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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1981)
eatures THE BATTALION PagellA FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1981 illegal stations take over ranee s radio airways r United Press International £ r \ I P 'iRIS— In a grubby basement yllRhe Left Bank an ex-student playing rock records and in- ewing an African immigrant er on one of Paris’s 60 new stations, Radio-Tomate ato). |.cross the city in an elegant a middle-aged intellectual s may tal#dly rattled off Sunday prog- ctions, on his new station, Radio- ropole: “programs for all reli- and for atheists, too.” I'ranee has exploded with pri- ly owned radio stations, in a |ntially revolutionary social ge. They’re all illegal, tem- rily. [Until now the French have ivn only radio and television ed and tightly operated by the n tliert^ rnmen t- Before socialist I lident Francois Mitterrand ras elected May 10, France had i. 11 : ir radio stations operating “ er the umbrella of Radio °' ( Cr Ice, three stations partly own- ll " 1 ' by France in neighboring coun- iaisn ' es, and a couple of illegal “pi- ;o Ialk e" stations regularly raided by c0 ! l | tr f i tpolice. mcklyti !f itterranc ] promised if he were or Day irt fond on school mg otli i includir 1 kadiwl m expel ’’ederatk igtostriy sftnj U hows li ladelphij East Si onsockel nted set [ted he would allow “radio . 2” —free radio. As soon as he re ma;» rac jj 0 revolution burst \ affiliate 1 y now, 300 private radio sta- s across France stumble over scars L> ano ther in happy confusion on FM band. Jean Ducarrior, Id of the new National Federa- of Free Radio Stations, pre- |s 400 shortly. |here’s Radio-Nana (run by and ollstrifc [women), Radio-Diva (claiming audience of immigrants and ex- ig addicts), Radio-Cocktail (for lents), Radio-Decibel (with a ■ of one person), Radio-Paris dalizing in news written by 17 nalists), Radio-J (Jewish lie, literature and cuisine), [quence Montmartre (a neigh borhood radio giving public ser vice news). There are stations for homosex uals, children and ethnic minor ities such as Basques and Bretons. These 300 exuberant radio sta tions are quite illegal. But the police tolerate “free radios” while waiting for the government to put a new radioTV law before the par liament in October. The com munications ministry has announced temporary rules: only stations under 100 watts power to cover just one city, no advertising until the government decides ab out that, and no networks. The government, however, still jams many stations — “usually by day but not nights when the jam mers don’t work,” said Bertrand Figuier, 25, lanky in jeans and cowboy boots. Radio-Tomate is named for its leftist commentaries. Figuier, an unemployed messenger boy who started the station, explained “tomatoes are what you throw at people.” To counter left-wing political talk, opposing right-wing political parties started Radio-Alpha. The 30 organizers of Radio- Tomate chipped in 7,000 francs ($1,272) for a transmitter and 10,000 francs ($1,818) for other ex penses. As at the other private radios, not one employee of the 24-hour station earns any money, most of them living on unemploy ment insurance. In case advertising never is allowed, Radio-Tomate has its plan for economic survival. “We are building a community center in our studios with a bar and restaurant that should pay for the station in the basement,” Figuier said. In the “studios” — an aban doned engraving plant — a mid dle-aged woman painting toma toes on the walls said, “I’m unem ployed and I live nearby so I came over to help.” In the basement a student disc jockey put on records while two black kittens romped on the floor next to a sign, “Listeners have complained about noise in the studio so please keep out.” “We’re all unemployed, some formerly on drugs, some out of prison,” said Figuier. “For seven years under Discard (ex-President Valery Discard d’Estaing) we had no freedom to communicate. We want to live a new way now. ” Radio-Tomate’s programs con sist of records and interviews with anybody who happens to wander in. Since the French love to talk, this takes up a lot of air time. Free Radio Federation Dire ctor Ducarroir said he urged the communications ministry to allow institutional advertising, dignified and mentioning no prices. But regional newspapers com plained they will fold if they lose advertisers. Ducarroir said the' only chance for private radio could be contributions from listeners, deductible from income taxes. “If advertising is outlawed, the only private radio would be that financed by political parties and local governments, no longer real ly free,” he said. So far the only person to reap money from the radio revolution is Toni Arno, who opened a business selling Italian radio transmitters in Paris. Italy long has had private as well as state radio, as in other European countries. “After the May 10 election it was wild,” he said. “The morning of May 111 was bombarded with phone calls. I sell seven or eight transmitters a week. Everybody but the archbishop of Paris has called. “It’s all over now for the big national state radio. Now the en tire world will enter into the vil lages.” Sports reporter smokes tax ‘rings’ around IRS an, wife erve fans execii' Il6 Ili' United Press International . tc J m \ALBAm, N.Y. — William and dy Spehce don’t consider 1/ tail mselves music magnates. After 2 gffjl |hey work out of a garage. ! 1 p there it is, in the Albany her III jjrl) of Guilderland — Front u t nor . 11 Enterprises, an offbeat in ly that has produced 25 re- Ollt I®albums and serves over 4,000 d W music fans across the nation. Since starting their business in |early 1970s, the husband and Iteam have turned their love : traditional American music folklore into a source of Amer- 1 respected by folk music ex- record folk music, from studio-garage arantedl ss inter' Tiprou:P tin g in her garage-office, sur- j es . nded by a clutter of old maga- Es, string instruments and rare ordings, Mrs. Spence explains ivas her husband’s hobby with flitional music that got them irted. He began playing the ham- red dulcimer, an oblong string lument that produces melan- ily tones often heard in Irish r music. Vhen the couple moved to the lany area in the late 1960s, they [an the Picking and Singing ihering, a folk music enthu- h’ society, Mrs. Spence said. But that wasn’t enough, and liam Spence, a specialist in the munication Department at the State University at Albany, decided to make a record. In 1973, he set up a studio in their house, and the Spences and a few friends released “The Hammered Dul cimer, with Bill Spence and Fen- nig’s All-Star String Band.” “Well, it just took off,” Mrs. Spence said. “For some reason it got reviewed in Stereo Review, and then a cut was used for (the PBS television show) ‘Drockett’s Victory Darden.’” Orders for the record soared to 25,000 — remarkable for an inde pendently made album — and Front Hall Records was born. “We had no place to put all the darned albums,” Mrs. Spence ex plained, “So we kept them in the front hall of the house. ” The band toured colleges, she said, and “got people dancing again” with their toe-tapping tra- ditionals. The group made two more records — and soon orders for albums and folk music speciali ties came pouring in, Mrs. Spence said. “People had no place to go for this kind of music, or those special instruments,” she said. So, the Spences took the opera tion out of the front hall, moved it into a garage and began a mail order business that now has a 30- page catalog offering rare records, folk magazine back issues and hard to-find traditional dulcimers, flutes, and harps. Now Fennig’s All-Star String Band is back in the studio, making record number four. “The big companies are in it for the money,” Mrs. Spence said. United Press International DALDWELL, Idaho — Sports reporter Bob Hooker’s fascination for statistics has helped him bat at least .500 against state and federal officials over his income taxes. Hooker, 50, spends many weekend mornings slurping coffee and compiling records, schedules and other lists on high school and college athletes. That’s in addition to his regular duties of covering the Idaho Press-Tribune’s sports beat. His remaining spare time is de voted to memorizing court cases dealing with income tax laws. He’s spent many hours in court and hearing rooms fighijng for small tax refunds that tax agencies de cided to contest. Hooker claims he shot down one government argument a few years ago by quoting a dust- ATTENTION PHOTOGRAPHERS: The 1982 Aggieland has openings for staff photog rapher positions. Interested photographers must attend the introductory meeting on Thursday, September 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 014 Reed McDonald Bldg. covered 1927 court ruling on which official lawyers, taken by surprise, weren’t able to find grounds to retaliate. His crowning moment, howev er, was winning a dispute with the Idaho Tax Dommission in which he had claimed a deduction for the fat, green cigars he puffs much of the time. He had obtained a doc tor’s prescription saying the cigars had a medicinal purpose — they kept his weight down. Also in his win column are claims for depreciation on his watch — because he used it to time games he covered — and for the sneakers he wore while pounding the field covering local teams. But he did lose his bid to get a deduction on expenses stemming from his trips to tax offices at Boise for previous audits. The State Tax Dommission and Internal Re venue Service also won several other rounds. “My point is that people don’t take advantage of the gray areas in tax law,” Hooker says. “The IRS and the Tax Dommission take advantage of them.” yv- SHIPMENT JUST ARRIVED!! A New Shipment of Fall Wicker Has Just Arrived and It’s All On Sale! EVERYTHING IN STOCK Want to have over 100 New Friends? Interested in Friendship, Leadership, Service? if so join the guys and girls in Upha Phi Omega"' Service Fraternity H Come to our informal Pledge Rush Tues. Sept. 8 8 p.m. 401 Rudder or Wed. 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