JeffreyBarke.net

Excerpt from http://www.translocal.jp/non-japanese/1993radiotext.html:

"Free radio in Japan: The mini FM boom"
Tetsuo Kogawa
Originally published in Neil Strauss (ed.) Radiotext(e): A special issue of Semiotext(e), pp. 90-96, New York, 1993

The first radio broadcasts in Japan began in 1924, with television broadcasts following in 1953. In 1969, over 90 percent of Japanese households owned a black-and-white television set; by 1977, 97.7 percent had a color set. At the same time, most middle-class Japanese had at least two personal radio-cassette players. Thus, a complete system connecting the population's personal milieu with governmental or corporate media institutions had been established. If these media outlets provided diverse programs which met people's specific interests, this system could act as an effective network in which people could find indirect self-expression. However, in contrast to the affluence of radio and television sets, there is a poverty of variety and quality in programming. Even in Tokyo, there are only two FM and six AM channels, including three public broadcasting stations operated by NHK, the national Japanese broadcasting company. (The Far East Network, or FEN—a special broadcast service for U.S. troops stationed in East Asia—is also on the AM dial.)

Even the few private commercial stations are indirectly controlled by the government through the restriction of licenses and the influence of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in the appointment of station executives. Although hundreds of institutions—including advertising agencies and political and religious organizations—have continued to apply to the Ministry since 1945, only a few AM licenses have been granted. In spite of a number of available bands on the radio spectrum, no AM or FM station was approved in Tokyo for a period of ten years, between 1975 and 1985, a period of increasing cultural diversity in the context of economic development. This abnormal situation fits well with the government's policies: those private stations already operating are willing to submit to government supervision in order to monopolize the market and avoid competition with newcomers. Thus the government, headed by the Liberal Democratic party, has balked at dismantling this intervention in the private sector.

However, as the Japanese capitalist system has proceeded—accompanied by U.S.-style hyperconsumption—the centralized cultural apparatus has been dismantled to some extent in order to promote consumer needs, to segment consumers into diverse groups, and to legitimize the rise of the people's socio-critical consciousness. In this context, the advanced sectors of the economy, represented by big corporations, find the current state of Japanese media too backward for their needs. They keenly recognize the necessity of innovating mass communications. However, innovation in technology will not solve any problem without a simultaneous innovation in programming.

…

It was in this context that the idea of free radio came to us. In August 1981, some friends and I started investigating the details of what was happening in the free radio movement in Italy and France. While we were studying the Japanese Radio Law, to see if we could legally open a free radio station, we came across an interesting article which suggested that "a station whose broadcasting wave is in a very low power needs no licenses" (Article Three). According to Article Six of the Enforcement Regulations, this "very low power" means the wave must be "below 15 microvolts per meter at the distance of 100 meters from the transmitter." This unknown "public access" to airwaves, which are otherwise very strictly regulated, is intended for wireless microphones, television remote controls, garage-door openers, model airplanes, and the like.

At first, this seemed to have nothing to do with free radio. However, when we happened to examine a tiny FM transmitter, it turned out to be much more than a toy; its broadcasting wave theoretically could cover a .3-mile radius in the city—which in a densely populated area contains 20,000 residents, all potential listeners. Also, we realized that such a transmitter wouldn't cost much, since the Japanese industry overproduces various kinds of electronic gadgets.

It was not easy to find an appropriate transmitter that could function at maximum capacity within the legal power allowance. All of the transmitters we examined were too weak for our purpose. Major electronic manufacturers limit the transmitting power because they are afraid that even such a tiny toy might violate the law. Under pressure from the government, they maintain a consensus on this conservative policy through their intermediate organization, Nippon Denshikiki Kogyokai (Organization of Japan Electronic Machinery Industries). However, in July 1982 we found an underground company which sold a transmitter capable of broadcasting at the legal power maximum. Although this FM transmitter for 76 to 90 megahertz was basically sold for car-to-car communication at close distance, it was appropriate for the purposes of Mini FM. Besides the broadcasting ability, it was so cheap that anyone could buy it and join a large network of tiny stations.

After we repeated our broadcasting experiments with this device in the center of Tokyo, some students of mine established a station called Radio Polybucket at Wako University. In the meantime, other people began opening up legal FM stations using this type of transmitter. One of the most ambitious groups was KIDS (opened in August 1982), whose members were initially interested in establishing an independent commercial recording company to sell their music cassettes. Shrewdly tying up with the mass media—thus totally neglecting the radical idea of free radio—they succeeded in stirring up public curiosity.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.translocal.jp/non-japanese/1993radiotext.html.