FCC & Beat Radio

Beat Radio

Beat Radio, the FCC, and you!

Don't miss this...Must-See FCC!
Exclusive photos of the FCC and U.S. Marshals in the act of silencing the first version of Beat Radio - Beat Radio 97.7 - November 1, 1996!

July 21, 1996, Beat Radio made its debut at 97.7 FM in Minneapolis! For 103 days, Minneapolis listeners enjoyed a unique dance music station - an exciting, original and invigorating radio station programmed in Minneapolis for Minneapolis and unlike any of its neighbors on the dial. Now, over six years later and lots of history in between, Beat Radio is silent at 97.7 FM, and the perfectly usable frequency for a low-power station goes to waste because a group of other Twin Cities stations (and a station *in Rochester, 80 miles away*), prompted by the Minnesota Broadcasters Association (MBA), flexed their collective influence with the FCC, which seized essential equipment on November 1, 1996. Visit our press section to view the extensive print media coverage. Despite Beat Radio remaining active by returning to the air on a number of other non-LPFM stations since our first "version" on 97.7, we remain strongly committed to LPFM and are working to insure that the FCC's introduction of LPFM proceeds as intended.

FCC BeatRadiowatch Tracker
Big Brother is Beat-watching.

30 documented visits in 1998
36 in '99
25 in '00
and they are still watching in 2002, year #7!:

Here are the agency's documentable visits since 12/31/97; they don't always enter from the fcc.gov domain. Clever.

First visit: August 1996

Dec. 31 '97
Jan. 15 '98
Feb. 12 '98
March 3 '98
March 23 '98
March 31 '98
April 2 '98
April 3 '98
April 6 '98
April 8 '98
April 15 '98
April 21 '98
May 5 '98
May 13 '98
May 14 '98
May 20 '98
June 17 '98
June 18 '98
June 30 '98
July 21 '98
How thoughtful of them! They stopped by to wish us a happy 2nd birthday! It's nice to know we're remembered.
July 22 '98
August 5 '98
August 7 '98
August 13 '98
September 15 '98
October 28 '98
November 6 '98
December 1 '98
December 10 '98
December 31 '98 (they stopped by on December 31st last year too!)

January 29 '99
February 5 '99
February 17 '99
February 18 '99
March 1 '99
March 3 '99
March 10 '99
March 18 '99
March 22 '99
April 1 '99
April 5 '99
April 6 '99
April 7 '99
April 9 '99
April 15 '99
April 27 '99
May 5 '99
May 21 '99
May 24 '99
May 25 '99
May 27 '99
June 7 '99
June 9 '99
June 17 '99
July 6 '99
July 27 '99
August 10 '99
August 17 '99
August 26 '99
September 2 '99
September 14 '99
October 7 '99
October 21 '99
November 10 '99
November 22 '99
November 26 '99

January 14 '00
January 20 '00
January 28 '00
February 1 '00
February 7 '00
February 8 '00
February 15 '00
February 25 '00
March 10 '00 (they stopped by on March 10th last year too!)
March 22 '00 (they stopped by on March 22nd last year too!)
March 27 '00
March 28 '00
March 29 '00
March 30 '00
April 5 '00
April 14 '00
May 10 '00
May 15 '00
September 8 '00
September 22 '00
October 16 '00
November 6 '00
November 6 '00
December 13 '00
December 15 '00

February 15 '01 (they stopped by on February 15th last year too!)
June 6 '01
July 11 '01

January 7 '02
January 23 '02
April 4 '02
May 1 '02
May 8 '02

And their pals at the U.S. Department of Justice stop by too, every once in awhile, including a Sunday(?!) look-see in March '98 and a Saturday snoop in October '00...

March 1 '98
June 24 '98
July 31 '98
September 29 '98