Low-Power Radio Stations Popping Up Despite Static Microstations Say They Are Cheaper, Licensed Competitors Say No Fair

Republic Community Radio is one of a growing number of low-power, unlicensed stations popping up in rural Eastern Washington and across the country.

Its success inspired Lawrence “Grizz” Ries to launch a 10-watt station from Curlew, about 15 miles north of Republic. The transmitter of what Ries calls KGRZ sits on the workbench of his electronics repair shop.

A drummer in a rock band, Ries plays mostly rock and blues. However, he takes requests as well as a few paid advertisements to supplement the community service announcements he scrounges from the post office bulletin board.

Ries’ programming is more sporadic than Republic Community Radio’s around-the-clock coverage, but KGRZ has the advantage of being in stereo.

Other micro stations have popped up in the past few months in Kettle Falls and Moses Lake.

The granddaddy of unlicensed micros in this region is Paul Christensen’s North Valley Radio at Oroville, near the Canadian border in Okanogan County. North Valley went on the air in November 1994 and now has a repeater at Tonasket, 20 miles south of Oroville.

Christensen, a 43-year-old entrepreneur, said he usually has four full-time workers and three or four part-timers. Some are paid and some are volunteers.

Christensen said he can sell commercials for half the price of his big-league competitors, and expects to turn his first profit this summer.

That’s not fair, according to John Andrist, co-owner and general manager of KOMW-AM/FM in Omak, which serves Oroville, Tonasket and Republic among other areas in Okanogan and Ferry counties. Conventional stations like his spend thousands of dollars to obtain the licenses microcasters ignore.

Getting a license takes “a minimum of two to three years and $50,000 of hard cash,” Andrist said.

He blames the Federal Communications Commission for failing to level the field by enforcing its regulations on all broadcasters.

“It’s a question that needs to be settled on a larger scale rather than pitting two local organizations against each other,” Andrist said.

Dennis Anderson, acting regional director for the FCC, reported last month that he inspected Christensen’s “pirate” operation and found he is “causing documented harm” to licensed broadcasters. The case was sent to the agency’s Compliance Division, Anderson stated.

A pending case in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., has paralyzed FCC efforts to crack down on unlicensed micro stations.

Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in January 1995 that the FCC can’t shut down unlicensed Free Radio Berkeley while a complaint against the station is pending trial.

Wilken said the FCC failed to overcome the station’s argument that the agency’s ban on FM broadcasts of less than 100 watts violates First Amendment rights to free speech.

However, Wilken has not ruled on a subsequent FCC argument that its case is now so strong that no trial is needed.

, DataTimes