On Friday the FCC announced that it will take up the final implementation of the Local Community Radio Act at its November 30 open meeting. The commissioners will also consider final procedures to deal with more than 6000 pending applications for FM translator repeater stations. These issues overlap because translators compete for the same spots […]
As the calendar turns to November, many of us are starting to think about holiday gift lists. There are always lots of great radio-themed gifts to choose from and books are often at the top of my list. Earlier this year I was sent a copy of the anthology Community Radio in the Twenty-First Century. […]
Since I was unable to attend in person, I was glad to have the opportunity to listen live online to some of the discussion from the Transmission Arts Colloquium hosted by free103point9 and community radio WGXC-FM a little more than a week ago. That program, featuring all of the featured colloquium guests, is now available […]
My Spinning Indie radio station field trip series is one of my favorite projects because it gives me an excuse to visit radio stations all over the country. Over the summer I was particularly ambitious and set foot in six radio stations in Illinois and Indiana during my trek to the mid-west for the Grassroots […]
How many new LPFM stations will there be? That is one of the biggest questions on the mind of community radio supporters, especially since the FCC’s March ruling resolving the tension between processing the backlog of translator applications and saving room for new low-power stations. Radio World recently published a short survey of best guesses […]
After visiting probably 40 radio stations, I’ve come to expect to find certain artifacts at every station. As I wrote back in 2010, there are a whole bunch of items that I regularly see when I travel to college radio stations, including skull-themed paraphernalia. I frequently see sticker-covered cabinets, funky couches, pop culture artifacts (from […]
Today the FCC released its most recent list of call sign actions. Amid the alphabet soup of new and changed call signs was a familiar set of letters: K-U-S-F. As of July 20, 2012, Common Frequency has reserved the former University of San Francisco radio station’s call letters for a yet-to-be-constructed non-commercial radio station at […]
Over the weekend, brand new community radio station KHOI launched in Ames, Iowa. Five years in the making, the license application for the full power non-commercial educational (NCE) FM station was submitted to the FCC in 2007 and was granted in 2009. KHOI went on the air and began their testing phase on 89.1 FM […]
Radio is a tough business to be in, regardless of whether one’s station is a commercial or non-commercial enterprise. Bills keep coming in and donations and advertising dollars don’t always keep pace. A few days ago, community/public radio station KZYX posted a dire message on its website with the headline “The Station is in Pretty […]
Jennifer and I attended the Grassroots Radio Conference this past weekend in Urbana, IL. These are my old stomping grounds, having lived in the twin college towns of Champaign-Urbana for about 13 years until 2008. Home to the University of Illinois the cities are also home to a disproportionate of grassroots action and interesting radio. […]
