Urban Pirates to Rural Radio: Low Power FM in the US Heartland

RSVP link: tinyurl.com/RSVPWeek7

Bio: Jesse Drew, Ph.D, is an educator, activist, artist and radio operator based in Northern California. A graduate of the ninth grade for many years, he earned his GED thanks to the assistance of San Francisco City College. He owes the bulk of his education to the commune, the collective, the community and the union. He is currently professor of Cinema and Digital Media at the University of California at Davis.

Workshop Description: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a nascent network of pirate radio enthusiasts emerged in several cities across the United States. A growing critique of the corporate monopolization of media, coupled with a growing interest in art and technology and an associated “maker” culture, inspired an interest in handmade low-power FM radio transmitters and free-form radio production. By the mid 1990s, there were an estimated 3,000 of these underground broadcast operators across the United States, posing a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Urban Pirates to Rural Radio: Low Power Radio in the US Heartland explores the transition low power radio has undergone from the urban pirates to the LPFM stations of the rural US.