Small stations with a sense of community
In the face of competition from online radio and streaming services, commercial radio likes to tout “live and local.”
But it’s another, unsung area of broadcasting that’s live and local to the hilt: community radio. These are the mostly tiny, mostly FM stations that focus on various forms of community: a neighborhood or a town, or a listenership devoted to eclectic or specific types of music. Many offer a mix of local talk, public affairs programming and music shows, often featuring artists performing live.
With small signals and limited budgets, these stations rely on volunteers to fill the airwaves and on listeners for donations. But many potential listeners simply don’t know about them.
Despite this, community radio is doing fine, according to Jennifer Waits and Matthew Lasar, two of the founders of Radio Survivor, a news blog about radio.
“It’s growing,” said Waits, who has visited and written about 140 college and other stations. “It’s a really exciting time for community radio, and you have young people starting stations.”
The ranks have been swelling since the Federal Communications Commission granted applications for new low-powered FM stations. Those outlets have a maximum coverage radius of about 3.5 miles, but it’s radio, and the number of licensed LPFM stations has risen from 814 in 2014 to some 2,000 today.
But, Lasar and Waits say, building a station isn’t easy, and some license holders won’t follow through.
“In one instance,” said Lasar, a budding station aimed at young music fans discovered that “most of them have abandoned FM. They like their Spotify and YouTube just fine, thank you.”
Lasar, who teaches history and broadcasting at UC Santa Cruz, is the author of two books about Pacifica Radio and a new one about radio future, called “Radio 2.0.” He counts, under the community radio banner, free-form pioneers like WBAI in New York and San Francisco’s KSAN of the late ’60s and ’70s, although most community stations, unlike KSAN, are noncommercial.
Waits names other Bay Area pioneers, including KPFA and KPOO, as significant players, and is watching out for a new station coming from former staffers at KUSF, under the banner San Francisco Community Radio. The station will time-share with San Francisco Public Press’ KSFP, under construction at 102.5. Outside San Francisco, Waits notes KKUP (91.5) in the South Bay, KOWS (92.5) in Occidental, and KWMR (with signals in Point Reyes, Bolinas and the San Geronimo Valley). “And I have a special place in my heart for KCEA, a big band station out of Menlo-Atherton High School, whose GM, Michael Isaacs, passed away this summer.”
In the East Bay, she notes new LPFM projects like the time-shared 96.1 frequency in Alameda and Oakland, hosting KACR (Alameda Community Radio); KJTZ, featuring Encinal junior and senior high school students; and Poor Magazine’s KEXU.
There also are online stations that attempt a community focus, says Lasar. But FM stations, with their dial positions, are easier to find. Online channels have to use social networking. He names Radio Valencia in San Francisco (www.radiovalencia.fm) as a rare online success story.
“They very carefully targeted the local arts scene … to make their mark.”
As diverse as community radio is, Waits says one thing connects them all: “Community. People are driven by their love of their broader community, but also by having a community of like-minded people that you’re doing a project with — which is radio.”
Waits has been doing it most of her life. Besides having her own Spinning Indie blog since 2008, where her field tour of stations began, she has hosted “Too Cool for School,” a Tuesday evening show on KFJC (Foothill College) since 1999, using the air name “Cynthia Lombard.” She is unpaid; in fact, she pays tuition (for one class) to be on the campus station.
Waits is part of the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force, as co-chair of its College, Community and Educational Radio Caucus. She points to such groups as the Grass Roots Radio Coalition and the National Federation for Community Broadcasters as resources for information and networking.
Radio Survivor also is a vital resource. Lasar and Waits’ partners in Radio Survivor are a third co-founder, Paul Riismandel, and Eric Klein, broadcast veterans who work with podcasters. They produce podcasts about podcasting and radio, carry news about college, low-power and Internet radio, and maintain an archive of radio history articles and many of Waits’ station visits.
And how does Radio Survivor itself survive? Lasar said the site is financed primarily by contributions, via its Patreon and PayPal accounts, and by a few ads.
Just like a community radio station. Just add water: Another sign of the times in commercial radio, from Talkers, the industry publication, reporting that Envision Networks is offering “The Ashley & Brad Show” to its affiliates on a barter basis. Talkers noted that the hosts are based at a station in Simi Valley (Ventura County), and target adults “with current topics and humor. Radio stations’ music playlists will remain intact — just add Ashley & Brad voice tracks.”
“It’s a really exciting time for community radio, and you have young people starting stations.”
Jennifer Waits of Radio Survivor