Unfortunately no Photos of Oscar Grant Radio, but this is radio on the streets of New York (view from East Village Radio in NYC, 2008)
After the verdict was read yesterday in the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle in the shooting death of Oscar Grant, there was a great deal of media coverage about local reactions in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Most interesting to me was a brief glimpse of a mobile radio station in Oakland shown in one report by KTVU, Channel 2 news last night.
While showing shots of the then-peaceful protesters, they also turned their cameras to a mobile radio station that was broadcasting from the scene. The report mentioned that moments earlier a jazz band had played over the air.
I was fascinated by this on-the-scene community radio station, but have yet to find out much about it other than a few posts on The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center’s IndyBay website.
“Bring a radio for live on the street updates broadcasted from 92.1fm! The day of the verdict bring out a radio and prepare for a mobile radio station broadcasted from 92.1fm, Oscar Grant Radio.
The radio station will be at 14th and broadway, want to say something live on the air? Come by and speak your words. This will be an open forum for anyone who wants to be heard, just look for the sign!
Pass the word around, 92.1fm is Oscar Grant Radio on the day of the verdict.”
“92.1FM broadcasting from 12th and Broadway as protesters continue to gather in the streets. #oscargrant.”
The folks behind “Oscar Grant Radio” still remain a mystery to me, but I’m impressed by their initiative in providing a mobile radio station in order to capture opinions of people on the street in the hours following the announcement of the verdict. Hopefully more details about this station will emerge and we’ll get an opportunity to hear some of the programming from last night.
It’s also worth noting that Youth Radio (with offices in several cities, including Oakland) has been doing extensive coverage of the trial, including reports from Oakland’s events last night, ranging from news stories to You Tube videos.
