Radio Free – Taiwan
DBT International
(A Fantasy)
There is a
long history of DBT shortwave broadcast from Asia. DBT first came to Asia in
1979. It was out of necessity when their station was shut down in New York by
the FCC. In 1978, one of their broadcasters was accused of having sex over the
airwaves. The FCC shut them down for public obscenity. It was at that time that
DBT concentrated on their signal in San Francisco. It was also
They
don’t just play the music that other Radio stations play.
They play
interesting stuff you hear on non commercial stations . There are none. Radio
Free is a listener reported station. There are no government funds that find
their way to this station. And there are no commercials. All their funding
comes from membership dollars and donations.
Radio free
came to Asia is 1979 when they were thrown out of New York, taken off the air
by the Federal Communication Commission. They went to to Hong Kong in the years
before the Chinese take-over, and established a real rock and roll station
there.
WDBT became
radio free Taiwan in October 2013 because the FCC was on the verge of
terminating the DBT license in New York City. In 1979,WDBT had two ships; one
on the east coast and one on the west coast. They were prepared to transmit
great rock n’ roll to America. It wasn’t easy.
`Originally they
were in Hong Kong. For five years, from 1984 to 1989, DBT International was in
Hong Kong, broadcasting locally on FM and internationally on shortwave radio. In
1991, the Chinese government told them to get out.
So here they
are in 2013. Radio Free Asia needs money to continue to broadcast to you.
Radio Free
International broadcasts eight hours of rock n’ roll to Asia every day. Yes,
every day, at 6am, 12 noon, 6pm and 12 midnight. 8 hours of great rock and
roll.
At 8 am, it is time for Jenney Huang with
light rock and folk rock.
At
12:00 noon, it is time for Stephen Block’s progressive rock. At 6pm, it is time
for Robert Goldbetter’s Modern Rock show. At midnight, David Emerson is here
for you with his eclectic mix.
If
that is not enough for you, there is the weekend to consider. Saturday morning,
Arthur Alexander has Pre-Elvis Rock; every rock that came before Elvis in 1954.
On Sunday, Joey Brown has R & B & Rock & Roll 6am, that’s 1100
hours GMT. At noon on Saturday, Jimmy Kanakas has “Spotlight on…” and on Sunday
Christopher Drieu has his “Top 40 Countdown.” But it’s not any old countdown.
Let me explain.
Radio
Free needs your money.
It
takes a lot of money to run an international radio station.
“This is D-B-T International. Radio Free- Taiwan.”
“If you are within the sound of my
voice, it means you clicked on the icon to re-broadcast the last musical
shortwave transmission from DBT International. Before we begin, let me remind
you that Radio Free International is a commercial free listener-sponsored radio
station. We take no money from any government, and company donations are
limited to $10,000us. We are not beholden to any sponsor. To become a member of
Radio Free, a suggested membership fee of $75us is all it takes. What you get
for $75 dollars is amazing: seven hours of CD or MP3 downloads of your favorite
programs, seven yearly song dedications, and a monthly subscription of our
famous Folio Magazine with articles about the music we play and the views we
promote. Call us at 1-800-WDBT986 or go on line and pay by Visa, Master Charge,
or Discover; we don’t take American Express or PayPal.”
In
Asia, Radio Free broadcasts musical programs on shortwave and streamed on the
internet from 6 to 8am (folk rock, folk, new age) 12 noon to 2pm (art rock, psychedelic,
and progressive) 6 to 8pm (Modern Rock) and 12 midnight to 2am (Blues, Class
Rock.) All times are Taiwan/Hong Kong time.
In
Europe, it’s the same thing, Greenwich Mean Time. Their shortwave antenna
located near Stockholm, Sweden, reaches listeners in the Middle East and
Africa, too. In America, out of Odessa, Texas, Radio Free America reaches North
America, Central America, The Caribbean islands and South America, too.
But
Radio Free International isn’t just about music. They are the sole providers of
UPS News, that’s Underground Press Syndicalism news.
UPS
News, which originated in the 60’s in such underground newspapers as The East
Village Other, Rat Magazine, and Black Panther, became the spoken word
producers of DBT programming. Nowadays, it produces two one-hour news programs
for American FM affiliates WDBT in New York and KDBT in San Francisco.
Internationally, the news broadcasts are a half hour long.
There are two types of news UPS News broadcasts;
reports and what they call “shadow news.” In “shadow news,” they take a
corporate news report and read between the lines to explain to listeners how
corporations twist the truth and add propaganda with loaded presumptuous
wording that they expect listeners to believe verbatim.
In
addition to news reports, UPS News produces an “activist hotline” of
demonstrations and protests its listeners are advised to join. They also
produce “The Drug Report” which discusses prices, quality, and availability of psychedelic
and mind-expanding drugs such as marihuana and peyote. Furthermore, there are
daily reports about Asia (Sketches of China) the Middle East (Farewell Israel)
the former Soviet Republics (Mother Russia) and general progressive news about
Latin America, Africa, and Europe (Indy-media Report, Radical Guardian) and
workers international news (Industrial Worker Report, Workers World Report.)
“ “You
are tuned to the world of rock and roll and revolution. This is Radio Free
International, DBT, Taiwan.”
The
ironic thing about Radio Free International is that although its Asian signal emanates
from Taichung, Taiwan and its European, Middle Eastern, and African signal emanates
from Stockholm, Sweden, unless one listens to a steam of the programming on its
website, they cannot hear Radio Free in those two countries. The shortwave
signal skips over nearby areas and both Sweden and Taiwan will not allow Radio
Free to have local AM/FM stations!
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