LPFM Archives - Radio Survivor

Jennifer Waits reports back from the Grassroots Radio Conference, held in Spokane Washington from September 11 to September 14, 2025. We recap FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s keynote address, in which she spoke forcefully about recent actions by the FCC that threaten freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Gomez talked about the importance of […] The post Podcast #345 – Catchin...

The Radio Survivor team returns for a new episode, during which Jennifer, Eric and Paul recap some of the latest radio news. Topics this week including LPFM, college radio history, radio documentaries, expanding and returning radio stations, and a slow radio broadcast for Earth Day. Jennifer talks about her new gig working on a college […] The post Podcast #337 – Catching up on Radio N...

10/17/23 Update! The new low power FM filing window has been delayed and is now opening on December 6, 2023. See the FCC’s announcement here. On our latest episode of Radio Survivor, it’s a very special treat, with all four Radio Survivor hosts at the mic discussing an exciting low power FM opportunity. Another low […] The post Podcast #333 – Low Power FM for Dummies appear...

It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there […] The post Podcast #331 – New Low-Power F...

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will open two filing windows for non-commercial FM radio licenses. First up will be an opportunity to apply for a full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) license, followed by a low-power FM opportunity. Even though the application window dates have not yet been announced, now is the time […] The post Podcast #269 – How T...

The University of Virgina’s WTJU now only permits one person in their studios at one time and has five remote locations ready to take over live broadcasting. That’s a couple of ways that community and college stations are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Community radio WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore joins this week to explain […] The post Podcast #238 – Social Distanc...

Last week we declared that the 2010s were a banner decade for community radio. As Jennifer notes, though college radio had a tough start to the last decade, with the loss of prominent stations like KUSF, KTRU and WRVU, the service seriously bounced back, aided by factors like the low-power FM boom, internet radio, HD […] The post Podcast #228 – College Radio’s Biggest Decade appe...

We begin part one of our review of the last decade in radio with the observation that it saw the greatest expansion of community radio in history. Though the second US LPFM licensing window that happened in 2013 is a significant driver, the growth happened all over the world. The 2010s were also a growth […] The post Podcast #227 – A Banner Decade for Community Radio and FrankenFMs app...

RadiOpio Program Director Laura Civitello has the enviable job of running a youth radio station on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. From an upstairs perch at the beach side Pa’ ia Youth and Cultural Center, Civitello manages KOPO-LP, whose on-air hosts range in age from 9 to 19 years old. On this week’s show, Civitello […] The post Podcast #210 – Youth Radio by the Beach appear...

Jennifer is back from travels, that included Hawaiian community radio, to join Eric and Paul. First up, a question: is “pathfinder” a good replacement for the word “pioneer,” the latter of which has an unfortunate colonial heritage? Listener Pat Flanagan suggested it to us after we asked for input a couple of episodes, so we […] The post Podcast #208 – Radio and...

The FCC just proposed a series of changes to help make it easier for low-power FM stations to move their transmitters and to fill in weak signal areas. We review this proposal along with a suggestion from the Commission to whittle away at protections for the few dozen remaining analog low-power TV channel 6 stations, […] The post Podcast #202 – Small Boosts Proposed for LPFM & Why...

Every weekday an all-volunteer reporting staff produces an hour of original, hyper-local news for WOOC-LP’s “Hudson Mohawk Magazine,” serving the Troy, NY area. A focus on mission and a concentration of resources on journalism helps the station accomplish this daily feat. Steve Pierce is the Executive Director of Media Alliance, which operates WOOC inside the […] The post P...

Radio Survivor co-founder Matthew Lasar declares we’re in the post-“Radio Is Dead” era, during a time when audio media has survived and thrived, whether you listen over the broadcast airwaves, podcast, satellite or internet stream. Jennifer Waits and Paul Riismandel join Matthew live in San Francisco for a discussion about radio’s recent evolution, including the […] T...

What will community radio sound like in 2023? Will the death of net neutrality make radio even important? Will analog FM radio even exist anymore? Two active and insightful community media activists joins us to tackle these questions and more, live from 2018 Grassroots Radio Conference held in the Native American Student & Community Center […] The post Podcast #162 – The Future of...

Programming changes draw attention at one college station, while another might be close to the auction block, and a new San Francisco LPFM steps in to the spiritual space left behind by a beloved departed station. Team that with some big changes in the podcasting industry, and we’ve got a full episode. After hearing from […] The post Podcast #159 – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, in College Ra...

How do I start podcasting? That’s one of the questions we field most frequently. So we answer it, in this second installment of our “Frequently Asked Questions” series. But first we do some follow-up about phone phreaker ‘Captain Crunch’ Draper (#147) and the nearly 1,000 challenges filed against applications for FM translator repeater stations (#144). […] The p...

On this week’s episode we venture to prison and to a very unusual high school radio station. Members of the artist collective Provisional Island (Heidi Ratanavanich, Eileen Shumate, and Michael McCanne) speak with us about their prison-radio-themed exhibit, An Electric Kite, which is on view at the historic site/museum Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia through […] The post Pod...

Applications for 1,000 translator radio stations may pose a threat to low-power FM stations, say three community radio groups. So the groups filed informal objections against all of them, slowing down the FCC’s processing of these applications. This move has sparked controversy within the radio industry. The Center for International Media Action, Common Frequency, Inc. […] The post Pod...

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station? Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t […] The post Podcast #126 – We Answer Your Frequently Asked...

Eric and Paul met young enthusiastic podcasters and podcast fans when they attended Podcon in Seattle at the beginning of December. It’s almost an understatement to say they were impressed by diversity of the attendees, and their love of radio drama style shows. Your hosts learned a lot (there’s a library with free public podcast […] The post Podcast #124 – Seattle Hosts Yo...

The Chicago Independent Radio Project launched as an internet radio station nearly a decade ago, with a mission of bringing a truly independent music- and arts-focused community radio station to Chicago. Thanks to the Local Community Radio Act, which allowed the growth of low-power FM stations in the nation’s biggest cities—and a lot of hard […] The post Podcast #119 – Chicago In...

The Grassroots Radio Conference is an annual meeting of community, college and other non-commercial radio stations for the purpose of skill-sharing, training and strengthening ties. We talk with Caitlin Reading, a LPFM station startup specialist who is helping to organize this year’s GRC, happening Oct. 6 – 9 at WCAA-LP in Albany, NY, to learn […] The post Podcast #110 – Gr...

Intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits reports back from her journey to PhillyCAM radio in the City of Brotherly Love, adding a low-power FM station, WPPM-LP, to an established public access TV operation. Following up on episode #96 we catch up on the latest smart speaker research and Jennifer shares news about two college stations sold […] The post Podcast #97: PhillyCAM’s LPFM in the...