The Breeze back on airwaves
After surviving four devastating storms from 2005-2008, getting evicted from Port Arthur's City Hall in 2008 due to space availability/freedom of speech issues, gone off-the-air and silent for over ten months while researching more than 100 properties for one that would pass the strict requirements of the Federal Communication Commission and the City of Port Arthur codes to reestablish a new home site; today "The Breeze" radio station is proud to announce their grand opening celebration this month that will officially return the station back to-the-airwaves.
On Saturday September 26 , 2009 at 10am from their new offices located at 300 East 5th Street in downtown Port Arthur, Texas "The Breeze" radio station will officially take to the airwaves again with KSAP-107.1 LPFM "The New Breeze". Packed with more programming and musical content to please the avid listener, says station manager Stephen A. Mosely, its going to be something to be proud of!!!!!!!
The Breeze Staff
Mayor to station: Free speech has its limits
Originally published in Current, July 14, 2008 By Jeremy Egner
The Gulf Coast city of Port Arthur, Texas, is giving a nonprofit low-power FM station four months to get its studio and offices out of City Hall after the station refused to eliminate political topics from its programs.
The city is trampling on the free-speech rights of KSAP (“The Breeze”), according to station leaders and local politicos on their side. They say Mayor Deloris “Bobbie” Prince is now trying to scuttle an alternate site as well — a city-approved plan to relocate the station to a soon-to-be-vacated firehouse.
“At some point, I think the mayor took it upon herself to get rid of the station,” says Martin Flood, a Port Arthur city councilman.
Other officials counter that the city simply needs the space now occupied by KSAP.
But they don’t deny that they want to evict the station because of what it broadcasts. As long as the station is based on city property, its penchant for political commentary could g
et the city in hot water with state ethics boards, which have previously fined other civic officials for plugging ballot issues on municipally-controlled broadcast stations, says Steve Fitzgibbons, city manager.
