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They’re the Davids fighting for a voice in the Goliath world of mass corporate communications. 

They are the outlaw voices of microbroadcasters, whose low-watt stations sometimes can be heard within a housing project or within a neighborhood.  

DJ Captain Fred is among these broadcasters. He can be heard on Berkeley’s Liberation Radio at 104.1-FM from Berkeley to Richmond. 

Stephen Dunifer is another of those local microbroadcast advocates, who broadcast on Free Radio Berkeley before it went off the air and was replaced by Liberation Radio. He has traveled around the country and to various corners of the globe, planting transmitters to promote the spread of people-to-people communication. 

Dunifer, who lives in Berkeley, says microbroadcasters are under siege. They do not have license to broadcast from the Federal Communications Commission. They operate illegally, sometimes threatened by the FCC, as Berkeley’s Liberation Radio was in September, or actually shut down as some stations have been. 

To make their point, microbroadcasters are gearing up for a fight against the Goliath in broadcasting – the National Association of Broadcasters. They are targeting the 75-year-old organization, meeting in San Francisco in September, because of its opposition to the liberalizing of FCC rules for low-powered radio. 

People from across the country are meeting today at 10 a.m. the Unitarian Fellowship at Cedar and Bonita for what Dunifer describes as a “war council.” 

“The NAB is not welcome. This whole corporate takeover of everything, including the airwaves, is not acceptable,” he said. The corporate broadcasters present one view and narrow the spectrum and diversity of ideas on the airwaves. 

Those meeting today will plan demonstrations at various NAB events. And when the NAB holds its award ceremony, the microbroadcasters will honor one of their own. Dunifer pointed to conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh as a one-time recipient of the NAB’s Guglielmo Marconi award. 

The NAB was among those lobbying the Federal Communications Commission against expanding micropower broadcasting. 

The FCC recently decided to open up some frequencies to micropower broadcasters. Dunifer called the FCC move a “step in the right direction.” 

Still, there are few frequencies available in urban areas, he said. “It’s just a few crumbs off the table.” 

And the FCC is insisting on a broad separation of frequencies. 

“It’s too conservative,” he said, arguing that, with new technology, stations can broadcast in close frequencies without interfering with one another. 

In addition to their focus on preparing for the NAB meeting, the microbroadcasters will be talking about how to get more new stations on the air, Dunifer said. They want to put stations on the AM band and on TV as well, he said. 

There is no way to know how many microbroadcasters are operating around the country, he said. “I know there are at least four or five in San Jose.” 

Liberation Radio in Berkeley broadcasts at 40 watts, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The programming goes from political analysis to issue of race, to music and bicycle liberation. 

DJ Captain Fred says he’ll be among those at the NAB demonstrations. “We want to give them the welcome that they so richly deserve,” he said. 

Liberation Radio includes programming by the Bicycle Civil Liberties Union, shows that analyze politics, discuss race and play music. 

“The programming is diverse. It’s free speech,” he said, arguing that the NAB is standing in the way of free speech. “We want to have access to the airwaves too.” 

The Daily Planet was unable to reach the National Association of Broadcasters for comment. Comments on micropower broadcasting on NAB’s web site are restricted to its members. 

On its web site, www.NAB.org, the corporation defines itself in the following way: 

“For 75 years, the National Association of Broadcasters has represented the radio and television industries in Washington - before Congress, the FCC and federal agencies, the courts, and on the expanding international front. NAB provides leadership and its vast resources to our supporting members, to broadcasters at-large, and through ongoing public service campaigns to the American people. 

“Our priority is simple: to maintain a favorable governmental, legal and technological climate for the constantly evolving and dynamic business of free over-the-air broadcasting.”