Katrina Aftermath Radio Project: Denied

The Katrina Aftermath Radio Project was working to obtain permission to run a low-power FM broadcast radio station in the Houston Astrodome complex.  They obtained three special FCC licenses, and after days of bureaucratic red-tape, clearance from county officials, FEMA, and others.  They even dealt with (racist) concerns expressed by some officials about "incendiary gangster rap" and "people fighting over the radios."  The project had more than 10,000 radios ready to go, along with all of the necessary broadcasting equipment.

But...

KAMP has been denied access to the Astrodome due to an official's refusal to provide electricity to the station. This dictate was handed down by RW Royal, Jr., Incident Commander of the JIC (Joint Information Committee). Our offers to run the station from battery power were declined.

According to an interview on Flashpoints today, Tish Stringer, who helped establish the project was told:  “the only people who can overturn this decision would be the head of Homeland Security or the President himself.”

Here's a sense of the kind of incendiary information that this radio project would have provided:  How do I register my child for school?  Where can I access free immunizations necessary for school registration? Where are the job fairs?  When is food coming?  How can I communicate to my lost mother, father, cousin, sister, brother, lover?

Very, very, dangerous indeed.

Note that military recruiters have already descended and scheduled job fairs in the Astrodome.  Luckily, there will be no pesky independent media project broadcasting information about alternatives -- that is, unless the president overturns the decision.  Unlikely.