| Common Frequency is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the providing information about non-commercial radio broadcasting within the United States to the public, with the aim of facilitating more public involvement in non-commercial radio.
Our Goals - Alert non-profit and educational institutions regarding broadcast application opportunities. - Encourage public participation in radio broadcasting. - Promote a diversity of viewpoints on the public airwaves through the airing of grassroots-produced public affairs programming. - Promote music education and independent artists on non-commercial radio. - Provide resources and consultation to new stations in areas of station constructing and governance. Why Now? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced its intent to open a window to receive applications for new, full power non-commercial educational (NCE) radio frequencies. This means that organizations with educational missions will be allowed to apply for full power fm stations for the first time in fifteen years. This window will open within the next year, and will only remain open for five days, so advance planning is necessary. Why Us? Common Frequency is a group of dedicated individuals with backgrounds in college and community broadcast media, determined to facilitate more public access to the airwaves. Collectively, our experience ranges from station management, building, and development to community organizing, volunteer coordination, and music promotion. We feel that this experience, along with our sincere love of community and college radio, makes us ideal advocates and mentors to aid in the development of new non-commercial radio stations (see development committee bios). Strategy Common Frequency is in dialogue with a number of other media organizations such as NFCB, Prometheus, and individuals planning to organize around the upcoming application window. Therefore, we do not plan on the duplicating services that other groups already offer. Our strategy is to work in concert with these groups, to influence a maximal number of potential community radio stations. We plan to: - Identify areas in which non-commercial frequencies will be available. - Conduct targeted outreach to these areas, alerting local non-profits and educational institutions of the upcoming application window. - Help these organizations through FCC NCE licensing process. - Continue to mentor these outlets in operational and technical guidance. - Provide educational materials for training volunteers. - Provide assistance in amassing a media library. |
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| Music Education
The neglect of musicology on the national airwaves is unfortunate. Commercial radio is dedicated to playing solely a handful of artists on major labels. Contemporary commercial radio refuses to air anything artistically challenging or uncharted. Some non-commercial college radio stations are even formatted to mimic commercial stations, and others play a predetermined rotation of the most popular "indie" artists. Satellite radio “college” format stations are even more clueless. NPR stations do what they can to broadcast classical and jazz formats, occasionally delving into spotlights on individual performers; this is commendable, but more is needed. There is a rich history of music in all genres enjoyed chiefly by record collectors, listeners of legendary college music stations (WFMU, KFJC, WREK, etc), and online music geeks. Historical, progressive, and underground genres need more exposure from an intellectual, artist viewpoint. The public’s music taste has been shaped by exploitive hip-hop, soulless rage rock, and cloned female singers who are marketed for sex appeal. The public has little alternative for music on the radio. Our long term strategy is to encourage neglected music of artistic merit to radio outlets by teaming up with select record labels, experienced regional radio DJs who know a wealth of music, and record buffs. News & Community Affairs A demand for alternative newsgathering exists now within the growing trend of media consolidation and political allegiance tied to media conglomerates. In addition, the easing of FCC broadcast standards has stoked a progressive neglect for community affairs in localities. Broadcast outlets site program cost and ratings as determinates of what to bring to the marketplace. Entertainment is now often fused with news or substituted for investigative journalism. Alternative sources of information and diversity of viewpoint are needed on the radio. Educational Programming (...in general) The FCC intended the NCE band to be used for education, although tuning in to 88.1 - 91.9 FM, a good percentage is not used for public educational programming. Common Frequency would like to see radio used for learning purposes in areas such as science, literature, art, and music. |
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| Contact Common Frequency via email at info@commonfrequency.org, or (530) 792-0763 Mon, Wed, Fri 10-5 pm Pacific Time. |