Chicago may get in tune with low-power FM


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Posted by Althea Legaspi on February 24, 2008 at 17:02:00:

Would allow public access to airwaves


Radio for the people, by the people. Sound interesting? If you ever wished there were radio stations playing locally produced music or musical genres you rarely hear on commercial radio, one that broadcasts your neighborhood's stories, or one where you are the voice behind the microphone, you may get the chance if low-power FM (LPFM) stations enter Chicago's airwaves.

LPFMs are non-profit community-based radio stations that broadcast at 100 watts or lower. They allow community groups -- such as arts and civic organizations, high schools and churches -- access to public airwaves. Because of a legal limitation, however, LPFM has never been available in metropolitan areas such as Chicago. But proposed legislation -- the Local Community Radio Act -- signals that times are changing. And local groups such as Chicago Indie Radio Project (CHIRP) and Radio Arte (WRTE-FM 90.5) hope to bring LPFM/community radio onto the Windy City radio dial.

CHIRP has been integral in the fight to bring LPFM to Chicago. With about 75 members and composed mainly of volunteers from WLUW-FM 88.7 who want to continue the community programming they established while at the station, CHIRP formed last summer for the purpose of securing a new low-power FM radio station in Chicago. The group has spoken in support of LPFM to the Federal Communications Commission and Congress.


Off to Washington

CHIRP president Shawn Campbell and vice president Jennifer Lizak will be in Washington, D.C., Monday and Tuesday for Low Power FM Action Days. Organized by the Prometheus Radio Project, Low Power FM Action Days will provide an opportunity for community radio advocates throughout the country to meet and networkas well as lobby on Capitol Hill, meet with senators and representatives, and visit the FCC. Campbell and Lizak will take letters from local CHIRP supporters and present them during meetings.

If the legislation does not pass, CHIRP will donate funds it raises to Prometheus Radio Project, which sprung from an illegal pirate radio station and now advocates for low-power FM and helps build LPFMs nationwide.

Campbell, the former program director for WLUW and a producer at WBEZ-FM 91.5, says LPFM is a valuable medium for this market, providing two-way interaction with its audience.

"The goal of community radio is to provide the community itself with an outlet, not where they can just listen, but where they can actively participate -- where they can go and learn about how to produce their own radio show," Campbell says. "[They] can have a say on the programming they hear, whether it's about direct participation, creating a show, being a deejay ... or working behind the scenes."

While CHIRP plans for the future, WRLR-FM 98.3 is an LPFM station that has been broadcasting in Round Lake for two years. WRLR's programs cover music rarely heard on commercial radio, such as local music, metal, Big Band and other niche genres, and reports on community topics such as local sports and home improvement. The station is programmed by neighborhood volunteers. "[Our music director] comes up with cuts that I've never heard of and [gives] them airplay," says Bish Krywko, WRLR's board president. "Stuff we used to call the B side [of records], well, he goes a little deeper. ... We get people telling us, 'Wow, I never heard that song,' or 'I haven't heard that song in 20 years.' And no other radio station does that -- they don't play that kind of stuff.

"We're not Jack FM," he says of the pre-programmed format at WJMK-FM 104.3. "We're not going to play what we want, we're going to play what people want to hear. ... That's the beauty of local radio."

LPFM is a valuable outlet for independent artists and their fans. "I see low-power FM as another alternative, another option to expose our artists to fans," says Nan Warshaw, co-owner of Chicago's Bloodshot Records. "Having more options means more exposure for our artists. So in a city as dense as Chicago, low power could mean many new listeners."

Beyond music, LPFM could provide listeners with variety not typically found on commercial radio. "You can drive across the United States and you could switch stations as you're going and think you never left the state you started in, because they sound alike," Krywko says. "It's like you never left, and there's no flavor in radio when you have that. ... We provide the flavor. Just like when you look at the neighborhoods in the city of Chicago, those are the flavors of the city of Chicago, that's what makes it tick."

Though LPFMs are not available in most U.S. urban markets, Radio Arte comes close to how an LPFM could function in Chicago. WRTE is not technically an LPFM -- the station applied for an LPFM license in 2000, but the third-adjacent rule (see sidebar) prevented approval -- it serves as an example of how LPFM can benefit a specific community, neighborhood and segments of the population underserved by commercial radio.

"[Former] FCC [Chairman Bill] Cunard actually saw us as being a poster child of what could happen if communities are given or have access to their own radio stations, so he was a really big fan of ours," says Silvia Rivera, WRTE general manager. "So in 2000, after our first request was denied for 100 watts, we were actually given a license for 73 watts. We serve a 14-mile radius on the South Side of Chicago, which is predominantly a Mexican/Mexican-American community."

Since 1997 the station has conducted youth training programs in radio and public affairs programming. WRTE also broadcasts local artists' music and emphasizes Latin alternative music and other alternative genres.

If it could add more watts to its station, WRTE would reach a wider audience. "We cover a population density of 470,000 people at least," Rivera says. Another 25 watts would allow the station to reach a couple thousand more people, she says.


Fighting for airspace

But even if the Local Radio Community Act passes, Chicago -- like other major cities -- faces a larger issue: No true real estate is left on the dial.

One of the major reasons is the use of translators, which are transmitters and antennas that transmit distant signals. Translators are used to ensure that difficult-to-reach parts of a broadcast coverage, such as in a valley or in the mountains, receive a signal. Major radio corporations have thousands of translators that occupy radio frequencies. CHIRP, Prometheus and other organizations advocating for media diversity and local programming have been vocal about translator abuse, and the FCC has taken note. There are thousands of pending translator license applications at the FCC, and any single company used to be able to apply for as many as it wanted. But in November the agency limited the amount of pending and future translators one company can apply for to 10. Though this would not clear dial space of translators already in existence, it would benefit LPFM.

Who will get priority on the dial in the future -- a translator or LPFM -- remains to be seen. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is in favor of locally originated programming.

"Right now there's no fair priority decisions. ... Now there's a question about how you resolve that and who would get ... preference going forward," Adelstein says. "I personally think that you ought to give preference to stations that are doing independent local programming for eight or more hours a day. I think that would be a good standard."

And there is hope that Chicago's many diverse voices may be heard. "I think we're so rich in the kinds of organizations that we have, all the different public interest groups that represent different ethnicities, that represent different communities," says U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who co-sponsored the Local Community Act.



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