IN THESE TIMES JUNE 30-JULY 13,1982 7 Radio Marti. turn it into a shortwave radio station and Last August Cuban delegates told U.S. get it off WHO's or any other AM sta- RADIO MARTI representatives that they intended to tion's territory. The amendment passed build two 500-kilowatt stations on the AM. enthusiastically. 1040 and 1160 frequencies. Only after State and DOD supporters of Marti are that announcement did the FCC recom- dismayed. "It would torpedo the mend the 1040 frequency to Radio Marti. project," said Yale Newman, a member politics Whether the FCC chose it on its own or of the Commission and would-be pro-* at the request of an interagency govern- gram director of the new station. "There ment task force depends on which agency are very few short wave radio receivers in you talk to. This January, the National Cuba." Newman and others are now Telecommunications Information agency hard at work lobbying Energy and Com- airwaves, assigned AM 1040 to Radio Marti. (On merce committee members, trying to June 14, Assistant Secretary of State for make the case that funding a Cuban interAmerican affairs Thomas Enders parallel to Radio Free Europe is really a sent a letter confirming this sequence of top priority. ar style events to Sen. Charles Percy [R-I11.], whose Foreign Affairs committee looks Direct action. government act "as your point man" at the Marti proposal in July.) But despite State Department official By Pat Avfderheids —i.e. run interference, or handle Cuba "They chose a frequency that cannot Miles Frechette's earlier assurances to on the jamming question. They also say possibly work," said Salomon. "You Congress, Radio Marti enthusiasts may HE IDEA OF A C-OVSXNMENT- 1 Duncan claimed that jamming the signal have to ask yourself why. Maybe they're not wait for congressional approval to run station to broadcast news would warrant a "surgical" removal of doing it to provoke a response." start work on the station. On June 7 about Cuba tc Cubans — the jammer. Duncan, however, now WHO representatives took their pro- Broadcasting magazine announced that named, with unperceived denies he used the word "surgical" in test to legislators. Congressman Tom the Navy was building several radio irony, Radio Marti after the that conversation, only saying that Cub- Harkin (D-Iowa) didn't take much per- towers just off Florida. The owners just Cuban poet-martyr who called the U.S. an jamming would be regarded as an suading. He had already gone on record happened to fit the specification of Radio "the belly of the [imperial] beast" — has "unfriendly act," and that "a variety of calling Marti one of the "most im- Marti. The news promptly raised hackles had a faintly fantastic air to it since it options would be available to us." aginative ways to waste money" propos- both in private industry and in Congress, was proposed almost a year ago. The problem of interference between ed by the administration and a pet pro- where Wirth among others made The ironies were a Little too sharp. Cuban and U.S. radio signals is long- ject of "right-wing activists." He was Here was an expensive new item — more statements of protest and met with standing, and if Florida broadcasters instrumental in sending the House bill Defense Department officials. than $17 million for the first 18 mon- have been loud in their protests, so have authorizing Radio Marti into the Energy The construction pleases some ths—at a time of brutal slashes in the been the Cubans. The problem is bound and Commerce Committee, where it slid members of the Commission. "It would social "safety net." Further, many ar- to get worse as Cuba continues to into Timothy Wirth's (D-Colo.) telecom- gued, the station's services were unneces- be an option for us," Newman said of strengthen its radio capacity. But govern- munications subcommittee. Wirth, who the Si-million worth of towers, "if Con- sary. After ail, Cuba picks up commer- mental negotiations keep breaking down, has pushed hard to protect public radio Continued on page 8 cial radio stations' signals — stations that most recently in November at interna- and TV from budget cutbacks, is no carry not only news but the latest popular tional telecommunications talks in Rio de fonder of Marti than Harkin is. He music and constant natural advertise- Janeiro. The U.S. arrived with intrac- questioned the funding of Marti at a The military ments for the American way of life. If table negotiating terms and the Cubans time when administration officials "are that wcien't enough, Cuba also gets walked out in frustration before the con- unwilling to spend even one penny to Voice of America Spanish-language pro- ference ended. At that time, other foreign build public radio facilities in the U.S., may not wait gramming via a Florida transmitter sta- delegates to the conference criticized the which bring news and information to the tion, Radio Marathon. U.S. for negotiating in bad faith. U.S. American public." for Congress to So why have administration, State and representatives claimed they had not ex- On Wirth's turf, a deceptively simple Defense Department (DOD) officials pected much to happen. amendment was proposed. Thomas approve "Radio fought ss hard for Radio Marti in the One of the negotiating sessions offers Tauke (R-Ia.) and Al Swift (D-Wash.) 5 face of congressional reservations, even clues that bolster WHO executives' in- among staunch Republicans? proposed limiting Marti to a governmen- terpretation of the secret agenda behind tal frequency, which would automatically Free Cuba.' In the latest round of congressional jockeying to block funding for Radio Marti, a possible explanation has sur- faced. And the explanation looks faintly NOVEMBER ELECTIONS more fantastic than the proposal itself. Foreign policy Cold Warriors may be looking fcr an excuse to physically at- tack Cuba. Perhaps they hope that once Radio Marti Is set wp on an AM frequen- Look left Democrats cy at 1040. Cuba mil snake good its threat tc jam the frequency with massive power. This ccuid be interpreted as an By John Judis act of war— grousds to destroy the jam- ming facility on the ssianc. This theory NEW HAVEN, CT doesn't come from conspiracy mongers UST AS THE EXHAUSTION OF lurking left-off-center m the Washington postwar economic and foreign shadows. Hi censes from outraged Mid- policy stimulated the supply-side western broadcasters and members of fad among Republicans, it is en- Congress v/hose patieaee has about couraging a new politics among worn out. somJe Democrats. The theory surfaced when executives Its practitioners call themselves "pro- from Palmer Broadcasting, which owns gressives." They stress the need for econ- the coast-to-coast clear channel AM omic planning rather than free market radio station WHO in Bes Moines, Iowa, initiatives. They are skeptical of rising noticed that Radio Marti was slotted for military budgets. They think America's WHO's frequency, 1040. Marti's pip- foreign policy should be based on the squeak. signal wouldn't be a problem for promulgations of its own democratic WHO, which operates at 5Q kilowatts, ideals. They find their support among the maximum power the FCC allows in left-leaning unions like the Machinists the continental U.S. But if Cuba proceed- and among envrionmental, feminist and ed to build— as it claims it will— a 500 minority organizations. They tend to be kilowatt station that would jam the from the industrial East, the Midwest or signal, WHO would shrink down to a the Pacific coast. And they probably sup- pipsqueak station itself. ported Senator Edward Kennedy rather Robert Harter, the station owner, was than President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 understandably upset. presidential primaries. So the Palmer Broadcasting people de- In the Democratic class of 1980, the scended on Washington, where they met most prominent of this new breed was with their legislators, State and Defense Boston's Barney Frank, who because of department officials and some represen- redistricting faces an uphill battle this tatives from the Presidential Commis- year against fellow incumbent Margaret sion on Broadcasting tc Cuba. Early on, Heckler, a OOP moderate. (In spite of Harter talked with Kenneth Geddings, her differences with Reaganism, the an unofficial consultant to fee Commis- Republican National Committee has ac- sion. Marter says that Gecdirtgs, a major corded Heckler's race its second highest media owner in Mobile, Ak,,, and an ex- priority among House contests.) director of the Vcics cf America, told Among the newcomers in 1982, sev- him that the jsannicg cf ladio Marti eral candidates stand out. Lane Evans, a young lawyer who won the Democratic '';f'.~y.- ?s!:r_er vice-prssident Robert primary in the Rock Island, 111., House 3';.'3s'!;..?,rdt and the station's attorney district, will face State Sen. Ken McMii- 7.r:. 2£.:.cr.s:j mst with DOD official len in the fall. McMillen upset incum- .,^-,-a .7-1, '^"^z^ £* ths Pentagon, they bent Republican Tom Railsback in the Nacerits and aids to Rep. Toby Moffett, Bruce Morrison hopes to win the right In Mors, they claim, April primary with the help of the Nat- v/iii try to fill Mcffett's Hartford House the September Connecticut Democratic "~:r:<r,r" casters stop ional Conservative Political Action Com- s.nt. (Moffett is running for Senate.) And primary to face incumbent Republican ".:. .-:.L..^ and let the mittee (NCPAC). Bill Curry, a former Continued on page 8 Lurry DeNardis in November, LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED JUNE 30-JULY 13.J982, doctoral program at the University of Il- ing the problems of inflation," Morri- policy resembles that of left-wing New linois, but was sidetracked by student spn said.