Starting next Summer, if all goes as planned, Providence will be home to a new low-power FM community radio station. APB Radio, 101.1 FM is a collaboration between AS220, Brown Student and Community Radio (BSR) and Providence Community Radio (PCR), all nonprofits. The three groups partnered to strengthen their application with the FCC, beating out competitors for what may well be the very last low-power FM radio station license in this area.
Airtime will be split three ways on the new station, with AS220 taking 50 percent of the airtime, PCR programming at least 10 hours a week and BSR the rest. The schedule is staggered and complex to avoid any one group being consigned to the midnight to morning slot, and will probably change going forward.
The groups will collaborate on the construction and fundraising phase of the project. Total projected cost is estimated at $25,000. The plan is to mount their antennae on the PBS television tower located in the Cranston St Industrial Park in South Providence. The station will run at about 100 watts and reach a three and a half mile radius.
APB Radio will be advertiser free, supported through underwriters, grants and other means. Almost all content will be developed by the community, and of course it will be parallel streamed on the Internet.
“Providence can communicate with itself in real time,” enthused PCR’s Wesli Dymoke.
Local poet, activist and performer Jared Paul was on hand to give a flavor of what community driven radio might be like. Reza Clifton and José Ramirez from the BSR show Sonic Watermelons interviewed Paul live as a live demo of Sonic Watermelons, a show they currently do on BSR which would move to APB radio when the station begins broadcasting.
“I’m excited that the radical community in Providence will get to have a crazy amount of shows on the radio, in a central location,” said Paul during the interview.
Questions from the audience concerned foreign language shows. Right now there are more than 29 non-English languages spoken in Rhode Island said a presenter, and commercial radio serves maybe five of them. 101.1 may be able to cover some of that gap.
Another question concerned BMI and ASCAP, music licensing groups that AS220 is currently boycotting. Will that boycott extend to 101.1?
“No, it will not extend to 101.1. BMI/ASCAP do not collect radio licensing fees,“ was the answer.
In the immediate future the station needs money, fundraising, organizing and marketing. An Indiegogo fundraising campaign is planned for January, and the groups will need help putting together a video for that campaign.
All in all, this is an exciting opportunity for Providence, said Dymoke of PCR, but, “if we fumble it, we don’t get another chance.”
PROVIDENCE, RI – Are Rhode Islanders paying fees for loans that are higher than what residents in other states are paying? The answer in some cases is yes – 260% versus 36%. Learn more about the type of loans that charge these rates, the impact of these loans on RI families, and what you can do to stop the practice in this excerpt from my interview with Margaux Morriseau and Nick Figueroa of the RI Coalition for Payday Reform.
It’s from the February 8, 2012 edition of Sonic Watermelons on BSR (Brown Student and Community Radio) – a show I produce as part of my work on VenusSings.com and with Isis Storm, a collective of artists, writers, and educators who empower women and underserved communities through performances, workshops, and media projects.
For more information on the topic, click here to listen to the full interview or click on the handouts provided below by the RI Coalition for Payday Reform.
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(PROVIDENCE, RI; PHILADELPHIA, PA; TUCSON, AZ) – When does learning about non-Europeans/non-Whites in the US constitute promoting resentment toward a race or class?
When does learning about the development of the US and manifest destiny and those who opposed such policies cross the line to become promoting the overthrow of the US government?
When did a class providing awareness about the societal and civic contributions of one of this country’s minority/ethnic groups become illegal?
These are some of the questions being asked by activists, students, and journalists all over the country, though the answer to number three might be more clear: it’s been over a year since the governor of Arizona signed into law House Bill 2281, “which prohibits a school district or charter school (in Arizona) from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that promote the overthrow of the United States government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”
Yet it is recent events that have re-stirred up the questions, concerns, and heated debates on the topic: the final termination of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona – and the removal of corresponding books from Tucson schools that are now part of a list of banned literature.
Critics of the legislation say that the policies curtail teacher creativity, and call the law an attempt to further silence and marginalize people of color in a state becoming infamous for what many view as one anti-immigrant or anti-Brown policy after another. Supporters of the state law – and the recent move by Tucson officials – cite the Mexican American Studies program as an example of a program that promotes one racial/ethnic group over all others, and say that programs like these promote a victimization mentality.
But critics aren’t buying it, and they’re not standing by quietly. Two such activists are Nuala Cabral and Denice Frohman of FAAN Mail (Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now!), www.faanmail.wordpress.com. FAAN Mail is a media literacy/media activism project formed by women of color to promote pro-active audiences and creative alternatives.
Cabral and Frohman are based in Philadelphia, MA, but they’re not letting geography stop their actions. On the contrary, Cabral, Frohman and the FAAN Mail community have launched a social media campaign (on Twitter, primarily, #WishiLearnedinHS), “Wished I Learned in High School,” to collect and share stories from people who can speak to the benefits they’ve gained from Ethnic Studies programs and to the regrets they feel about not getting enough exposure to the stories of people of color, women, LGBT writers, and other voices in their K-12 years.
Cabral and Frohoman say they are outraged that racist/conservative ideology has prevailed over data on programs that have been proven to be effective for students of color (who are at more risk for dropping out), and bothered that what hasn’t been acknowledged is the idea that there are already preferential treatments built into the educational system – those that favor the stories, ideas, history and perspectives of wealthy, western, white men.
Click here to check out my audio podcast/interview with Cabral and Frohman, which was recorded and originally aired on Sonic Watermelons on bsrlive.com on Wednesday, February 1. Click here to see a short video about some of the on-the-ground student and community organizing.
Or check out the links below to learn more about the FAAN Mail campaign and the Arizona saga.
- http://faanmail.wordpress.com/wishilearnedinhs-effort/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_studies
- http://www.thenation.com/blog/165989/challenging-arizonas-ban-ethnic-studies
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moshman/did-arizona-ban-ethnic-st_b_816713.html
- http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/ethnic-studies-banned-arizona
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070
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