FCC equipment seizure silences radio free brattleboro

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

Posted June 22, 2005

BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro’s low-power community radio station was silenced early this morning when federal marshals raided radio free brattleboro’s downtown office, seizing thousands of dollars worth of broadcasting equipment and leaving a warrant on the unmanned console.

The action caught community radio organizers off guard. The Federal Communications Commission has sued rfb in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro, claiming the 10-watt station is broadcasting illegally without an FCC license. That case is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Garvan Murtha. A ruling last year forestalled the FCC’s effort to keep rfb off the air while the case proceeds.

“They have shut us down not because they must, be because they can,” said James Maxwell, rfb’s attorney.

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