Naples authorities accusing
AFN radio
of polluting city with 'electro-smog'By Ward Sanderson, Naples bureau
NAPLES,
Italy — The American Forces Network is going to Italy’s supreme court to defend
a fundamental principle — the right of sailors to listen to Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
In the
meantime, its Naples radio operation will likely be off the air for at least three months.
That means no "Click and Clack", no Paul Harvey, no local chat. And Americans
who want drive-time news had best brush up on their Berlitz.
AFN was
among about a dozen stations unplugged in March as part of Italy’s campaign against
"electro smog." Naples authorities accuse AFN of polluting the city with
cancer-causing radiation. The network says that’s bunk and is fighting to fire up its
antenna again.
"We’re
trying to get the service back," said Lt. Col. Nelson McCouch, commander of
AFN’s southern European operations in Vicenza.
A local
appeals judge heard the case Wednesday, but refused to lift the ban. The network appealed
again, this time to Italy’s supreme court. The case won’t be heard for three to
four months.
Peppe
Ruggero, a spokesman for the Naples environmental authority, has said AFN will either have
to move its tower or operate on less power.
But AFN
spokesman Roger Williams said the network will do neither.
"That’s
not an issue," Williams said from Frankfurt. "We operated within the
regulations, the guidelines and limitations."
The network
maintains that it never broadcasts at more than its authorized 5,000 watts. Italian
authorities claim the real problem is the station’s electromagnetic personality.
Measurements taken in the rooms of nuns cloistered near the tower show radiation levels 30
times higher than normal.
When
"electro smog" police aren’t trying to save nuns, they’re trying to
unplug the pope.
Vatican
Radio dueled with Environment Minister Willer Bordon over its towers, claiming the church
is sovereign and not subject to Italian law. But Bordon apparently won when he threatened
to turn off the towers’ power — which is "imported" from Italy. So on
April 10, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made an on-air promise to turn down the
juice.
Though God
didn’t intervene to defend the church, Americans hope he’ll do it for country.
Country music, anyway, which Tana Krzyzewski said she misses in a world without AFN.
"I
love country music," the Navy Exchange employee said. "I can’t hear it
anyplace else."
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