Sabrina Roach is Brown Paper Tickets’ Radio/New Media Doer. She has worked in community and public radio for the past 10 years at KBCS 91.3 Community Radio and KUOW 94.9 Puget Sound Public Radio in various capacities.
Prometheus Radio Project’s summer interns explain why the radio dial is so crowded, and how the FCC plans to make room.
We have two online community radio stations in the Seattle area: Hollow Earth Radio and Voice of Vashon. I’m consistently delighted to see how they engage their communities and generate creative, hyper-local media. They also invest in organizational and facility development. These are two particular stations I love, but surely not the only ones doing great things. Do you have an online community radio station you love? Post it in the comments.
Both online radio stations have been working on getting terrestrial signals for the past several years. Both have been hopeful in watching the progress of Low Power FM (LPFM), as it traveled from President Obama’s desk where the Local Community Radio Act was signed in January, to July when the FCC released a proposal to save channels for community radio, and opened a period of time when public comments would be accepted. Applications to apply for stations will be due as early as June 2012.
I recently viewed a map of the top 150 radio markets, which showed that some urban areas have room for new community radio stations. Seattle currently isn’t slated to get any LPFM frequencies, though advocates are pushing for more flexible technical rules that should allow a few stations to squeeze in.
To do that, we need to keep the open frequencies in Seattle open. The FCC is taking steps to reserve channels in Seattle for community radio, but they need to hear from you. The Media and Democracy Coalition has created an online form to help you with letters to elected officials and the FCC Commissioners. These letters will be compiled and will go to our representatives in a batch.
Organizations interested in applying for LPFMs or who want to see LPFMs in our city, should write a letter to the FCC. Contact me for information on what should be included.
Next Wednesday, August 10th, there will be a Radio Summer: Seattle event at Hollow Earth Radio’s studio in the Central District (Between 20th and 21st on Union) at 7:00 pm. Jeff Roussett, field organizer for Prometheus Radio Project will be on hand to answer questions about Low Power FM. Register here.
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