FCC awards free103point9 3,300-watt FM station in upstate New York

The Federal Communications Commission awarded non-profit arts group free103point9 a license for a 3,300-watt non-commercial FM radio station on 90.7-FM last week.

The new station, with studios envisioned in Cairo, Catskill, and Hudson, will broadcast local musicians and artists, as well as community news, and programs about local schools, history, agriculture, the environment, and more. An online version of the station will launch early next year and provide community members an opportunity to get involved while the FM station is in progress. The online radio broadcast will also feature local town meetings, high school sports championships, as well as local performances, lectures, workshops, and a broad spectrum of creative radio or radio art programs. Many local events will also be broadcast live on the FM station.

"Community radio is a unique volunteer-based media format," said Catskill resident and media educator Aliza Dichter, "This station will be a way for us to both boost our local economy and celebrate the diverse cultures in our area. We can deal with serious issues, have fun, and build bridges across our towns and across the two counties."

"We want to give members of the community a chance to take the microphone, go on the air, and talk about what is going on in Greene and Columbia counties," says free103point9 Program Director Tom Roe. "This is a special opportunity for this area, and all the talented artists, hard-working activists, and unique personalities here to become the local media."

During the day the station will feature weekly and monthly programs on topics such as gardening, hunting, schools, arts, music, politics, and other issues important to the community. There will be programs by youth and for children. Evenings will feature DJs and live broadcasts from events all over the two counties. Late nights and Saturdays will be filled with international radio art, experimental music, and special local broadcasts. "The week before elections we want to give every local candidate the chance to go on the air and give listeners specific reasons to vote for them," Roe says.

Critical support from this project began in 2007 with interest from local agencies and community leaders; small donations from individuals and families across the region made it possible to conduct the initial legal and engineering work for the application. Planning for the radio station is now underway with leadership from a Community Council that includes Haines Fall's Dharma Dailey (Ethos Wireless); Hudson artist Max Goldfarb; Hosneara Kader (Hudson Family Literacy); Debra Kamecke (Cairo Public Library); free103point9's Tom Roe; Alan Skerrett (Columbia County NAACP); Hudson Talbot (Catskill Community Center); and Andy Turner (Cornell Cooperative Extension Agroforestry Resource Center). Aliza Dichter (Catskill Community Center), Galen Joseph-Hunter (free103point9) and Kaya Weidmann (Germantown Community Farm) have also provided crucial efforts and support for the station project.

Based in an area between the huge New York City media market to the south and the Capitol District to the North, the villages and rural communities of Greene and Columbia Counties have little in the way of local broadcast media, with only occasional coverage in regional news. As a valuable complement to our various daily/weekly town papers, this Greene Columbia community radio station will be a unique forum for discussions, news, culture, and emergency information across our two Counties.

Artists and activists lack a central network here for letting people know about their work. Live performances from local venues will sometimes be featured in the evenings on the online web streams and the FM radio station. "We are looking forward to collaborating with the many extraordinary organizations in our area, and providing an opportunity for their programs to be on the air," says free103point9 Executive Director, Galen Joseph-Hunter.

"We've spent the year since we applied for the station building relationships with cultural, civic, and economic groups across the listening area. Partnering with groups that are already providing important services to our community is a key part of our strategy for getting the most value to the community out of having a new radio station," says Dharma Dailey. "The station will support media literacy and media production for groups like the Catskill Community Center and the Agroforestry Center, as well as schools, libraries, and local businesses. We are also interested in working with other broadcasters and news outlets to improve news coverage throughout Columbia and Greene counties."

free103point9 is a non-profit arts organization focused on establishing and cultivating the genre Transmission Arts. free103point9 activities support and promote artists exploring the many forms of "radio art" including works about the idea of transmission or using the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. free103point9's programs include public performances and exhibitions, an online radio station, the free103point9 Transmission Artists, an artist residency program, grant opportunities, a distribution label, a sculpture garden, and an education initiative including a study center and online archive. This FM station will be the first radio station in the U.S. to focus on radio art (many stations in Europe and Canada do).

free103point9 will webcast a performance by avant folk musicians MV & EE with the Golden Road and local musician Jeremy Kelly at 9 p.m. Fri. Nov. 7 at The Spotty Dog Books & Ale at 440 Warren St. in Hudson, NY, and will be giving out more information about the new FM station at the performance. Admission is $5.

Initial fundraising and planning for the station, which should be on the air in 2010, will begin this winter. A series of workshops to train citizen journalists and reporters are planned next year at the Cairo Public Library, Catskill Community Center, Germantown Community Farm, and other locations. Please contact Tom Roe at tr@free103point9.org or 518-622-2598 to get involved, or for more information.

More information:
http://free103point9.org/communityradio/

Radio Noise

OPEN CALL: La Superette 2008

La Superette 2008 is looking for: Survival crafters, conceptual product makers, DIY game producers, micro distributors, fashion hackers, electro-gadget inventors. La Superette is an annual hybrid event mixing art, shopping, music, and community spirit. La Superette is not an ordinary exhibition or craft fair. La Superette wants to promote and sell commodities made by artists and designers of all career levels; to offer shoppers unique superettenly affordable items; to incite and inspire participation, collaboration, and conversation. La Superette 2008 is happy to announce that this year's event is supported by LMCC. Deadline for online submission is November 10. All products must be delivered to La Superette by December 1. La Superette will be held on December 13 and 14 in Manhattan. Please visit our website http://lasuperette.org/call.php to complete your application and carefully read all guidelines.

Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0! Initiative

Sending on behalf of Ingrid Lakey, MQ2 Talent Manager (ingrid@airmedia.org):

We've opened the gates to Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0! MQ2 is a new initiative from AIR (www.airmedia.org), the Association of Independents in Radio, that builds on public radio's 2007 Talent Quest (www.cpb.org/talentquest). This time, we want you to let us know about a brilliant producer, reporter, or sound artist you think has the potential to stretch public radio beyond current broadcast boundaries. We’ll reward 12 of the nominees with $20,000-$40,000 each to experiment. Who do you know who can most surprise us by harnessing emerging digital tools and distribution channels to give new shape to the sound of public radio? And if you have an idea we need to know about, go on and find someone to nominate you.

You'll find nomination forms, guidelines, and a profile of our illustrious Talent Committee… everything you need to take the next step with MQ2 is here (www.mq2.org).

Time is short. Nominations are due October 31 at midnight. So before you go shopping for a Sarah Palin or Barack Obama mask or begin fashioning a sheet into a spooky ghost costume, see what the excitement is all about. And do join us in this exciting pursuit.


Ingrid Lakey, Talent Manager
www.mq2.org
215-435-8525
ingrid@airmedia.org

++ AIR is everywhere ++


Links:
AIR: http://www.airmedia.org
Talent Quest: http://www.cpb.org/talentquest/
MQ2 website: http://www.mq2.org
See excitement: http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=426

Is New York City an anti-white space town?

From Matthew Lasar in Ars Technica:

The New York City Council heard testimony about the dangers and prospects of unlicensed "white space" devices on Tuesday. Speakers pro and con discussed the question of whether allowing unlicensed applications to tap into unused TV channels would pose a threat to the wireless microphone systems that Broadway production companies depend on. As Ars readers know, this debate normally rages at the Federal Communications Commission's HQ in nearby Washington, D.C. But the Big Apple's government is considering a fairly mild resolution opposing the technology.

"Resolved," it reads, "That the Council of the City of New York urges the Federal Communications Commission to refrain from implementing proposed regulatory amendments that would allow portable devices to operate on the 'white space' radio spectrum without ensuring that such amendments will not negatively impact television broadcasters, performing artists, professional sports leagues, and all incumbent wireless microphone users."

This language is not far from the stated intentions of the FCC, as all of the Commissioners agree that, before the service is authorized on an unlicensed basis, strong precautions must be taken to make sure that it does not interfere with these systems. But the city's resolution is preceded by a tall pile of "whereas"-es that recount the litany of potential harms nay sayers warn will come with the devices.

If the FCC gives the green light to unlicensed use, "live theatre, the performing arts, film and television production companies will be unable to prevent constant interference with microphone systems, devastating those industries within the City of New York," one line concludes.

As Broadcasting and Cable reports, prominent opponents of unlicensed use testified before the Council, including David Donovan of the Association of Maximum Service Television, who warned of "devastating" interference to broadcast reception if these whitespace devices were unleashed. Wireless mics could be reduced to a state where they're "randomly functional," if they performed as poorly in actual use as they did during recent FCC tests, a Shure microphone official claimed.

Boosters of unlicensed broadband use focused on the technology's potential. Free Press Director Timothy Karr estimated that a fifth of the TV band in New York City will be "sitting idle" after the DTV transition and said that unlicensed apps "can and will meet acceptable and certifiable standards of non-interference."

A host of local supporters of unlicensed use testified as well. Dana Spiegel of NYC Wireless promised that white space devices could "amplify" the achievements of WiFi, "enabling larger scale internet broadcast, providing inexpensive or free access to whole neighborhoods from the central anchor of a park." Joshua Breitbart of the People's Production House regretted that an "otherwise forward-thinking group of legislators" had proposed a resolution "so filled with fear and confusion," but added that he wasn't surprised. "The only thing the major broadcasters and wireless microphone companies have on their side [on this issue] is fear."

And indeed, while New York City has no shortage of pro-white space activists, politically, it is starting to build a reputation as an anti-white space town. Case in point: The New York City Council item is sponsored by a hefty eleven members of the 51 person legislative body. The majority of these sponsors come from Brooklyn and Manhattan.

In fact, New York can boast of having the only member of the House of Representatives to publish an op-ed piece against unlicensed use in the New York Times. Jerrold Nadler, whose Eighth Congressional District covers very theatrical slices of Manhattan and Brooklyn, warned in February that, if unlicensed white spaces win the day, "a person walking down the block looking up an address in his new P.D.A. could easily cause a television set to go blank or silence the wireless microphones worn by performers in a Broadway musical."

On the other hand, there's also a letter by eight Congressional representatives sent to the FCC in August, which urges the agency to fast track unlicensed use. The list of signers not surprisingly includes Mike Honda (D-CA) of Silicon Valley. But it features a strong New York contingent as well, including Yvette Clark of the 11th District and Gregory Meeks of the 6th. The areas they represent, however, are a fairly long subway ride from Broadway.

The Empire State Triangle

From Jose Fritz Oct. 2 in Arcane Radio Trivia:

In New York City, inside a 5-block square is an area referred to by locals as the Automotive Bermuda Triangle. It is the five block square around the Empire State Building. It is an area where vehicles mysteriously die. The specific borders of the area are unclear but even AAA recognizes that it exists.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day...You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up...." -Isaac Leviev, (Manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery)

There are a number of oogie boogie explanations for this of course, but the big theory is that it has a little something to do with it's main 200-foot tower and more specifically the antennas all over it. AAA reports that 10 to 15 cars die on that square every day, an average of 3,000 stalls a year.

So here's the theory. Most of these cars have remote keyless entry. Remote keyless entry systems operate on licensed wavelengths as provided for by the FCC. Some engineers have hypothesized that broadcasts from the Empire State Building can interfere with the remote keyless entry systems of cars. It's like radio jamming. ...And there is some support for this thesis.

Keyless entry does emit a signal from the key fob on your key chain. The RKE system broadcasts an ean encrypted data stream which can instruct your over-priced luxury vehicle to start, stop run the defrost or any number of things. But it does so in the 300 MHZ range, that's the top end of the VHF range. This range happens to include FM radio, TV and Aviation. At least two of those three broadcast from 350 Fifth Ave. Which one(s) are interfering which which keyless entry cars I do not know. I only have proof of concept.

I understand that the FCC governs channel assignments to prevent these problems. But I also know that they also fine people for violating their licenses and must change laws over time. The FCC reports no complaintsregarding RFI around midtown. Many dismiss the phenomena. But it's interesting and it's possible to do by accident. On purpose it'd be downright easy.

Web radio bill passed

From Ben Sisario Oct. 1 in The New York Times:

Internet radio services are breathing a sigh of relief after the Senate approved a bill on Tuesday that would allow them to renegotiate a royalty rate that Web broadcasters say is too high. By law, Web sites like Pandora.com and Live365.com have to pay the performers and owners of the recordings they broadcast, and have been in a tug-of-war with record companies over the size of these payments. (Songwriters and music publishers are paid a royalty by radio stations and Web broadcasters; Web broadcasters also pay the performer.) Under the terms of the Webcaster Settlement Act, which was passed by the House on Saturday and now goes to President Bush for his signature, Web broadcasters have until Feb. 15 to negotiate with SoundExchange, the agency that collects and distributes the royalty. Under the current rate set by federal statute last year, said Tim Westergren, one of Pandora’s founders, his site has had to pay 70 percent of its gross revenue for this performance royalty, and will have to shut down if it is not reduced.