Free Radio San Diego (96.9 FM) was an unlicensed

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

located in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. The founders claim that its creation was a reaction to

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

restrictions on new radio licenses. They provided a commercial-free unlicensed broadcast beginning on October 13, 2002 — with occasional interruptions due to FCC raids and technical issues. The open-format music selection was chosen by DJ preference but was weighted towards punk rock. Also featured were syndicated news programs such as ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'' and Free Speech Radio News.

FCC enforcement actions

On July 21, 2005,

U.S. Marshals The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...

and the

carried out a raid against Free Radio San Diego, effectively seizing all of their broadcast equipment. The station resumed broadcasting three months later from a new location. The station did not broadcast over-the-air from January to October 2007, as a result of a $10,000 Notice Of Apparent Liability (NAL) For Forfeiture, which was later reduced to $750. However, it continued to broadcast online, via Internet. , Christian radio station

KRTM KRTM (88.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a Christian radio station licensed to Banning, California, and serving the Palm Springs radio market. The station is owned by Penfold Communications, Inc. History The station went on the air as KRTM on 1979-11 ...

, based in Murrieta, California, is using the 96.9 frequency for K245AI, a licensed

broadcast translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

of their main station. This translator on the same frequency is now used for Latin pop station

KLQV KLQV (102.9 FM, "Amor 102.9") is a Spanish AC radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasting from an antenna located on top of Mount Soledad in La Jolla. The station is owned by TelevisaUnivision along with KLNV. It forms as a part of the ...

, owned by Univision Communications.

References

{{Coord missing, San Diego County, California Radio stations in San Diego Pirate radio stations in the United States Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2002 2002 establishments in California Defunct mass media in California 2007 disestablishments in California Radio stations disestablished in 2007