Thanksgiving 2024 is a bit sadder this year, with the news that Alice Brock has passed away. What a cruel irony that the woman who inspired the Thanksgiving-themed Arlo Guthrie folk song “Alice’s Restaurant,” departed just a week before radio stations across the land would be broadcasting the story-song inspired by and named after her.

I feel so lucky to have been able to chat with Alice Brock back in 2020 on the Radio Survivor podcast, which we have presented again this year in her honor. This Alice Brock episode is recommended listening, especially in 2024, as it provides perspective on how Guthrie’s song came to be and why it has resonated with so many people.

Although I’ve been compiling lists of where to listen to “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio pretty much every year since 2010, the lists are never complete and chances are that most folks will need to do their own sleuthing in order to ascertain where to tune in to hear the classic.

In lieu of a listening guide this year, I offer up tips on how to find out if your hometown station is playing “Alice’s Restaurant.”

How to find “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio in 2024

• Consult the 2023 Radio Survivor “Alice’s Restaurant” listening guide to get a sense of stations likely to play the song in your area
• Check the social media accounts and websites of stations that tend to play “Alice’s Restaurant” for posts about air times (In past years, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been helpful resources)
• If you are at a loss for station ideas, focus on commercial classic rock stations, public radio stations, and folk/country-oriented specialty shows on college and community radio stations
• To dig even deeper, look through previous Radio Survivor listening guides (which date back to 2010!) to get clues about the array of stations broadcasting the song annually

Have a wonderful 2024 Thanksgiving celebration!

The post Alice’s Restaurant on the Radio Thanksgiving 2024 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivor team returns for a new episode, during which Jennifer, Eric and Paul recap some of the latest radio news. Topics this week including LPFM, college radio history, radio documentaries, expanding and returning radio stations, and a slow radio broadcast for Earth Day.

Jennifer talks about her new gig working on a college radio history collection that is part of the Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC) on the Internet Archive.

Additionally, we cover some updates to the radio landscape, including details about the most recent low-power FM licensing window, during which 388 groups (and counting) have been awarded construction permits for new LPFM stations. In San Francisco, streaming radio station BFF.fm is the recipient of one of these coveted spots on the dial.

Also coming to the San Francisco airwaves is Seattle-based non-commercial radio station KEXP, which acquired the former KREV full-power FM commercial frequency in a bankruptcy auction. Across the country in New York City, streaming community radio station East Village Radio is returning after it ceased operations nearly a decade ago.

A few radio stories are coming to the big screen. 35,000 Watts, a documentary about college radio, has made its debut and is initially hitting the college radio circuit. Jennifer will be in attendance at a 35,000 Watts screening and panel discussion at Pomona College on March 28th as part of a fundraising event for college radio station KSPC. Another radio film in the works, 40 Watts to Nowhere, recounts the story of pirate radio station KBLT, which ran out of founder Sue Carpenter’s home in Silver Lake near Los Angeles in the late 1990s.

Finally, we alert stations to an opportunity to participate in the annual Earth Day radio event: Wetland Project Slow Radio Broadcast on April 22, 2024. Stations can air all or part of the 24-hour broadcast featuring the sounds of nature, including birds, frogs, insects, and airplanes.

Show Notes:

• Podcast #335 – Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC)
• DLARC on the Internet Archive
• College Radio Collection on DLARC
• Website for the college radio documentary 35,000 Watts
• 35,000 Watts screening dates
• Pomona College radio station KSPC-FM website (and see Jennifer’s tour of KSPC)
• BFF.fm on LPFM (Bff.fm)
• Jennifer’s tour of BFF.fm
• KEXP Coming Soon to the Bay Area (KEXP)
• Jennifer’s tour of KEXP in Seattle
• East Village Radio website
• Here is Why NYC’s Iconic East Village Radio is Coming Back from the Dead after a Decade (NY Post)
• Jennifer’s 2008 tour of East Village Radio
• Granted LPFM Applications for 2023 Filing Window (REC Networks)
• 40 Watts from Nowhere Documentary Kickstarter
• 40 Watts from Nowhere: A Journey into Pirate Radio book by Sue Carpenter (Amazon)
• Podcast #330 – Wetland Project and Slow Radio
• Wetland Project website

Show Credits:

• This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #337 – Catching up on Radio News including LPFM, a College Radio Archive, Documentaries, and More appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The first in-person Grassroots Radio Conference since 2019 is happening in Charleston, West Virginia October 19 – 22, 2023. Hosted by community radio station WTSQ, the conference is an opportunity for staff, volunteers and supporters from community, college and LPFM stations to come together to learn, exchange ideas and inspiration to keep grassroots radio thriving in North America and beyond.

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is a featured keynote speaker, along with Alex Sanjenis, an Assistant Chief in the Audio Division of the FCC Media Bureau. Having a representative of the FCC is a real boon to groups planning to apply for a new low-power FM license in the upcoming November application window. However, in general, potential applicants can expect to find plenty of advice among the conference attendees, who collectively have decades of experience building and running community and college radio stations.

Other featured speakers include: Dr. Rob Quicke, founder of the annual Vinylthon event, College Radio Day, and co-founder of World College Radio Day; Dr. MarkAlain Dery, an infectious disease physician and public health practitioner in New Orleans, who with his wife, co-founded 102.3FM WHIV-LP; Joseph Orozco, Board member to the Pacifica Association of Affiliates; Maria Martin, an award-winning multi-media journalist who currently directs the GraciasVida Center for Media, a nonprofit organization based in Texas and La Antigua, Guatemala devoted to the practice of independent journalism in the public interest; and LaGanzie Kale, the founder and General Manager of KLEK 102.5 F.M., the first and only minority operated radio station in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

If you need financial assistance to attend, Amy Goodman has donated her speaking fee to fund partial scholarships to the GRC. Apply here. 

I’ve attended only a few GRCs since they first started happening two decades ago, when LPFM was first established, and each has been a very positive and energizing experience. Networking and solidarity are keys to the strength of community and college radio, so I strongly recommend it to anyone invested in grassroots radio.

The post Community and College Radio Folks to Gather at 2023 Grassroots Radio Conference, Oct. 19 – 22 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

10/17/23 Update! The new low power FM filing window has been delayed and is now opening on December 6, 2023. See the FCC’s announcement here.

On our latest episode of Radio Survivor, it’s a very special treat, with all four Radio Survivor hosts at the mic discussing an exciting low power FM opportunity. Another low power FM licensing window for non-commercial radio stations in the United States opens on November 1, 2023 December 6, 2023. Who is eligible to apply for these licenses? And why should they? And what help is available? Our guest, Sharon Scott, joins us to talk us through all things LPFM. Scott is the co-founder and general manager of a low power FM radio station, WXOX-LP in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also the author of Low Power FM for Dummies, which is set to be released in October, 2023.

Show Notes

• FCC Public Notice on Revised Dates for LPFM Filing Window (10/17/23)
• Low Power FM for Dummies (affiliate link on Amazon)
• Sharon Scott’s LPFM Resources website
• Radio station WXOX-LP (ARTxFM)
• Jennifer’s “SpinningIndie” radio station tours
• Podcast #331: New Low-Power FM Opportunity Coming This November
• Sex and Broadcasting, book by Lorenzo Milam (affiliate link on Amazon)
• R.I.P. Radio Trailblazer Lorenzo Milam
• Vanderbilt University’s college radio station WRVU
• 2023 Grassroots Radio Conference is October 19-22 in Charleston, WV, hosted by WTSQ-FM
• Prometheus Radio Project
• WORT-FM, Madison, Wisconsin
• Common Frequency
• Broadcast Tool and Die
• Meow! Get Ready for Low Power FM Radio for Cats and Dogs (Matthew’s piece on Flash Cats Radio)
• Michelle Bradley’s REC Networks
• Free Radio Berkeley
• Mbanna Kantako and the Human Rights Information Network (DIYmedia.net)
• The Inspiration for US Micropower Radio, and the Mediageek Radio Show – Mbanna Kantako from the Archives (Mediageek)
• Pete Tridish at International Media Action
• San Francisco Liberation Radio story on FoundSF
• Seizing the Airwaves – A Free Radio Handbook
• Low Power FM Radio – including details on Class D (10 watt) stations (FCC)
• XRAY.fm in Portland, Oregon
• Solving the Mystery of the Ubiquitous Radio Station Call Letter Signs: The Leo Blais Interview

Show Credits:

• This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein, Matthew Lasar and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #333 – Low Power FM for Dummies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there is excitement around LPFM and this next chance for new community and college radio stations to go on the air.

We also take another look at Franken FMs – vestigial low-power TV (LPTV) stations on channel 6 that can be heard at the far left end of the FM radio dial. They were supposed to go off the air a year ago when the last LPTV stations converted to digital broadcasts. But the FCC eventually granted 13 of them “Special Temporary Authority” to continue broadcasting an analog radio signal experimentally even while their video signals went digital. At its July meeting the Commission plans to vote on rules that would allow these Franken FMs to live on, and we discuss what’s at stake.

Show Notes:

• Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021
• New Opportunity for Low-Power FM Community Radio Stations Opens November 1, 2023
• Why There Will Be Fewer Opportunities for New LPFMs in the November Application Window
• The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s
• Resources on applying for an LPFM license:
  • Rec Network’s LPFM.app
  • Common Frequency
  • Prometheus Radio Project
• KOMF-LP tour in Denver
• San Francisco Community Radio is a LPFM in a time-sharing agreement
• FrankenFMs Up for Final Vote at FCC
• Chicago’s MeTV FM Takes the Back Door to Radio Ratings Success

Show Credits

• This episode was produced by Paul Riismandel
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #331 – New Low-Power FM Opportunity Coming this November appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Going into the 2023 application window for new low-power FM stations we are unlikely to see the kind of massive expansion of the sort we had after the 2013 window. That’s because there are many fewer open frequencies, stemming from the fact that there are simply more FM radio stations on the dial in 2023 than in September, 2013, right before that last application window opened.

But just how big is the change? The FCC reports on the number of broadcast stations every quarter, so getting an exact number is trivial.

As of September 30, 2013 there were 17,356 FM licensed broadcast stations in the US. As of March 31, 2023 that number was 21,838. That means there are 4482 more – a 25% increase. However, the aggregate growth in FM doesn’t tell the whole story.

LPFMs can be squeezed into the dial on frequencies where full-power stations aren’t permitted. The same is true for translator repeater stations. And the growth in both these kinds of stations has been even greater: 60%!

There were 788 licensed LPFMs in September, 2013, and now there are 1,999 in March, 2023 – 154% more. Translators grew from 6,055 in 2013 to 8,939 in 2023, making for a 48% increase. In fact, combined, LPFMs and translators constitute a full half of all FM radio station licenses today. In 2013 they made up a little less than a quarter.

The LPFM growth is directly attributed to that 2013 application window, which resulted in the vast majority of new stations going on the air between 2014 and 2016. In 2016 and 2017 the FCC conducted application windows for translators, which drove the growth in those licenses. Two of those windows were specifically for AM stations which were newly permitted to obtain repeaters on FM, further fueling demand for valuable space on that dial.

So, that’s the state of things as we head into this next (and possibly final) opportunity for new LPFM community radio stations. Even though there will be fewer opportunities, this is no cause for despair. In the last decade so many more communities got their first – or second, third or fourth – community radio station. For example, my home of Portland, OR – which had two community stations and no true LPFMs in 2013 – added five more. Putting more on the air is kind of frosting on the cake, and at least some will likely be claiming frequencies from some of the LPFMs that weren’t able to survive, especially through the challenges of the pandemic.

The post Why There Will Be Fewer Opportunities for New LPFMs in the November Application Window appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though we’ve been waiting some three years, the Federal Communications Commission has finally announced the third-ever application window for low-power FM (LPFM) stations, running November 1 – 8, 2023. An application window is a set period of time during which qualified organizations and entities may submit their applications to get a broadcast license. The FCC otherwise does not issue broadcast licenses outside these windows.

The last LPFM application window was in November, 2013, which resulted in the greatest growth of community radio in history. Limited to 100 watts of power and inexpensive to build and operate, LPFMs are designed for community groups to get on their air with hyper-local programming. Consistent with this mission, only state registered non-profit corporations, non-profit schools, government entities and tribal entities may apply.

While not all stations that went on the air from the 2013 window have survived – there were 182 fewer LPFMs in March, 2023 compared to March, 2019 – there are nearly three times as many LPFMs today than in September, 2013, the quarter before that year’s licensing window.

Although today’s communication landscape is ever-evolving, radio is still a popular medium, especially in cars. But a licensed radio station often serves as more than just a broadcast, providing a locus for community organizing. Even though an internet-only station can provide similar public service, having an actual broadcast license confers a sense of permanency that online enterprises often lack. That same license also confers responsibility, and is a community asset.

The 2023 LPFM licensing window is unlikely to ignite the same sort of explosion in community radio we saw in 2013. That’s because the FM dial is much fuller in nearly every community. In the last decade the FCC conducted a licensing window for translator repeater stations, which broadcast with similar technical specifications and can occupy many of the same frequencies suitable for LPFM. Moreover, the FCC now permits AM stations to apply for translators on the FCC dial, increasing the demand for these valuable slices of broadcast real estate.

There was also a licensing window for full-power non-commercial and educational stations (NCE) in 2021. Though these stations don’t necessarily compete directly with LPFMs, adding any new station to an area’s dial can squeeze out the opportunities for new ones.

Most opportunities will be in rural areas, or on the edges of urban areas. Very few available frequencies are left in cities, though the spots vacated by some stations that have left the air may be up for grabs.

If you’re part of an organization that would like to get on the air with a LPFM radio station, now is the time to begin organizing. We maintain an About LPFM info page, and the broadcast services firm Rec Networks maintains a very comprehensive site where you can search your area to see if a frequency might be available. Common Frequency is a non-profit that assists qualified community groups in applying for licenses (full disclosure: I serve on their board of directors), as is the Prometheus Radio Project. All these organizations played critical roles in the establishment of LPFM in the US, and have continued to advocate for and support the service.

The post New Opportunity for Low-Power FM Community Radio Stations Opens November 1, 2023 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Tucked away on the 3rd floor of the Campus Center at Brown University is a college radio station with a fascinating history. BSR (Brown Student and Community Radio) currently broadcasts online and over 101.1 FM in Providence, Rhode Island, with call letters WBRU-LP, but it is the descendant of likely the first AM carrier current college radio station in the United States: The Brown Network. Because of this rich history, I was eager to visit and sleuth out snippets from BSR’s past.

Walking into BSR on a Friday afternoon at the start of spring break in March 2023, I found myself in a large open room with CD-filled shelving, a bright orange couch, upholstered chairs with an abstract pattern in lemon yellow and white, and tables stacked with music-filled mail bins. A window looks into the broadcast studio and across the hall from that is a jam-packed office containing files and ephemera. Vintage black and white photos hang on the wall above the entry way and a decades old LPB broadcast console is prominently displayed in front of the studio window.

Josie Bleakley, one of three BSR Station Managers, was excited to show me various artifacts, including boxes of early photos and bins full of cassettes and mix tapes from local bands. Last year she started working on a project to archive and digitize some of this material. With about 20,000 pieces of music in the library, the project is “daunting,” but she explained that some of the music from local artists is not online, making the very DIY cassettes at BSR an important piece of Providence music history. A couple that she pulled out of a bin were especially charming. One had a handmade sleeve crafted from furry fabric and another, by the band Thieves, featured a screen printed design on a cloth bag.

Recent History at BSR

Bleakley became even more “fascinated” with radio history, especially BSR’s history, during a radio history class with Professor of American Studies Susan Smulyan at Brown. During the week focusing on college radio, the class met at BSR, learning about the history of radio on campus. For a class project, Bleakley created an update about the more recent years of the radio station, interviewing people who had been involved with BSR through COVID. “It feels like watching the history of radio unfolding,” she added, as we talked about the ups and downs of the station, including recent challenges.

Arriving at Brown in fall 2019, Bleakley learned about BSR during the fall Activities Fair the first week of freshman year and joined the station right away. Having just moved across the country for college, she found herself drawn to the promise of a community of liked-minded music fans. By March 2020 she had started her radio training and was gearing up to go on the air. But everything changed when the school and the station was shut down at the start of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the station closure also put a halt on some planned studio repairs, which were delayed even further with supply-chain issues. So, for a time, the BSR studio was both inaccessible and unusable.

Returning to In-person Radio after COVID

By fall, 2020 Bleakley returned to campus along with maybe 1000 students. BSR had been running automated programming, playing a mix of music without DJs. By the 2021-2022 school year, DJs could do remotes shows. BSR was operating with a smaller group of DJs and leaders and with the studio still not functioning, it was difficult to recruit participants.

Finally, in fall 2022, with the BSR studio operational again (repairs were completed in September, 2022), the station saw a “big uptick” in interest. Bleakley added that a lot of first and second year students are involved now and training is ongoing for many open shifts, noting that a “silver lining” to the shutdown was that now BSR is even more accessible. Additionally, non-student community members are now allowed to come back to BSR, bringing with them their “historical knowledge” of the station. “Anyone who wants to be involved can be,” she said, contrasting that with her experience as a first year student, when there was more competition and more hurdles to getting on the air. At that time, in 2019, one had to start out with an internet-only show the first semester, before being given an opportunity to broadcast over FM.

The changes in the station culture in just a few years are remarkable. Looking back on when she started at BSR in 2019, Bleakley recalled that it was “lively” and “active,” but that she also felt out of her depth as far as music, radio, and programming. Less exclusive of a place now, since they are rebuilding their community, the current BSR is reflective of what she thinks college radio should be all about: a station for “all of the students.”

History of BSR and College Radio at Brown University

Brown University has a storied relationship with wireless communication (read more about that on the Rhode Island Radio website) and college radio, with student-led campus radio efforts beginning in 1936. This early carrier current radio station helped to spawn countless campus-only AM stations all over the United States, leading to the growth of college radio. Eventually splitting into two separate radio stations; Brown’s student broadcasting work continues today with WBRU and BSR.

First launched in 1936 from a dorm room, the Brown Network broadcast to residence halls and other campus buildings using wires and building infrastructure to facilitate transmission. A 1941 Providence Journal article explained that the Brown Network “uses the electric light system of the university for distributing its programs. Wires from a four-watt transmitter are strung through steam tunnels and connected to the lighting system by condensers.” The AM station broadcast from the top floor of Faunce House by this time.

Beginnings of Carrier Current College Radio

The Brown Network’s student founders enthusiastically spread the word about campus radio, inspiring others to build carrier current stations at colleges all over the country. In 1940, they helped to launch the college radio organization, Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) in order to build a broader college radio community. IBS still exists today and continues to hold annual conventions in New York City.

I’m always interested to hear details about women’s roles in college radio in the early 20th century and was pleased to learn that women were active participants in radio at Brown. According to a history of the station, “Pembroke women had first joined the Brown Network as announcers and administrators in 1939, when broadcasting on the Pembroke College campus began. Determined to stay afloat during World War II, the Brown Network allowed Pembrokers to join in full force as programmers, news announcers, engineers, and business managers.” Louis Bloch writes in Gas Pipe Networks: A History of College Radio 1936-1946, that “Jean Bruce ’40 was in charge of the thirty Pembroke women working on the Brown Network.”

WBRU-FM Launches; WBRU-AM Remains on Carrier Current

The Brown Network referred to itself as BUBC (Brown University Broadcasting Company) until 1945, when it changed its call letters to WBRU. In 1966, an FM signal was secured and WBRU-FM was born as a commercial station. WBRU-AM continued as a carrier current campus radio station, but seemed to have an increasingly lower profile. “By the 1970s, WBRU-AM was known for original music and entertainment programming. The 1980s Brain Bowl quiz show stood out for its free-form style. But as the FM market grew competitive, WBRU-AM became a low priority for staffers. Buildings renovated with steel and concrete made the weak AM signal virtually inaudible,” according to a history of the station.

WBRU-AM Rebrands as Brown Student Radio; Heads to FM and Online

WBRU-AM apparently struggled in the 1980s and was revitalized by the mid 1990s, with a station history explaining that in 1994 “…outgoing managers at WBRU-AM handed leadership to a group of freshmen determined to revive the defunct station,” which students viewed “as an outlet for less commercial music.” By the following year, WBRU-AM had signed an agreement to broadcast sports over Wheeler School station WELH 88.1 FM and rebranded itself as Brown Student Radio (BSR). Within a few years it had acquired more airtime and was broadcasting on 88.1 FM on weeknights beginning in November, 1997.

In 2011, BSR lost its lease of airtime on 88.1 FM, but continued as an internet-only station. Then, a few years later, BSR took advantage of the low power FM opportunity and applied for a license of its own. Meanwhile, WBRU-FM ended up selling its 95.5 FM license to a Christian broadcasting group in 2017. By 2018, BSR had returned to the FM airwaves with its new LPFM license for WBRU-LP at 101.1 FM. In an interesting twist, some of the old WBRU-FM’s programming (notably 360 Degrees Experience in Sound, focusing on R&B, hip hop, Afrobeats, reggae and more) now airs over BSR’s low power signal.

2023 and Beyond

Flashing forward to today, Bleakley is thrilled to have the station back in a physical space after the challenges of the pandemic and emphasized the importance of community for college radio. She also explained that college radio has always been about making connections and that she was inspired by BSR’s history, particularly learning about the time when radio was the main form of connection. Contrasting that with podcasts, she described conversations they had during her radio history class about the “universal connecting appeal” of radio at Brown, with everyone in their dorm rooms tuning in to the station at the same time in its early years. Nostalgic for those “gas pipe network” days of carrier current radio, she said that it would be “so fun” to once again broadcast to campus in that manner.

One challenge with that gas pipe fantasy is that most students don’t have radios. Acknowledging this, she was also plotting ways to get portable radios into more people’s hands. As we poked around the station, she showed me a crystal radio that she’d recently built on a field trip to the New England Wireless and Steam Museum; again hearkening back to radio’s early DIY days.

Vinyl records in the broadcast studio are another sign of radio and station history. Although not as commonly used these days at BSR, Bleakley remarked that a current DJ is interested in doing an all-vinyl show. With around 20 DJs this spring, at the time of my visit, BSR was in the midst of a recruitment period for various positions at the station. Shows on the schedule include Tanvi’s Tunes (“local indie rock to 80’s british feminist punk”), “Crushed Little Songs,” “Spoiler Alert Radio” (“Conversations on the craft of filmmaking”), “The Beat Surrender,” “Trending Globally,” “Donne del Mondo” (“Global music by women, celebrating musical women of the world”), “Cook Out!” (“Charlie and Laurie share their whimsy and fun with the masses”), and more.

Thanks to BSR + More Radio Station Tours

Thanks so much to Josie Bleakley for showing me around BSR and talking to me about the station’s past and present activities. This is my 170th radio station tour report and my 112th college radio station recap. You can see all my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives. Very soon I will be posting more tours from my East Coast travels.

The post Radio Station Visit #170: College Radio Station BSR at Brown University appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This past Sunday, February 13, was World Radio Day. I’m a few days late in recognizing it, but still have something good to share. Like last year, the BBC tapped radio journalist David Goren to produce a documentary highlighting community radio around the globe. “World Wide Waves ’22” profiles four stations:

• Koori Radio is the only First Nations radio station broadcasting Sydney, Australia
• Arta FM is an independent, multilingual community radio station broadcasting in the Jazeera region in North-East Syria
• Radio Victoria is a social justice station dedicating to fighting poverty in El Salvador
• Machnoor, India’s Sangham Radio is owned, managed and operated by women from the margins of the society, who have been mostly excluded in public forums

Boston public radio station WBUR reports,

“A group of lawyers and activists from Massachusetts are celebrating a ruling by an international human rights court in favor of indigenous broadcasters in Guatemala.

Nicole Friederichs, who runs Suffolk Law School’s Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Clinic in Boston, said it’s the first time an international court has upheld native people’s right to operate media outlets.”

The unlicensed station was operating without a license when it was shut down by the government. The station appealed to the country’s Supreme Court, arguing that licensure was prohibitively expensive, but was ruled against. But the station prevailed in front of the Inter-American Court in December, finding the Guatemalan government had violated the broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression. The ruling has implications for dozens of similar stations across the country.

Mazda owners in Seattle who listen to public radio KUOW are finding their car stereos taken over by the station, and that they can’t switch away. In fact, other features, like Bluetooth, won’t work either. No one, including Mazda, is quite certain what has caused the problem, though there are suspicions that it has something to do with KUOW’s HD Radio signal. The only fix, right now, appears to be replacing the entire in-car entertainment system.

The post Rough Notes: BBC Profiles 4 Community Stations Around the World; Inter-American Court Sides with Indigenous Station; Mazda Owners Stuck on KUOW appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A belated happy New Year and welcome to 2022. It’s not quite a New Year’s resolution, but I want to return to regular blogging here at Radio Survivor, at least covering interesting radio stories of note, along with other radiophonic observations.

With the Super Bowl coming in just under three weeks you can look forward to my (nearly) annual how to listen to the Super Bowl on the radio post. Research has already started, so drop us a line if you know of a source beyond the usual US commercial radio affiliates.

First up is this report from Spin Magazine (it still exists!?) on Ice Radio at McMurdo Station on Antarctica. Conducted over email, writer Lukas Harnisch interviews a group of workers at the scientific outpost who volunteer at the station, broadcasting at 104.5 FM. Longtime readers and listeners will recall that we covered the station on our podcast and radio show back in 2019, talking with McMurdo broadcast engineer Elizabeth Delaquess. Nevertheless it’s nice to see the station get some press. Love this quote from Ralph Maestas, who manages TV and radio operations:

“For the last 10 years we’ve had an essay prompt on the back of the sign-up sheet to volunteer that asks them what they think it means to be a DJ in this community. Almost every response is that they want to give something back to the community.”

Next up, amid concerns that Russia plans to invade Ukraine, one or more radio hackers were reportedly jamming a Soviet-era Russian numbers station, UVB-76, this past weekend. According to Motherboard, the hackers were been broadcasting signals over the station’s frequency that appear as pictures – largely troll-inspired memes – when viewed on a spectrum analyzer.

El denominado "The Buzzer" (UVB-76) un sistema de radiocomunicaciones militares rusas desde hace casi 40 años, lleva días interferido por "piratas". Muchos vinculan esta actividad con el conflicto de Ucrania. La pasada noche se emitieron imágenes muy bizarras en su frecuencia pic.twitter.com/5QOMKPtIA1

— David Marugán (@RadioHacking) January 20, 2022

The Motherboard story somewhat inaccurately states that the rogue broadcasters “hijacked” the shortwave station. However, that implies that they’ve taken over the actual broadcast facility or transmitter, either physically or virtually. Instead, what’s happening is that they’re jamming the station by broadcasting over it.

At the moment this seems more of a curiosity than anything else. While numbers stations have long been thought to be transmitting coded messages for international espionage, it’s hard to know if the Russian station in question is still in use by actual spies (if it ever was). Of course, jamming with frequencies that show up as images in the spectrum analyzer is a clever touch, even if it seems like a there’s a pretty limited audience. Thank goodness we have social media, though, else we’d never know about it.

The post Rough Notes: Antarctic Radio Revisited & Jamming Soviet-Era Numbers appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A year-and-a-half ago high school, college and community radio stations shut their studio doors in response to safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID. They quickly scrambled to find ways to stay on air, broadcasting archived programming, allowing DJs to pre-record or even broadcast live from home. We’ve dedicated several episodes to learning how different kinds of stations in a variety of regions confronted the emergency.

Whatever methods were employed, today – with the pandemic still ongoing – it’s heartening to listen around and note that most stations seem to have survived this period. There’s no sense that more stations closed down than in any other 18-month period. In fact, on October 1, college stations from around the world will join together in celebrating the 11th annual College Radio Day, featuring Ambassador “Weird” Al Yankovic.

We take this opportunity to survey radio’s remarkable survival story. Just as internet technology, like Zoom calls, revolutionized the ability to move work, school and other activities into the home, it also let stations stay connected with programmers and volunteers in a way that would have been significantly more challenging even just a decade earlier. Of course, we’re not arguing this is a net plus – too many lives have been lost or altered forever due to this disease. As well, working or DJing from home isn’t a boon for everyone, on top of the fact that closed studios severely impacts the collaboration and camaraderie that is at the heart of so many stations. Yet, it’s worth reflecting on why and how grassroots radio withstood this unprecedented challenge, continuing to serve listeners and communities and help them through this crisis.

Show Notes

• Episodes on stations dealing with the pandemic:
  • Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19
  • Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic
  • Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
  • Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic
  • Podcast #285 – Running a Big Community Media Organization in the 2nd Year of the Pandemic
  • Podcast #298 – College Radio at the end of the Academic COVID Year
• Oct. 1 is College Radio Day
• College Broadcasters Inc. Student Electronic Media Convention
• Radio World: “Goodbye ISDN, Hello Streaming“
• The Homelessness Marathon
• Negativland:
  • Negativland’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert
  • Negativland live (online) at the Ann Arbor Film Festival
  • Negativland’s Over the Edge Radio: Brain Science
• Princeton University’s WPRB
• Dr. Demento
• “Weird Al” Yankovic
• KCPR at Cal Poly is where “Weird” Al Got his start in radio
• Jennifer’s Tour of KRRC at Reed College
• KRRC
• Radio Survivor’s Top Radio Shows – Jennifer’s #4 – Dr. Demento

The post Podcast #317 – How Radio Survived 18 Months of Pandemic (and Keeps Going) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Efforts are underway to preserve the records of community radio personality Mae Brussell. Brussell hosted several discussion shows in the 1970s and 1980s at community stations in Carmel and Pacific Grove, California. “Dialogue Conspiracy” and “World Watchers International” focused on a variety of subjects, most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Watergate. She became so popular that she began distributing tapes of her programs to an extensive mailing list. For a while you could listen to Brussell’s programs on YouTube, but unfortunately they have been removed from the database. You can still audit them at Worldwatchers Archive.

Probably the best known assessment of Mae Brussell’s influence can be found in the excellent Slate podcast Slow Burn. Episode six focuses on Brussell’s theories and conclusions. While the host Leon Neyfakh takes pains to distance himself from Brussell’s ideas, he concedes that “the stuff that she and other conspiracy theorists wrote about Watergate wasn’t that much less plausible than what really happened.” 

I share this line of sympathy. As I wrote in a 2017 Radio Survivor post:

“Brussell was, to my mind, a meta-conspiracyist, endlessly linking seemingly discrete events to each other. But her stream-of-consciousness commentaries, and her dialogues and quarrels with other conspiracy researchers, reminds me of what a remarkable era community radio narrated its way through in the 1970s and 1980s.  From Watergate to Contragate, from the release of the Pentagon Papers to the full disclosure of the CIA’s MKULTRA LSD program, who, following all of this, wouldn’t come to at least a few draconian conclusions?”

Perhaps the most fond recollection came in 2018 from the pen of Monterey Bay reporter Joe Livernois:

“Mae Brussell was the Queen of Conspiracy, the Doyenne of Intrigue. And she was perhaps one of the most enigmatic characters from Monterey County to ever rise to national prominence. She was that voice on the radio — delivering inconvenient truth in straight incontrovertible monotone late on a Sunday night. But she was also the exemplar of maternal domesticity, driving her five kids to dance recitals and music lessons, cooking dinner every night and incubating a devotion to art and music that still sustains her surviving brood.”

Mae Brussell died in 1988, and her fans have struggled to preserve her records ever since. As Livernois observes, one admirer was going to do it but didn’t, then people started blaming each other for the lack of progress. You get the picture. Bottom line: I think that it is crucial that Brussell’s tapes and correspondence find a sustainable home. She was a unique and fascinating voice in the assassination conspiracy discussions of the 1970s and 1980s and in the post-1960s counterculture. She was also, of course, a significant actor in the history of community radio. 

Several weeks ago stage technician and artist Lewis Rhames contacted me about the campaign to get her records properly stored, which is called the Mae Brussell Project. Rhames is acting as the administrator of the endeavor. Her daughter Barbara Brussell has penned a public appeal for help:

“Mae Brussell’s research library includes thousands of documents, photographs, newspaper clippings and notes totaling approximately 40 file cabinets, hundreds of books (many rare and out-of-print), plus extensive handwritten cross-reference and analysis by Ms. Brussell on such topics as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, and the roles of characters like Jimmy Hoffa in the developing dominance of the military industrial complex.

Upon Mrs. Brussell’s passing, her library was moved by family members to a safe location. Several attempts have been made to inventory and archive the materials, each faltering due to age and health concerns of those involved.

The library is now under threat of loss or destruction. Its location is not secure for long-term storage. The loving family members who saved these intellectual treasures are now quite mature, facing their own life challenges, and want only to know that their decades of effort and loyalty were not wasted.

THE MAE BRUSSELL PROJECT seeks to preserve the library and make its contents available to the public.

The project has two phases: preservation of the physical library, and the scanning and publishing of the information. Requirements include:

1. Transportation, one 40-foot trailer or comparable alternative, plus labor, for initial relocation (3 days)

2. Location, 3000 square feet of secure warehouse or office space with scanning equipment, near San Jose or Monterey (one year minimum, ongoing)

3. Technician, one full-time administrator whose duties include management of the facility, digitization of the materials, development of websites and social media presence, and coordination of funding and volunteer resources (ongoing).”

If you think that you might be able to help with this effort, please contact me at matthew@radiosurvivor.com. I will forward your messages to the principals of the Mae Brussell Project. Watch this space for updates on more ways to stay informed about the campaign.

The post Campaign on to preserve Mae Brussell’s library appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As we wrap up Pride Month, our podcast discussion turns to queer spaces and queer community on the radio and in podcasting, specifically lesbian broadcasters in Canada. Our guest, Stacey Copeland is a media producer and Ph.D. candidate at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication in Vancouver, Canada. Stacey has been researching the history of lesbian radio shows, including The Lesbian Show and Dykes on Mics. Community radio played an important role in welcoming gay and lesbian programming, with shows airing on stations like Vancouver Co-op Radio and campus-community radio station CKUT. Bringing the conversation to 2021, we also talk about connections between these early shows and current-day queer podcasts.

Show Notes:

• Stacey Copeland‘s website
• SpokenWeb podcast
• Amplify Podcast Network
• Podcast #284 – SpokenWeb and Literary Sound
• Podcast #275 – Making Scholarly Podcasts Count
• Podcast #297 – Radio Studies and Soundwork with Michele Hilmes
• The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony
• FemRadio at CJRU
• Vancouver Co-op Radio
• Dykes on Mykes on CKUT
• Listen to The Lesbian Show on Co-op Radio in The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony
• Pride FM Toronto
• Podcast # 187 – Archiving LGBTQ Radio History
• This Way Out
• The World Soundscape Project was established by R. Murray Schafer at Simon Fraser University
• Hildegard Westerkamp is a composer, radio artist, and sound ecologist
• Barry Truax is a composer and acoustic communication researcher
• The Heart podcast
• Procyon Podcast Network
• BC Gay and Lesbian Archives
• Queer FM on CITR
• Country Queers podcast
• Podcast #302 – Feminista Frequencies with Monica De La Torre
• KPFA show Lesbe Friends in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
• Podcast #135 – Resurfacing Women’s Contributions in Podcasting History with Jennifer Hyland Wang
• The ArQuives – Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives
• Mermaid Palace
• Warriors Bards ‘n Brews podcast about Xena: Warrior Princess

Image Credit: Graphic for The Lesbian Show in Vancouver Gay Community Centre Newspaper from City of Vancouver Archives AM1675-S1-F1433

The post Podcast #304 – Lesbian Radio History in Canada appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, we take a close look at the history of an influential Spanish language community radio station: KDNA. Located in Washington State, the station launched in 1979 and serves a rural community which includes farm workers and immigrants. Our guest, Monica De La Torre, is Assistant Professor at the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University and is the author of a forthcoming book about KDNA called Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley.

Show Notes:

• Monica De La Torre
• Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley
• Chicana Radio Activists and the Sounds of Chicana Feminisms on SoundingOut!
• Looking Back on the Lesser-known Histories of Chicano Public Radio on Current
• KDNA radio station
• Soul Rebel Radio on KPFK in Los Angeles
• Bilingual community radio station KBBF-FM in Santa Rosa, California
• KRAB Archive for Seattle community radio station KRAB-FM (1962-1984)
• Womxn Who Rock collective
• KRZA community radio station

Related Episodes:

• Podcast #260: Radio History on the Northern Border of Mexico with guest Sonia Robles (1930-1950)
• Podcast #184: Hidden Women’s Radio History in Uruguay with guest Christine Ehrick (Radio Femenina, founded in 1935)
• Podcast #134: The KRAB-FM Archives
• Podcast #72: Pete Tridish Celebrates an LPFM Success Story (KPCN-LP, run by Oregon’s farmworkers union)

The post Podcast #302 – Feminista Frequencies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Colleges and high schools are finishing up their first – and, with hope, last – full academic COVID year, and all indicators are that student radio remained on the air, as students adjusted to online classes and socially distant campuses. Jennifer Waits reports back from the Intercollegiate Broadcast System annual conference, held virtually this year, where she gauged the temperature of student broadcasters and the radio professionals who shared their advice with conference attendees. She and Paul Riismandel discuss what the long-term implications of virtual and hybrid broadcasting may have for college and community radio, taking into account that the accessibility that remote technology offers is weighed against the benefits of face-to-face interaction.

Paul shares some highlights from the 2021 Infinite Dial survey from Edison Research, delivering stats on what audio Americans are using in the car, and the growth of podcast listening. He also reminds us about the upcoming non-commercial radio license opportunity, which now has a firm date in November. Jennifer and Paul then finish things out with a look at Franken FMs, which are scheduled to leave the airwaves in July, when the FCC will require all remaining analog low-power TV stations to convert to digital.

Show Notes:

• Intercollegiate Broadcast System
• Podcast #295 – High School Podcasting with the Hosts of Rice and Shine
• High School Radio Station KMIH “The Bridge”
• HBO series “Mare of Easttown”
• Haverford on the Radio
• Haverford College’s Radio Heyday in the 1920s
• The Infinite Dial 2021
• Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021
• Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)
• Netflix series “Daredevil“
• Leah Steuer
• Time Is Running Out for FrankenFMs – Just 4 Months Left
• The Antenna Man on YouTube: 87.7 Franken FM Radio Stations May Go Dark in July

The post Podcast #298 – College Radio at the end of the Academic COVID Year appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week we share more evidence of how broadest radio is an important informational lifeline and human connection for so many people. As most of the country enters year two of the pandemic, we catch up again with Becky Meiers, General Manager of community radio station KCAW-FM in Sitka, Alaska. We last spoke with Becky at the end of March 2020, before any cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed in this remote community, though she shared the station’s preparedness plan.

KCAW serves a vital communications role in Southeastern Alaska where small communities are spread out without overland connections, and the only travel is by air or by sea. Becky tells us how the station has gotten through the last year, bringing local broadcasters back to the air as possible, while also growing its local news coverage. Becky also regales us with stories from her journeys to isolated “translator communities” where local repeater transmitters (a/k/a “translators”) required emergency repairs and maintenance.

Show Notes:

• KCAW-FM Raven Radio
• Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
• Touring KCAW, Sitka Alaska’s Raven Radio
• Podcast #197 – Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
• Report for America
• Mt. Edgecumbe High School

The post Podcast #288 – Eagle vs. Transmitter appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Nathan Moore is the General Manager at WTJU and the Staff Advisor of WXTJ at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He is also the current President of the Board of the NFCB, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

We invited Nathan Moore onto the show to ask about running community and college radio stations at the start of the second year of the Pandemic. We talk about remote live broadcasting, training and recruiting new volunteers, and strengthening the mission of community and student media and the arts.

Show Notes:

• Interview with Nathan Moore at the start of the Pandemic: Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic
• Nathan Moore’s first interview : Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station

• Jennifer’s tour of WTJU and WXTJ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2017/04/13/radio-station-visit-129-wtju-at-university-of-virginia/
• Public Media For All episode of Radio Survivor: https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/11/04/podcast-270-public-media-for-all/
• Virginia college and community radio alliance: https://www.vacollegeradio.org/
• Podcast network Virgina audio collective: https://virginiaaudio.org/

The post Podcast #285 – Running a Big Community Media Organization in the 2nd Year of the Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In celebration of World Radio Day this past Saturday, the BBC World Service released an hour-long documentary about five different community radio stations around. the world. Beginning with Cameroon’s Radio Taboo, a solar-powered station started by an artist, presenter Maria Margaronis then takes us to Romania’s Danube Delta, which is focused on preserving the region’s unique language and history. We also auditorily travel to Tamil Naud, India, Bolivia, and the Navajo Nation to hear from stations that strive to serve the needs of their communities using a medium that can be heard aboard fishing boats, in remote mining communities and on the road across a sprawling First Nation.

Margaronis lets the presenters and producers speak for themselves, as we tune in to their broadcasts, and also hear from the listeners who depend on these lifelines of information and culture. The documentary is produced by David Goren, the radio enthusiast, journalist and researcher behind the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map. (Hear more about that project on Radio Survivor Podcast #138.)

Voices, music and sound transmitter through the ether is still a magical phenomenon. So much so that the fishermen of Tamil Nadu rig up antenna extensions on their boats to keep their local station tuned in when they sail out of its normal radius of 17 nautical miles.

I can’t recommend “World Wide Waves: The sounds of community radio” enough. It’s well worth an hour of your time.

The post Listen to this BBC Documentary about 5 Community Stations around the World appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and internet stations.

Jennifer Waits takes us on an auditory tour of the farm, along with a visit to the station’s Hudson, NY studio, where station manager and managing news editor Lynn Sloneker lays out all these audio feeds. Then in the Wave Farm studio, artistic director Tom Roe details the organization’s history, which has its roots in the unlicensed micropower radio movement of the 1990s.

Every year Wave Farm hosts artists in residence, who create unique works and installations exploring the many aspects of electromagnetic transmission. One was the musical artist Quintron, who created the Weather Warlock, a weather-controlled synthesizer. Eric Klein gave him a call to learn more about this project and his work.

Show Notes:

• WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of Wave Farm
• Artist-in-residence Dan Tapper at Wave Farm
• Dan Tapper’s website
• Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond
• Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio
• Wave Farm Celebrates 20 Years of Transmission Art
• Quintron and Miss Pussycat
• Weather for the Blind
• Weather Warlock at Wave Farm

The post Podcast #278 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though there are many good reasons why one might not want to look back at the year that was, we still see some aspects worth noting. In particular, radio and podcasting proved to be resilient media, with broadcasters and podcasters rallying to meet the challenges of quarantines and social distancing brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic. This also brought on renewed interest in legal unlicensed Part 15 radio broadcasting, while the FCC authorized the first-ever terrestrial all-digital radio broadcast service, on the AM dial, no less.

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor refocused the nation’s attention on systematic racism and the racial and gender inequality that continues to permeate every aspect of American society. This brought about fresh calls for public and community broadcasters to address the effects of this within their own walls, along with efforts to provide mutual aid, support and guidance to BIPOC and advice to white allies.

An eventful year, it was, and we’re here to run it all down.

Show Notes:

• Social Distancing Sparks Interest in Part 15 Unlicensed Broadcasting, but Caveat Emptor
• FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce
• Public Media For All
• Podcast #270: Public Media for All
• FairPlay
• WFUV’s EQFM
• Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic
• Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
• Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic
• Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19
• Voicemeeter Banana is the free software Jennifer has been using to recorder her radio show from home

The post Podcast #276 – 2020 the Year in Radio and Sound appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric, Jennifer and Paul reconvene to catch up on all that is news to us in the worlds of radio and sound. The FCC just unanimously approved all-digital operation on the AM band, while commercial radio – born on the AM band – celebrates its centennial. But keep in mind that broadcast radio is older than that first commodified broadcast.

We also reflect on the very first virtual Grassroots Radio Conference and the history of radio dealing with earlier epidemics.

Show Notes:

• FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce
• YouTube: Re-enactment Commemorates 100th Anniversary Of First Commercial Radio Broadcast In Pittsburgh
• YouTube: Should We Hate Spotify? [An Objective View From A Professional Musician]
• Podcast #234 – Community Access Radio in New Zealand
• Prof. Kyle Barrett guested on Podcast #221 – The Intertwined History of the Radio and Recording Industries
• Matthew Lasar explains the history of the rise and fall of “turntable style” music community websites on Podcast #26 – Celebrating Radio Stickers & Turntable Rooms
• Podcast #263 – Broadcasting High School Radio through Wildfires and a Pandemic
• 2020 Virtual GRC Sessions on YouTube
• Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic
• WHIV-LP New Orleans, Human Rights & Social Justice Radio

The post Podcast #271: AM Radio Goes Digital as It Celebrates a Centennial appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will open two filing windows for non-commercial FM radio licenses. First up will be an opportunity to apply for a full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) license, followed by a low-power FM opportunity.

Even though the application window dates have not yet been announced, now is the time to get prepared. Broadcast attorney Frank Montero guests to help us understand the process of applying for an FM broadcast license. He’s a partner with Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth, which also publishes the CommLawBlog. He explains who qualifies to apply and other requirements to keep in mind.

License application windows are the only time when an organization may apply for an FM radio license, and they don’t happen frequently. The last full-power NCE window was more than a decade ago, and the last chance at an LPFM was 2013. As the FM dial fills up in cities and towns across the country, this may be the last opportunity for a new station in many regions. If you’re interested in operating a full- or low-power non-commercial station we we hope this episode helps get you started. Even if you’re not interested, it’s important to understand just how stations get on the air in the 21st century.

Show Notes:

• CommLawBlog – The Upcoming FCC Noncommercial FM and LPFM Filing Windows: What You Need to Know
• NFCB: Primer On The NCE Radio Filing Window
• FCC Chair: New LPFM & Noncomm License Opportunities Coming Soon
• FCC Awards Full-Power Licenses to 5 LPFMs, Plus 52 More Orgs (2010)
• FCC’s LPFM order will make 2013 a good year for community radio (2012)
• Radio Survivor documented the roll-out of new LPFM stations beginning with the most recent 2013 application window

Feature image adapted from “The FCC’s front door” by Rob Pegararo / flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The post Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, the Radio Survivor crew did its first live broadcast from a virtual conference held over Zoom. As part of the 2020 Grassroots Radio Conference, we presented a live radio show during the event, which aired over host station ARTxFM’s (WXOX-LP) FM signal in Louisville, Kentucky as well as over the internet. The topic of our discussion is community radio and protests.

ARTxFM host and producer Tia Marie and Xray.fm Talk Content Coordinator Miranda Selinger are our guests. The conversation focuses on how each of their respective stations are responding to protests and racial justice actions in their communities during a pandemic. Tia Marie produced WXOX-LP’s “Justice for Breonna” nationwide simulcast in honor of the memory of Louisville resident Breonna Taylor and explains how important it was for their station to acknowledge the black women who have been killed by police. Xray.fm has also been producing more local news from its home in Portland, Oregon, which has been especially active with racial justice protests. Selinger shares the station’s work in developing a daily news show as well as its partnership with local station The Numberz.

Show Notes:

• Grassroots Radio Conference 2020 Virtual Summit
• XRAY.fm
• WXOX-LP aka ARTxFM
• Justice for Breonna Broadcast (Radio Survivor story)
• Justice for Breoanna Nationwide Simulcast (ArtxFM)
• Tia Marie Presents on Facebook
• “The Local” on XRAY.fm
• The Numberz.fm
  

The post Podcast #267 – Live from the Grassroots Radio Conference: Community Radio and Protests appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Flirt FM at the National University of Ireland at Galway was one of the first “community of interest” stations to go on the air in that nation. Effectively, this means it was a trailblazing college and community station, hitting the air not long after the state broadcast monopoly began to erode in 1988.

Andrew Ó Baoill founded Flirt FM as an undergraduate student at what was then known as University College Galway. Working together with student government and university officials, they secured a license to broadcast in 1994 and went on the air September 28, 1995. Andrew joins the show this week to recount this history, and establish the station’s place in Irish broadcast history. Also joining is Paula Healy, who has served as Flirt’s station manager since 2005.

Paula coordinated a 25-hour marathon broadcast to celebrate the station’s quarter-century anniversary. She tells us about how the station serves the university and Galway communities, and how they’ve stayed on air during COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines.

Show Notes:

• Flirt FM
• Flirt FM’s first 5 minutes on air in 1995
• Podcast #258 – Trump Admin Raises the Specter of the Fairness Doctrine
• Jennifer visited Flirt in 2009
• Wireless is Flirt’s show about radio, hosted by John Walsh, one of the co-founders behind the Irish Pirate Radio Archive

The post Podcast #266 – Flirt FM Celebrates 25 Years of College & Community Radio in Ireland appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though I’m disappointed I won’t be traveling to Louisville this year, host station ARTxFM has assembled a really impressive online Grassroots Radio Conference for 2020. None other than Public Enemy’s inimitable MC Chuck D will deliver the first keynote on Friday night, titled “And You Don’t Stop Radio.” WFMU’s stalwart station manager and streaming radio innovator Ken Freedman delivers the Saturday keynote, “The Fine Art of Staying on the Air.”

Those who register will be treated to three days of hardcore grassroots radio goodness, with a particular focus on:

• The Pandemic: How to Broadcast Safely & Responsibly
• The Protests: Amplifying Justice & Equality for All
• The President: Energizing the Electorate Through the FM Dial
• Hyperlocal News Reporting during Wildfires and Other Natural Disasters

We Radio Survivors will endeavor to add productively to the conversation with a live episode of our podcast and radio show on Friday, October 9 at 12:15 PM PDT / 3:15 PM EDT tackling the question of how community stations help their communities cope with crises. We’re pleased to welcome two thoughtful and accomplished guests whose stations have been at the epicenter of the conflict between policing and protests in defense of Black lives. Tia Marie is a producer at ARTxFM and was the organizer behind the August 13 nationwide simulcast, “Justice for Breonna [Taylor].” Miranda Selinger is the Talk Content & Grant Coordinator at XRAY.FM in Portland, Oregon, which has been the home of more than 130 days of continuous protests against police violence, amidst attacks from right-wing agitators.

Seriously, the organizers at ARTxFM have put together a can’t-miss program schedule that is overflowing with great minds and talent from across the worlds of community radio, art and activism.

While we can’t all be together in Louisville, this also means the expenses associated with travel and lodging are one less barrier to participation. Registration is open now, and one-day passes are available for those who can’t make the three-day commitment.

I hope we’ll see you there!

The post Virtual Grassroots Radio Conference Kicks off Friday, Oct. 9 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul get the gang back together to remember community radio innovator Lorenzo Milam, who passed away on July 19. We reflect on how he helped to propagate a community access model of broadcasting that departed somewhat from the model of the first Pacifica stations, and was reflective of the counter-cultural currents of the 1960s and 70s. Jennifer shares highlights of her correspondence with Lorenzo about his days in college radio at Haverford, where Jennifer also broadcast.

Then we catch up on some important news from the summer, including terrestrial radio’s continued #1 “share of ear,” new non-commercial radio license opportunities in the US, the clock ticking down on Franken FMs and a lament for the closure of Radio Free America.

Show Notes:

• R.I.P. Radio Trailblazer Lorenzo Milam
• Lorenzo Milam’s College Radio Days
• Lorenzo Milam books in the KRAB Archive
• Lorenzo Milam Memorial archived recording on ACORN Radio
• FCC Chair: New LPFM & Noncomm License Opportunities Coming Soon
• The Final Countdown for Franken FMs
• NFCB: Radio Free America Announces Shutdown
• Podcast #125 – Radio Free America Is an Online Hub for Noncomm Radio

The post Podcast #261 – Remembering Lorenzo Milam appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Louisville, Kentucky community radio station ARTxFM is hosting a nationwide coordinated broadcast, “Justice for Breonna Taylor,” on August 13, the five-month anniversary of Breonna’s passing, at 2 PM EDT. The program will feature a simulcast of “Everything” by Mary J. Blige, selected by Breonna’s family, along with a short piece produced by the station.

From ARTxFM’s announcement:

On this day, we will pause our broadcast to recognize the women who were stolen from their families and loves ones far too soon. Together we will celebrate the lives of these unique individuals – recognize the pain their loss has caused their communities and user our voices to demand the justice they deserve.

In the words of Breonna’s aunt Bianca Austin, ‘Justice for Breonna means an end to police brutality and social injustice. We will not tolerate this any longer. The time is NOW! So please be a part of the change and get involved.

We will SAY HER NAME.

A list of participating stations – as of August 10 – is below. Stations wishing to join the simulcast should contact ARTxFM.

Participating Stations

WXOX Louisville
KMRD Madrid
KLEK Jonesboro
WXDR New Orleans
WSLR Sarasota
KEPW Eugene
WBTV Burlington
WGOT Gainesville
KBCU Newton
WCXP Chicago
WPPM Philadelphia
KACR Alameda
KDRT Davis
KOYO Oroville
KXCJ Cave Junction
WBPU St. Petersburg
KZAX Bellingham
KMRE Bellingham
WTSR Trenton
KPPQ Ventura
KHOI Ames
KMUN Astoria
KTCB Tillamook
KPTZ Port Townsen
WHPW Harpswell
WCXP Chicago
WOMM Burlington
KBBF Calistoga / Santa Rosa
KMUD Garberville
KMUZ Turner
WORT Madison
WFHB Bloomington
WCRS Columbus
WLXU Lexington
WRFL Lexington
WERA Arlington
WXIR Rochester
KSQD Santa Cruz

The post Louisville’s ARTxFM Hosting Aug. 13 Nationwide Simulcast, “Justice for Breonna” appeared first on Radio Survivor.

One of the most frequent questions we get via email is, “how can I get a radio station license?” Most often the inquiry concerns a low-power FM license, but the correspondent isn’t always particular.

Aside from the years 2010 and 2013 – the last noncomm and LPFM license opportunities, respectively – our answer is usually “sorry, you can’t, unless you want to buy an existing station.” Looks like we’ll need to modify that advice soon.

As the Broadcast Law Blog reports, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Congress in written testimony that licensing windows are coming for both full-power non commercial stations in the reserved band (88.1 – 91.9 FM) and for LPFMs. The full-power window will come first, Pai says, because It’s been 13 years since the last opportunity, while the last LPFM window was seven years ago.

For those not acquainted with how radio station licenses are allocated, it’s important to understand that the Commission only accepts applications for new ones during assigned windows of time. Each window is reserved for a specific type of station – such as an LPFM, a translator repeater or a full-power commercial FM – and as you can see, they don’t come about very often. It’s only during these windows that one can apply for a new license, and the process can be very competitive. Commercial stations also require a monetary bid, which is not the case for non commercial stations, including LPFMs.

Just to give you an idea about how rare these windows are, note that there have been only two LPFM applications windows in the twenty years since the service was founded. The second followed the first by 13 years. So, hearing that a new one might happen in the next year sounds downright speedy.

Submitting an application for a full-power non-commercial station is significantly more complex than for an LPFM. It’s up to the applicant to identify an open frequency, and then to make an engineering case that a station can be located on that frequency, in a specific geographic location, without causing interference to existing stations. This will be difficult to impossible in most major metropolitan markets.

It’s also important to understand that in some markets the non-commercial licensing window will probably use up frequencies that could be used for new LPFMs. Once we get to the next LPFM window, it’s very likely that there will be very few eligible frequencies in major cities, except for the possibility that some shuttered stations’ channels might be available. Even so, expect tremendous demand and competition for those.

Despite the caveats, all of this is good news for organizations that are interested in starting new stations. But the time to start organizing is now. While you’ll receive something like fair warning that a license application window is coming – at least 6 months – that still may not be enough time for an organization that’s new to broadcasting to get their ducks in a row.

The post FCC Chair: New LPFM & Noncomm License Opportunities Coming Soon appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Poet Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb in 1996 as an online repository for obscure avant-garde art that, by virtue of having little commercial potential, was hard to find. Audio was an early component of the archive, owing to Kenneth’s interest in sound poetry, an even more obscure art form.

Since then he’s served as the chief, and only, curator and proprietor of UbuWeb, which has become an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in underground and unpopular culture. Kenneth chronicled his efforts in the new book “Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb.” He joins this episode to recount some of these tales, telling us what inspired him to build UbuWeb in the first place, and why he maintains it using simple html code of the sort used in the early web, rather than updating to use the latest database and dynamic website platforms.

Because much of the work on UbuWeb is archived without explicit permission from the creators – living or dead – Kenneth explains why he views “cease and desist” orders as an invitation to dialog and how community radio station WFMU was one of his inspirations. We also get into the relationship between piracy and preservation, why he loves “the misuses of UbuWeb” and the value of “folk archiving” and “folk law.”

Show Notes:

• UbuWeb
• UbuWeb Sound
• Kenneth Goldsmith at the University of Pennsylvania Department of English
• Playlists and archives for Kenny G’s Hour of Pain on WFMU
• Duchamp Is My Lawyer at Columbia University Press
• Duchamp Is My Lawyer at Amazon (Radio Survivor will receive a small commission if you purchase from this link)
• What Is an Interlaced GIF?

The post Podcast #256 – The Robin Hood of the Avant-Garde appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I first learned of Lorenzo Milam because of his groundbreaking book, “Sex and Broadcasting.” Subtitled, “A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community,” it’s an idiosyncratic journey through the independent media landscape of the late 60s and early 70s. While it does serve as a handbook of sorts, as advertised, it’s a lot more fun and freewheeling than the mundane subtitle suggests.

Published in 1988, I first got my hands on a library copy around 1996, when a few years volunteering at community radio station WEFT-FM in Champaign, IL lit a fire in me to learn all I could about this media form. By then Milam had long retired from radio, and I never was able to meet or correspond with him, despite some furtive attempts around that same time.

When I first heard the name Lorenzo Milam he was referred to as the “Johnny Appleseed of Community Radio,” due to the fact that he helped to found a series of community radio stations, beginning with Seattle’s KRAB-FM in 1961, followed by KBOO-FM in Portland, OR. This loose network would come to be known as the “KRAB Nebula.”

Milam died in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico on July 21 19, aged 86 years. He had left radio by the 1980s. Anyone who has spent a decade or more in community radio can sympathize with how the stress of working with and around dozens of passionate, creative but sometimes ill-mannered broadcasters can wear you down. He went on to publish “The Fessenden Review,” an eclectic literary review, followed by the online “Ralph Magazine,” short for “The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities.”

“Rebels on the Air” author and Reason books editor Jesse Walker wrote a lovely obituary for Milam, calling on his interviews for that book, and the friendship that endured afterward.

ACORN founder Wade Rathke got to know Milam as he founded community station KCHU in Dallas, TX during the mid-70s. He shared some memories on his blog.

Madison, WI community station WORT-FM reports in their eulogy that Milam organized the first community radio conference, called NARK (National Alternative Radio Konvention) in that city in 1975 – less than five months before the station signed on.

It’s hard to imagine a single person who had greater influence on US community radio. My favorite aspect of his legacy is playfulness, and a willingness to experiment. While community radio has an important function to inform and provide a platform for voices still left out of mainstream media, revisiting “Sex and Broadcasting” reminds us that the enterprise should also be fun, and that we should also take the opportunity to thumb our noses at the powerful.

The post R.I.P. Radio Trailblazer Lorenzo Milam appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The National Association of Community Broadcasters has organized a nationwide observance of the life of George Floyd. Mr. Floyd will be laid to rest at a private ceremony on June 9 at 2 PM CDT in Houston, Texas. At that time over 100 community radio stations will play Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”

The NFCB is maintaining a list of participating stations, and additional stations are invited to participate.

Featured image credit: Pexels

The post More than 100 Community Radio Stations to Honor George Floyd on June 9 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Raven Radio, KCAW-FM, serves Sitka and the remote communities of Southeast Alaska with public radio content, local news and volunteer-produced programming. Like “shelter in place” elsewhere in the lower 48, Sitka is on what they call a “hunker down” advisory. We talk with KCAW General Manager and friend of the show, Becky Meiers about how the station is balancing staff safety and vital public service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now radio broadcasters are considered essential personnel, so they may travel to the station’s studios, but the advised 6-feet of social distance requires only two people can be on premises at any one time – one upstairs and one downstairs. That’s prompted some shifts in daytime programming when it’s important to have at least one news or operations person on hand at all times.

Because KCAW is often the only reliable information real-time information source for remote villages that have limited internet and landlines, Becky serves on the local emergency planning committee and coordinates closely with emergency personnel. At the same time, the station continues to provide music and cultural programming for that much needed break.

When news of the pandemic first hit, KCAW staff and management assembled a preparedness plan. Though there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sitka when we recorded on March 27, once a first case is confirmed, the station will move forward to the next phase of its plan. Learn what that plan is, and how KCAW engages with its community and listenership in this interview.

Show Notes:

• KCAW-FM, Raven Radio
• KCAW just received a grant from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation
• KCAW Coronavirus Information Hub
• “Have an Old Fashioned with a modern twist, thanks to Sitka’s virtual bartender“
• Podcast #84 – Improving Your Radio Reception
• Podcast #197 – Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
• Touring KCAW, Sitka Alaska’s Raven Radio

However,

The post Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The University of Virgina’s WTJU now only permits one person in their studios at one time and has five remote locations ready to take over live broadcasting. That’s a couple of ways that community and college stations are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Community radio WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore joins this week to explain how university campus-based stations are coping with the ever-changing situation. He is also the staff adviser to student-run LPFM WXTJ. He tells us how forging alliances with local businesses and groups has helped the station provide original programming and a unique community service during this challenging time.

WTJU is primarily a music station, but is able to weave important news and information into its regular programming, without breaking format. We discuss how while a full-on talk program isn’t suited to all listeners or all stations, that doesn’t mean a music station can’t be a vital community resource.

We also review audio listening data from the just-released 2020 Infinite Dial survey. Radio listening continues to change, while podcasting continues to grow. We reflect on what this means for community and college radio.

Show Notes:

• WTJU
• WXTJ-LP
• Charlottesville Tomorrow
• THE BRIDGE Progressive Arts Initiative
• The Front Porch Charlottesville
• Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19
• Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station
• Broadcast Using This Tool is how Nathan connects to WTJU remotely
• The Infinite Dial 2020

The post Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Catching a low-power FM radio station in the wild in New Zealand requires a bit of luck. Permitted to broadcast with up to one watt of power without a license, these stations have a bit more range – generally up to one kilometer radius (.6 miles) – than a legal unlicensed Part 15 station in the US, which might be heard up to a quarter-mile away. However, that’s still not a big footprint, even when compared to licensed LPFMs stateside, which may broadcast with as much as 100x as the NZ stations.

One factor working in the listener’s favor is that the country’s LPFMs are consigned to a set of frequencies bookending the FM dial: 86.7 to 88.3 mHz on the left end and 106.7 to 107.7 MHz on the right end. When I talked with Kristen Paterson, station manager of Wellington Access Radio and a co-founder of a university LPFM, she conjectured that the top end LPFM band was set aside as a kind of buffer between full-power broadcasts and the air traffic band situated just north of FM. 

Regardless of the reason why they’re relegated to the far-left and far-right ends of the FM dial, knowing this makes it a little easier to hunt for them. That said, during my time in the country in late January and early February, I could confirm reception of only two.

The first catch was in Browns Bay, in the East Coast Bays area of Auckland, the country’s largest city. I tuned in what I believe to be Great Tech Radio at 107.7 FM. I say “believe to be” because over the course of an hour or so I never heard a legal ID. I did hear an assortment of oldies, from Diana Ross and the Supremes to the Bee Gees, along with a 60s comedy record, accompanied by back announcing and weather forecasts. Those forecasts included days prior and after my listening time, leading me to believe the station was automated and the forecasts weren’t the freshest. 

I identified Great Tech based upon several online LPFM directories, though I won’t hold to that ID if challenged. Given that they’re unlicensed and don’t require much investment to put on the air, New Zealand’s LPFMs are quite transitory, and I found rather few that maintain a regular web presence. 

My second catch was in the resort city of Queenstown, located in the southwest part of the South Island. It’s a beautiful setting along the shore of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains.

Drop FM came in loud and clear for me on 87.7 FM. I first heard 90s vintage drum ’n bass music, which I learned is a staple for the station when I googled it. The station stands out from other New Zealand LPFMs by having a very consistent web presence, along with an internet stream. In fact it has two other frequencies in Wanaka, north of Queenstown, and the suburb of Frankton. 

Drop FM broadcasts live from dance clubs in Queenstown on a regular basis – though, understandably, corona virus seems to have put those events on hold. While drum n’ bass and related electronic genres seem to be the station’s bedrock, I also enjoyed a long set of eclectic R&B one evening as I was packing up to leave for my next stop.

I last stayed in Wellington, the country’s capital. I’m sad to report I was unable to confirm reception of any LPFMs over the course of several evenings. Perhaps the city’s hilly geography – it resembles San Francisco in that way – worked against me. Or maybe there just weren’t any active stations in a one kilometer radius from my Air BnB. 

I remain fascinated by this broadcast service, since, to the best of my knowledge, New Zealand has the highest power allowed for legal unlicensed broadcasting anywhere in the world. Setting aside a set number of frequencies seems to be an effective way of allowing more voices on the air at a very low cost, while also giving an outlet to broadcasters who might otherwise go “pirate.” This was my second visit to New Zealand, and I do intend to visit again. When I do, I’m tempted to bring a small transmitter to set up my own temporary LPFM.

I still can’t help but think that such a service in the US could help stem the tide of unlicensed broadcasters in the urban areas of Boston, New York, New Jersey and South Florida, while also providing an opportunity for communities and groups that weren’t able to get on the air during the last LPFM licensing window in 2013. Though the FM dial is pretty well full in most metropolitan areas, I suggest that the band could be extended a little to the left, to encompass frequencies mostly vacated by former analog channel 6 TV stations. 

Of course, this proximity to the FM dial has long been exploited by the handful of analog low-power TV stations still broadcasting on channel 6, which by and large now primarily operate as radio stations at 87.7 FM rather than TV stations, often known as FrankenFMs. The FCC is currently deciding the fate of those stations, since all TV is really supposed to be digital, and their transition deadline has been pushed repeatedly over the last five years. I propose that if channel 6 low-power TV stations are allowed to stay analog, keeping their near-FM broadcast signal, then that extra little bit of dial space should be given over to unlicensed LPFM everywhere else, where there isn’t an existing channel 6. Keep the limit to 1 watt, and maybe let them have 87.9 FM, too. I can see little harm, and much benefit. 

However, reality is that even that little bit of uncommercialized real estate is unlikely to be tolerated by the National Association of Broadcasters, nor National Public Radio, whom I expect would lobby heartily against such a radical notion. 

Still, I can dream… until my next trip to New Zealand.

The post Radio Field Report: Legal Unlicensed LPFM in New Zealand appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Community and college radio stations are unique in broadcasting because in addition to being important community services, many are also a community crossroads, hosting dozens or hundreds of people in their studios and spaces in any given week. That means the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a specific challenge for these broadcasters.

KPFA’s “UpFront” co-host Brian Edwards-Tiekert and National Federation of Community Broadcasters program director Ernesto Aguilar join to help us understand how college and community stations should deal with the pandemic on and off the air. As a community journalist, Brian has been on the front lines of helping Bay Area listeners get the best information and advice. He has recommendations for how stations should address critical information, and misinformation, on air, and how they can frame issues for vital community discussion.

Ernesto observes that the pandemic is a “learning opportunity” for stations to be sure they have an emergency response plan that keeps them on air, even if functioning with just one staff, volunteer or engineer. Having automation can be one important tool, causing him to warn that the current situation is a “wake up call” for stations that have resisted the technology as a “badge of honor.”

We also review feedback from listeners and readers who let us know how the stations where they work and volunteer are managing the pandemic.

Show Notes:

• KPFA UpFront
• Brian Edwards-Tiekert shares thoughtful, well-researched advice on Twitter
• Ernesto Aguilar in Radio World: Community Broadcaster: COVID-19 Concerns
• National Federation of Community Broadcasters: Coronavirus Resources For Community Radio

The post Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In New Zealand a dozen partially government-funded radio stations are charged with providing access to under-represented groups and communities. Wellington Access Radio, situated in New Zealand’s capital city, was the first station of its kind in that country, and station manager Kristen Paterson tells us more about its history and mission.

Kristen explains the funding model for community access radio, which differs significantly from community radio in the United States. In fact, there is no history or tradition of listener-funded radio in New Zealand. We touch on how Wellington Access Radio assesses the needs of its community, determining which groups would benefit from airtime.

Also, Kristen got their start in college radio, co-founding a legal unlicensed low-power FM station at Victoria University, and we hear that story and learn more about this very unique radio sector.

Show Notes:

• Wellington Access Radio
• LPFM Drop FM Queenstown, NZ
• New Zealand Has Legal Unlicensed Low-Power FM
• Interference Conflict Between Unlicensed Stations in New Zealand
• Association of Community Access Broadcasters
• Saturday Night on Radio New Zealand

The post Podcast #234 – Community Access Radio in New Zealand appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Last week we declared that the 2010s were a banner decade for community radio. As Jennifer notes, though college radio had a tough start to the last decade, with the loss of prominent stations like KUSF, KTRU and WRVU, the service seriously bounced back, aided by factors like the low-power FM boom, internet radio, HD Radio and support from the new College Radio Foundation. That all adds up to the defensible declaration that it was also the biggest growth decade for college radio, too. We unpack all that happened.

Digging further into our second “Decade in Review” episode, Jennifer also looks at how efforts to preserve radio programming and materials stepped up, seen most prominently with the founding of the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force. On that subject, we’re pleased to report that this show has been selected for collection by the Library of Congress as part of a new podcast program. We’ll talk to the manager of the Podcast Preservation Project on next week’s show.

Finally, we also dig into how video, and YouTube specifically, has become radio, in many ways. A picture may be required, but what does it matter if it’s the audio that’s most important?

But, wait, there’s more! Find out how Jerry Lee Lewis fuels a discussion of border blasters, the tempestuous relationship between radio and the record industry through times of both war and peace in some bonus content that didn’t fit into this episode. Our Patreon supporters can hear this bonus episode, and so can you for a gift of just $1 a month.

Show Notes

• More College Radio than Ever in the 2010s as it Takes New Forms
• Preservation is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station
• Is YouTube the Home of the New Radio Pirates?

The post Podcast #228 – College Radio’s Biggest Decade appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We begin part one of our review of the last decade in radio with the observation that it saw the greatest expansion of community radio in history. Though the second US LPFM licensing window that happened in 2013 is a significant driver, the growth happened all over the world.

The 2010s were also a growth period for a lesser-known type of radio station, that isn’t officially even radio. We’re talking about FrankenFM TV stations that can be heard on the FM dial. Not remotely as numerous as low-power FMs, they nevertheless increased in number.

We also note the cataclysmic shifts in independent internet radio that went largely unnoticed outside specialist press (and Radio Survivor). Though indie stations, and platforms supporting those stations, still exist, an unknown number were effectively forced to shut down.

Still, at the end of the decade, there are substantially more radio stations on the air than ten years ago. Not bad for a dying medium, eh? Next week, in part two, we dig into the decade in college radio, and dig deeper into the convergence of radio and video.

Show Notes:

• The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s
• Podcast #67 – New Community Radio in Borneo
• Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina
• Podcast #198 – Defending Human Rights with Radio in Honduras
• Podcast #170 – Community Radio in Brazil
• The Near-Death of Independent Internet Radio Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• The Rise and Possible Fall of FrankenFMs Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Understanding Radio in the Popular Zeitgeist – An Analysis of Radio Survivor’s Most Popular Posts of the Decade 2010 – 2019

The post Podcast #227 – A Banner Decade for Community Radio and FrankenFMs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Mid-way through the last decade I declared that, “[w]ith regard to new stations going on the air, 2015 represented the biggest single-year leap forward for non-commercial and community radio in U.S. history.” That’s because 524 new low-power FM stations signed on that year. That was an increase of 56% over the number of existing LPFMs at the end of 2014 (924).

Over the next four years another 753 signed on, bringing the total number low-power stations to 2,186 as of September 30, 2019 according to the FCC. At the close of 2009, when the service was on the cusp of its 10th birthday, there were 864 LPFMs in operation. This means the count more than doubled in the 2010s. No doubt this period saw the biggest expansion of low-power FM in history.

But because the LPFM service is specifically designed to be locally owned-and-operated, with hyper-local service, it’s clear that the last decade also saw the greatest flowering of community radio in US history. In fact, low-power FMs now make up a full 35% of all non-commercial stations in the country. That’s an increase of 14% from the end of 2009. The reason why the percentage didn’t jump more is that the last ten years were good for full-power non-commercial licenses as well, with 942 launching in that time.

Defining & Counting ‘Community’ Radio

Now, one might argue that not every low-power FM station is operated as a true community station, programmed and staffed by local folks who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to broadcast. It’s true that many are owned by groups – religious and otherwise – that fill their schedules primarily with syndicated programming beaming in by satellite or streamed over the internet. There are others that are mostly filled with automated music that feel more like vanity jukebox stations, with no sign of any kind of live or local hosts or DJs. Added together I can’t tell you how many there are, but I could be convinced that they even make up a full half of all LPFMs.

The problem with counting community radio stations is that there is no central authority. The FCC only cares if a station is non-commercial or commercial – it doesn’t dig into the differences between public, religious, college or community stations – or that it meets the ownership and operational requirements to have a low-power license. While the National Federation of Community Broadcasters represents and assists community stations, there’s no obligation for a station to join, even though the organization has worked hard to connect with these new broadcasters.

Nevertheless, even if only a decent minority of these new stations operate with the spirit of community radio, that’s still on the order of at least 200 to 300 new community stations. This estimate is easy to justify by taking a look at any of the top 100 radio markets in the country, where you’ll find a minimum of one new community LPFM. More likely you’ll hear two, three or more. I’m thinking of cities like Portland, OR, Seattle, Philadelphia and Chicago which all added a few. And while some cities, like Philly and Chicago, long have had rich college radio scenes, they didn’t have true community stations, owned by local non-profits and open to local people unaffiliated with a school or college, until this past decade.

But LPFMs didn’t only go up in major markets, although that was a vitally important aspect of this growth. Dozens or even hundreds of smaller cities and towns got new community stations, too. That leads me to think my estimate of 200 to 300 is too conservative.

Growth for All of Radio, too

Despite the supposed imminent death of radio, the medium continued to grow as a whole in the 2010s – by over 2,300 stations – and community radio outpaced all previous growth in the sector. Radio’s share of most folks’ daily listening may have declined, given so much other audio media competing for their ears. But the need and desire for the terrestrial radio hasn’t gone away.

Why a Radio License still Matters

Today, in this always-connected internet environment, it’s significant that many, if not most, community LPFMs have internet streams, which help them reach audiences – especially younger audiences – that don’t use over-the-air receivers. However, this fact doesn’t make their broadcast licenses and terrestrial signals redundant or vestigial. Rather, being a licensed broadcast station is an assurance to the community that the organization is serious, and intends to stick around. The official sanction of a license shouldn’t be underestimated or overlooked, because it’s also a shared asset that a community is more likely to rally behind and value, in part because, if lost, it’s not easily replaced.

Community stations function as community media centers, providing local residents a chance not only to broadcast, but to learn audio or video production, train up on live sound engineering or create podcasts. These are functions that most commercial, public or religious stations don’t serve, even if their programming is a community service. Though an LPFM’s listening audience may be small compared to a town’s local NPR affiliate, the interpersonal network and impact is often much stronger, especially with people who aren’t amongst the local elite or traditionally well-connected.

An Historic Global Flowering

Not only was this the biggest ten-year increase in US history, it was arguably the biggest in world history, too. India certainly adds a lot to that total, with 428 letters of intent (like a US construction permit) issued to groups that applied to build stations, on top of many other countries. This is why the explosion of community radio, especially via low-power FM, is one of the most important radio trends of the last decade.

The post The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The 2020 POTUS primaries start, oddly enough, with an event that is not really a primary. It is called the Iowa Caucasus, in which Iowans pick a Democratic or Republican Presidential nominee via neighborhood cluster meetings. In the end, all the local choices are tallied, and et voila, a winner or group of winners emerge. The IC is scheduled for Monday, February 3, but that has not stopped the media from covering it as if it were happening next week.

Despite this time lag, interesting things do transpire as these Iowans prepare for their Caucuses. Thus you might want to check out 2020TALKS, a daily three minute newscast covering the Democratic primary race in general, and this gateway to next year’s primaries in particular. Headquartered in Ames, Iowa at KHOI Community radio, 2020Talks is hosted by Lily Böhlke and distributed by the Public News Service and the Pacifica Network. The show serves up what is happening from the progressive perspective of an Iowa Community radio station about 25 miles north of Des Moines.

For example, the above episode covers efforts in Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which Iowa United States Senator Jodi Ernst wants to water down, relaxing its protections for Native American women, among other groups. The clip also surveys what the various Democratic POTUS hopefuls are saying about the law. 

You can pick up 2020Talks at Audioport.org and NewsService.org. It posts its latest shows from midnight EST Sunday through Thursday.

The post The 2020 POTUS race as covered by someone who is actually from Iowa appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On the edge of a funky beach town in Maui lies magical community radio station KOPO-LP, whose broadcasts are filled with youthful voices. Since 2006, thousands of kids and teens from the Pa’ia Youth and Cultural Center (PYCC) have taken to the FM airwaves from its seaside perch.

Known as RadiOpio (opio means “youth” in Hawaiian), KOPO-LP operates from the site of a formerly abandoned building that now houses a youth center, complete with skate park. As surfers trek to and from the adjacent beach, young people are hanging out, skateboarding, playing pool, and taking part in a range of programs, from cooking to media production.

While on vacation in Hawaii this August, I dropped in to the station with my family and was lucky to be able to meet up with RadiOpio Program Director Laura Civitello. Civitello greeted us enthusiastically and indulged me in a short interview and tour. She told a fascinating story about the station’s improbable history. It all begins with Pa’ia Youth and Cultural Center, which stemmed from a grassroots community effort to re-purpose an old, spooky home that was the sole survivor of a neighborhood-destroying 1946 tsunami.

Civitello recounted that in 1999, a staff member at the youth center spotted an ad in Wired Magazine about the opportunity for a low power radio license and that prompted the organization to apply. By 2005, they were awarded a construction permit for a new FM station, but struggled to find someone to take on the project as a youth program.

When the center reached out to Civitello, her reaction was markedly different. She told me that she thought, “That’s perfect for me.” After taking on the project, she heard from plenty of naysayers who told her that it was “insane” to launch a radio station at the beach with kids on the air. She was undeterred.

Having been a volunteer at another Maui community radio station, Mana’o Radio (see my tour report), prior to KOPO-LP; Civitello had both local radio connections and insights, which helped as she worked to get the new station on the air in 2006. “It went well immediately,” she recounted, explaining that RadiOpio’s focus on its participants is key. To emphasize that, she spoke about the station’s air sound, relaying, “I hope it’s the sound of kids having fun.”

While we chatted, I noticed numerous radios in Civitello’s office. When I pointed them out, she smiled and revealed that folks keep giving her radios as gifts, no doubt as a sign of her passion for radio. The school year started a few days before our visit and the center was buzzing with activity. Young people trickled in and out to check in with Civitello and we were introduced to some of the DJs, including a pair of 12-year-old girls who were on the air.

The KOPO-LP studio is in a tiny room next to Civitello’s office. A short hallway leads in to the studio and we loitered there while checking out the space. With two DJs sitting in the studio in front of microphones and audio equipment, the studio was pretty much at maximum capacity.

Between songs, the show hosts bantered before exiting the studio to make room for the new crew of DJs. Civitello explained that the schedule is very loose, with kids as young as nine years old coming in after school and taking turns on the air. “I give them a lot of freedom,” Civitello shared, telling me that the young DJs make their own decisions about what to play and say on the air. Sometimes kids will even sing along with the music that they are playing with the microphones turned on.

Although KOPO 88.9 FM’s 100 watt range is hampered by the ocean (not too many listeners in that direction), we were amazed by how far we heard the station on our sunset drive up to the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala. As we trekked out of town and up into the clouds, we caught a mix of pop (Billie Eilish was a big favorite of many DJs), hip-hop (Cardi B, Post Malone and Big Sean were represented) and reggae and could still hear KOPO-LP as we hit an elevation of 7,000 feet! On our post-sunset journey back down, KOPO-LP was playing some older music, including jazzy-bluesy material and some vintage pop from Patti Drew. Earlier in the day we’d heard some classic Beastie Boys as well.

Civitello said that over FM, KOPO-LP covers the north shore of Maui, but that it also has many “faithful” online listeners. The soul of the station is its young participants. “We’re like a family,” Civitello opined, telling me that the free after-school programs at the youth center draw in 9 to 19-year-olds from a range of backgrounds, including “some of the wealthiest kids in the world” as well as youth who are homeless. Most end up doing radio at one point or another, but there’s also the lure of the skate park, pool tables, and other programs.

As I took in the beautiful surroundings and incredible opportunity for kids to do radio at such young ages, I thought about all the tourists passing through on their way to see the sights of Hawaii. I hope they take the time to flip through the dial on their rental cars to catch the joyful sounds of kids and teens on RadiOpio.

Thanks to Laura Civitello for welcoming us at RadiOpio when we stopped by unannounced! Following the visit, she joined us on Radio Survivor show/podcast episode #210, “Youth Radio by the Beach,” filling in even more details about how the station came to be. This is my 165th radio station tour report and my 36th community radio station recap. View all my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #165: Maui Youth Radio Station KOPO-LP RadiOpio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On a dreamy Hawaiian vacation this August, I carved out some time to visit community radio station KMNO Mana’o Radio on the island of Maui. My colleagues Matthew Lasar and Paul Riismandel have both written about the station in the past and last year Paul did an impromptu visit, piquing my interest even more.

As I plotted out a family trip to Maui, scheduling a visit to KMNO was a great excuse to visit the town of Wailuku. We spent the morning sampling artisan doughnuts and meeting the gregarious owner at Donut Dynamite, hiking in the lush Iao Valley, and roaming through funky thrift stores and antique shops.

Located in close proximity to the town’s commercial strip, Mana’o Radio is a short walk to a record store, Request Music, as well as shops, restaurants and cafes. Having spent much of our trip in touristy zones, it was refreshing to check out the more locals-oriented Wailuku.

Embracing the spirit of aloha that we felt on our trip, Mana’o Radio was a lovely respite on a hot afternoon. In the air conditioned station lobby, General Manager Michael Elam met up with me and my family to share the story of KMNO. Shelves of music comprised one side of the lobby, with desks and cabinets on the other side. A door leads into the on-air studio, where a DJ was hosting a program during our visit.

An all-volunteer operation, KMNO is led by a six-person board and has around 45 volunteers. Eschewing pledge drives, Mana’o Radio instead relies on underwriting and special event fundraisers. Elam said that it has been “truly listener supported since day one.” Even better, he added that the station is financially stable and lauded by the community. Just a few weeks before my visit, KMNO was named “best radio station” in local publication, Maui Time Weekly.

Originally a low power station beginning in 2002 (KEAO-LP), Mana’o Radio’s initial FCC application stated,

Manao Radio was incorporated in the state of Hawaii on August 28, 2000. ‘Manao’ is a Hawaiian word which means ‘thought, idea, opinion, theory, meaning, mind; to think, suppose, meditate, deem, consider’. It is one of many non-English words used frequently in Hawaii, often in the phrase ‘sharing manao,’ or the exchange of thoughts, feelings, and expertise. Pre-contact Hawaiians had no written language; knowledge was passed through the oral tradition of sharing manao. We chose the name ‘Manao Radio’ because we see this station as a modern extension of this tradition; an opportunity to educate the community through multicultural sharing.

Mana’o Radio later cancelled its LPFM license and obtained a full power FM license, upgrading its signal in 2014 to 1200 watts at 91.7 FM. Elam told me that just last year, they added a translator and are now able to reach the entire island of Maui, which he said has around 160,000 year-round residents.

Elam explained that the station’s mission has expanded since its early days as a low power “hippie station.” While it still caters to that audience, programming has expanded recently and they’ve had an influx of new DJs in the past one to three years. There are hip-hop and electronica shows now and a beats workshop at nearby Request Music was in keeping with KMNO’s desire to support live music and local Maui musicians, according to Elam.

Although Mana’o is primarily focused on its local listeners; it’s not lost on them that the station broadcasts in tourism-focused Hawaii. With its online stream, Elam opined that they would love to have visitors take the station home with them.

With all local programming, KMNO airs a wide range of live shows and plays automated music playlists during the late night hours (midnight to 3am). Genres over the course of the broadcast day include metal, jazz, Celtic music, classical, blues, rock, soul, country, and more. While tuning in to the station throughout our Hawaiian vacation, we enjoyed the mix, including a fun old school hip hop show, some newer indie rock, and tidbits of Hawaiian history, which run twice a day.

A number of shows have a traditional freeform aesthetic, blending a range of genres. DJ Forest, who was on the air when we stopped by, talked about his underground radio past in the San Francisco Bay Area (at KPFA and KTIM to name a few). As I learned about the places that many Mana’o Radio DJs had migrated from, it brought to mind the fascinating melange of folks who have been drawn to Hawaii.

Mahalo to Michael Elam for the interview and tour. This is my 164th radio station tour report and my 35th community radio station recap. View all my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #164: KMNO Mana’o Radio in Maui appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Summer began for me with a short trip to Colorado, which prompted a road trip to see the sights of Boulder, including famed community radio station KGNU 88.5 FM/1390AM. Founded in 1978, the station has staff of less than ten, but an active roster of around 400 volunteers and a broadcast that reaches from Boulder to Denver and beyond.

KGNU was recently on my radar after I learned about its long-running hip-hop program, “The Eclipse Show,” (reportedly the longest running hip-hop show anywhere) during a 2018 Radio Survivor interview with Hip-Hop Radio Archive founder Ryan MacMichael. Following that episode, we spoke with one of the hosts of the Eclipse Show, DJ A-L, to learn more about its 40 year history. As it turns out, the program’s history as “an alternative black radio show” (beginning in 1978) and current incarnation as a live music mix show parallels the history of KGNU; which piqued my interest about the station even more.

Coincidentally, KGNU kicked off its recent 40th anniversary celebration (read about the station’s early history here) with a New Year’s Eve hip-hop show, followed by a series of events, including a gala and a museum exhibit. Over the airwaves, the station did weekly music flashbacks (“40 Years in 40 Weeks”) and monthly programming flashbacks (“Flashback 40”), highlighting historic archives, including early LGBTQ and feminist programming.

Music and public affairs programming are important aspects of KGNU, with the FM schedule comprised of news/public affairs during traditional commute times (weekday mornings and afternoons) and for much of the daytime hours on Saturdays. Music rounds out the FM schedule and is also the entire focus of a special KGNU stream called “After FM,” for listeners who would like to tune in to KGNU music programming round-the-clock.

In addition to “The Eclipse Show,” another long-time program on KGNU, “Reggae Bloodlines,” has been on the air since 1978. Other music shows run the gamut from blues to electronic to folk to opera to jazz to experimental sounds.

On my visit to KGNU, Station Manager Tim Russo showed me around the Boulder digs and sat down for an interview with me. Connected with KGNU for around 20 years (and Station Manager since 2015), he first got involved while a student and campus activist, telling me that he recognized that radio was a way to “amplify” voices.

I was particularly excited to see the ways that KGNU works with local organizations, including numerous groups focused on youth. They’ve run youth radio camps, have worked with high school groups, and have a multi-year Media Gardens projects working with bilingual young people on art and radio projects.

KGNU has also brought high school students into the station alongside a training program (including bilingual storytelling) that takes place in the schools. Russo pointed out that they are already noticing an increase in interns from that partner high school and that it’s important for KGNU to learn from young people how to make the station a more “relevant” place for them.

Russo articulated KGNU’s desire to “keep the doors open” to youth and also allow for all volunteers to try new things and innovate. He said that it can be challenging for new folks to break into the programming schedule at KGNU, where there are more applicants than time slots. He’s hoping to create more opportunities and “side channels” in order to include more voices. In part, that’s where After FM and HD come in for KGNU. Those channels are available as “training and innovation spaces” and as places to try out new programming, according to Russo.

KGNU’s ethos as a “community-powered” station is palpable. Russo elaborated that, “We’re very much a mission-driven organization and that’s to be an amplifier for underrepresented voices, culture and community. So we definitely say that KGNU for 40 years has been amplifying community voices, culture and music.”

The desire to keep in touch with and change with the community is admirable. Russo told me that KGNU strives to be “perpetually relevant” and a place that is “reflecting the interests of the community” as a “cultural center” and “hub” for the community. “It’s much more than a radio [station],” Russo opined.

Thanks to Tim Russo and everyone at KGNU for the lovely summer visit. This is my 163rd radio station tour report and my 34th community radio station recap. View all my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #163: Community Radio Station KGNU in Boulder appeared first on Radio Survivor.

RadiOpio Program Director Laura Civitello has the enviable job of running a youth radio station on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. From an upstairs perch at the beach side Pa’ ia Youth and Cultural Center, Civitello manages KOPO-LP, whose on-air hosts range in age from 9 to 19 years old. On this week’s show, Civitello tells the story of how RadiOpio came to be and talks about the unique role that this LPFM station is playing for young people in the town of Pa’ia.

Show Notes

• RadiOpio website
• Pa’ia Youth and Cultural Center
• The 40 Best Little Radio Stations in the U.S. (Paste Magazine)
• Radio Station Tours on Radio Survivor
• Mahalo to Mana’o Radio, Maui’s Community Radio Station
• Mana’o Radio website
• KOKO-LP
• KAKU-FM
• Free Speech Radio News Documentary – On Being Hawaiian and Homeless

The post Podcast #210 – Youth Radio by the Beach appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer is back from travels, that included Hawaiian community radio, to join Eric and Paul. First up, a question: is “pathfinder” a good replacement for the word “pioneer,” the latter of which has an unfortunate colonial heritage? Listener Pat Flanagan suggested it to us after we asked for input a couple of episodes, so we provisionally adopt it here to talk about people who are finding new paths for our favorite audio media.

Jennifer updates us about a new pathfinding low-power FM station backed by the San Francisco Public Press, and announces that the call for papers is open for the next Radio Preservation Task Force conference in October 2020.

Paul reports back from Podcast Movement, where some 3000 podcasters of many stripes met for 3 days in Orlando, Florida. He remarks on the wide variety of podcast email newsletters he learned about, and the Podcast Brunch Club. We note recent allegations of plagiarism against a popular true crime podcast, using it as a launching point for a discussion about journalism and ethics in community broadcasting and podcasting.

Show Notes:

• Call for Papers – ‘Century of Broadcasting: Preservation and Renewal’ Conference
• Podcast #192: Saving Radio History with The Radio Preservation Task Force
• Muni Diaries
• San Francisco Public Press
• Podcast #191: How an LPFM Produces an Hour of Hyper-Local News Every Weekday
• Podcast Movement 2019
• Preserve This Podcast
• Podcast Brunch Club
• The Adventure Zone podcast
• NY Times: Popular ‘Crime Junkie’ Podcast Removes Episodes After Plagiarism Accusation

The post Podcast #208 – Radio and Podcast Pathfinding in San Francisco and Podcast Movement appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Tucked away in a shed in a northwest Seattle neighborhood was perhaps the tiniest radio station that I’d ever seen: community radio station KBFG-LP. Part of the most recent wave of low power FM stations, it launched in December, 2017 and broadcasts for a 2.5 mile radio to a potential FM audience of around 250,000 people in the Ballard, Fremont and Greenwood neighborhoods (thus the B-F-G call letters).

Radio Survivor readers will recall that my colleagues Eric and Paul attended KBFG’s launch party, interviewing several of its founders for Radio Survivor Podcast #124. That event was also featured in a big story about low power FM in the New York Times, lending some incredible early attention to the station.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, KBFG-LP was able to take to the airwaves before it had a public-facing studio, with programmers submitting their shows remotely. Within a year, it opened “The Shack,” in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The mini studio was housed in a pre-fabricated building that I was told was really designed as a lawnmower shed. Nestled behind a coffee stand and steps away from a dumpster on a Ballard corner, it was a funky location that truly spoke to KBFG’s hyper-local, neighborhood ethos.

On a rainy afternoon in late October, 2018, I ventured to “The Shack” to check out the station. With room for approximately two people in the studio, part of the visit was spend lingering outside under umbrellas. As I spoke with Fulcrum Community Communications (KBFG’s non-profit license-holder) board member Jerry Russell, his fellow board member Pamela Burton arrived for a separate interview. I was curious how we’d all manage the space constraints and watched in awe as she invited the guest into her car for the conversation, while I chatted with Russell in the small studio. Clearly this is a crew that is used to managing with limited resources.

At the time of my visit, the Shack had been up and running for about six months, with a couple of shows broadcasting live from the cozy studio, including a Sunday evening show called “Night Sweats.” Other volunteers used the Shack to pre-record their shows or conduct interviews that would air at a later time. Russell explained that the Shack was outfitted with “bare bones” equipment while KBFG awaited an eventual move to a bigger space.

A light outside the door of the Shack alerted passersby that the station was on the air and speakers could also be set up to play KBFG to folks hanging out in the adjacent triangular gravel-filled space. While it was quiet (except for the “45rpm” show of 1940s and 1950s music playing from automation in the background) and rainy on my visit, I was told that during summer months there were picnic tables and a food truck parked outside, creating an even more convivial atmosphere

Earlier in the day, I got my first taste of KBFG during the Halloween event/food drive, Hunger Goblin’ Treat or Treat, in a nearby neighborhood. The station set up a remote outpost in the corner of a bank, with windows facing a busy daytime trick-or-treating route. The costumed father-son DJ duo played spooky tunes and chimed in with running commentary about the ghouls, goblins, TV characters, and other revelers spotted during the event.

While both the parade broadcast and the Shack speak to KBFG’s community outreach, back in October much of the production of radio shows was taking place inside the homes of DJs and show hosts. With a mix of music and public affairs programming, KBFG’s local-focused mission extends to the artists played over the airwaves. When there isn’t a live DJ, the station plays a curated mix of music, with 80% of it from Seattle artists and 20% from musicians from other states in the Northwest. Russell told me that by October, 2018, the station had already acquired music from 5,000 artists in Seattle alone. During my visit, the music collection was largely digital, with not much room for a physical music library of records or CDs in the Shack (although I did spot a few vinyl LPs).

Russell and Burton were among the group of folks who worked to bring KBFG to the airwaves. While Russell’s radio experience was limited to a stint at his high school station many years ago; Burton worked at Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles for close to 20 years in numerous roles, including Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives.

Burton’s work at Pacifica as both a radio producer and archivist informs her current programming on KBFG, as she regularly combs the archives to use on her “You Heard it Here” program, drawing links between current events and historical material. She’s pulled clips from a wide range of past programs, with topics covering everything from feminism to vampires.

Excited about both the current group of KBFG-LP volunteers and the possibilities of collaborations with Seattle institutions and venues, Burton told me that she was looking forward to having more people involved with the station, adding, “everybody’s invited to come and play.”

In March, 2019, KBFG moved to its new home, complete with studio and office, leaving the Shack behind. Its new headquarters, The Jack Straw Cultural Center, holds a special place in community radio history, having been established with funds from pioneering Seattle radio station KRAB (hear about the KRAB Archives on Radio Survivor Podcast #134). Over email, Burton relayed the exciting news:

Our new digs are in the Jack Straw Cultural Center which was built from funds earned when KRAB radio’s frequency was sold in 1984. There are production studios down stairs as well as performance spaces which we plan to use for live broadcasts. For now we are training new programmers in our studio/office including a Monday night session at 7pm called Office Hours when program director Tim Flanagan goes on the air inviting people to come in and learn how to do radio.

Thanks so much to everyone at KBFG for sharing your station with me. This is my 158th radio station tour report, my 33rd community radio station tour, and around my 21st LPFM tour. Read of my radio station tours in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #158: Community Radio Station KBFG-LP in Seattle appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC just proposed a series of changes to help make it easier for low-power FM stations to move their transmitters and to fill in weak signal areas. We review this proposal along with a suggestion from the Commission to whittle away at protections for the few dozen remaining analog low-power TV channel 6 stations, often called “Franken FMs” or “Back Door FMs” who’s audio can be heard at the far left end of the FM dial.

Jennifer reports back from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference in San Diego where she presented on future trends in community and college radio. She highlights some current stations that exemplify these trends.

Then she shares a few tours of college stations in the San Diego area, none of which have broadcast licenses, despite being around for decades. We explore this interesting niche of radio history.

Support Radio Survivor, Get Our ‘Zine

We’re publishing a ‘zine and you can get one when you support our work at Radio Survivor via our Patreon campaign. Everyone who supports us at a level of $5 a month or more will get a print copy of Radio Survivor ‘Zine #1. 

Your contribution will help us continue to spread the word of great radio and audio, and allow us to embark on celebrating the 20th anniversaries of Indymedia and LPFM by documenting these important histories. We need 100 Patreon supporters by August 1, 2019 to start this work.

Not coincidentally, that’s the deadline to sign up to get your ‘zine. Everything in the ‘zine will be print-exclusive – learn more here.

Support Radio Survivor today.

Show Notes:

• FCC: Amendments of Parts 73 and 74 to Improve the LPFM Radio Service Technical Rules
• REC Networks: My thoughts on the LPFM NPRM
• San Diego City College – SDS Radio
• Grossmont College – Griffin Radio
• San Diego State University – KCR
• UC San Diego – KSDT

The post Podcast #202 – Small Boosts Proposed for LPFM & Why Aren’t There College Stations on the Dial in San Diego? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Survivor celebrates 10 years on the internet and four years podcasting with our 200th episode. Matthew Lasar joins Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel for this review of the last decade in radio that matters.

Matthew tells the Radio Survivor origin story that sprang forth from his I.F. Stone inspired research deep into the digital catacombs of the FCC database, unearthing comments that broadcast execs never imagined would be public – such as one who accused prominent media reformists of being “communists.”

Jennifer recalls how a literature review for a journal article on college radio revealed how little scholarly work existed on the topic, compelling her to document this important media form that Matthew says he has learned is, “the first public radio.” “The present is future history,” Jennifer observes. This prompts Paul to comment how we’ve begun to fulfill that promise, given that Radio Survivor now has dozens of citations in scholarly works.

On the way through these stories, everyone notes the changes in the broadcast and online media landscape since 2009, how some publications have come and gone, and offering reasons why Radio Survivor has managed to survive. It’s a discussion of interest to anyone who has tried to, or wants to, sustain a passion project fueled primarily by volunteer labor.

We’re making a ‘zine!

As we announce on this episode, in August we’ll be publishing our first ever print project, hand made in the spirit of great independent radio.

We’ll send issue #1 to every Patreon supporter who gives at the $5/month level or more. But you have to be signed up by August 1, 2019.

Plus, every new sign-up gets us closer to our goal of 100 Patreon supporters so that we have a foundation to do the work of documenting the upcoming 20th anniversaries of Indymedia and low-power FM.

See our ‘zine page to learn more, or go ahead and sign up now.

Show Notes:

• A Decade of Radio Surviving
• College Radio Watch: Ten Years of College Radio Coverage and More News
• Lasar’s Letter on the FCC: VNR executive files e-mail with FCC against “radically left wing” group
• The Official Website of I.F. Stone
• Spinning Indie
• mediageek
• Matthew’s books:
  • Pacifica Radio, the Rise of an Alternative Network
  • Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio’s Civil War
  • Radio 2.0: Uploading the First Broadcast Medium
• Help Us Tell the History of Indymedia & LPFM
• RadioSurvivor’s Top Radio Shows – Paul’s #1: Free Speech Radio News
• A Sad Goodbye to Free Speech Radio News
• Garrett Wollman’s Radio Tower Quest
• History of the Grassroots Radio Conference
• Podcast #190: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art
• Radio Survivor ‘Zine #1

The post Podcast #200 – How We Survived a Decade of Independent Publishing appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Alaska’s unique geography and way-of-life leads to unique radio. Raven Radio is a public and community station serving the city of Sitka, along with seven other small towns in Southeast Alaska. The station is not just a source of news, music and culture, but also a lifeline for people living in remote communities where there may not even be cell service.

Becky Meiers moved from Portland, Oregon and community station KBOO to become general manager of KCAW in fall of 2018. Paul made Sitka the last stop on his spring Alaskan vacation to visit her at the station this past Memorial Day weekend, taking time for an interview. Becky explains why the station airs a mix of conventional public radio programming, like NPR’s “Morning Edition,” alongside the kind of volunteer-produced programs that one associates with community radio.

Broadcasting in a market with just two other radio stations, Raven Radio really needs to be “all things to all people” in a way that is demanded of few stations in the lower 48. While a tremendous responsibility, it also leads listeners to learn how to use a station that doesn’t air the same programming 24/7, and to value the resource. The experience of broadcasting at KCAW informs takeaways about community radio in general that Becky shares with us.

Show Notes:

• Pictures and more from Paul’s tour of Raven Radio
• KCAW-FM Raven Radio
• City and Borough of Sitka
• Tenakee Springs, Alaska
• Coast Alaksa Public Media Cooperative
• Muskeg Message example: Roger Schmidt reads muskeg messages, with drum solo

The post Podcast #197 – Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska appeared first on Radio Survivor.

For most people living outside Alaska, if they’ve heard of Sitka it’s because they’ve been on a cruise ship that stopped there. This small city of just under 9,000 people in the Southeast of the state, near the capital of Juneau, balloons in size when ships dock to give passengers an opportunity to take in the area’s natural beauty.

I visited Memorial Day weekend, experiencing bright sun, blue skies and high temperatures in the mid-60s. My friend Becky Meiers, who took over as General Manager of community and public station KCAW-FM in the fall of 2018, warned me that I was not experiencing typical weather. Though spring can be beautiful, this island region can also experience violent winds, storms and landslides.

As one of just three radio stations serving Sitka, KCAW, known as Raven Radio, is a vital lifeline for residents of the city and seven smaller towns in the area. I also visited one of these towns, Tenakee Springs, which has a single dirt road through town that does not permit cars–only bicycles and ATVs–and no cell service, though the library and many residents subscribe to satellite internet. Folks I was visiting with there talked enthusiastically of the station, which is dear to their hearts.

Founded in 1982, Raven Radio broadcasts a hybrid schedule of information and culture that includes public radio staples like NPR’s “Morning Edition,” alongside local news and volunteer programming. Listeners also tune in for detailed marine weather forecasts, updates from the city’s harbormaster and “muskeg messages.” Those are missives from listener to listener, the recipient often someone who might be fishing at sea or is otherwise inaccessible by phone or ‘net.

Raven Radio is the primary Emergency Alert System station for the region, and it’s not uncommon for residents to call the station for updates during power outages or other critical events to learn the latest.

A full-time staff comprises a general manager, program director, news director and city beat reporter. Paid journalism fellows also join the station in the winter and summer. Providing that local news coverage is a key part of its mission.

The station itself is located on the edge of downtown, near the water, just by the bridge that connects Baranof and Japonski Islands. Though car traffic passes over the bridge and around the city itself, there’s no driving to Juneau or the other communities the station serves, like Angoon or Kake. The only highway system is the Alaskan Marine Highway, a ferry service. The other option is a float plane, which is faster, but much more expensive.

KCAW resides in a house, with the lower floor occupied by the restaurant, Beak, and the studios filling the second floor. There is one studio located downstairs, able to broadcast live performances from the restaurant, along with a small Raven Radio Retail Store, full of station swag.

The upstairs station area was renovated in 2012 2011, featuring an open and airy common room, surrounded by a few offices, the main studio and newsroom. The walls are lined with CDs and vinyl LPs, along with station memorabilia, like the “Mug Museum” filling shelves above the kitchen area.

General manager Becky explained to me that the station features both public radio and community radio programming because listeners deserve news and information that connects them to the world, and to hear local voices and culture. She noted that there’s a strong tradition of radio theater. A documentary is in production about the 1980s serial, “Raven Haven Bay” that was produced there.

A vital mission of community media is to give a platform to voices and views left out of the mainstream media. But in Sitka and Southeast Alaska, KCAW is the mainstream. Becky said that even though there are plenty of residents whose views may contrast with what is sometimes heard on the air, they value and respect the public service Raven Radio provides, supporting the station financially. There’s a sense of community and inter-reliance that comes with living on a relatively remote island that contrasts with most other places in the continental U.S.

Of course, there is much to recommend Sitka, and Alaska, with more untouched natural environment than any other state, and stunning landscapes seemingly everywhere you turn. For anyone who loves the outdoors, the opportunity to hike mountains and boat or fish clear cold waters is tough to beat. I did my share during my time in the 49th state.

KCAW Raven Radio is a reminder of radio’s power and value to communities. Living in an urbanized area, like the majority of Americans, it’s easy to forget that radio is there, even when the electricity is out and cell service is down. But no community is immune from technological failures that can happen due to severe weather or natural disaster. It’s true that radio is still a technology, but a longstanding tradition of service lives on with at least a few stations in most cities and towns, where owners and broadcasters remain equipped and prepared for the worst.

But even in better times – most of the time – a station tuned in to its community, with real locals on air, is a lot more fun and informative to listen to. Just take a listen to Raven Radio.

The post Touring KCAW, Sitka Alaska’s Raven Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

My 5th and final radio station visit at the end of a long day of Seattle touring brought me to an interesting arts enclave in Warren G. Magnuson Park in northeast Seattle. My destination, the newish low power FM (LPFM) community radio station SPACE 101.1 (KMGP-LP), which is a project of the Sand Point Arts and Cultural Exchange (SPACE).

I arrived at the park after dark and was told to look for the old gatehouse. A former military base, Magnuson Park is full of historical buildings, lending charm to SPACE 101.1’s perch above one of the park’s entry points. Formerly a Sergeant at Arms quarters dating back to the 1940s, there are some funky quirks, including remnants of an old bathroom, bank, and armory.

SPACE’s Executive Director Julianna Ross and Space 101.1 Program Director Eric Zappa welcomed me for a relaxing chat and tour. Ross has been hard at work on restoration, advocacy, and arts projects in Magnuson Park since 2004 through her work with SPACE. The non-profit also runs a gallery and she and Zappa explained that they are excited to do more programming and endeavors that take advantage of the synergistic relationship between the gallery and the radio station.

A few ideas include grants for on-air projects by local artists and more artist interviews on air. A recent gallery show about protest art inspired an on-air show featuring protest songs, which Zappa acknowledged is just a small example of the types of collaborations that could happen.

The 350 acre Magnuson Park has undergone big changes since it transitioned from its former function as a Navy support base. A number of historic buildings have been restored and a few buildings have been converted to housing. When I visited in October, 2018, Ross told me that by the end of 2019, there are expected to be around 1,000 residents in Magnuson Park.

As a hyper-local LPFM community radio station, Space 101.1 launched over FM on October 6, 2017, so was just over a year old when I visited. Inspired by the LPFM opportunity, Ross marveled at the low cost to apply and get started, while simultaneously reminiscing about all of the hard work and volunteer hours required. After just a year on FM, the station was already attracting dedicated show hosts, garnering unsolicited donations, and inspiring listeners.

Drawing from the nearby community, volunteer hosts range from former college and community radio DJs to journalists to former city council members. The Sunday night programming especially caught my attention, with the station’s own improvised radio serial, “Broken Alaska” and a vocal improv-oriented show “Sound Improv Live!” Other locally-produced programs on the schedule include “Magnuson Nature News,” public affairs show “The Bridge,” as well as a variety of music shows.

With a background in college radio at Ithaca College’s WICB, Zappa said that he didn’t want to be a commercial radio DJ, but easily embraces the allure of community radio at Space 101.1, recounting, “this is my dream gig when I was 22 and it’s still pretty cool now.” In addition to planning the schedule and co-hosting a show (“Wedgwood Rocks,” in a nod to an iconic rock formation in the neighborhood) with his wife, Zappa also crafts a curated mix of music and local voices that airs when there’s no live DJ or host. His goal is to make the station sound “warm and neighborhoody.”

Engaging with local residents is a huge part of the station’s ethos and Ross told me that a big goal is to work directly with folks who live in the park. She’s been working on various grants to aid with radio training for volunteers and an early project did just that with middle school girls. While the physical space isn’t as accessible as they’d like; Ross is hopeful that the technology of radio will allow for remote participation for volunteers who can’t physically get to the station.

Perhaps one of the sweetest tales of the station’s impact on local residents is Zappa’s recounting of a musician revealing his shock over hearing his band’s song on the radio for the first time. At an event, the band member described the moment to Zappa, telling him that he was so thrilled to hear the song on the radio that he started running around his house, with his wife and kid screaming in excitement. Zappa said that the story gave him “goosebumps,” and is one of his favorite moments at the station so far.

Ross also expressed her profound joy in community interactions, reminiscing about a big party in the space before it was a functioning station. She joked about “staging” it to look like a radio station, with desks, posters, and microphones, before they had all of their equipment. Even though they weren’t on the air at the time, it was a successful event, inspiring her to do more community events at the station in the future. “I love interfacing with the community so much. And radio stations are so friendly and fun,” Ross beamed.

Thanks so much to Julianna and Eric for the lovely night-time tour and chat at Space 101.1. It’s a real treat to visit relatively new LPFM stations to see the growth of community radio first-hand. It was also cool to see “Radio Survivor” scrawled in dry erase marker on the schedule on the wall, as KMGP-LP is also one of the radio station affiliates for the weekly Radio Survivor radio show!

This is my 156th radio station tour report, my 32nd community radio station tour, and around my 20th LPFM tour. To dig into more, take a look at my radio station tours in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #156: KMGP-LP Space 101.1 FM in Seattle appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s become somewhat of a station tour cliche for me to write about the homey feel of the radio stations that I visit. But, Bellevue College’s public radio station KBCS 91.3 FM in Bellevue, Washington takes that vibe to another level, as its station is located inside an actual house.

After a full day of travel and tours of three high school radio stations last October, I walked to the station’s front door as the sun was setting. Interim General Manager/Music Director Iaan Hughes greeted me, welcoming me into the radio house.

Existing in one of those interesting radio station hybrid categories, KBCS-FM is an independent public radio station with around 100 community volunteers, located in a standalone house on a college campus. It airs a mix of syndicated and locally-produced news and public affairs shows as well as a broad array of music programs.

Although it has student roots, launching in 1973, KBCS has shifted over the years, moving from a student radio station to more of a community, then an independent public radio model.

Student activism plays a big part in the KBCS origin story. “Appropriately it started with a protest outside of the president’s office here at Bellevue College. At the time it was Bellevue Community College and students did a sit in after having their initial request for a radio station denied. And that was enough to get the license and get the college kind of on it,” Hughes relayed.

By around the mid-1980s, the college hired a General Manager for KBCS and the station shifted to more of a community radio model, according to Program Director Patrick Whalen. Today, the station is a bit of a mixture. Whalen outlined that, “We’re kind of a hybrid. We’re independent. We’re …obviously not affiliated with NPR. We don’t carry any of the large public media distributed programs…We’re with Pacifica…So we have…Thom Hartmann…Because we’re so largely programmed still by volunteers, we’re clearly a community radio station.” He added the caveat that, “Because of the market that we’re in we can’t only do that just to be able to build audience.”

Shelves of vinyl on the walls at KBCS reveal the music programming trajectory of the station. As we sat in a front room/LP archive, dubbed the “Vinyl Lounge,” Whalen pointed out to me that the station initially had a progressive rock orientation from around 1973 to 1983, but then switched to an “anti-rock” format, playing jazz, folk and world music. He joked that it’s amazing that a station in the Seattle area in the 1980s and 1990s had “nary a Sub Pop release in the library.”

In a metropolitan area known for its grunge rock history and awash in non-commercial radio offerings, KBCS has worked hard to find its niche. Whalen gave his take on the Seattle radio scene, arguing, “We’re in a really vibrant public media market. We have amazing radio stations here. Some of the top in the country in their formats, if not THE top, so we have this big shadow to work within…We have KEXP, we have KUOW, we have KNKX…, Dance 89…a top dance station, so… we have to play in a different sand box…”

Today, about a third of the station’s broadcast day is devoted to public affairs programming, with the rest comprised of music. Hughes elaborated that KBCS has a largely “AAA” upbeat music format on daytime weekday shows (noon to 7pm), peppered with “some classics” going back to the 1960s and 1970s, as well as new releases.

Public affairs has taken on a bigger role in the past couple of decades, with the largely volunteer-produced news/public affairs show “The Morning Blend,” a huge source of pride for KBCS during my fall visit. According to Hughes, “It speaks deeply to the communities here in the Pacific Northwest. It tells stories that are not covered nationally or locally really…”

As an added benefit, this daily news show also ends up being a recruiting tool for the station, working to bring in new listeners from a range of communities. Whalen explained, “Our news and public affairs ends up being kind of a default engagement strategy for us because there’s constantly people coming into the station and telling their stories..,” adding that News and Public Affairs Director Yuko Kodama “…makes a concerted effort and is focused clearly on social justice issues and on stories and individuals and on voices that aren’t normally heard on air in this market so her work and her passion and her professionalism is a huge asset for the station.”

As I was completing this article in April 2019, KBCS announced that “The Morning Blend,” time slot would be replaced by the syndicated hip-hop talk show Hard Knock Radio, with “…KBCS’ national-award-winning reportage focused on social justice issues within the Pacific Northwest” continuing during existing public affairs programs. Other syndicated news and public affairs shows on KBCS include the Thom Hartmann Program, Democracy Now!, and the newly added Rising Up (as of April 29, 2019). Specialty music shows are mostly hosted and curated by local volunteers, with the syndicated Grateful Dead Hour also in the mix.

Genres covered include the general categories of “Dance, Trance and Electronica,” “Folk and Americana,” “Jazz and Classical,” “R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop,” “Rock and Blues,” “World,” and “Variety” (including an experimental music show and a program focused on female artists).

The non-rock music legacy at KBCS is perhaps most interesting in the CD and vinyl library housed in the rear part of its dwelling. Music is organized in hyper-specific categories, particularly in the international music section, which includes Flamenco gypsy, Cuban, Hawaiian, klezmer, French-Canadian, Eastern Europe and Brazil among it subcategories. There are also sections for gospel, RPM, Native American, early music, hip hop, jazz and more.

Hughes pointed out that some of the larger music sections are extensions of long-running KBCS programs, including a 30-year-old Brazilian show (Raizes) and the beloved Saturday afternoon program, Hawai’i Radio Connection.

In the midst of a massive music digitization project, KBCS has already digitized over 100,000 tracks using a Cloud-based program. Initially starting with the bluegrass library, volunteers and a work study student had made their way through the R&B collection and were working on the blues section at the time of my visit. Hughes was excited about the progress, saying, “It to me feels like the future,” especially in light of increasing issues with the functionality of CDs and CD players.

As I wrapped up my visit, Hughes spoke a bit about his passion for KBCS and what drew him to the station back in 2001, revealing, “I love the variety and the eclecticism. That’s what initially drew me to the station. I was managing a music store and one of my employees did a late night jazz show here and knew that I loved country music and Americana music and when the opportunity kind of opened to do a late night show he said, ‘hey, you should check this out’ and it was just really amazing to flip yourself down to the low end of the dial and find an enormous palette of music. Things that I thought maybe no one else even knew about. Of course..I quickly learned my lesson of how little I knew and…it really felt like coming home in many ways.”

Thanks to Iaan Hughes and Patrick Whalen for the wonderful visit to KBCS. This is my 155th written station tour. Please, scan through my radio station tours in numerical order or by station type in our archives.

The post Radio Station Visit #155: Public-Community Radio Station KBCS-FM appeared first on Radio Survivor.