Special programming on 95.1 The Voice of the Resistance through Christmas week

It was the most censored video on YouTube from mid November to mid December 2014. Lenny Pozner, alleged father of Noah Pozner, filed a groundless copyright infringement complaint in an attempt to keep the public from seeing it. But they couldn't suppress it forever. And now we have it here. 95.1 FM has been reactivated to air "Let's Talk About Sandy Hook," the documentary soundtrack in its entirety, playing repeatedly though at least Sunday, December 28th. A live stream of the broadcast is also available. Regardless of your views on gun legislation, childhood mental health screening, psychotropic drugs, or the pharmaceutical giants that push them, give it a listen and decide for yourself where the truth lies.

Troubadour 1700 AM and 97.9 FM will begin airing continuous folk and instrumental Christmas music beginning Wednesday morning the 24th.We wish you a peaceful, rewarding holiday season and we look forward to 2015 where my goal will be to bring our micro transmitters to downtown areas in North Central Massachusetts, the Nashoba Valley, and possibly Metro West. Stay tuned. 

Yet another change in the audio streaming URL's

First, an apology to all on line listeners over the fact that the audio streams had been down for weeks before I discovered the problem. That is how busy I have been with other matters! Emails from my host that were sent a month in advance warning of a change in audio streaming servers somehow never made it to my Inbox. Here are the new URL's to bookmark in your favorite computer based player or Wifi radio:

Troubadour 1700:
http://69.80.74.84:7010

Liberty & Justice 1640:
http://69.80.74.84:7012

Personally, I hate URL changes in audio streams. They outdate your streaming bookmarks so fast, that even just a year later, half of them no longer work. But this was a business decision by my host and it is beyond my control. All audio links on the websites should be updated by the time you read this. Our pages on Tune In should also be working again shortly, as well as listening over the phone through Zeno Radio. Our phone numbers for listening remain the same:

Troubadour 1700:
1-786-265-1649

Liberty & Justice 1640:
1-786-265-1650

AM Stereo Experiments had mixed results

After an experimental period of several weeks operating in C-Quam AM Stereo, Troubadour 1700 has gone back to mono operation with the installation of a second new SSTran AMT-5000 transmitter. But in retrospect, I may have been too critical of the ASMAX-1 AM Stereo transmitter I had been using for the experiments. It did sound very good and provided excellent stereo separation and competitive signal range. I had to modify the ASMAX-1's audio input to give it the "SSTRan sound" that has been a trademark of Minimum Wage Media's AM signals. But after the installation of the second new AMT-5000, a few anomalies and artifacts that I had blamed on the ASMAX-1 were still there.

The trickiest part of our AM operation is the fact that we have two transmitting antennas only 12 feet apart in distance and only 60 kHz apart in operating frequency. A major adjustment or tuning on one often effects the efficiency, range, and behavior of the other. Plus, ground conductivity is never the same, especially as the seasons change. So to get both stations at absolute peak antenna tuning and at equal maximum signal output is a difficult challenge. But I am happy to report that we are pretty much there at this point and certainly better than through most of our history. So the current setup will remain as it is through next spring, minus the AM Stereo, unfortunately. During the winter months, I will need to concentrate on the goal of vastly expanding our network of transmitters throughout north central Massachusetts and the Nashoba Valley region with the creation of an Indiegogo fund raiser to help make it happen.

Live Coverage of the People's Climate March in New York City

95.1 FM, the Voice of the Resistance, will be reactivated again this weekend to make WBAI's coverage of the People's Climate March conveniently available on any FM radio in the Shirley Center, North Shirley, and Woods Village neighborhoods. So as to not miss any pre and post-march interviews, we will begin carrying WBAI starting Saturday morning and continue until at least midnight on Monday morning. The actual march is scheduled for 10:30 AM to 1 PM on Sunday.

Special 9/11 Broadcast: The 9/11 Truth Film Festival

We will be reactivating 95.1, The Voice of the Resistance, for this special broadcast, live from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California. The broadcast starts at 4 PM Eastern on 9/11/14 and continues until 2 AM Eastern on 9/12/14. There will be no audio streaming from us. For both on line video and audio, go to the source, No Lies Radio, and make a contribution. If you listen to the Liberty & Justice broadcast on 95.1 FM, and find it rewarding, please also sent us a token $5 for our efforts.

The Choices in this Tuesday's Massachusetts Primary Utterly Suck!

Listen to my on-air commentary.

AM Stereo

Some time between mid August and early September, I will likely be conducting tests in an effort to add C-Quam AM Stereo to Troubadour 1700's signal. If the tests are successful, and the transmitter required provides the same coverage as the SSTran AMT-5000 currently in use, the change will become permanent. Troubadour 1700 would then be the only analog AM Stereo station receivable in Shirley. Also, Liberty & Justice 1640 would get a noticeable boost in its coverage because the AMT-5000 would be swapped over to become its transmitter, replacing a less efficient AMT-3000.

A variety of radios and tuners produced from the late 1980's to the mid 1990's can decode AM Stereo at 1700 kHz, including car radios from the 1988 model year (when inclusion of the AM expanded band became standard) up until about 1993. The high end AM Stereo tuners and receivers of that era had AM audio that was so good it was nearly indistinguishable from FM. Also, some current HD radios have the Motorola chip required to decode C-Quam AM Stereo. So stay tuned for some interesting experimentation.

New Petition Now on Line: Increase Part 15 Power Limits to 1 Watt AM, 10 Watts Shortwave

I am pleased to announce that my new companion petition urging the Media Division of the Federal Communications Commission to increase Part 15 power limits to 1 watt in the AM broadcast band and 10 watts in the shortwave broadcast bands is now available on line for your perusal and digital signature:

https://www.change.org/petitions/william-t-lake-media-division-federal-communications-commission-increase-acceptable-part-15-power-limits-to-1-watt-in
-the-am-band-and-10-watts-in-the-shortwave-broadcast-bands

There was a considerable amount of input from knowledgeable and experienced people that informed the composition of this petition. My hope is that when people discover that the proposal gives them the freedom to put a legal, viable, small signal on the air for as little as $1,000, while remaining license free and out of the grip of the FCC's lottery, filing window, or comparative hearing "death sentences," they will line up in droves to sign it.

If license free LPFM up to 1 watt can work in New Zealand, there is no reason why unlicensed 1 watt LPAM and 10 watt LPSW can't work in the United States at the present time. This, ideally, should become an international movement. The days of having no choice but to become a pirate, with all the risks it brings, need to be brought to a merciful end.

After this petition has garnered the maximum number of signatures I think it is going to get, my plans are to approach one of my U.S. Senators, who while in the House worked on many telecommunications issues. Most likely, he still has a working relationship with decision makers at the FCC. I hope such a strategy can result in some pressure on the agency from another branch of government to take action on these proposals. You never know if such a strategy will be successful until you try.

My new petition to the FCC at Change.org. PLEASE SIGN!

I have spent the last couple of days creating and tweaking a petition to the Federal Communications Commission that urges them to FINALLY CREATE A LOW POWER AM RADIO SERVICE IN THE EXPANDED BAND (1610 - 1700 kHz). I am urging everyone to read and sign this petition which is now on line at the underlined link above.We need a low power radio service where individuals of modest means (not just "community groups") can become small time media entrepreneurs. We need a low power radio service where local independent businesses are supported and alternatives to corporate programming are provided.

Ten years ago, I was part of a working group that was urging the FCC to create such a class of station. But the LPFM movement was in full swing at the time and it was ignored. Had more people read the fine print and discovered how restrictive LPFM is in regards to who can own a station, and the fact that the majority of America's major urban population will likely never get the chance to hear one, the outcome back then may have been different.

What resurrected my interest in the push for LPAM was a development over the past couple of weeks that changed my prospects concerning my long standing proposed Indiegogo fundraiser. I had hoped it could enable me to lease or eventually buy a licensed facility in north central Massachusetts. Out of several stations examined in the proposed fundraiser text, I had always thought that my best chances would be with the two stations in Orange and Athol, 700 AM and 99.9 FM. But two weeks ago... lo and behold... the owner did an about face and decided to locally program the stations, and each with its own separate format.

Obviously, once an owner makes a commitment to locally program a couple of his marginal "repeater" stations, the last thing he is going to do at that point is sell them or lease them to someone else. So, even if I went ahead with my Indiegogo fundraiser, and even reached my goal, the odds of getting a foot in the door is now seriously diminished. So I started thinking about altering the fundraiser in favor of a network of Part 15 AM stations, simular to my current ones, and how I wanted to build "the nation's largest chain of Part 15 AM transmitters." But the problems and limits of such an undertaking quickly set in. (I'll likely do it anyway if no better option comes along.) And that brought me back to the LPAM effort of a decade ago and how good that proposal was.

Once again, please take a little time to read and sign the petition at change.org. It's for a good purpose that can potentially improve many lives and change our culture for the better.

The "Thom" and "Alex" editions of Liberty & Justice Radio have re-combined into a single station and stream

This is another project that had been proposed for months but is now under way. Several developments over the past year have made this move more and more practical. Most recently, Ed Schultz has abandon his radio show and Randi Rhodes's departure from Priemer Networks may lead to her retirement. That's two fewer options in the commercial "progressive" talk realm. Earlier, the demise of Oracle Broadcasting and American Freedom Radio in the "alternative" talk realm made far fewer options available there. I found barely enough room in a 24/7 schedule to fit the rest... and we have greatly increased our Pacifica offerings in recent months to fill the gaps... but what is left, I feel, is largely the best of the best. Check our program schedule to find when your favorite shows are now airing.

Significant upgrade for Troubadour 1700's AM signal

During the past week, Troubadour 1700 AM's transmitter of the past 10 years, an SSTran model AMT-3000, was retired in favor of the new and improved model AMT-5000. Although still operating at the legal limit of 100 milliwatts, the AMT-5000 is a much more efficient transmitter and the increase in coverage area is quite noticable. The AMT-5000 is also more stable in wet weather than the old AMT-3000, so the severe attenuation in coverage area, especially during wet evenings, is a thing of the past. The daytime signal is now detectable beyond the 2 mile mark, and at night it is usually still readable at the two mile mark. Enjoy the new improved signal!

On Wednesday, March 5, all live streaming of Troubadour 1700 will be consolidating to a single URL:

http://50.58.47.66:7010/listen.pls

Title and artist information will be restored to this stream at that time. Listening on TuneIn should be unaffected. Also, progress on the creation of my Indiegogo fundraiser has FINALLY picked up over the past week. My hope is for completion over the next seven days, and debut on line in 7-10 days.

Farewell, Pete

If you have a history of folk music radio like I do, it was difficult early this week to wrap your mind around the fact that Pete Seeger is no longer with us. I was hoping he would make it to 100, but his body wouldn't go the distance... although he was still chopping wood within ten days of his death. He was a man of strong convictions and he acted upon them. Yet he was so affable and disarming, I don't see how anyone could dislike him... and all those compelling songs and performances (more like rallies!). Will Pete Seeger be regarded as the greatest American folk singer? He just may be.

JFK 50th Truth Radio ends its run

JFK 50th Truth Radio: The Assassination of America completed a fascinating run of nearly two months on 102.9 FM. Whatever broadcast configurations I may have at my disposal in November 2014, I am determined to rerun the 55 plus features and any new additions during that entire month in some form. A mix of broadcast interviews, lectures, and articles from witnesses and the experts, documentary soundtracks, and original JFK speeches were featured. Instead of dumbing you down with lies and coverups like the mainstream "mockingbird" media still insists upon, our features brought you into the world of the sharpest, most honest, and thorough researchers and qualified witnesses in the genre. But for now, it's back to NOAA weather to get you through another tough New England winter, as well as any other mass activism or special events that may occur.