V-Man from Free Radio Santa Cruz interviewed Free Radio San Diego founder Bob Ugly today. There aren’t too many other details about the raid, since nobody was at the station. But it’s interesting to hear Bob’s reaction — he says they were pretty much expecting the raid, though we don’t know if there was any specific knowledge, or if they just figured it was bound to happen.
Bob strikes a defiant, but realistic tone, pledging to put the station back on the air, perhaps with different tactics, figuring that losing $3000 worth of equipment every three years is a low cost of doing business.
He also says that he doesn’t favor a court challenge against the FCC. Though he intends to do some research on the matter, he doesn’t think there has been any real success in challenging the Commission in the courts, especially since you’re taking on the government within its own system.
That seems pretty reasonable to me, though I’d be cautious about how the station goes back on the air. The station volunteers–thus far–have been lucky that none of them have been named as liable for a fine or other legal action. The FCC might take that step on the next go around.
I’ll play excerpts from the interview on tomorrow’s mediageek radioshow, heard at 5:30 on WEFT here in Champaign-Urbana, IL, and afterwards on other stations and online.