FEATURES

Soon, listeners who find a sweet spot within a three- to five-mile radius of Media Bridges’s nascent low-power, noncommercial, 100-watt radio station could hear Spanish-speaking announcers, their favorite homegrown bands, a discussion of gay and lesbian issues, or any number of Queen City–specific programs. It may sound redundant to add another low-power radio station to the dial—there’s already the venerable 34-year-old 88.3 FM WAIF, a station known to loyal listeners as “Stepchild Radio” for its grassroots sensibilities and disparate programming. However, in WVQC—recently dubbed <p>Radio Free Queen City—Media Bridges is offering The Little(r) Station That Could. Katie Finnigan, the AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer getting the station ready to go, says that WVQC will fill a void: “There’s a lot to cover in Cincinnati and two community [stations] dedicated to it is not enough.” Radio Free Queen City is part of a larger national trend, adding to the hundreds of low-power radio licenses granted over the last decade by the Federal Communications Commission. Many of these stations broadcast (weakly) from the homes of private broadcasters, who snapped up the licenses as a result of, according to The New York Times, “a brief window of eased federal regulation intended to foster competition within the big corporate radio chains.”

But unlike some of the stations begun and manned by one person, Media Bridges, the nonprofit community media center known for its public access TV shows, has a low-power FM facilitator in 24-year-old Finnigan. She was hired in 2008—eight years after Media Bridges applied for its license. So why did it take so long? Because the Big Boys of commercial radio viewed the swell of small community stations as a collective threat, says Finnigan. “It was held up because the National Association of Broadcasters fought against it,” she says. “They claimed it would cause interference with larger stations.”

No worries there. It’s doubtful WVQC’s signal—which will carry only as far as the Norwood lateral; Dayton, Kentucky; Columbia-Tusculum; and Price Hill on a clear day—will encroach on any of the local radio broadcast behemoths.

Still, it’s arduous to build programming, train producers, raise money, and adhere to federal regulations. Even on the low end. “The purpose of the station is to give voice to people underrepresented in the media,” Finnigan says. “For example, we have a veteran who wants to address veteran’s issues.”

Slated to hit the air in late fall, Media Bridges has raised half the station’s initial $50,000 operating budget inventively: some from benefit shows featuring local bands, and some by selling off Macs donated by the Cincinnati Computer Cooperative. Finnigan is looking to three sources for help—corporate sponsorship, foundations and grants, and individual sponsorship. And despite the recession, she is emboldened. “This is the kind of radio license that’s designed to put localism back into radio,” she says. “I really think community media is important in bringing people together who might not talk to one another.”

Once WVQC hits the air, maybe they’ll listen to each other. That is, if they’re in just the right spot.

What's the Frequency, Katie?

Get Low
Cincinnati is the largest area to receive a license to operate one of the 1,000 or so low-power radio stations. Most are in rural municipalities. The FCC is no longer accepting applications for these licenses.

Digital Age
The June switch of television signals from analog to digital freed up radio signals, “but [they’re] not being used,” says Finnigan. Instead, those spectrums are being utilized by cell phones and other wireless devices.

Time Share
Though WVQC 95.7 FM will broadcast 51 hours of weekly programming, sharing the air with the Forest Hills School District and The Holy Spirit Center in Norwood, it will stream 24/7 on the Internet.

I’m Open!
“The dial is congested here in Cincinnati. If a more powerful signal became available, we could apply for it or we could buy it from whomever already owns it,” Finnigan says.

Originally published in the November 2009 issue.