From news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!fuug!mcsun!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!bgirard Mon Dec 7 10:01:47 EET 1992 Article: 1322 of rec.radio.noncomm Newsgroups: rec.radio.noncomm Path: news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!fuug!mcsun!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!bgirard From: bgirard@selkirk.sfu.ca (Bruce Girard) Subject: Hungarian Free Radio Message-ID: Keywords: Radio, broadcasting, pirate radio Sender: news@sfu.ca Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1992 03:15:42 GMT Lines: 73 This article i from the democratic Communique, the newsletter of the Union for Democratic Communication (UDC). wing is from the Democratic Communique, the newsletter of the Union for Democratic Communications (UDC). Contact the UDC at: Dept of Communications 585 Manoogian Hall Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 USA /* ---------- "democratic communique" ---------- */ Hungarian Free Radio: This statement was drafted by Guy Lazar (Szabadsag ut. 125, H-2040 Budaors, Hungary), the European Federation of Community Radios' Hungarian representative, and translated by Gyorgy Peter: "On 23 May 1992, Radio Fix, Radio Subjektiv and Tilos Radio founded the Hungarian branch of FERL named the "Hungarian Free Radio Association. We call on existing and future radios to join us in making the most creative forum for cooperation and self-protection. "Free radios think that without freedom of public communication, there is no freedom of speech. Free public communication can exist only if public broadcasting free from government intervention and commercial radios are allowed to exist. These conditions are necessary but are not sufficient, because public radio serves the interests of the majority even when addressing minorities, and commercial radio serves only the majority. This is why free public communication will only exist in Hungary if ethnic, religious, sexual minorities, and others living and thinking another way, are able to speak to their own kind and to others. For that they need radios whose principles are nonprofit and not serving any political party or corporation. "Free radios want regulations that do not force them to abandon these principles. They do not want regulations requiring them to meet technical standards or which put a controlling committee on their necks. But at the same time they want moral and financial support to allow them to compete with public and commercial stations." HFRA's founding received lengthy coverage on Hungarian TV's 2nd channel, which showed Tilos' hidden studio, plus a visiting Dutch broadcaster, "These people have no money, they have no power. They aren't McDonalds. They're just ordinary people - [looks hard into the camera] - like YOU!" Radio Subjektiv, run by students at the university in Pecs (southern Hungary), transmits for an hour per day, and argues that the station is legal because the government moratorium on granting frequencies (which has for 2 years) is illegal. Radio Fix has only been on the air once - in March - with a talk about abortion and why the broadcasting law now before parliament is no good. Tilos is Hungarian for "forbidden," and transmits 4 hours a day, three days a week, from changing locations in Budapest. When they are on, they have a network of "spotters" who watch for the radio investigation agency's monitoring van and alert the station to shut down before it can locate the transmitter. They are committed to underground/alternative culture, and are the only unlicensed Hungarian station willing to provide contact information: Tilos Radio, PO Box 150, H-1922 Budapest (fax +36 1 117-5865, answering machine +36 1 135-5770) :