WGXC Online Radio

free103point9 has launched its third online radio web stream. WGXC Online Radio is on around the clock playing recordings from bands from Greene and Columbia Counties in upstate New York, and interviews with local personalities and politicians, and other sound recordings. Also occasional live events from throughout the two counties. Tune in at www.WGXC.org.

WGXC Program Application

Want to do a show on the new community radio station coming soon to Greene and Columbia Counties in New York? Click here to download the WGXC Program Application. Go to www.wgxc.org for more information. Applications due Jan. 1, 2010.

WGXC

free103point9's community radio station for Greene and Columbia Counties in New York has a name: WGXC. It stands for Greene and Columbia, or the x is for transmitting, or it can mean what you want. Read more about the project here.

Podcast Interview with Tom Roe of free103point9

From Future of Music Coalition:

Back in October 2007, the FCC opened a brief licensing window for full-power, non-commercial stations. FMC and our friends at Radio for People thought this would be the perfect (and rare) opportunity for community arts organizations to get on the dial. We worked to identify qualifying groups, letting them know about the possibility and assisting interested parties with the application process.

Now, the approvals are starting to trickle in. New York State "transmission arts" collective free103point9 was recently awarded an FCC license to launch a 3,300-watt FM radio station on 90.7-FM in Greene and Columbia Counties.

Freelance journalist and radio enthusiast Mike Janssen (who worked on and has written about the full power licensing process) recently interviewed free103point9's Tom Roe about how they plan to build a community-oriented radio station from the ground up.

Listen to the podcast here (right -click or option-click to download).

Mission statement for Greene/Columbia community radio project

The Greene/Columbia community radio project is a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. Our inclusive programming connects diverse voices, and distributes information across the public spectrum in New York's Greene and Columbia Counties.

free103point9 will launch a 3,300-watt community radio station with a radio art bent, in 2010 on 90.7-FM in Greene and Columbia (and southern Albany) Counties in New York.

free103point9 to return to the airwaves

From Mediageek:

free103point9 is a transmission arts organization that started as a micropower radio station, moved online, and broadened its horizons to become a sponsor and creator of sonic art. Now the group is poised to return to the broadcast airwaves after receiving a full-power non-commercial FM broadcast license from the FCC. free103point9 program director Tom Roe joins to talk about the station and transmission arts. Listen to this episode of the Mediageek radio show here:
http://radio.mediageek.net/?p=358

Building community one watt at a time

On May 10, free103point9's efforts to bring a community radio station to Greene and Columbia counties in New York went public with a workshop at the Catskill Community Center in Catskill. (free103point9 is applying for a full-power FM station to serve the community.) From Dharma Dailey, who helped run the workshop:

Volunteers of the forthcoming yet-to-be-named Columbia-Greene community radio station set up a tiny radio station at the Catskill Community Center. Though the signal barely reached to the sidewalk outside the community center, people of all ages and ethnicities took a seat beside an old school desk to take turns interviewing family, friends, and strangers. Radios were strategically placed in the Community Center bathrooms, the Community Center art Gallery, and just outside on the sidewalk. We taped a few questions to the desk to get people going — and go they did! From the time that the parade led by the Catskill Drum Corps landed at the front door of the Center to the end of Second Saturday revels, people took the opportunity to listen to each other. A dad and his daughter sit down facing each other. One playfully begins to “announce” in Spanish. Other Spanish speakers stop on the street. Where is that Spanish coming from? There’s no Spanish radio around here! A crowd gathers around the window. More people migrate to the microphone. Discussion. A public discussion. A long-retired reporter asks an eight year old drum corp drummer, “If you had a radio show what would be on it?” After answering, the drummer asks the reporter, “What brought you to Greene County?” People run out from the gallery, “We just wanted to see who’s talking.” Someone comes out from the bathroom to join the conversation. The music in the my neighbors’ voices tells me they appreciate the opportunity, the excuse, to get acquainted with each other. Here it is, live local radio. Click here for a very short movie about the event. Audio by Kaya Weidman, Dharma Dailey. Photos by Corrine and Dharma Dailey. Editing by Dharma and Michael Truckpile.