No Pirating Necessary

Organizations across the U.S. are being given a rare opportunity by the Federal Communications Commission to own full-power radio stations and one Iowa activist is hoping progressive groups will take advantage of it.

In October of this year, the FCC will open a brief window, accepting applications for non-commercial educational radio licenses. The window is so brief, in fact, those who wish to take advantage must organize now.

“Non-commercial educational full power radio licensing has been frozen since 2000,” said Iowa activist Dave Bradley. “It is likely this will be the only opportunity for groups to apply for NCE licenses.”

Applications are limited to organizations with an educational mission. These can be incorporated groups, Indian tribes or other non-profit entities. Applicants are not required to have 501(c)3 status to quality. While there is no FCC application fee, there are other costs involved in preparing the application.

“A lot of people get in their car after work and flip on the radio for their drive home,” Bradley said. “They will tune to local news or music stations and most think they are going to hear local content. They aren’t. They are going to hear canned information which has been networked from some larger group. Many of us would like an alternative.”

For over 50 years, community radio has been providing alternative information and helping communities. In Chicago’s Latino community youth station WRTE produces news and information in English and Spanish. Northern Community Radio KAXE is developing a collaborative community website to include local papers, the community college, a local foundation and the cable access channel. In New Orleans, WWOZ, the Jazz and Heritage Station, was flexible with content in order to help during the crisis and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It’s now getting back to its more traditional programming of New Orleans music, club broadcasts and local flavor.

“The possibilities of how a station can be used are endless,” Bradley added. “Once it is yours then, within reason, you decide what goes out on it.”

Bradley said that while he and other activists across the nation want to get the word out to progressive organizations about the possibilities, they are also hesitant.

“Ideally, you don’t want to generate competition for the available frequencies,” he said. “The largest single applier for such licenses has been right-wing Christian groups. When the FCC opened up low-power FM stations, such a group out of Idaho snatched up 80 to 85 percent of the available frequencies. There were also many frequencies obtained by the Catholic Church.

“We were recently on a long road trip and were listening to what was supposed to be a community-based religious radio station. The station ran networked material — that is, material provided by a centralized source — to let other Christian groups know that if they wanted to start a station, this group had the money. Their pockets are really deep.”

For organizations who want to apply for a frequency or want to learn more information about the process, the Internet can help. The site getRadio.org is a project of Free Press, the Radio for People Coalition, Prometheus Radio Project, Future of Music Coalition and other organizations who support community radio under local ownership.