffirms the power of independent voices. The first time I heard about B92 was through the
x-change mailing list.*
*The x-change list is the penultimate resource of all things audio on the net. They are a facet of the x-change network, a website that links to some of the foremost alternative netradio stations. The network was awarded
an Ars Electronica prize in 1997.
On March 24th 1999, just four hours after the Secretary General of NATO issued the order to attack the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Radio B92's transmissions were banned and essential transmission equipment was confiscated. All staff were ordered to cease work and vacate the radio station immediately. B92 is the leading independent broadcaster in Yugoslavia, and established the national re-broadcasting network of 35 radio and 18 television stations (ANEM) in 1996.
Within days a coalition had been established to ensure the distribution of information relating to the situation in Yugoslavia. This group based in Amsterdam, called Help B92 (http://helpb92.xs4all.nl), organized an international donations campaign. They publicised the account number for foreign
funds to be directly deposited, sent out press releases urging as many
people as possible to make links to their site, and developed a news archive with the most up-to-date information available. They were also responsible for launching Free B92 (http://www.freeb92.org), a website edited
and published by the B92 team of journalists and associates, working from various parts of the world, with more than 15 million visitors to date. Local radio
stations across Europe then began re-broadcasting the B92 audio signal from the Internet.
Free B92 also continues to work on projects to support journalists and media in various kinds of jeopardy. The first of these projects was launched by AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, on
May 3, World Press Freedom Day. It is an international campaign of solidarity
with Radio B92 and fifty other independent broadcasters from the Association
of Independent Electronic Media -ANEM.
The main focus of the launch is to
match fellow broadcasters, radio and TV stations, freedom of expression
organisations and activists from around the world with journalists and other
staff from independent media in the region.
Another project of Free B92 is called NetAid, a series of day-long cybernational net events that call upon independent dj's, musicians, and sound artists from across the globe. The fourth edition of NetAid is a special
24-hour net-radio event, dedicated to two radio stations situated on the
opposite sides of the globe, B92, and KPFA radio in Berkeley, California
(http://www.savepacifica.org).
Although it is not blockaded by government officials, The KPFA has been
recently discussing a national, delocalised system of operation--a move that
would be detrimental to the nature of community radio. Free B92 now
publishes news and music from Radio B2-92, a continuation of the real Radio B92
team since July. It is broadcast on 99.1 MHz FM, the third frequency of Belgrade's Studio B Radio, and is a project of the former employees of Radio B92 as part of the campaign to return the station to its rightful owners. Help B92 no longer exists since their work has been accomplished but an archive of their history is still online (http://helpb92.xs4all.nl).
Had the oppressive powers foreseen all these constructive actions, these new relationships, this raised consciousness, they would probably have reconsidered their initial tactics!
