Put YOuR HAndS On tHe RAdiO!

A Hands-On Guide to Starting a Community Radio Station

From the Prometheus Radio Project

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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 Dont Suck 5. Station Promotion 6. Grants D. Were 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 ...or how the pirates won back the airwaves for community radio casters were later added, but in large measure radio has remained strictly commercial. Things only got worse as the decades wore on. Despite the emergence of Pacifica Radio in mid-century, followed by at least a hundred community radio stations over the years, real community radio stations are the exception rather than the rule in most towns.

Low Power FM represents a renewal of radio in America. For years, licenses for community groups have been near impossible to come by, especially if you just wanted a little micropower station for your Then along came Pirate. Radio that is. Illegal neighborhood association or small town. Theres no broadcasters have existed from the dawn of broadreal mystery as to why licenses were so hard to get, casting, but by the why they suddenly Please order your minions of Satan to leave 1980s a new type of became available in my station alone stop you cannot expect the politically charged 2000, why they were almighty to abide by your wave length nonsense pirate station emerged. then mostly taken The Kantako Family of stop when I offer my prayers to him I must fit away again, nor why Black Liberation Radio into his wave reception stop open this station at we stand poised to (later Human Rights once. get them back. Its all Radio) pioneered illegal politics. Aimee Semple McPherson, 1925 telegram community broadcastto the Department of Commerce after they padlocked her radio Our commercial ing from their apartstation 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 defiframework in 1934 with the creation of the Federal ance, remarkable staying power (for close to twenty Communications Commission (FCC) and the disyears) and unique form of public service broadcastmissal 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 broadwith a running commentary, helping housing proj-

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ect residents avoid the wrath of overzealous police). Their station became the inspiration for thousands of low power broadcasters. In the 1990s, Stephen Dunifer of Free Radio Berkeley was busted for his unlicensed station, but a remarkable court case argued by the National Lawyers Guild that threw into doubt the legality of the FCCs licensing system for close to 4 years followed. They argued for microradio as a free speech right, calling into question the constitutionality of the licensing system that gave so many channels to corporations and so little to community groups. In the shadow of Dunifers case, over a thousand unlicensed community radio stations rose up around the country. Though the case was ultimately lost on a technicality, microradio changed the reality of the radio dial. With Dunifers case closed, the FCC heightened their enforcement against microradio, shutting down over 250 stations in 1998 alone. These actions provoked more lawsuits, public demonstrations, and acts of civil disobedience, until the FCC realized that they must legalize a new form of community broadcasting.

reclaim the airwaves. Now an official license category exists for noncommercial, community-oriented broadcasting at a power of 100 watts or less the power of a light bulb. The main radio industry lobby, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), and National Public Radio (NPR) joined forces and mobilized some bogus industry science to say these little light bulb stations were going to interfere with their 50,000-watt flamethrowers. Studies flew back and forth until Congress weighed in, slapping the FCCs new community radio stations down in favor of a scaled back plan proposed by the big broadcasters. The Orwellian titled Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000 immediately clipped the wings of the LPFM service by requiring an excessive amount of space between existing full power stations and the newly licensed low power ones (see 3rd adjacent spacing diagram.) The new law eliminated about 75 percent of potential stations, essentially keeping LPFM out of major cities. Despite the fact that a subsequent independent engineering study, ordered by Congress, confirmed the FCCs previous assessment that these spacing requirements were unnecessary, these restrictive protections have yet to be lifted.

After Philadelphias Radio Mutiny was silenced by FCC enforcers, the ex-pirates first got mad, and then got organized. Reemerging as The Prometheus Radio Project, they organized tours up and down Currently over 800 LPFM stations are on the air the eastern seaacross 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 base200 more are still ments, and campus awaiting their conclassrooms about struction permits. the need for greater The LPFMs already community access to on the air represent the radio dial. Pledgsome of the best exing to start-up 10 amples of communinew stations for evty radios potential, ery pirate station the with stations run by FCC shut down, the farmworkers groups, Prometheans moved civil rights organizaquickly to the front tions, schools, public lines of the broadcast access tv stations, reform movement. neighborhood asAfter a few high-prosociations and environmental groups. file protest actions in Washington, FCC Chair William The fight is not over. It is sad but true that comKennard 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

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the air at all. So the time to get your LPFM application together is now. We dont know when they will next take applications, but it is best to be ready when they do. Like we said, its all politics, nothing more and nothing less. The corporate big-wigs and NPR have their lobbyists in Washington, but we have people power. Weve used it, and we need to keep using it to expand, preserve and protect the airwaves we win back for our communities. B. Laying the Groundwork 1. Applying for a License The application for a low power license can only be submitted to the FCC during one of the rare Filing Windows. These are five day windows of opportunity that occur when Jupiter lines up with the third transit of Pluto and the 7th rising of Antares in the belt of

Orion ... or whenever three of the five FCC Commissioners decide it is more important for grassroots community groups to have an opportunity to build a radio station than to give away more of the airwaves to the corporations. You guess which is more common. Since the scheduling of filing windows is based on the whims of public officials as opposed to some regular interval, it is important to prepare your application ahead of time. The wait is excruciating, but if you are not planning on leaving town, your chance to apply will eventually come. 2. Convene a Board of Directors The board of directors is the group of people who are legally responsible for the radio station. There is no minimum number for boards of directors federally, though some states have minimums for incorporated organizations. Your board of directors on the FCC 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 Congresss 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

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www.recnet.com. It is not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate, and cannot be used in place of 3. Location, Location, Location the FCC program or a professional engineering study, A radio license is not like a drivers license- you cant but it gives you an idea of other possibilities. A profesdrive around town with it and put things up where sional engineer will cost a few hundred dollars to do a you please. The transmitter can only be assigned to an frequency search, but is the most reliable way of knowexact geographic location, and you have to specify that ing that the frequency you choose is a good one. location in your application to make sure that it meets It is cheapest and simplest to have your studio in the FCC requirements. There are websites where you the same location as your radio antenna, but the FCC can go to find out your exact location in geographical does not care where your studio is- only the point of coordinates by giving your street address. See http:// transmission. So do not worry if you have to put the prometheusradio.org/find_location studio someplace downtown, but the transmitter needs Once you know where you are, check out www. to be somewhere up in the hills on the outside of town. fcc.gov/mb/audio/lpfm/lpfm_channel_finder.html. C. Get it Together: Community organizing to build This will tell you whether there are any frequencies a radio station available at that location. But be warned, the FCC 1. Mission (Statements Need Not Be) Impossible! frequency finder is not necessarily as accurate as some of the commercial services out there. It may miss some A concise mission statement is necessary to estabpossible channels. So if it says there are no channels lish your stations core values and identify who the available, you should double check elsewhere. station is meant to serve. To the public, a well thought out mission statement presents your station to the A very powerful website that can be a big help is Thin Airs Mission Statement (www.kyrs.org) Thin Air Community Radio shall serve the Spokane area with progressive perspectives, filling needs that other media do not, providing programming to diverse communities and unserved or underserved groups. Thin Air programming shall place an emphasis on providing a forum for non-corporate and neglected perspectives and discussions on important local, national and global issues, reflecting values of peace, social, economic and environmental justice, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, freedom of expression and social change. Thin Airs arts, cultural, and music programming shall cover a wide spectrum of expression from traditional to experimental and reflect the diverse cultures Thin Air serves. Thin Air shall strive for spontaneity and program excellence, both in content and technique.

might have filed with the state in which you reside.

Radio Mutiny Mission Statement (91.3 FM, until captured by the FCC)
Radio Mutiny is a broadcasting station for people who are denied a voice in the mainstream media. Our all-volunteer group operates a micro-powered FM transmitter, similar to hundreds of radio stations that have sprung up across the country in response to the ever-tightening control of public information by elite media corporations. Radio Mutiny does not promote useless products, vapid lifestyles, or the sound-bite, assembly line ideology that passes for news in this country. We use the public airwaves for news, music, performance, and for communicating with each other about our real daily lives and communities. Radio Mutiny is rabidly non-hierarchical, decisively anti-authoritarian, avidly pro-feminist, staunchly anti-racist, and flamboyantly anti-homophobic. Our programming is anti-commercial, non-partisan, irreligious, and iconoclastic. Your radio dial was made for revolution!

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community and should inspire volunteers and allies. Internally, mission statements can be used to establish programming priorities and justify difficult programming decisions. For example, if a minority group comes to your station and is interested in producing a show, the stations mission can be used to justify displacing an incumbent programmer to make room for the new group. Similarly, you can remove a programmer from his/her show if that programmer airs material that runs counter to your mission (i.e. blatantly sexist, classist, or racist material).

Station in the Window? The Low Down on Low Budgets

One of the absolutely beautiful things about low power radio is how cheap it is. A full studio can be put together with donated equipment, or with used equipment bought cheaply. A cheap studio set up using consumer grade audio stuff will cost you between 0 and $2000, depending how much you scavenge and how picky you are. As you get to the high end of equipment and additional production studios, we have heard of people spending as much as $100,000, so you One of the most important decisions you should may need to keep your tech people on a strict leash to make is whether your keep them from buying Here are some examples of communities that station is community every gewgaw and whoyou might be interested in reaching out to. access or driven by a zawhatsit that they ever Minorities/Immigrants Activist communities single interest or segment lusted after. Youth Seniors of the community. StaKeep in mind that Community Organizations Academics tions thrive or die over consumer grade studio Business Community Artists/Musicians such concerns, so precise equipment is perfectly Local government Public Health Orgs. language on this point adequate, especially when Colleges/High Schools Organized Labor is paramount. There is you are starting out and no FCC rule or other short of cash. It is generally a little noisier, less conveguideline that says you should be one or the other. As nient to use and will break much quicker than good the licensee of a radio station, your group is allowed professional machinery- but if you are putting things complete discretion in what you will or will not broad- together on a shoestring, the pro-gear can wait. On cast, as long as it is not obscene, libelous, etcetera. Your the other hand, it is often easier to fundraise for startLPFM license is a Non-commercial-educational up expenses than maintenance, so try to look at the license, which means your group must have an eduskills of your volunteers and evaluate whether your cational mission. But it is entirely up to you to define group will be more skilled at fundraising from listenwhat that mission is- it could be as narrow as to ers after you start up or winning big grants before you educate the public that they will go to hell if they do start. not give my church money, or to educate the public The transmitter and associated equipment usuabout the virtues of techno music. Think broadly the FCC does not employ sociologists to evaluate one ally cost between $4500 and $8000 unless you have a tower, which can range from free if you get that educational mission as more valid than another. damn thing my husband left there when he died to Once you have drafted your mission statement ten, twenty, thirty thousand dollars for a fully installed you should prepare to do some outreach. This should tower. Check out these online resources to get the involve organizing community meetings, attending lowdown on all your equipment needs: the meetings of other community organizations, and Start-up equipment: possibly creating a survey to gauge your communitys aspirations for the radio station. For your own meethttp://prometheusradio.org/startup_equipment ings, you should advertise in the local paper (preferably Understanding Radio: with a free article) and with well-placed fliers. Havhttp://prometheusradio.org/understanding_radio ing a wide community base not only improves the diversity of programStation schematic: ming, it also increases the number of http://prometheusradio.org/station_schematic resources that are available to your You may need to rent studio space -- but it is often community station. worth asking around to see about donated space. You 2. How Much For That Radio may be able to get some local group to donate a room

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KRBS in Oroville, CA (www.radiobirdstreet.org) raised $10,000 (see below), taking about $7000 to get on the air a good chunk of which went to a quality transmitter and antenna. Radio Conciencia in Immokalee, FL, WCIW, got going for about $4200, though they did receive a sweet mixing board donated from Tampas awesome full-power community station, WMNF. One (anonymous) LPFM does pay some staff, operating on a monthly budget of nearly $3,500, about 75 percent of which comes from grants; staff payroll including taxes amount to about half their monthly expenses. Take away their grants (and staff!) and their monthly operating budget becomes $1000. to you, at least for the first year or so. Having a radio station inside is a big draw for a community center, public access TV station, or other institution that likes to have a lot of people coming through. Many stations get by on volunteers exclusively. However, in many cases stations may want to hire part-time staff to keep the office running smoothly. This is largely a matter of your organizations operating philosophy. If paid staff are desired, figure out how much (or little) they will work for and make this a part of your operating budget. Tasks that may require paid services include accounting, underwriting (should your station decide to pursue it), and just general paper shuffling er well organized record keeping. 3. Everyone Talks About Community Until it is Time To Pay The Bills: Participatory Fundraising Fundraising is the life blood of community radio. Heres a few tips on how everyone can help fundraise to make the radio station a success. 1) Set fiscal goals before the year starts. 2) Appreciate the dedicated, always. You cant have radio without feedback to your volunteers, members, and donors. 3) Keep a detailed record of all donations and the money used to solicit those donations so as to be able to accurately evaluate what works for your station and what doesnt, not to mention all the trouble you could get yourself into.

4) Make fundraising a group effort whenever possible. 5) Think of fundraising and publicity as birds of a feather. 6) Be creative. Sometimes volunteered services and donated items are more valuable than money. 7) Have a good database (and that means MAINTAINING it!). This may be one of those skills to delegate to paid staff, or to a foolproof trustworthy workaholic who just loves organization. Seek Virgos or Cancers. 8) Look into CPB and PTFP grants 4. And With Your Fifty Dollar Pledge, You Can Have This Special Tote Bag Fund Drives that dont Suck On air fund drives are a crucial staple for staying on the air. Here are some ideas about how you can approach this sort of fundraising: Make recorded fundraising pitches that are short and fun. Include information about where to send donations (and/or where to call) at least twice. Explain why you need the money and what it will be used for. Thank them for listening. These could be aired periodically daily, especially if you dont have on air fundraising drives that begin and end on certain dates. Plan the weeklong fund drive and pre-announce it for at least a week; define a set goal, let listeners know periodically how close you are getting to it; invite guests and/or speakers to come in, and promote these events heavily you can even tease listeners by not airing the conclusion to a talk until you get x more

Creative Fundraising
KRBS in Oroville, sitting on 107.1 FM, launched a 107 founders drive, enlisting each founder to donate one hundred and seven dollars and ten cents each, and in return they got their name on a nice plaque which has become a permanent fixture in the stations studio; it is also on their website. Founders get to feel they were instrumental in launching your incredible station, and you get their money!! Win Win!! This is an awesome way to build-up your community-involvement philosophy from the get-go, and really offers a sense of investment in your station by the community, beyond strictly monetary terms.

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pledges! Break down pledges into monthly or daily terms for pennies a day you can help us build our new tower!! Then you can print special bumper stickers for project-specific drives so people can proudly display that they helped raise the new tower, like KPFT in Houston did in the early 1990s. Drawing connections between your radio station and the larger communities in which it participates is another great way to inspire pledges. Talk about how your station enriches the local music scene or mention its involvement in the greater independent media movement. Basically, remind your listeners of the value of community media. Fund drives are also a great opportunity to utilize your stations connections in and outside of your community. Contact labels whose artists your radio station plays and ask them to donate their extra CDs to your fund drive. The same can be done for publishers and distributors of books, DVDs and videos, or whatever other product that your station can easily promote. This can be written off as a promotional expense for them and makes a great premium for your listeners. Local businesses are also a great source of premium material. KDVS, a college radio station in Davis, California, offers everything from tattoos to dinners for two during their fund drive. They also get local restaurants to feed their volunteers during fundraiser week in exchange for thank yous over the air. Some programmers get creative. You might stage a dorky radio play, for example. WFMU in New York brings in musical group Yo La Tengo to play cover songs by request over the air during their fund drive. Programmers at KDVS often promise to do embarrassing things in order to inspire pledges, like getting the name of a donor tattooed on their butt cheek if that donor gives $500, or drinking a red bull for every $100 that comes in during their show. 5. If A Radio Station Played A Great Show In The Forest And There Was No One There To Hear, Would It Make A Sound? Promoting your station is essential The best promotion is achieved by getting involved with local community organizations and by attending, promoting, or putting together local events. Get an ad in local newsletters from various organizations in return for mentioning their name on the air, and how to contact them. This is great especially in conjunction

with a Community Events Calendar. Your local antiflouridation chapter, as well as the Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club, will appreciate you announcing their events as much as you will appreciate your call letters gracing their newsletters pages. T Shirts, Coffee Mugs, Key Chains, and other stuff PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY WANT with your stations name on it. Make these items available for sale in the studio, attach them as pledge premiums, and sell them at tables set up at community events or at station-sponsored fund-raising events. Another great promotional idea is having a program guide. A simple guide will contain a program schedule along with vital information about the station (i.e. staff, mission, website, and contact information). More expansive guides can read more like a magazine, containing articles, record reviews, and art by your programmers and djs.
6. Dont They Give Out Big Grant Money For This?

Not Really. Grants take loads of time and are very competitive. Just because you started a radio station does not mean that foundations are going to throw money at you. Take a number and wait in line with the zillion other people who want free money! As a rule, no foundation wants to go out on a limb and be your main funder- they want to see that you have community support in the form of pledge dollars, a healthy amount of merchandising and grassroots fundraising, and some collaborations with other non-profits that net you money for services that you provide them. Unless you have a very special story to tell, you will not be able to rely on grants exclusively. They are well worth the effort for large-scale and expensive projects like equipment upgrades or studio / station remodeling. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration have grants that can help you here if you are very, very ready. But they may be more trouble than they are worth. Be sure to read all the fine print! Local foundations are best to pursue- start looking at groups in the Funding exchange network (www.FEX.org) and try for a few grants under $5000. You may need a fiscal sponsor (sometimes called a fiscal agent) to be able to accept tax-deductible donations and apply for grants. D. Were on the Air, Now What? 1. Setting Up a Programming Policy Programming is usually the biggest source of drama at any radio station. Radio is notorious for its strong

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personalities, and managing these individuals into non-overlapping timeslots is inevitably challenging. To avoid the personal conflicts that limited timeslots and strong personalities ensure, it is important to have a transparent decision making process and a clear set of expectations for programmers.

to set up the criteria by which the show will later be evaluated. b. Program Criteria

Regarding programming criteria, you have to decide what rules, if any, you want to impose on your programmers. Here are some questions that you might You should get at least a skeleton of a process for want to consider: Do you want to require that music programming decisions in place as quickly as posshows play no commercial music, or maybe just not sible. Many groups start without a process, and they the stuff heard on other radio stations? Do you want make one up the to require that first time a new Great Advice from Radio Genius Elizabeth Robinson of programmers play person comes in KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA: a certain percentwith something A community station should make as few rules as age of new or local they do not like! By music? Will there possible. But enforce the ones you make. then, lots of people be established rules are already in, and of on-air etiquette have different expectations about how their show (i.e. keeping it positive, no discussion of station poliwill be reviewed, and everyone can write their own tics over the air, no making fun of callers, etc.)? story about how it was unfair to them. Much better Outside of these rules, the basic tenets of programto have a process in place from the start. The process ming quality are technical savvy, entertainment value, can change with time, as long as no one got in on educational content, artistic content, and on air presthe ground floor and feels like the rules of the station ence. These rules in addition to the criteria set out were made for other people, not for them. by the programmer in their own application should Before any programming decisions are made, you determine how the program will be judged. must first invent a process by which these decisions c. Programming Evaluations will be made. This largely just means that you have to It is a good idea to have a regular schedule for the find a person or committee to formulate this process reassignment of timeslots and program evaluations. It (i.e. applications, interviews, scheduling, evaluations, is up to you to figure out how often this will occur and FCC compliance, and communicating with the prohow elaborate the evaluations will be. grammers). Most of this stuff can be done by committee, but to avoid mixed messages it is often recomd. Preemption Policy mended that you only have one person in charge of It is inevitable that there will be occasions when the making the schedule and /or communicating with the station will need to halt its regularly scheduled proprogrammers. gramming for special programming (i.e. sports games, a. Application Process A show application is necessary for scheduling as well as setting expectations for program quality. A minimal program application should include the basics: a show description, personal information of programmer (name, address, experience, etc.), availability, and an affidavit explaining that the programmer understands FCC and station policy. A more elaborate application may also include a detail of volunteer work done or intended for the station and a short description of the radio stations process for assigning timeslots. If the programmer is new to the station, it is also advised that you have an interview with that person before promising them a show. This process functions to get the programmer him/herself election coverage, breaking news, Sun Ra marathons, etc.) and it is important that there is a clear procedure for this preemption. 2. There Oughtta Be a Law Governing Your Community Station In addition to FCC regulations, stations can decide to make up their own policies for keeping programmers in line. Stations often have rules regarding food, drugs and alcohol, handling equipment, on-air guests, on-air etiquette, subbing procedures, programming logs, and volunteer requirements. These rules should be accompanied by a procedure for grievances or reprimands. For example, a good policy could define both minor and major violations, and lay out what

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the consequences are of each. There is no one way to govern. We have seen stations that range from benign dictatorships to anarchist collectives, and each have had their strengths and weaknesses. Check out several stations whose sound you like and see how they make decisions.
3. I Gotta Letter From the Government Knowing the FCC Rules

stores and buy your favorite album. Legally speaking, this law is generally enforced as it applies to sponsorship announcements. Fighting words: Radio programmers cannot use language that is likely to cause listeners to react in a violent way. In light of this rule, radio hosts should be warned not to provoke on-air callers, as tempting as this might be. Plugola: It is illegal for a radio programmer to promote their non-broadcast business interests on the air, unless their interest is disclosed, in which case it is subject to the rules governing non-commercial sponsorship announcements. This includes accepting money to promote the business interests of others and playing ones own band during their radio show. Payola: This is a form of plugola wherein a programmer accepts money for playing an artists songs on the radio. Sponsorship Announcements: Since all LPFMs are non-commercial, there are regulations as to what can be broadcast in exchange for underwriting. Sponsorship announcements must only inform, avoiding qualitative statements that cannot be proven such as best pizza in town or great service, etc. For example, a typical sponsorship announcement will sound something like this: KDRT thanks Company X for sponsoring this hour of KDRT programming, Company X provides x,y,z services and is located at A street in downtown Davis. For more information, Company X can be reached at 555-1234 or on the web at companyX.com. 4. Types of Programs Public Service Announcements (PSAs): Public Service Announcements can either be read live on the air or be prerecorded. They can be used to announce community events, promote community resources or distribute information of value to your audience. It is also a good idea to make prerecorded promotional announcements promoting the various programs on your radio station. Producing prerePracticing with mic and mini- corded programming such as PSAs, station disc in Tanzania photo: Kate Coyer IDs, and news pieces

Required Logs: Low Power radio stations have significantly less logging requirements than full power non-commercial radio stations. Low power stations must keep engineering logs, containing a date and description of transmitting equipment failures, Emergency Alert System (EAS) testing logs, and transmitter readings. They also must keep a political file, which contains every request for air time that is made by a candidate for public office. It is required by law that you give airtime to a candidate if they request it within 7 days of giving airtime to their opponent. It is also illegal for a radio station to endorse any candidate for public office. Station Ids: It is required by law that you identify your radio station with its call letters, immediately followed by the name of the city in which you are licensed to broadcast at the beginning of every hour (example, KDRT-LP, Davis). Defamation: It is illegal for a programmer to attack the character of a public or private figure by making on-air statements that cannot be proven. Obscenity vs. indecency: The difference between obscene and indecent material is a tough distinction to make, because it is largely a matter of degree. Obscene material is sexually explicit material that lacks artistic, political, or scientific value. Any non-scientific description of excretory activities is also considered obscene. Indecent material may use the nomenclature of these subjects, but is far less descriptive (and offensive). A good rule of thumb for making this distinction is that indecent material can mention sex, but obscene material describes it. Indecent material can contain dirty words, but obscene material focuses on them. Indecent material can be broadcast during safe harbor hours (10pm-6am); obscene material is prohibited at all times. Calls to Action: It is illegal for non-commercial programmers to issue any calls to action. These calls to action can be anything from ordering your listeners to riot for a political cause, to telling them to go to the

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has recently become accessible to those without access to expensive recording equipment. User friendly sound editing programs are available for cheap and even free for download, such as Audacity (www.audacity.soundforge.net) and digital recording equipment has never been cheaper or more portable. Minidiscs recorders are popular but bewildering in variety. www.minidisc. org is a very helpful resource. From painful experience, we strongly recommend getting a quality mic it is the most important link in your production chain.

lines read by alternating voices, because it makes them easier to listen to and easier to record. For national and international news, there are many quality syndicated shows that are available for free or really cheap to LPFMs. Public Affairs: Public affairs shows aim to educate the community. They can be shows about gardening, bike culture and repair, politics, philosophy, health, hobbies, psychology, literature, or legal advice...just to name a few. WCIW, a station for farm laborers in Immokalee Florida, has shows devoted to workers rights and news from workers home countries.

Music: Doing a good music show is pretty straightforward, but here is some advice from experience. Keep the air-breaks short, to the point, and announce Every public affairs show can benefit from theme the music starting from the last piece that your audimusic. You should also keep music on the side to inence heard (a.k.a. back-rapping). Give out the phone terject in between talking segments. Co-hosts are also number, call letters, and web address often. Be nice to good for dividing up the talking load, which is necescallers but cut them off if they sary because radio listeners tend Resources for syndicated content: to tune out after hearing the are boring. Promote your local www.pacifica.org music scene and take requests. same voice for too long. www.fsrn.org Background music is always a For political talk shows, it www.democracynow.org good idea. So is background is often best to have more than www.prx.org information. Theme shows (i.e. one point of view presented, radio4all.net regional shows, historical shows, unless someone is sharing a www.transom.org shows centered around a cerpersonal experience. Otherwise, tain topic, etc.) are also fun and you are likely to turn off anyone interesting. Always remember, you are there to educate that doesnt already agree with you. Also, when you and entertain. interview others, be sure to listen to what they have to News: One of the beauties of low power radio is say, as opposed asking what they think about your pothat it has a limited range. Why? Because this enables litical views. A good rule of thumb is to ask questions them to broadcast material that might be irrelevant to that start out with the 5 ws: who, what, when, where, a larger audience. Your news department (if you have why and how... and opposed to questions that start the resources to have one) should take advantage of with a verb: do you think..., Speak like you would this situation, covering local issues and giving a voice in the context where your listener is, perhaps not quite to those who usually do not make the news. This news as informally. Remember they cant see you so body should also, if possible, be more than simply bring language wont help- your words have to be descriptive color to the stories already covered by the local press. so they can paint pictures in their minds. Your news department should aspire to be investigaE. Final Transmission tive, following up on reports of community injustice, For more on the history of the struggle to reclaim researching campaign contributions of local politiour airwaves, ways to get involved in the campaign cians, and highlighting the accomplishments of comto get LPFM in our cities, and get your LPFM apmunity groups. plication together, take a gander at the website of The Recording daily headlines, to be played several Prometheus Radio Project: www.prometheusradio. times throughout the day, is a cheap and easy way to org. There, you can read up to learn more about how provide a valuable service to your listeners. You can to start your own legal low power station. Your comcreate guidelines, like having x number of local, remunity needs you! gional, national or international stories, and have your news staff summarize and record these stories at the beginning of every day. It is best to have these headGuide written by Pete Tridish, Zach Schiller, and Sakura Saunders

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