Civil Rights on the Airwaves

“I have been an organizer for ten years, and I have never had such an easy time filling rooms on a Saturday morning as when we meet to talk about getting low power FM stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul."

This powerful statement on the excitement around community radio came from Danielle Mkali, Media Justice Organizer with the Main Street Project. Ms. Mkali was one of six panelists at “Civil Rights on the Airwaves: Building Community Radio in Communities of Color,” a video streamed event on the New America Foundation on January 9.

Across the country, communities are gearing up as the FCC prepares to accept new applications for low power FM (LPFM) community radio stations in 2012. The panelists discussed the importance of community radio in communities of color, as well as their challenges and visions for the future. Along with her Media Justice Program Director Steven Renderos, Ms. Mkali described Main Street Project's work to organize a coalition of groups in the Twin Cities to apply for community radio licenses.

Also on the panel was retired Navy veteran Albert Knighten, who was recently arrested on charges of running an unlicensed radio station serving the African-American community of Dunbar in the Ft. Myers, Florida area. Since the FCC has not accepted LPFM applications in 12 years, Dunbar has had no legal opportunity to use the local airwaves to discuss the serious issues facing the community. To address these issues, everyone from city council members to local pastors relied on the unlicensed Dunbar Community Radio. Before it was shut down, the station played R n' B, gospel, and political talk radio that addressed HIV education, crime, and economic development, and other local concerns. For his alleged role in running the station, Mr. Knighten was charged with a felony, punishable by five years in prison.

Mr. Knighten's story has caught the attention of national and local press, with an Associated Press story reposted at more than 150 local and national news sites. Prior to the AP story was a powerful piece at Poynter as well as one in the Ft. Myers News-Press. Mr. Knighten describes how elderly listeners, youth, and even the local dollar store (which played the station daily) have found no family-friendly programming on the airwaves since the station was shut down.

Thanks to the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, other community leaders will not have to risk arrest to access the potential of local radio. As the FCC moves to license new community radio stations sometime in 2012, a small but critical change in the diversity of media ownership is finally possible. Although people of color represent more than 33% of Americans, they own only 7.7% of radio stations. Low power radio could increase diversity on the airwaves, but only if the FCC makes new LPFM licenses available in all our communities.

The panel was introduced by Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) Coordinator Betty Yu, who reminded listeners: "We have to reject this false choice between old and new media, between digital and radio. We need both."

Ms. Yu was followed by Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color of Change, an online organization of 800,000 members dedicated to strengthening the political voice of Black America. "How do we ensure democracy works?" asked Mr. Robinson. "LPFM will help people take the issues they care about to mobilize towards action."

Joe Torres, co-author of News for all the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, put the today's radio landscape in historical context during his opening remarks. The Senior Adviser for Government and External Affairs at Free Press, Mr. Torres spoke about the long history of people of color innovating in radio broadcasting, as well as the shameful history of racist media institutions and regulations. He described both the wildly popular Amos and Andy radio program and the unprecedented national letter-writing campaign, led by black newspaper publisher Robert Vann, to get the blackface program off the air.

Kai Aiyotoro, a newly elected member of the Prometheus Board of Directors, talked about her experiences helping the first round of LPFM stations through the FCC process. Jabari Moketsi, publisher of the Gullah Sentinel, described the culturally rich African-American Gullah community of the coastal islands of South Carolina. John B. Freeman, Director of the Southern Development Foundation, described his work with KOCZ-LP, which serves the largely African-American community of Opelousas, in the poorish parish in the U.S.

The panel was moderated by Corrine Yu, Senior Counsel and Managing Policy Director of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The event was cosponsored by MAG-Net, Color of Change, The Leadership Conference, and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative.

Along with others from their communities, members of the panel also met with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and other FCC staff members during their trip to DC. They shared the need for community radio in their communities and asked the FCC to ensure that new licenses would be available in urban as well as rural areas.

The panel is archived online at the New America Foundation site.