Prometheus Broadcast July 2013

 

Greetings,

For years, we have seen commercial radio (and some public radio) outlets fail to share the voices of the communities they supposedly serve. With the upcoming Low Power FM licensing opportunity, we are excited to move towards balancing this equation in favor of local voices, local challenges, local victories, community discussion and problem solving.

In just under three months, community groups nationwide will submit their applications to the FCC for a Low Power FM radio license. As the summer heats up and the clock ticks down, the Prometheus team is in full swing: answering your questions, conducting webinars and  linking groups to resources. In case you've missed it: The filing window for LPFM licenses is October 15-29, 2013. Fill out an applicant profile with Prometheus to get access to more of our tools and assistance.

Our next free webinar is scheduled for Wednesday July 31 and will cover How to Fill Out the Technical Part of Your LPFM Application. Need a refresher on the nuts and bolts about LPFM?  Watch this new video our Applicant Support team produced!

Right now we are working with hundreds of groups that are preparing to apply, and we have been a crucial wellspring of information and resources for thousands of people nationwide. We provide almost all of our resources for free, and we depend on you- the policy buff, the community activist, the radio enthusiast - to support us. If you have supported us in the past, a hearty THANK YOU! We couldn't do what we do without your help!

If you haven't, please join us a sustaining donor. Your donation will go a long way to helping us grow beyond the application window in October. Donate today.

Thank you!

-Julia and the Staff at Prometheus

 
 Inside this issue:

Upcoming Events

Tuesday August 6 - Philadelphia, PA - Join Prometheus in a presentation by organizers Maka Munoz and Peter Bloom from the Palabra Radio Project as they share a report from their recent work with indigenous women in Central and South America as well as details about Rhizomatica, an exciting proof-of-concept project in Oaxaca, Mexico. Rhizomatica works to increase access to mobile telecommunications and puts developing technologies at the service of rural and indigenous communities, creating the first community owned and operated cell phone networks in Oaxaca, Mexico. It will surely be an interesting evening. We hope to see you there!
 

Thursday August 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Prometheus joins the Night Market! Presented by The Food Trust, this annual event is the city's premier street food festival, spotlighting Philadelphia's best regional restaurants and food trucks. We'll be recording stories from people in the crowd about what community radio means to them. Let us know you're coming and we'll save a seat at the table for you!

Allied Media Conference Recap

Last month, Prometheus traveled to Detroit, MI for the 15th annual Allied Media Conference- a meeting place for hundreds of organizers and media-makers determined to transform our world. In collaboration with Vanessa Maria Graber of G-Town Radio and Common Frequency and Antoine Haywood of PhillyCAM, Prometheus Technical Organizers Ana Martina and Will Floyd setup a radio and television broadcast available throughout the conference.

Visitors to the radio studio got a crash-course in radio basics and were able to get on the air to voice their opinions and share their experiences. Radio shows ranged from the silly to the serious: from conversations about youth organizing in Detroit, representations of queer women of color in science fiction, to conference crush gossip.

Dubbed Really Rad Radio, the live radio broadcast could be heard in the main hall of the conference center, in the Discovering Technology, aka the DiscoTech DIY lab, and via an Internet radio/video stream. In anticipation of the hundreds of new Low Power FM stations that will be available for community-groups across the country, several LPFM hopefuls had a chance to sharpen their radio-making skills.

Vanessa Maria Graber and Ana Martina, with assistance from the new Prometheus Policy Director Sanjay Jolly, presented "Seize the FM Airwaves: Community Radio!", a workshop offering tools and information on how to start a community
radio station.

You can listen to excerpts of the Really Rad Radio broadcasts at AMC 2013 here!

Employment Opportunities & Staff Transitions

Now Hiring! Prometheus is currently accepting applications for a Station Support Director. Read more about the position and submit your application by August 16. We hope to hear from you!

Transitions: This summer has been a transformative time for Prometheus. As we prepare community groups to become LPFM applicants, and eventually full-fledged community radio stations, our staff has grown to welcome new members into the Prometheus family. Our staff is prepared now more than ever to seize this opportunity to get radio into the hands of communities nationwide!

While we are thrilled to approach the LPFM filing window in October, we are sad to bid farewell to two staff members who have helped bring us to this victorious moment for community radio.  While Brandy Doyle (Policy Director) and Jeff Rousset (National Organizer) are transitioning off of our full-time staff, they will always be a part of the fight for community radio and will still have close ties to this grassroots movement.

Picking up the policy fight will be our newest Promethean Sanjay Jolly, who joins us in Philadelphia from the great state of Michigan! Read more about everyone here!

In Case You Missed It...

On June 20, Jeff Rousset from Prometheus appeared on "Democracy Now!" to speak about the upcoming Low Power FM opportunity. We were thrilled to tell people nationwide about the release of the LPFM application and filing window. You check out this archive of our appearance, and read Amy Goodman's blog post about this opportunity.