by Ben Madeska

UR Chicago Magazine 

Ever scan through the radio dial here in Chicago only to wind up back where you started without finding a single thing worth listening to? How often do you hear local bands? When's the last time you heard local news analysis? On the other hand, how often have you quickly changed stations when Rihanna comes on for the 12th time during the same car ride?

"Radio is in a sad state at the moment," says Shawn Campbell, founder and president of the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP). "Stations have lost their local personality -- you can travel across the country, and stations of a certain format sound exactly the same no matter where you are. There is a real lack of diversity in the voices you hear, as well as in the viewpoints expressed."

Yeah, commercial radio kind of sucks. That's not news -- why else has Apple moved close to a 150 million iPods? However, you may not know that there are people out there trying to do something about it -- something other than propping up Apple stock.

CHIRP was founded last year in response to Loyola University's announcement that they would retake control of WLUW (88.7 FM) in June 2008 and would integrate it into its School of Communication. For the past decade, WLUW has been one of the few reliable community voices in Chicago radio, dedicated to broadcasting local content, from news to music. It was a success, too: In the past five years, more than 200 volunteers and 30,000 listeners helped raise nearly $500,000.

In starting CHIRP, Campbell hoped to ensure there would be a place for local radio in Chicago -- not an easy task. "To do so, we need to get a bill, the Local Community Radio Act, through Congress," she says. LPFM, or low power FM broadcasting, is the goal. It's low-power, low-cost broadcasting for smaller communities and offers a chance for different, local voices to be heard. Unfortunately, the law is on the side of the big commercial interests, and LPFM is not currently allowed in most urban areas. This is why members of CHIRP and other LPFM activists were recently in Washington, D.C., in support of new, pro-LPFM federal legislation. As CHIRP's leaders make clear, the goal is not only continued community radio for Chicago, but to take the opportunity for communities around the country to run their own stations.

While supporters of local radio have many reasons to be optimistic -- both Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama have signed on as co-sponsors of the Local Community Radio Act -- the fight is long from over. To help fund their cause, CHIRP is hosting Record Fair & Other Delights April 12 and 13 at Pulaski Park Field house -- patrons can pick up new and used vinyl, CDs and DVDs, and check out DJs, dancers, circus performers and more.

User-generated content is on the rise, and community radio offers a real chance to shape the media we listen to. Believing that "the true power of radio is in localism, diversity, adventurousness and immediacy," CHIRP may be just the thing to unplug from your iPod and enjoy listening to the radio again.

http://urchicago.com/archives/UR_issue_04-08.pdf