Main Street Tattler (trade paper)
March 1, 1999

Minneapolis' Beat Radio may have a pulse, after all. Last week, the federal appeals court in St. Paul, MN said that a federal court in Minneapolis must reconsider a 1997 decision legitimizing the FCC's November '96 seizure of equipment used by Minneapolis-based "Beat Radio", a low-wattage FM. The appellate court told the federal court that it should take into account Beat owner-operator Alan Freed's argument that the FCC's current low-power rules are unconstitutional (and ironically, the FCC has begun exploring the allowance of micro-broadcasters onto the commercial FM band). The FCC would not comment on the ruling, given it's also awaiting decisions on five other pirate cases from the federal appeals courts in various US cities.

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