KPFT Notes

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos de Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon’s largest Latino organization and a national leader in the battle to protect and expand the rights of immigrant workers in the United States, will build its own radio station — KPCN-LP, 96.3 FM. This summer, workers and families from across the Willamette Valley, the Northwest, the United States and around the world will join PCUN in Woodburn, OR to build this entire radio station, from the studio mic to the antenna (to be installed on top of Woodburn’s water tower nearby). On the heels of legislative action in the United States Senate that could expand low power FM radio to thousands more communities, station builders will come together not just to build KPCN with the workers of PCUN, but to strengthen the movement to stop major media corporations from taking up all America’s airwaves. This summer won’t be the first time that the farmworker organization, 21 years old with over 5000 registered members, has taken to the airwaves. “Years ago, we broadcast for an hour a week on an AM station that served Woodburn and the Willamette Valley,” said KPCN-LP Start-Up Coordinator Adrian Valladares-Carranza. “Because of the program serving farmworkers and Latinos across the Valley, workers were able to voice their opinions and concerns in a way not heard before on Woodburn radio.

But when an influential local farm owner learned that PCUN was covering labor rights on the air, the owners of the AM station took the show — and the voice of the farmworkers — off the schedule, violating PCUN’s contract with the station and prompting PCUN to file a lawsuit and win an injunction to air their final two programs. The show’s removal left the long-established Latino families and new community members without programming that they could trust.

Many of the stations in the Willamette Valley are owned by national media corporations Entercom, Viacom, and Clear Channel, who profit by using America’s airwaves, leaving little room for local programs. “This year, as Congress tries to limit the rights of immigrants, the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission is trying to put even more radio stations, newspapers, and TV outlets into the hands of America’s biggest media monopolies,” said Prometheus Radio Project organizer Siyade Gemechisa. “Local deejays from California to New York helped to bring millions of fighters for immigrant rights into our streets. As we work together to build KPCN-LP in August, we stand with labor leaders, religious groups, media activists, and millions of Americans to stop media monopolies from getting bigger. Low power FM radio stations like KPCN-LP are a real solution to media consolidation.”

Now PCUN is joining with the Prometheus Radio Project, a national group that supports and builds stations around the world, to build their own low power FM (LPFM) at 96.3 FM. Low power FM station builders led the fight to protect local media ownership in 2002 and 2003, when almost 3 million people wrote the FCC, telling them that when just one or two companies owned the radio, TV, and newspaper outlets in a town, that democracy suffered. There are now over 750 low power FM stations on the air across the country, leading the fight for diverse, local, community media nationally.

PCUN and Prometheus are inviting the general public to come and help build and launch the station on the weekend of August 18th to 20th. You can find out more at http://www.prometheusradio.org and http://www.pcun.org.

Front entrance of WORT, this year’s Grassroots Radio Conference sponsor.

Nathan Moore of WORT shows off the basement news room.

I am headed to the Grassroots Radio Conference to present and attend, but wanted to share this African United Methodist analysis of community radio in Africa. More GRC fun and photos in a few hours!By Mike Hickcox

Communication is a rare and precious resource in a land where phones lines don’t exist and no one delivers letters.

Such lands exist in many parts of rural Africa. These are lands in which United Methodist bishops try to communicate with their district superintendents and pastors, and pastors with their members, but messages often don’t get through. These are lands in which health information is hard to distribute, but misinformation travels easily in daily conversation.

Effective forms of communication are powerful tools. They create a new reality in which coordination is possible, information provided, invitations offered and warnings delivered.

There are places in Africa where community radio has done all these things; where radio reaches the ears of those who live in urban shantytown huts, and those who lie at night below grass roofs on vast, dry plains. There are places where the needs of poor people are heard and addressed by those who care; where the community seeks answers and speaks them to itself through community radio.

In June, I traveled to several African countries to visit some of these radio stations. The trip was initiated by the Rev. Larry Hollon, the top staff executive of United Methodist Communications. Larry sees African United Methodist annual conferences yearning for better communication systems for evangelization, for education and for coordination. He sees that HIV/AIDS is a major cause of death in Africa, and that malaria kills even more. He sees radio as one of the technological pieces that can address some of these needs.

Also on the trip was the executive director of the United Methodist Communications Foundation, Elizabeth Hunter. The foundation is working to find money for worthy projects. The challenge is to identify projects that truly speak to the need.

The question is this: Can the United Methodist Church find ways to help its conferences in Africa reach the people, speak to their own members and alleviate suffering through the development of community radio? We traveled to community radio stations in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya to see what can be accomplished with a transmitter, an antenna and the right approach. Here is some of what we found:

South Africa

In Cape Town, South Africa, we encountered stunning contrasts seldom seen in other parts of the world. The beauty of the Cape Town peninsula is unsurpassed, with gorgeous mountains and tremendous views as the sun sets into the Atlantic over Robbens Island, where Nelson Mandela was jailed off the coast of the city for 18 years.

Not far from the beaches are the colored neighborhoods of small homes placed side-by-side. Also about the city are the black shantytowns of corrugated steel one and two-room houses tightly packed into fields between the main roadways. The people of these neighborhoods and townships listen to Bush Radio, a station of the people, created by the undisputed father of community radio in Africa, Zane Ibrahim.

>From Ibrahim we learned a key concept: “Community radio is 90-percent community and 10-percent radio.” Bush Radio remains an ongoing community event. Every Saturday, the Children’s Radio Education Workshop takes to the air. Children and teenagers from the community prepare programming and broadcast from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bush Radio personnel appear in the townships and neighborhoods regularly, bringing a meal and listening to the people. From the people come the issues and the programs that go on air.

When we were there, we traveled with Zane to the township of Khayelitsha, the third largest township in South Africa after Soweto and Sharpeville. On this Bush Radio workday, interns from the University of Southern California scampered across several rooftops in the township, fastening plastic tarps over the corrugated steel roofs, covering seams and holes to keep out the rain.

Uganda

Traveling in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, we found MAMA FM behind high walls on a residential hillside. This station was created in the late 1990s by the Uganda Media Women’s Association. It was the first station in Africa to be initiated and created by women. Calling itself “The Voice to Listen To,” MAMA FM focuses on the needs of women and the poor, and addresses issues such as health care, legal concerns, land, economic empowerment, education, human rights, good governance, leadership, religion, agriculture, peace building, environment and politics. The women journalists bring in experts to speak about these issues. The station also holds public forums.

Also in Kampala, Radio Maria Uganda operates on a different model as a part of a project founded by the Roman Catholic Church in 1983. Radio Maria worldwide operates in more than 30 nations. Radio Maria Uganda also has the technical resources of the larger church available to it, and it extends itself to two repeater stations and two other studios in the country by a satellite link. Broadcasting from a total of five locations allows much better coverage across the country of Uganda. This station also focuses on the issues that face the communities.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church runs Prime Radio high atop a Kampala hill. This station is funded largely by a successful communication school it operates in one section of its building. The remainder of the building houses the radio station and has space allotted for a future television station. Like the other stations visited, Prime Radio depends on volunteer assistance, but also employs 34 people, far more than other stations we visited.

Kenya

After arriving in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, another flight took us to Kisumu, a small city in Western Kenya on the shore of Lake Victoria. In a small house, with a yard populated by dogs and chickens, is RECA Radio. This station is an outgrowth of Relief & Environmental Care Africa, a nongovernmental organization based in Kenya that promotes environmental protection, sustainable development, literacy and health care.

This station is due to go on air this fall. Most of its programming will be locally produced, with a small percentage delivered by satellite from a health-focused agency in the United States.

As in several other locations, programming needs will be defined with input from the women’s groups in the surrounding villages. Those groups are already involved in RECA projects for microfinance, agriculture, water and sanitation. The radio station is an outgrowth of the existing health and welfare programs and will be a way to extend the reach of these programs.

EcoNews Africa is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, but with radio stations also in Tanzania and Uganda. Uganda’s station went on the air in 2000, Tanzania in 2002 and Kenya in 2004.

The programming of each station is determined with the support and direction of women’s groups in the villages of the listening areas. These stations also focus on social issues and health, with an emphasis on the needs and resources of women.

Despite the significant use of volunteers, each station still costs the parent organization about $150,000 each year.

Looking ahead

Visiting community radio stations in Africa and the people who operate them yielded a number of common factors and truths. Among them are these:

* Radio reaches people wherever they live, in both urban shantytowns and in rural villages.

* Radio communicates with everyone, even those who cannot read.

* Radio needs to communicate in many languages, including the local colonial language (English, French, and Portuguese), Kiswahili and local languages.

* Community radio needs to empower and use the collective power of women’s groups in the region.

* Radio is an excellent way to deliver accurate information on health care, and it helps to counter much of the misinformation commonly distributed in conversation.

* Community radio in Africa needs money to maintain equipment and facilities, pay a few staff members, and purchase fuel to operate studios and transmitters when the power system fails.

United Methodist Communications is finding new ways to partner with other organizations to better bring health information to Africa. This trip was a significant step in learning how our annual conferences in Africa will be able to broadcast not only to spread the Gospel, but also to coordinate the work of the annual conference, serve the needs of the community, and improve quality of life in both city and countryside.

Community radio is just one possible component of the communication solution, and issues of staffing, financial support and sustainability must be addressed. Cell phones, ham radio, business radio, and the Internet may also be necessary pieces of the answer.

Watch for news stories about UMCom’s communication efforts in Africa. The communicators and the annual conferences in Africa are eager to develop systems that work where they are. United Methodist Communications is eager to help. Once plans and funding are in place, exciting things will happen.

*Hickcox is director of audio and radio ministries at United Methodist Communications.

News media contact: Mike Hickcox, (615) 742-5110 or newsdesk@umcom.org

Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) has an opening for A 30 hour per week fundraiser, with additional administrative tasks.

DESCRIPTION
Free Speech Radio New is a daily half-hour progressive US radio newscast owned and managed by news reporters in the US and around the world. It was born in 2000, when reporter for Pacifica radio went on strike. FSRN is heard on more than 100 stations, mostly in the US.

This position includes fundraising and administrative tasks including bulk mail appeals, donor relationships, grant writing, outreach and invoicing affiliate stations, data base entry & management, income deposits and tracking, financial committee work, and the filing of state and federal forms.

Communication and teamwork with bookkeeper and other key staff and reporters will be essential.

Successful applicant would become a collective member of Free Speech Radio News. FSRN staff are required to participate in regular meetings to determine function and direction of the organization.

HOURS
30 hours a week. Highly demanding but flexible. FSRN has no office location, so work would have to be done from home.

COMPENSATION
18.75/hr
No benefits at this time. FSRN is currently in negotiations with the Pacifica radio network, and one of our goals is for all staff to receive full health benefits.

SKILLS/EXPERIENCE
–Minimum 3-5yrs experience in development, including grant writing, direct mail, and major donor campaigns.
–Proven fundraising ability, database management experience
–Must have been responsible for raising organizational budgets of over $150K consistently
–Media grant background preferred.
–Collective experience preferred.
–Must be self-motivated, detail oriented, and organized enough to work independently from home and meet deadlines. Must be a fast learner, and able to take responsibility for numerous projects and tasks.

Women, people of color, people with disabilities and young people are especially encouraged to apply.

REWARDS
Work with energetic co-workers, an elected steering committee of experienced reporters around the globe in a non-hierarchical, casual and virtual workplace. Be part of the vibrant community radio network and bring important national and international news to over a million daily listeners. Be part of a world-wide solution which challenges the media framework of U.S. corporate news.

STARTING DATE
September 1. One month of training will be provided, some of which can be in person if applicant lives in Berkeley, CA area.

APPLICATION PROCESS
Please send your resume along with a cover letter describing the skills and experiences you would bring to the job, as well as why you want to work in a collective to fsrn.job.application@gmail.com.

CLOSING DATE
August 10th.

Four of America’s boldest journalists met on June 13th 2006 in New York City to break the silence surrounding the topic that dare not speak its name: Class War in America. Paul Krugman, op-ed columnist of the New York Times, takes on the issue of inequality. Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now!, will discuss the latest tricks played by the movers and shakers against the moved and the shaken. And BBC investigative reporter and bestselling author Greg Palast will preview tales of economic conflict from his new book, Armed Madhouse: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War. Plus a special guest, Randi Rhodes, from Air America Radio.

*DOWNLOAD* the mp3 here for broadcast:
http://www.gregpalast.com/nycevent6-13-06.mp3

File Size: 131.3 MB
Length: 1:53:35
Format: mp3

If you have any problems with the audio file or would like more information on the June 13th event, please contact matt(at)gregpalast.com.

I’m forwarding this from longtime community radio activist and generally good guy Jim Ellinger. I don’t necessarily support the sentiments — I believe programming decisions should be local determinations for the most part — but I think it opens up a curious debate. How do others in favor of community radio see this approach, as what’s happening at KOOP? As a program director and a fan of community radio, I agree with KOOP’s approach of less syndicated and more local programming. While I agree, mostly, that local programs are often a bit rough and that syndicated shows often offer much better content, if we’re positioning ourselves where the best sounding, most in-line-with-what-we-think-is-amazing programming wins, doesn’t this largely shut off the educational opportunities and individual enthusiasm that community radio brings? By the numbers, syndicated shows are more likely to have more experienced staff and budgets to buy great audio. I generally think going local is best, but I realize NPR and other outlets do a great job with syndicated content and no one seems to mind. Thoughts?

After a recent decision made by the Programming Committee of http://www.koop.org Radio (91.7), May 10th was the last chance to hear syndicated broadcasts of the http://www.wings.org the Women’s International News Gathering Service (WINGS).WINGs has been on KOOP radio since it began, for many years in this same timeslot.

WINGS is an all-women independent radio production that produces and distributes their programs all around the world. The topics of news are concerning global and local women’s issues by and about women. WINGS programs are used and heard by non-commercial radio stations, university women’s studies programs and individuals.

This program is unique and very important considering the vast majority of news out there is made by and for men. Mainstream media doesn’t have a history of prioritizing women’s issues, and the cancellation of this broadcast takes away important voices and stories of women from the Austin community. The mission statement of KOOP radio is to serve and promote underserved communities like women, which usually they do very well (for example: for the new 2006 schedule, all programming on Tuesdays will be in Spanish) so I was very surprised to hear about the cancellation of WINGS.

Amy Wright,* station manager of KOOP, said that the committee decided to scale back on syndicated programs in favor of more local programming and that they also had not heard much response from listeners about WINGS. WINGS has an Austin bureau and many programs have come from this community. The future of WINGS on KOOP will be brought back to the committee in six months at their next scheduling meeting. If you care about WINGS and radio programming for women in general, please contact the station and let them know your opinion: info@koop.org.

So, knowing readers would be curious, I spent some time this morning listening to Roula and Ryan (replacements of Atom Smasher and Maria Todd) this morning. Not a lot of time — I’m not that much of a masochist.

Smasher and Todd were one of the top-rated morning shows in Houston, but were recently canned in favor of Roula Christie and Ryan Chase, themselves fired from KHMX in favor of Sam Malone, KRBE’s popular morning host, who’d reportedly been fired by KRBE’s new owner, Cumulus.

Keeping up? I’m trying, but it’s a bit soapy, to say the least.

I was expecting the Roula and Ryan show to be somewhat different from the pair’s 96.5 gig. Conventional wisdom would indicate that, if the act didn’t draw listeners before, it might need some tweaking before coming back. I was surprised it was pretty much the same show, with a few new elements. Noticeably absent were references to KHMX (replaced by comments about KRBE involvement nearly a decade ago), though I caught at least one subtle shot at their KHMX replacement, Sam Malone. However, the show was more notable in its technical issues (callers who didn’t know they were on, level cues, etc.) than for staking a major win for KRBE, in my opinion. For what it’s worth, I didn’t catch many comments from Malone, not that I could listen long to him. Judging by comments on this blog, he seems to stand to gain some disaffected KRBE listeners.

One of the discussed additions to the show was news breaks. The 7:58 news break was:

-Tour de France
-Tiger Woods [complete with dance music background halfway during the actuality]
-Homeland Security will cut money to disaster victims

Yes, I understand it’s not a news show, but does this qualify as news?

All said and done, I left feeling my initial reaction that Roula and Ryan are likely a fill in until Cumulus quietly woos a bigger player (or one that will appeal to the older demographic the company states it wants) was right. Still, Houston isn’t such a huge market that may be worth a major morning investment by the new owners of KRBE. It’ll be fascinating to see how this shakes out. I doubt the top two morning shows (a hip-hop program and a Spanish-language show) have anything to worry about.

So, knowing readers would be curious, I spent some time this morning listening to Roula and Ryan (replacements of Atom Smasher and Maria Todd) this morning. Not a lot of time — I’m not that much of a masochist.

Smasher and Todd were one of the top-rated morning shows in Houston, but were recently canned in favor of Roula Christie and Ryan Chase, themselves fired from KHMX in favor of Sam Malone, KRBE’s popular morning host, who’d reportedly been fired by KRBE’s new owner, Cumulus.

Keeping up? I’m trying, but it’s a bit soapy, to say the least.

I was expecting the Roula and Ryan show to be somewhat different from the pair’s 96.5 gig. Conventional wisdom would indicate that, if the act didn’t draw listeners before, it might need some tweaking before coming back. I was surprised it was pretty much the same show, with a few new elements. Noticeably absent were references to KHMX (replaced by comments about KRBE involvement nearly a decade ago), though I caught at least one subtle shot at their KHMX replacement, Sam Malone. However, the show was more notable in its technical issues (callers who didn’t know they were on, level cues, etc.) than for staking a major win for KRBE, in my opinion. For what it’s worth, I didn’t catch many comments from Malone, not that I could listen long to him. Judging by comments on this blog, he seems to stand to gain some disaffected KRBE listeners.

One of the discussed additions to the show was news breaks. The 7:58 news break was:

-Tour de France
-Tiger Woods [complete with dance music background halfway during the actuality]
-Homeland Security will cut money to disaster victims

Yes, I understand it’s not a news show, but does this qualify as news?

All said and done, I left feeling my initial reaction that Roula and Ryan are likely a fill in until Cumulus quietly woos a bigger player (or one that will appeal to the older demographic the company states it wants) was right. Still, Houston isn’t such a huge market that may be worth a major morning investment by the new owners of KRBE. It’ll be fascinating to see how this shakes out. I doubt the top two morning shows (a hip-hop program and a Spanish-language show) have anything to worry about.

Allentown Morning Call features writer Frank Whelan, who authors the column “Ask Frank,” was suspended from work after he was co-grand marshal of a gay pride parade June 17. The other grand marshal was Whelan’s partner of 25 years.Vicki Mayk, a Morning Call spokeswoman, previously said Whelan violated the newspaper’s code of ethics, which prohibits employees from participating in “public demonstrations in favor or in opposition to a cause” by leading the parade. As a result, he was suspended from work without pay for two days.

Whelan went on scheduled vacation after his suspension, according to his attorney, Rick Orloski. That vacation ended July 14, Orloski said.

Orloski filed papers on Whelan’s behalf notifying the Allentown newspaper he intends to sue.

Source: SPJ

Many parts of New Orleans remain devastated since Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of citizens are dead, displaced, homeless. Especially in low-income African-American neighborhoods, the city has done little to address residents’ needs, or to include them in decisions which will shape their futures. Community organizing has resulted in some important victories, but the challenges ahead are huge. A critical need is garnering more national visibility. Common Ground Collective is a key presence throughout New Orleans and especially the hard-hit Ninth Ward, providing organizing support, advocacy, and community services. Our few human resources are overloaded, and we desperately need help from skilled media activists and advocates.

Who we need: Volunteer media activists who can lead our press outreach, helping us develop our press strategy, pitch stories, place op.eds. and letters to the editor, collaborate with national media advocacy groups, etc. We need a Lower Ninth Ward Media Coordinator to bottom-line the work from New Orleans, and one or more people to assist in national coordinating, who do not need to be on-site.

Requirements: The Lower Ninth Ward Media Coordinator Ability will need press experience; self-initiative; the ability to work humbly in a collective; and a minimum of two months with us in New Orleans. The media support members would need press experience and the ability to commit at least 5 hours a week.

Food and Lodging for on-site volunteers: Common Ground can provide you with very basic accommodations in its volunteer house, or you can get your own housing. If the latter, you will likely need independent transportation, as the hardest hit communities are isolated and without public transporation. We provide three meals a day.

Contact: Michelle Shin, Lower Ninth Ward Coordinator, at 504-717-5633 or commonmichelle@yahoo.com <mailto:commonmichelle@yahoo.com>.