Bay Area Radio Hall of Famer Bonnie Simmons and other KPFA staff took some time on Thursday to protest the big layoffs KPFA’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, has planned for the station. The Berkleyside news service has a summary of the event and the issues, but basically Pacifica’s plan appears to be to pretty much […]
Archive | Community Radio
KMUZ’s Community Radio Dream in Salem, Oregon: Will Reggae Save the Day?
In Salem, Oregon there’s a new community radio station in the works with an anticipated launch date of early next year. KMUZ, aka “People Powered Community Radio,” is currently licensed to the Salem Folklore Community and will be located at 88.5 FM. Before the station is able to launch, they need to raise tens of […]
Behind the Scenes at Radio Valencia
I’ve been sharing the progress of San Francisco’s newest community radio station, Radio Valencia, from inception to its launch in August; so was happy to see DJ Tony DuShane’s first-person account of what it was like for him to be at the station from the beginning. Currently an Internet-only station, there are rumors that Radio […]
Tick, tick, tick. LPFM expansion bill languishes due to Senatorial nonsense
Like comedy, democracy ain’t pretty. It’s been more than a year since the House passed the Local Community Radio Act, but the companion bill in the Senate seems to be jammed up in the sausage grinder. Although the expansion of LPFM apparently enjoys broad bipartisan support, according to Politico Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso has put […]
Pirate Cat in fundraising mode to buy radio license
Pirate Cat radio says that the operation has “two FM stations that it has the option of purchasing,” but it needs $60,000 to do so. Hence a fund-raising drive on the Kickstarter site. The Kickstarter campaign has until October 21 to raise the money. San Francisco’s Pirate Cat has an interesting history. For a while […]
Save KPFA declares victory in KPFA-FM board elections
In what is hopefully the last subscriber/staff board election that Pacifica radio ever has, the Save KPFA slate says it has won the majority of delegate seats on Pacifica station KPFA-FM’s Local Station Board. “I believe that the results here indicate that the listener-members do not want an explicitly sectarian station,” declared Save KPFA’s Mal […]
Prometheus and WGXC heat up the participatory radio movement
Sunday’s WGXC Parade at the Radio Barnraising Photo by Gavin Dahl People-powered radio is buzzing in upstate New York thanks to the dedicated volunteers launching WGXC in Greene and Columbia counties. The twelfth barnraising organized by the mighty Prometheus Radio Project took over forgotten factories, a youth center and a Catholic academy in downtown Hudson […]
Community Radio Barnraising in Hudson, New York this Weekend
A few months back we wrote about the plans for the new community radio WGXC. Well, it’s getting closer to reality with this weekend’s flurry of radio activity in Hudson, New York beginning today. Prometheus Radio Project and WGXC radio are teaming together for a community radio barnraising, during which radio supporters can attend workshops […]
Paste Magazine’s List of the 40 Best Little Radio Stations
I keep meaning to do a master list of amazing independent radio stations, so I was really happy to see today that Paste Magazine devoted their List of the Day to “The 40 Best Little Radio Stations in the U.S.” The emphasis of the list is on terrestrial stations that are 5000 watts or less […]
Can Al Jazeera save Pacifica radio?
The Washington Post reports what everybody involved in the Pacifica radio network has known for years, that the foundation’s staff are in conversation with Al Jazeera to broadcast the service over its five listener supported stations. I don’t know whether the discussions are going anyplace, but it’s obviously a great idea, so of course it […]