Free Radio Santa Cruz is our local pirate radio station, operating without a license since 1995 in protest of corporate control of public radio airwaves. It plays programing 24/7/365 with a gamut of varied programming, from your standard music to Democracy Now! to radical talk shows and more. Some of the programming is even in Spanish.

Something refreshing about this radio station is that there are none of the "glossy" sounding, obnoxious ads that you hear on commercial radio stations. You will never be listening to some sweet song, grooving along to the beat and then suddenly be lambasted with "OOONE DAY ONLY! EXTREME BLOWOUT EXTRAVAGANZA AT THE SUPERCORPORATE AUTOMALL!" However, you may hear other impassioned speech and harsh criticisms of the status quo.

Free Radio Santa Cruz was raided by the militant branch of the Federal Communications Commission on September 29th, 2004, armed with assault rifles. All of the operating equipment was seized, with a total value of between $5,000 and $10,000. However, within 48 hours the station was already back to streaming online, and the radio station has made quite a good recovery, in partial thanks the the outpouring of the Santa Cruz community. For more on this event, visit the Democracy Now! article

FRSC used to broadcast on the frequency 96.3 fm, but changed to 101.1 fm after the FCC raid. When broadcasting on 96.3 fm, a Christian radio station was also using the same frequency, and often the two stations would crackle back and forth, often resulting in humorous commentary.  Currently they broadcast on 101.3 FM.

DJs are required to pay monthly dues ($15-$25) and submit a demo tape and show application.

Links

• To read about FRSC duking it out, radio style, over the airwaves with a local Christian radio station, see the Sentinel Article

Related Pages

• Local Media