Community Radio

Native Community Radio Struggles

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Photo by South Dakota Seachlight

Article in Indian Country Today by John Hult in the South Dakota Searchlight, 12/1/25

Headline:  “Tribal radio funding flows, but future remains uncertain after clawback of public media money”

Subhead: “KILI has raised $80,000 in donations since the summer, and $50,000 came from a single donor after the story ran in the New York Times.”

“PORCUPINE — For the past few weeks, Oitancan “Oi” Zephier has labored among piles of vinyl records nearly 2 feet high.

KILI-FM, the Porcupine, South Dakota-based tribal public broadcasting station Zephier manages, has gone digital and no longer needs the records.

The station is selling the records, because what it needs is cash. . .”

Read the full article at:


https://ictnews.org/news/tribal-radio-funding-flows-but-future-remains-uncertain-after-clawback-of-public-media-money

 

 

Community Radio Through Difficulties

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff 11/28/25

Headline:  “RSF documentary “Community Radios: The Fight to Keep the Sahel Informed” now available on Arte”

“As of 27 November, the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) documentary titled, ‘Community Radios: The Fight to Keep the Sahel Informed’ , will be available to watch on Arte, the Franco-German public service television channel. Through a series of interviews with directors of three community radios in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the film reveals the challenges faced by journalists operating in a deteriorating security situation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/rsf-documentary-community-radios-fight-keep-sahel-informed-now-available-arte

FCM Meeting & Potluck

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The regular meeting of Friends of Community Media will be held at 5 PM CST on Saturday 11/22/25 at 3707 Pennsylvania Avenue.  A potluck (hot dogs / beverages provided) will follow later  with a possible film about the media / backyard fire.

For more information / inquiries, email to savethemedia@cs.com

St. Louis Community Radio – Gone

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Article in Stlpr.org by Jeremy D. Goodwin, 10/29/25

Headline:  “Christian radio station Worship One will debut on 88.1 FM in January “

Subhead:  “Christian radio network Gateway Creative Broadcasting is expected to launch its third St. Louis-area station in January: 88.1 Worship One.“

“A new Christian radio station will debut on 88.1 FM in January. The new station will be known as 88.1 Worship One, with call letters KLJT.

“For about two months the 88.1 FM frequency, which is designated by the FCC for nonprofit and community use, has been in Top 40 purgatory — temporarily carrying a simulcast of 95.5 Jams after previous operator KDHX formally ceased operations in September.

“Double Helix, the nonprofit corporation behind KDHX, had been broadcasting prerecorded content since late January. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March and put KDHX’s broadcast license on sale to settle $2 million in debt. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.stlpr.org/news-briefs/2025-10-29/christian-radio-station-worship-one-will-debut-on-88-1-fm-in-january-report

Alaska Community Radio Trouble

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 1028/25

Headline:  “An Alaska station connects communities across hundreds of miles. Now it’s fighting to survive.”

Subhead:  “Federal funding cuts have left KOTZ, the only local news source for much of northwest Alaska, on the brink of closure”

“In the remote Arctic town of Kotzebue, Alaska, some residents still talk about the Dairy Queen that closed several years ago. They also talk about what’s at risk of closing next: the region’s lone radio station.

“Since 1973, KOTZ has delivered the news to Kotzebue, population 3,102, and several other small, sparse villages that collectively are home to about the same number of people. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/alaska-radio-station-kotz-faces-funding-crisis/

 

Community Radio Our Last Hope?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Luch Shiller, 10/7/25

Headline:  “Too Small to Mess With”

Subhead:  “Against the precipitous backdrop of funding cuts to public media, low-power radio emerges as a lesser-known source of inspiration.”

“Years ago, in Louisville, “people just didn’t understand this concept of having a radio station where people could just walk in and play what was interesting to them, or talk about what was on their mind,” Sharon Scott told me. ‘This was just totally radical.’ Scott started ART-FM, otherwise known as WXOX 97.1 FM, in 2011, out of her family’s living room. Her husband, Sean Selby, a carpenter, helped put it together. She served as the general manager. . .”

More at https://www.kkfistory.org/ Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/public-media-funding-cut-low-power-radio-lessons-community-broadcasting.php

Community Radio – Last Hope For News

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Partager, 9/17/25

Headline:  “RSF releases new documentary on community radio stations, the last bastions of reliable news in the Sahel”

“As several Sahel countries face growing insecurity and their media are heavily pressured, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is screening ‘Community radios: the fight to keep the Sahel informed,’ its new documentary dedicated to community radio stations, in Dakar. The film delves into the daily lives of three journalists from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, essential workers in the news industry.

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/rsf-releases-new-documentary-community-radio-stations-last-bastions-reliable-news-sahel

Closing the Window to the World

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Article in The Hill bySarah Fortinsky, 9/14/25

Headline:  “TV Academy chair scolds Congress for shuttering Corporation for Public Broadcasting”

“Television Academy Chairman Cris Abrego criticized Congress for voting to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), in a speech paying tribute to the organization at the Emmy Awards on Sunday evening.

“ ‘For more than 50 years, CPB has been the backbone of American Public Media, bringing us everything from ‘Sesame Street’ to ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’ to ‘Finding Your Roots’ and keeping free local stations alive across the nation,’ Abrego said in his speech.

“ ‘And in many small towns, those stations weren’t just a cultural lifeline, they were the only emergency alert system families could count on,’ he continued. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5503327-corporation-public-broadcasting-emmys-congress/

Wounded Public Stations

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Public media is NOT state-controlled media

Article in The New York Times, 9/13/25 by Benjamin Mullin, et. al., 9/13/25

Headline:  “After Trump’s Cuts, ‘Crippled’ NPR and PBS Stations Must Transform”

Subhead:  “Radio and television stations, facing enormous budget holes, are pleading with NPR and PBS to lower their fees as they examine whether to drop national programming altogether.”

“On the windswept prairie of South Dakota, a tribal public radio station is selling off its old records to pay the bills. In Warm Springs, Ore., the NPR affiliate is considering dropping ‘All Things Considered” ‘o focus on tribal issues. . .”

“Some stations are beginning to go off the air, as Congress was warned before it went ahead and eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-backed company that supports public media, ultimately shutting it down. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/us/politics/public-broadcasting-cuts.html

Community Radio Paying the Price

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Article in Indian Country Today by South Dakota Searchlight, 9/12/25

Headline:  “high cost for public media and rural America”

Subhead:  “Republican Mike Rounds’ vote was critical in cancellation of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds”

“. . .as with many interactions with Trump, it was more transactional than genuinely moral or fairly reciprocal. A deal, in other words. But a very bad deal for rural Americans, it turns out.

“For the president’s end of the deal, he wanted Rounds to vote “yes” in the Senate on a bill to cut $9 billion in previously congressionally approved funding that included $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/opinion/trump-endorsement-of-south-dakota-senator-comes-at-a-high-cost-for-public-media-and-rural-america/