Last week we wrote to tell you about the latest victory for communities nationwide when the FCC voted to clear a backlog of over six thousand pending applications for FM translators and released a set of proposed rules for new community radio stations, asking for public comment on the proposals. That release begins the final rulemaking procedure and the FCC will begin accepting applications for new Low Power FM (LPFM) stations nationwide as early as this September.

By: Vanessa Maria Graber

With the smart phone becoming more accessible, mobile applications have 
the potential to expand the reach of your radio station or program by 
bringing the latest news and music to listeners via a variety of 
different technologies. Its important to consider branching out into 
mobile technologies since more and more people are using their mobile 
device as their primary source of internet access, especially in places 
where access to broadband is limited.  Additionally, for citizen 
 

Imagine what you could do with a radio station.  Now imagine what we can do with one thousand radio stations!

“I have been an organizer for ten years, and I have never had such an easy time filling rooms on a Saturday morning as when we meet to talk about getting low power FM stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul."

This powerful statement on the excitement around community radio came from Danielle Mkali, Media Justice Organizer with the Main Street Project. Ms. Mkali was one of six panelists at “Civil Rights on the Airwaves: Building Community Radio in Communities of Color,” a video streamed event on the New America Foundation on January 9.

Across the country, communities are gearing up as the FCC prepares to accept new applications for low power FM (LPFM) community radio stations in 2012. The panelists discussed the importance of community radio in communities of color, as well as their challenges and visions for the future. Along with her Media Justice Program Director Steven Renderos, Ms. Mkali described Main Street Project's work to organize a coalition of groups in the Twin Cities to apply for community radio licenses.