This is a frustrating time of sitting tight for many groups that have applied for stations, but as can be seen in the case of Lake County Radio, excellent stations are being built and they are going on the air. Now is a good time to study up on broadcasting, raise a little money, and protest the plans of public officials to give the media moguls even more control of the airwaves. We've talked to a number of groups who had sort of given up after years of waiting, only to see the permit come in the mailŠand then they started scrambling. We hope you can join us in Maryland as we build our first legal station in February, and plan the next year of Media Activism!

Radio Barnraising conferences scheduled

Our first radio barnraising conference and master class in radio for new LPFM radio stations and applicants is finally scheduled! It will be Presidents Day Weekend, from February 15th to 18th, 2002 in South Arundel, Maryland, just a half hour east of Washington DC. It will be sponsored by SACRED, the South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Economic Development.

SACReD is a great group that has just won a major victory in its campaign to stop urban sprawl and protect the fragile ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay. They also run kids environmental programs on their classic Skipjack fishing boat. This grassroots action group holds one of the first LPFM license to be issued.

One of our favorite radio engineers will come to supervise a "Radio Barn Raising," in which all the groups we've worked with come out and help put one of these stations on the air. At the end of the weekend, we hope to flip the switch and let one of the first LPFM signals fly!

It will be a time where new programmers will meet, new stations can compare notes on fundraising and equipment, and broadcast professionals can share their skills with the new low power radio stations. We'll also plan the course for media activism for the next year, and plot for the continued fight to take back the media from the greedy corporations.

Tentative workshops include:

 

• Radio production

   

• local news gathering

   

• internet radio

   

• filling out applications

   

• interference issues

   

• new technologies

   

• fundraising

   

• media and democracy campaigns

   

• the congressional fight and the courts

   

• studio building

   

• international broadcasting projects

   

• programming policy

   

• media literacy

   

• youth programs

   

• outreach for your new station- and of course

   

• the radio barnraising

   

• with tips on selecting equipment

   

• purchasing

   

• building a low power radio station from microphone to antenna!

To register, go to: http://prometheus.tao.ca/barn.shtml or write to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have trouble with the form

Conference cost will be $20-$80/day sliding scale: meals and simple lodging included.

Also, the Southern Development Foundation in Opelousas Louisiana has gotten its permit! We hope to schedule a conference there sometime within the next 6 months.

Who is putting in the largest number of Informal objections to Low power FM applications? The NAB? NPR? Guess again, it is Prometheus, Microradio Implementation Project, the National Lawyers Guild and Christian Community Broadcasters! Some national church organizations appear to have put in dozens of applications through their affiliates to turn Low Power Radio into a Low Power Empire. Read more about it below in "Something Rotten in California."

Our advice if you are in window 4/5, and are competing with other applicants: take up fishing, or some other hobby. Put your application in the drawer and forget about it for a while. Your radio station permit will come: but worrying about it will do you no good. Don't rent a space right now. If you already rented a space ( as quite a few have) use it for something else for a while.

Do start low key fundraising activities, like bake sales and benefit concerts. Try to raise a few hundred dollars a month and put it away. There are about a hundred construction permits that are sitting unused right now because people didn't raise money till they got the permit, and now they are scrambling to find large amounts of money. Most grantmaking institutions don't like to give out big grants until they have seen that the organization is capable of doing small, volunteer intensive grassroots fundraising.

Spend some time reading up on audio and radio- there are introductory resources on our website, and more are coming. And start gathering audio equipment and a good couple of computers.

One thing that has worked well for Radio Volta in Philadelphia has been launching an internet radio station while waiting for our FCC license to come through. This way, we set up the whole audio studio, and people could get practice doing their shows before going FM. Some programmers have actually picked up bigger internet audiences than they could have dreamed of on FM. And one programmer, the Reverend Bookburn asked that his show not go on FM when we got our permit, because his content (satirical shows about subjects like the hypocrisy of the religious right) would not pass the obscenity rules of the FCC for FM, but was very popular on the internet.

Lake Country Radio On The Air

Q. What would you say is Lake County Community Radio's mission? A. To my knowledge, we have never formally passed a mission statement, although it has come under discussion from time to time and a version appears on our website www.kpfz.org. following was part of our application for IRS charitable status: "The primary purpose of Lake County Community Radio is to set up and operate a public, non-commercial radio station which serves the educational and cultural needs of the community in Lake County, California. Lake County Community Radio will also provide instruction and opportunities for the public to learn broadcasting skills, including audio production studio skills. In addition, Lake County Community Radio will serve as an emergency broadcast system for the county."

Q. What kind of programs do you have? Do you only have local programming? Do you have plans for a news program?
A. Most of our programming is local. I suggest you go to the website and look at the schedule posted there. (ed. note: Their website and their programming listings are completely awesome and inspirational). Right now we feature some Pacifica news programs and have several discussion programs which deal with current affairs, but no local news program as such.

Q. Are your studio and transmitter in the same location? If not, what kind of studio to transmitter link do you have set up?
A. Right now they are in the same location.

Q. What kind of equipment are you using? (answer as much as you like, we get a lot of gearheads asking questions...)
A. The equipment we are using right now is mostly donated or on loan. We have just received a PTFP grant, so will be purchasing our own, higher-quality equipment soon. At present we are using a Broadcast Warehouse TX-150 (from England–this is new), a Comet antenna, a little 12-channel Mackie board and home consumer electronics.

Q. How much money has your group spent so far? How have you funded things so far?
A. We are operating on a shoestring right now. All of our funding (with the exception of the PTFP grant, which has barely started) comes from donations. We have had several fundraisers and have recently sent out a direct mail appeal. At present there is resistance to the idea of underwriting.

Q. How has the communities response been to the station?
A. Generally good, although we are still getting the word out. The local paper has helped to give publicity, but our limited hours on the air and the fact that we don't cover the whole county have made it difficult for people to find out about us. We think this will improve with time.

Q. What are Lake County Community Radio's plans for the future?
A. There is a good chance that we will receive the full-power construction permit soon. If so, we will have to give up the low-power station, since we are not allowed to own both. We are looking for a new studio site in the county seat of Lakeport, which is more convenient for everyone; the studio site would be the same no matter which license we had.

Appendix B: status of applications screwed up by Congress

Appendix B means you applied for a frequency that would have been good under the original FCC low power rules, but your frequency was taken away by the dastardly act of Congress sponsored by the incumbent monopolists at National Association of Broadcasters and National Public Radio However, you should know that the reports of your demise are premature. There are a few possibilities that may allow you to still go on the air. See our website at http://www.prometheus.tao.ca/faq_appendixb.shtml to walk you through your options.

Help with Fundraising from(and for) Prometheus

Prometheus wants to welcome our new fundraiser, Caroline Leopold, and to let you know about our new guide to fundraising by our previous fundraiser and current outreach coordinator, Marissa Johnson, that is on our website at http://www.prometheus.tao.ca/bacfundraising.shtml It has lots and los of ideas to get you started in raising the funds for your radio station.

In the beginning, it was easy for us to just drop our jobs for a few months and pass the hat for gas money as we went from town to town preaching the gospel of free radio, passing the hat for gas money and sleeping on our hosts couches. As the campaign got more and more bitter between us and NPR and the NAB, we recognized that we couldn't win without more resources, and we got our first grants from foundations. Now, as the reality sets in that there are hundreds of stations to build and there will be a round two in the fight for more frequencies for community radio, we are building our organization for the long haul.

Caroline is finishing up our non-profit application, and is researching sources of funding for Prometheus and low power radio stations in general. Feel free to call her on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and ask her for her advice on fundraising for your station. Once she gets sustainable funding for Prometheus in place, her main role will be to advise you on fundraising for your stations. If you'd like to make a tax-deductible contribution to our work, you can write checks to Media Alliance, which is our fiscal sponsor. If you don't care about tax deductibility you can make it out straight to Prometheus. You can send them to Prometheus Radio Project, P.O. Box 42158, Philly PA 19101.