PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE RADIO! A Hands-On Guide to Starting a Community Radio Station From the Prometheus Radio Project 01 Chapter Layout: A. How We Got Here B. Laying the Groundwork 1. Applying for a License 2. Convening a Board of Directors 3. Choosing a Location C. Get it Together 1. Mission Statements 2. How Much For that Radio Station in the Window? 3. Time to Pay the Bills 4. Fund Drives that Don’t Suck 5. Station Promotion 6. Grants D. We’re on the Air, Now What? 1. Programming Policy 2. Station Governance 3. FCC Rules and Regulations 4. Types of Programs E. Final Transmission A. How We Got Here casters were later added, but in large measure radio ...or how the pirates won back the airwaves has remained strictly commercial. Things only got for community radio worse as the decades wore on. Despite the emer- gence of Pacifica Radio in mid-century, followed by Low Power FM represents a renewal of radio in at least a hundred community radio stations over the America. For years, licenses for community groups years, real community radio stations are the excep- have been near impossible to come by, especially if tion rather than the rule in most towns. you just wanted a little micropower station for your neighborhood association or small town. There’s no Then along came Pirate. Radio that is. Illegal real mystery as to why licenses were so hard to get, broadcasters have existed from the dawn of broad- casting, but by the why they suddenly Please order your minions of Satan to leave became available in 1980s a new type of my station alone stop you cannot expect the 2000, why they were politically charged then mostly taken almighty to abide by your wave length nonsense pirate station emerged. away again, nor why stop when I offer my prayers to him I must fit The Kantako Family of we stand poised to into his wave reception stop open this station at Black Liberation Radio get them back. It’s all once. (later Human Rights Radio) pioneered illegal politics. –Aimee Semple McPherson, 1925 telegram community broadcast- to the Department of Commerce after they padlocked her radio Our commercial ing from their apart- station for frequency drift. As a faith healer, McPherson often radio broadcasting ment in a housing entreated her listeners to put their hands on their radio receiver system crystallized project in Springfield into its current legal Illinois. Their open defi- framework in 1934 with the creation of the Federal ance, remarkable staying power (for close to twenty Communications Commission (FCC) and the dis- years) and unique form of public service broadcast- missal of the idea that the government should create ing did not quite fit inside the NPR box (the Kantakos room on the dial for noncommercial broadcasters. were famous for rebroadcasting a police scanner Some provisions for educational nonprofit broad- with a running commentary, helping housing proj- 02 ect residents avoid the wrath of overzealous police). reclaim the airwaves. Now an official license cate- Their station became the inspiration for thousands of gory exists for noncommercial, community-oriented low power broadcasters. broadcasting at a power of 100 watts or less – the In the 1990s, Stephen Dunifer of Free Radio power of a light bulb. Berkeley was busted for his unlicensed station, but a The main radio industry lobby, the National As- remarkable court case argued by the National Lawyers sociation of Broadcasters (NAB), and National Public Guild that threw into doubt the legality of the FCC’s Radio (NPR) joined forces and mobilized some bogus licensing system for close to 4 years followed. They industry science to say these little light bulb stations argued for microradio as a free speech right, calling were going to interfere with their 50,000-watt flame- into question the constitutionality of the licensing throwers. Studies flew back and forth until Congress system that gave so many channels to corporations weighed in, slapping the FCC’s new community radio and so little to community groups. In the shadow of stations down in favor of a scaled back plan proposed Dunifer’s case, over a thousand unlicensed community by the big broadcasters. radio stations rose up around the country. Though the The Orwellian titled “Radio Broadcast Preserva- case was ultimately lost on a technicality, microradio tion Act of 2000” immediately clipped the wings of changed the reality of the radio dial. With Dunifer’s the LPFM service by requiring an excessive amount case closed, the FCC heightened their enforcement of space between existing full power stations and the against microradio, shutting down over 250 stations newly licensed low power ones (see 3rd adjacent spacing in 1998 alone. These actions provoked more lawsuits, diagram.) The new law eliminated about 75 percent public demonstrations, and acts of civil disobedience, of potential stations, essentially keeping LPFM out until the FCC realized that they must legalize a new of major cities. Despite the fact that a subsequent form of community broadcasting. independent engineering study, ordered by Congress, After Philadelphia’s Radio Mutiny was silenced confirmed the FCC’s previous assessment that these by FCC enforcers, the ex-pirates first got mad, and spacing requirements were unnecessary, these restric- then got organized. Reemerging as The Prometheus tive “protections” have yet to be lifted. Radio Project, they organized tours up and down Currently over 800 LPFM stations are on the air the eastern sea- across the country, 3rd Adjacent channel requirements board to educate springing up in and inform whoever small towns and turned out to coffee rural areas. About shops, church base- 200 more are still ments, and campus awaiting their con- classrooms about struction permits. the need for greater The LPFMs already community access to on the air represent the radio dial. Pledg- some of the best ex- ing to start-up 10 amples of communi- new stations for ev- ty radio’s potential, ery pirate station the with stations run by FCC shut down, the farmworkers groups, Prometheans moved civil rights organiza- quickly to the front tions, schools, public lines of the broadcast access tv stations, reform movement. neighborhood as- After a few high-pro- sociations and environmental groups. file protest actions in Washington, FCC Chair William The fight is not over. It is sad but true that com- Kennard announced that he was spearheading a munity radio is not seen by the government as part new class of radio station license. In January of 2000, of the basic fabric of democracy in the United States Low Power FM (LPFM) was born of these struggles to – it is a cause that people have to fight for to get on 03 the air at all. So the time to get your LPFM appli- Orion ... or whenever three of the five FCC Com- cation together is now. We don’t know when they missioners decide it is more important for grassroots will next take applications, but it is best to be ready community groups to have an opportunity to build a when they do. radio station than to give away more of the airwaves to Like we said, it’s all politics, nothing more and the corporations. You guess which is more common. nothing less. The corporate big-wigs and NPR have Since the scheduling of filing windows is based on the their lobbyists in Washington, but we have people whims of public officials as opposed to some regular power. We’ve used it, and we need to keep using it to interval, it is important to prepare your application expand, preserve and protect the airwaves we win back ahead of time. The wait is excruciating, but if you are for our communities. not planning on leaving town, your chance to apply will eventually come. B. Laying the Groundwork 2. Convene a Board of Directors 1. Applying for a License The board of directors is the group of people who The application for a low power license can only be are legally responsible for the radio station. There is submitted to the FCC during one of the rare “Filing no minimum number for boards of directors federally, Windows.” These are five day windows of opportunity though some states have minimums for incorporated that occur when Jupiter lines up with the third transit organizations. Your board of directors on the FCC of Pluto and the 7th rising of Antares in the belt of form should match anything that your organization The Struggle for Low Power Radio! The Local Community Radio Act For many years, Prometheus Radio Project has been fighting to undo the restrictions Congress placed on Low Power FM (LPFM) in the interests of big broadcasters. In this pursuit, allies in Congress have introduced the Local Community Radio Act!! This legislation seeks to relax adjacency laws set in 2000. If passed, this bipartisan legislation would open up the airwaves to high schools, labor unions, nonprofits, and civic organizations looking to launch new stations in their neighborhoods. The Local Community Radio Act brings low power (back) to the people! With the airwaves under such tight corporate control, the struggle to bring stations into the hands of communities is crucial. This is especially urgent in urban areas where local groups have been excluded from LPFM since Congress’s decision in 2000. • Local LPFM radio can be a key tool for local activism and national movement building because... community radio brings local content and news coverage essential to civic engagement! • Locally-run radio is a fundamental right of the community and a necessary tool to respond to emergencies and crises • More LPFM stations open up the airwaves to more diverse and traditionally marginalized voices that should have a place on the dial 04 might have filed with the state in which you reside.