Radio B92 (Belgrad)

The voice of opposition has been silenced in Belgrad. The staff works to get something going on. Support B92! http://www.b92.net/ is very informative on what happens in Serbia. I'll post below stuff sent to me by B92 staff, and will make them aware of this topic here (and http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/InternationalConflicts/all , of course).

Subject: FW: net-aid Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 18:54:38 +0200 When reality doesn't work anymore, we move to virtual world. But the pain is real and it stays with us. Get together in the world where we measure what we are by what we do. NET-AID FOR YUGOSLAVIA If you are willing to participate in the Anti-war action hosted by Radio B92 (site on helpb92xs4all.nl), last years winners of MTV Europe's "Free Your Mind" award, you can contact us on the following adress: sonjab92@xs4all.nl We will have an Internet event very soon going on - it will be a 24 hour long concert of the artists that expressed their aim to do something against advocating the violence as a way to solve political problems. Our goal is to get together this way, as we can not by other means, and listen to the music you are playing. This is a message itself. Thank you. Keep the fate. ********* PS Those of you willing to participate should contact either: sonjab92@xs4all.nl or ambrozic@sezampro.yu, asap, so that we can check which way is the best to join the action: you can play live in the recording studio that will be our host, you can send a message of support or you can send us your specially recorded music. Exact date will be in your mailbox soon. Mailing address: HelpB92 p/a De Balie Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10 1017 RR Amsterdam

Subject: FW: WILL THE REAL RADIO B92 PLEASE STAND UP! Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 18:54:52 +0200 from http://b92.klari.net/b92/journal/default.asp?rubriek=1&id=337&language=2 News from B92 FROM THE STAFF OF THE REAL B92! WILL THE REAL RADIO B92 PLEASE STAND UP! BELGRADE, April 13, 1999 -- The new management of Radio B92, headed by the self-styled manager, Aleksandar Nikacevic, seized control of Radio B92 from the hands of its staff on April 2, 1999, with no legal grounds to do so. Radio B92 is a socially owned company. Under Serbian law this means that the employees of the company are responsible for hiring and firing senior management. The new management was appointed by the Belgrade Youth Council, which claims that Radio B92 is its subsidiary. Ten days earlier, on March 24, the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry banned Radio B92, seizing essential transmission equipment to prevent the resumption of broadcasts. To justify this, the Ministry alleged that B92 had exceeded its maximum permitted transmission power of 300 W. In fact B92 had been broadcasting at between 190 and 220 W. It appears that the ban on transmission does not apply to the usurping management. On April 12, that management began broadcasting from the B92 transmitter on 92.5 MHz, using the "B92" call signal. The transmission power is approximately 1,000 W. Why did a group of war profiteers close to government circles get the green light to seize Radio B92 as a trophy of war? The reason most often cited is a letter from B92 Editor-in-Chief Veran Matic. The letter, which was published in the New York Times and Le Monde, protested against NATO's military intervention in Yugoslavia. It also criticised the Milosevic government. Radio B92 has been familiar to Belgraders for almost a decade. In the past three years it has become known worldwide as a champion of democracy and free speech in Serbia. All the staff of this Belgrade broadcaster have expressed the strongest opposition to the usurping management. No staff member has or will cooperate in any way with them, nor will they collaborate in ruining the reputation it has taken them a decade to build. The team of the only legitimate Radio B92 emphasises that it has no connection with the program which began broadcasting yesterday on the 92.5 MHz frequency in Belgrade. Radio B92 has traditionally been a rallying-point for the Belgrade public. Under normal circumstances we would call on that public to defend the radio they trust, the radio which rates Number One in Belgrade. However, thanks to the war and the critical situation in the country, the closure and takeover of the station have gone unreported in most media. In these circumstances the Radio B92 team is restricted to seeking redress through the courts for the unscrupulous takeover of the station and the destruction of the name and image of Radio B92, both within Yugoslavia and abroad. The legal procedures so far begun include an appeal against the court decision appointing Aleksandar Nikacevic manager of Radio B92. Charges have also been pressed against Nikacevic and the Belgrade Youth Council director, Vlada Zagradjanin, for unlawful seizure of the Belgrade premises and equipment of ANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in Yugoslavia. ANEM, of which Radio B92 is a founding member, is a totally separate business entity from B92 and its takeover is not supported by even the putative court decision invoked in the case of B92. The staff of B92 will also demand the revocation of new company documents registered by the courts and used to facilitate the takeover of the station. These documents were lodged by a person not authorised to do so. The staff of Radio B92 assert that the state of war must not mean anarchy. On the contrary, it should result in the strictest respect for the law. Since the moment they first charged in and took control of our studios by force, the usurpers have taken one illegal step after another. The staff of Radio B92 are compelled to acknowledge that force is on the side of the usurping management. They emphasise, however, that law and justice are not. This is the third time in its ten-year history that our station has been banned. We shall endeavour to preserve the Radio B92 team and to begin a number of projects. These will clearly prove that the Radio B92 known to the world before this forced takeover still exists. The B92 staff have managed to preserve the station's web site under their control. This will not be updated until the radio is returned to its staff. The most radical manifestation so far of Serbia's Draconian repression of its independent media was the murder, just two days ago, of Slavko Curuvija, the owner and editor-in-chief of the independent daily Dnevni telegraf and the fortnightly Evropljanin. This appalling crime has made it almost impossible to guarantee safety and normal working conditions for independent media and journalists. In addition to the enemy within, a new enemy without has appeared. Friendly mentions of independent media in Yugoslavia by politicians from NATO countries have been interpreted in this country as calls for the lynching of staff from those media. Radio B92 has been by far the most prominent target for such attacks. The primary aim of B92's leadership is now to protect all staff members from blackmail, arrest, satanisation and libellous accusations of espionage and fifth columnism. All of this in a country now debating the reintroduction of the death penalty. While the NATO bombing continues, it is practically impossible to establish any serious action which would return Radio B92 to its staff. There is no institution in the country which could help in these conditions. The team built up over ten years is now held hostage to circumstances. Offices and telephones are hard to come by, there is no gasoline, communication systems are breaking down. The leaders of the B92 team are under constant surveillance. All this has reduced their ability to take action. Despite these difficulties, B92 will endeavour to maintain the continuity of its work. We expect to soon accommodate the laid-off team in new premises. In the meantime B92 will launch an action to support the 45 full-time employees and some thirty part-time staff. Project Free B92, launched by Help B92, will play an important role in this. We call on international organisations, media, and other friendly parties to express their solidarity with Project Free B92 and assist us in establishing a new infrastructure for our activities. This would enable us to organise a number of projects to promote freedom of speech and expression and to be ready to resume work the moment the military intervention in Yugoslavia comes to an end. The Real B92 staff ----- from http://helpB92.xs4all.nl/helpb92.html What is HelpB92? HelpB92 was established at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24, 1999. Radio B92 from Belgrade is the only significant electronic media in Serbia that remained truly independent, both from the regime and from the opposition. Though a local station, with limited range - covering only the centre of Belgrade - the station became the informative, cultural and democratic centre of Belgrade and Serbia. Its programs are original, inventive and of a consistently antiwar, anti-nationalistic flavour. Representatives from a number of organizations came together in Amsterdam's cultural/political center De Balie to talk about emergency plans in case B92 were to be taken off the air. An office was immediately set up in the attic of the Balie in the heart of Amsterdam with computers and a small audio studio. At the moment about 10 people are busy writing texts, translating them and putting them in HTML. Everything has been made ready for the provision of (minimal) alternative news service at the moment that B92's journalists are no longer able to continue regular news service via the Web site. Who are HelpB92? The founders are B92 (Belgrade), De Balie (Amsterdam), De Digitale Stad (Amsterdam), Next 5 Minutes (Amsterdam), Press Now (Amsterdam), Radioqualia (Australia), De Waag/Society for Old and New Media (Amsterdam) and XS4ALL (Amsterdam). We welcome other organizations' support of this initiative. Send a short description of your organization, an URL and a small logo to helpb92@xs4all.nl to be added to this list. Information about the supporting organizations: B92 For more information about B92 see http://helpb92.xs4all.nl/infob92e.htm De Balie De Balie is a cultural-political center in the heart of Amsterdam. De Balie has a large cafe and three auditoriums where public events are held almost daily. These include discussions, debates, underground film screenings, multi-day festivals and readings. URL: http://www.balie.nl De Digitale Stad De Digitale Stad (The Digital City) is a public meeting space on the Internet. With almost 90,000 residents, it is one of the most successful digital communities in the world. URL: http://www.dds.nl Next 5 Minutes The Next 5 Minutes is an international tactical media festival held every three years in Amsterdam. The first edition, in 1993, was devoted to video activism. The second, in 1996, was devoted to the growth of the Internet as an alternative means of distribution of critical information and new art forms. The third took place March 12-14 of this year. Important themes during the festival were the rise of non-governmental organizations and the counter-strategies of multinationals against Net activism. URL: http://www.n5m.org Press Now Press Now is an organization that supports the independent media in Southeastern Europe. It was founded in 1994 by journalists, writers and media experts from that region and the Netherlands. URL: http://www.dds.nl/~pressnow Radioqualia (Australia) Radioqualia is an organization that researches experimental online broadcasts, mixed with traditional broadcast techniques. Radioqualia is Adam Hyde en Honor Harger. URL: http://radioqualia.va.com.au De Waag (Society for Old and New Media) De Waag is an institute for research and development in the social uses of communications technologies. It holds events and produces projects relating to political, artistic and other cultural aspects of new media. URL: http://www.waag.org XS4ALL XS4ALL was the first Internet Provider for individuals in The Netherlands. Founded in 1993, XS4ALL now has over 60.000 customers and ranks as the 3d ISP in the Netherlands. XS4ALL is best known for its public actions in a wide range of internet-issues, varying from privacy and cryptography to a fear stance against wiretapping by state & police. URL: http://www.xs4all.nl Public Netbase (Vienna) Public Netbase is an Austrian Internet content provider, media lab, public access space and organizer of many events, conferences and performances that deal with the new media, and its cultural, artistic, and political implications. Public Netbase brings together experimental technology, artistic practice and critical discourses. URL: http://www.t0.or.at. Contactperson for the Vienna B92 support campaign: Micz Flor (e-mail: micz@t0.or.at). Their special links: Meinungsforum / Opinion Forum [Kosovo Konflikt] http://www.yourserver.co.uk/threadder/messages/3.htm Anonymous mailinglist http://www.t0.or.at/~micz/a/

PRESS RELEASE FreeB92 - presents NetAid Global 24-Hour Peace Netcast in aid of Radio B92, Yugoslavia When reality fails us, we move to the virtual world. But pain is real and it stays with us. A few hours before the beginning of NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia, Serbian government shut down the independent Radio B92 from Belgrade. A few days later it was completely taken over by the government-appointed new management on grounds of an illegal court verdict reinforced by brutal police force. No B92 staff agreed to ally with the new management. For 10 years Radio B92 has been the vital voice of opposition in Serbia. By using the common language of advanced popular music and culture along with professional journalism, it stood against ethnic hatred, violence and war. We have promoted human rights, freedom of expression and speech, respect of minorities and differences. We have played house, techno, drum'n'bass, jazz, hip hop, alternative rock. For our continuous struggle and commitment, we have won world-wide acclaim, including MTV's Free Your Mind award in November 1998. On 15 May, Radio B92 will have a 24-hour internet broadcast - NetAid - dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Radio B92 with participation of numerous artists from all over the world (see list bellow), HelpB92 group (Amsterdam), friends of B92, and technical support of Kunstradio (Vienna) and Radio Qualia (Australia). The broadcast will take place at 'Free B92' web site, with the basic idea to show solidarity and support B92 team which continue to keep the faith and defend the free spirit of B92 in spite of war, government repression and the latest ban on the radio station. Free B92 is a website founded by the Help B92 coalition. Free B92 website is made and maintained by the crew of journalists and associates of B92 projects that are currently situated in different parts of the world. Free B92 will primarily focus on the status of independent media in Yugoslavia, providing information on that situation to the international audience, along with diferrent art or music actions, like NetAid. NetAid will take place at the following URL: www.freeb92.net as well as at: www.helpb92.xs4all.nl. www.b92.net The artistic concept behind this project is to unite different musicians, artists, producers and DJs around the struggle for the freedom of expression. Get together in the virtual world as creation is the only possible answer to destruction. This event is announcing the age when artists will be able to react to the horrors of our time directly from their studios, bedrooms or clubs. The message is out there for the world to listen. Join in Radio B92's 24-hour global music peace netcast. Play a song or DJ live in our designated studio (in Vienna), dedicate a track or a DJ mix, or simply send a message to voice your opposition to the use of violence as a means to solve political problems. Join to send a birthday card for banned Radio B92's 10th anniversary! CDs, MDs, DATs and other music materials for this event can be sent to: ORF - KUNSTRADIO ATTN. NET-AID ARGENTINIER STR. 30A A-1040 WIEN AUSTRIA (Please, enclose a short biography/info) Voice mailbox for birthday greetings and messages of support: +31 20 4216439 For further information please contact Gordan or Sonja of the FreeB92 team: Gordan Paunovic Tel. +431 504 3110 Technical support (FTP, encoding) - Adam Hyde (Radio Qualia) Artists confirmed for 15 May NetAid so far: DJ John Acquaviva (Definitive/Plus 8) Canada DJ Miles Holloway (Paper Recordings) England Disko B family (Hell, Naughty etc) Germany DJ Charlie Hall (Vic Music) England DJ Fred Giteau (ex-POF Records) France DJ Mark Allen (Quirk) London DJ Blim (Emotif) England Davide Squillace (Cloned Vinyl) Italy Amptek (Eclectic) Italy Sonic Youth, USA Mike Watt (ex-Minutemen, ex-Firehose) USA EC8RO (Digital Hardcore Recordings) Germany Syd Griffin (Cole Porters, ex-Long Ryders) USA Boiled In Lead, USA (Balkan-music influenced band) Anastasia, Macedonia (see OST for "Before The Rain") Comma, USA Big Sky, USA Xchange network live stream Live stream from Belgrade: DJ Vlada Janjic (B92) DJ Boza Podunavac (B92) Teenage Techno Punks B92 birthday concert (Belgrade): Darkwood Dub Kanda Kodza i Nebojsa Neocekivana sila... Jarboli Other Voices (Echoes From a War Zone), sound piece Gordan Paunovic (B92) Kunstradio production and many more. Vienna on-site line-up will be confirmed soon. Some parts of NetAid will be broadcast on FM4 (Vienna). Check our home page for more details soon. NetAid events will be organized every month until B92 is back on air. Stay net-tuned! Keep the faith! FreeB92 team.

Why don't you line one up for the Spring, Alexander? I can also make the InternationalConflicts conference resemble the B92 site, if you'd like... (sorry I haven't responded to you much lately... this job/no job thing is keeping me tied up...)

(Send me an invitation to B92 staff to join the Spring, and I'll forward it. Belgrad itself is hard, as they sleep by day, hide by night, and then there are the power outages.)

hmmm...let me get some sleep, and I'll write you one up...

Sleepyhead! Never did! Never mind, but tomorrow is the big 24h-Netaid event!! Tell more people, this will be great!

The Program, fresh off my mailbox. NetAid runs NOW! Some house-set they play right now... Time is Central European Summer Time, now it is: 00:37 on May 15th As we listen, Belgrad radio B92 celebrates it tenth birthday - and is banned for the first time. Support Free B92 ! ************************************* NetAidShowTime is subject to sudden changes. NetAid doesn't believe in the power of clock. 00.00 le boum de luxe FM4 netaid special dj abraxas, dj electric indigo, hans wu, gordan paunovic no more bombs - rockin' house mix by dj charlie hall live ORF - FM 4 studios vienna 05.00 relaxation - vlada janjic (B92) dj set 06.10 BPM - boza podunavac (B92) dj set 07.20 re-evolution in peace - fred giteau dj set 09.20 word processing - comma text based improvisation performed as a plea for peace in kosovo 09.30 breakfast music - steve shelley (sonic youth) dj set 10.15 she - boiled in lead an original song by adam stemple to rhythms learned from balkan music. recorded live march 17 1995 in minneapolis 10.20 big sky siberia 10.30 obozavam te - les masochats psy trance paris - belgrade project for peace in balkans 11.20 slaga se sl'nce da zajde/the sun ascends to go down - anastasia recorded february 1999, skopje macedonia 11.30 corrosion belgrade 12.00 xchange - tetsuo kogawa, borut savski and r a d i o q u a l i a live japan ljubljana vienna 13.00 john acquaviva dj set - house 14.50 paper recordings presents miles holloway dj set - deep house 16.00 peaceful mix for B92 - charlie hall dj set - electro 17.00 my first - dj blim dj set - drum'n'bass 18.00 colin favor and brenda russell dj set - techno 19.30 other voices: echoes from a war zone gordan paunovic - kunst radio production 20.30 b92 birthday concert darkwood dub kanda kodza i nebojsa jarboli neocekivana sila koja se iznenada pojavljuje i resava stvar 13 may 1999, secret location - belgrade 22.30 sonic youth concert paris, spring 1999 23.30 mike watt live live columbia studios los angeles california plus 24 -hour sounds of B92 original jingles (berlin grand prix), B92 releases, bombing soundscapes and live war stream from belgrade etc. NetAid, which will soon develop into a permanent B92 international forum, is to enable artists from around the world to create or dedicate music, radio and sound art that would represent their reaction to the current events in yugoslavia. The main motto of the first NetAid event, scheduled for may 15 (the 10th anniversary of B92), is to protest against violence as a means of solving political conflicts and to raise awareness about independent media workers in yugoslavia in distress. 24-hour NetAid happening wants to bring together musicians, individuals and bands, as well as DJs, sound and radio artists, around the project which would confirm that we are together - at least in the virtual world. NetAid is announcing a new, self-conscious, interactive age. in this event, the musicians will not contribute with money, but with the most precious value of all - creativity - the ultimate denial of destruction. for B92, this project is the extension of a virtual radio, an action opening a n w field of possibilities. when radio B92 was banned in1996/97, the internet was the tool used to save the station. this is why the news we hear today on the possible internet ban on yugoslavia means that the forces of repression, which are always complementary, have started to take their toll in revoking the freedom of speech, expression and communication. freeB92 celebrates its 10th birthday on the internet, hoping that it will very soon be back on air and following our motto "24 hours over belgrade, yugoslavia and the world".

Major error: "As we listen, Belgrad radio B92 celebrates it tenth birthday - and is banned for the ***third*** time." Right, the third time, not the first... I'm tuned in to this program, and it's really good fun! Special events this evening (CET - afternoonish in Austin) will be the Sonic Youth and Mike Watt concerts.

Huh, just in time for the concerts, my ISP crashed, it seems. Still, it was fun while it lasted. This was mailed to me today: *From this evening's Wired website: Belgrade's Radio B92 Is Back by Laura Martz 5:30 p.m. 14.May.99.PDT AMSTERDAM --This weekend, Belgrade's old rock-and-roll Radio B92 is back with a vengeance, but it's on the Web. Just days after NATO began bombing Belgrade, police commandeered the B92 studio and installed a puppet station manager. The original staff quit, and now, instead of B92's alternative programming, the state-controlled station plays Balkan folk music and Serbian state news. Starting at midnight Friday, Central European Time, 24 hours of music, live performances, and messages of support for the station will go out across the world on the Free B92 Web site. B92 DJs will conduct the NetAid webcast live from a borrowed Austrian state radio studio. The site will be stored on servers in Amsterdam. The DJs will be joined by musicians and sound experimenters from around the world, including Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley, who will DJ a set at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and Mike Watt (late of Firehose), who will close the broadcast with live music at 11:30 p.m. "[B92] stands for a cosmopolitan, open way of life. For the time being, B92 will not be able to gather news. [But] B92 mainly has been radio, music. They embody a specific rock-and-roll spirit people recognize," said Amsterdam media theorist and B92 advocate Geert Lovink. Adam Hyde, of Australia's online radio station radioqualia, is helping with the webcast. Hyde said that it is intended to publicize the banning of independent media in Yugoslavia "and to show solidarity to the many, many completely isolated and demoralized individuals." Julia Glyn-Pickett, a former B92 news editor, said that the webcast would "show there are forces for peace, to show there are people who protest the use of violence to deal with political problems." Ex-staffers also hope that the events will kick off a series of monthly webcasts until the "real" B92 can return to the airwaves. Meanwhile, staffers have filed a lawsuit to get their station back. Journalistic accreditation in Yugoslavia is under tight control. When the reporters left B92, they lost permission to gather news. Currently, they're using the Free B92 site to direct readers to other news sources on the Web. "B92's slogan has always been 'Don't trust anyone. Not even us,'" said Glyn-Pickett. By presenting a range of media takes, "we want to provoke people to think critically about the information they've got." Ousted B92 personnel have scattered to cities across Europe, including Budapest and Amsterdam, said Glyn-Pickett. NATO strikes started while she was vacationing in the United Kingdom, and she has remained in Western Europe ever since. But most B92 castaways remain in Belgrade. Many will be involved with the webcast. "The thing about Serbia is you never know when the ax will fall and which is the straw that's going to break the camel's back," Glyn-Pickett said. "If you think [of the danger], you'll never do anything."

From B92 staff - great news! ******************************************************* THE FREE VOICE OF THE REAL B92 IS BACK BELGRADE, August 2, 1999 - Four months after the illegal government seizure of the premises and frequency of the award-winning independent Belgrade Radio B 92, the station's staff resumed newscasts at 08.00 CET on Monday August 2, under the name of B2-92. Radio B92 was banned by Yugoslav telecommunications authorities on March 24, but continued to broadcast via the Internet and the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) Radio and Television Networks until its premises were forcefully occupied by a government appointee on April 2. The B2-92 news program is produced by the real team of Radio B92, all of whom refused to work for the new government management currently using the B92 name and frequency, and is broadcast on the third frequency 99.1 FM of the Belgrade municipal station Studio B. The editorial independence of Radio B2-92 is guaranteed in a contract between ANEM, of which the real B92 is a founding member, and Studio B. The B2-92 program, which is on air from 08.00 am to 20.00 CET seven days a week, has the familiar B92 mix of professional news, cosmopolitan music and culture features. A complete program schedule is available on B2-92’s web site: http://www.freeb92.net The B2-92 program is part of a broader campaign to restore Radio B92 to its listeners and its rightful owners - its staff. The campaign will involve various public actions in Belgrade, cyberspace and abroad, which will be publicised on the B2-92 program and on the station’s web site (address as above). B2-92 will shortly restore Real Audio web casts of its programs on its Internet site, as well as its Internet news bulletins in Serbian and in English. Listeners of the real B92 outside Belgrade will also soon be able to receive B2-92 news programming via their local stations in the ANEM Radio and Television Networks. The real B92 team would like to thank the many people who have supported and helped us during this difficult time, all of our listeners, and in particular our partners in ANEM. We hope you will stay tuned to our struggle to regain control of our B92 name and frequency, and to free all other media that have experienced similar censorship and repression.

Alexander, this is tremendous news. Are they available on short wave yet?

Great news! Let us know when they throw the switch.

Check their website - plus NetAid is on via the web every 15. of the month! I'll post anything they sent me, so stay tuned.

we usually do!

From: "Dragan" Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 13:37:22 +0200 hope you're all well my computer completely crashed, and i wasn't able to reach you earlier, but net aid 4 is going on right now... check www.freeb92.net/netaid thank you dragan

So please visit http://www.freeb92.net/netaid and enjoy!

Will do, Alexander. Where have you been besides working feverishly on your next issue of SUPERSTAR?!

Doing just that! Plus had this event in Cologne, one of our "meet your superstar" festivals... Plus prepare the next "meet your superstar" night for September in Berlin... We're behind production schedule, so that explains some, huh?

That explains it all, and the reason I have held off the email urge. but I will send a short one soon to catch you up on things. It is *So* good to have you back posting your acerbic comments...I missed you!

...and continue to miss you. It is like talking to myself on Spring lately...*sniff*