By Pete Tridish and Amanda Huron

  After four days of pulling wires, four months of feverish event planning, and four years of studying, scheming and organizing, the moment had finally come. Erv Knorzer -- retired fire fighter, union shop steward, and first dreamer behind Bird Street Media -- was ready to throw the switch for KRBS-LP -- Oroville, California's only radio station. The station had been built over the course of the weekend by a gathering of over a hundred volunteers who had come from across the country to lend a hand. A poll had been taken among the volunteers and supporters to determine the first song on the radio, and Judy Garland's "Somewhere over the Rainbow" had won by a large majority. Outside, a crowd huddled around several boom boxes buzzing with the usual static between stations on the dial. Suddenly, the noise was displaced by an empty silence, the music started up and Knorzer's voice came over the airwaves: "Good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon, Oroville. You are listening to KRBS, where we dare to dream."

  After years of public comment and engineering studies, the combined pressure from media reformers and direct action activists prevailed to win a partial victory towards a democratized media. On January 26th, 2000, the Federal Communications Commission voted to create a new low power FM (LPFM) service. The new rules allowed small non-profit groups, libraries, churches and community organizations to apply for licenses to operate simple, inexpensive non-commercial local radio stations. Individuals could not apply for licenses, but any group could apply, from your local chapter of ACT-UP to the Rotary Club. Over the course of two years, all sorts of groups applied for licenses from the FCC. As of December 2003, about 260 of these new stations are on the air, and many hundreds more are in the works.

  These new stations are doing incredible things in their communities. The Southern Development Foundation in Opelousas, Louisiana, for example, has become the first civil rights organization in the country to own its own radio station. They work for school reform, community supported agriculture, and neighborhood economic development, and also host the world's largest traditional Zydeco music festival -- all of which are highlighted on their station. Southern Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development in Churchton, Maryland is the first radio station ever to be owned by an environmental organization. Based near the Chesapeake Bay, their station focuses on issues of the environment, development, and local culture and politics, while broadcasting a great mix of music played by enthusiastic DJs. Another station, Blend 107.9, which started as an introduction to radio class at Bedford High School in 1997, is now broadcasting student opinion, high school sporting events and community news to greater Temperance, Michigan.

  Despite the excitement generated by these new stations, they are actually the lucky exceptions. Most groups with community radio dreams have been waiting for years with no action by the FCC. And many more groups were not even given an opportunity to apply. The FCC's original proposal for LPFM would have opened up thousands more frequencies to community groups -- but Congress, under pressure from incumbent broadcasters, sneaked the "Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act" into a "must-pass" spending bill in late 2000. While under the FCC rules, the top ten cities in the country would have gotten 25 new stations, under the rules written by the broadcasters and passed by the Congress, there were no new stations allowed in the top fifty urban markets. Pretending (rather incredibly) that these new hundred watt stations could cause massive interference to the signals of existing ten and twenty and fifty thousand watt stations, the technical standards of required distance between stations were made so stringent that very few stations were possible. These standards mandate enormous separations between radio stations, far more than is necessary to prevent interference. Smaller towns went from having five or six channels available to having just one channel that had to be shared by all the applicants.

  But this winter, the opportunity will arise to further open up the airwaves. On July 11, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission released a long-anticipated study, analyzing the effect of new LPFM radio stations on existing radio stations. The study, conducted by an independent testing company called the MITRE Corporation, proves that LPFM stations do not, in fact, interfere with existing stations. In addition, the study authors recommend the lifting of burdensome restrictions imposed by Congress on the new LPFM radio service in December of 2000. In its testimony before Congress, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had complained that, if the LPFM service were launched, the radio dial would be drowned in "an ocean of interference." But the study authors found so little evidence of potential interference that they chose not to implement some later stages in the study -- such as an economic impact study and subjective listening tests -- that would only have been necessary if interference had been proven.

  The release of this study is not an automatic win for community media. Many full-power broadcasters, which bitterly fought LPFM in its initial form, are opposed to any expansion of the service. Many members of Congress have backed the broadcasting lobby -- and the FCC, under Republican Chair Michael Powell, has not shown the commitment to LPFM demonstrated by previous Chair William Kennard. The FCC study could lead to increased citizen access to the airwaves -- but only if the public is aware of the positive findings, and is encouraged to use it as a tool to fight for an expanded LPFM service. Citizens who care about public access to the airwaves are encouraged to contact their Senators and Representatives to let them know how important an expanded low power radio service could be to their communities.

  Signs are promising for low power FM right now. As a result of the massive coalition that came together against the new media ownership rules pushed by Commissioner Powell, and no doubt having a bit to do with the lawsuit filed by Prometheus radio Project and the Media Access Project against these new rules, the Commission has signaled that it is ready to move on low power radio. As part of his new "Localism in Media " initiative, Commissioner Powell has promised more action on low power radio. We need to hold the Commission accountable to these promises over the next months in order to win a real opportunity for community radio in every town across the country.

  Commentators have been predicting the death of radio for over fifty years, ever since the advent of TV. But radio has proven more resilient than many of its critics. The average American home has nine radio receivers, making it more accessible in more situations than any other medium. It's quite easy for a group of excited amateurs to do a better job at producing informative and entertaining radio programming than the professionals, with all their MBAs and high tech studios. Kids love to produce it and love to listen to it, creating one of the few activities in the adult world in which that is not too dorky for teenagers to want to be involved in it. It can serve as a great training ground for youth to learn to speak publicly, to fix things, to raise money, to plan ambitious projects. And every neighborhood has someone who can do a beautiful weekly serial reading of the Epic of Gilgamesh, someone with a giant collection of polka music, someone who can explain the news behind the Western headlines about their home country of Egypt or Honduras or Cambodia. Your town could have a community radio station too -- now all we need is for the politicians to catch up with the public on the need for a more democratic media.

  To find out if there is a low power radio station that has started up near you, to see if you may be eligible to start one, or to get involved in the fight for more community radio, contact the Prometheus Radio Project. Visit our website at www.prometheusradio.org, send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call us at 215-727-9620.