What is Community Radio?
• Commercial-free, independent radio programmed
by volunteers
• Radio that provides musical diversity and local,
issues-oriented programs
• Radio serving the needs of its local community
• Radio that "democratizes" public media by
making it accessible
What Community Radio is NOT:• Community radio is not the same as National Public Radio (NPR). Boise State Radio is a valuable asset to the community. However, as an NPR affiliate, Boise State University offers syndicated national news, talk and classical music programs. Less than 10% of their schedule is locally programmed. We see Boise Community Radio's priorities as being complimentary to what Boise State is already doing.
• Corporate "behemoths" and religious broadcasters do not prioritize their programming according to needs of our local community. Since their programming is designed to sell products or promote religious agendas, they tend not to be accountable or responsive to specific local audiences.
The attractiveness of a community has been traced to the notion of "quality of place."
Sociologists have defined this idea by the following concept:Quality of Place = Diversity + Civic Culture + Environment + Entrepreneurship
BCR seeks to enhance "Quality of Place" in the Treasure Valley by engendering an inclusive community, open and supportive of diversity.
Community Radio is Important:
- Strengthens the "cultural health" of a region
- Empowers citizens by providing a forum for a diversity of viewpoints and ideas
- Promotes awareness of community-based organizations and services
- Supports local artists, musicians, and cultural activities
- Offers an effective instrument for community development
- Compliments state and local educational efforts
To learn more about the relevance of these factors download — Competing in the Age of Talent: Quality of Place and the New Economy by Dr. Richard Florida (pdf 251kb)
A History of KPFA, Berkeley: 45 Years of Community Radio
- 1949 Pacifica first goes on the air April 15 as KPFA 94.1 fm in Berkeley CA.
- 1950 Opponents to the Korean War are among the many minority viewpoints given freedom of speech on Pacifica during the McCarthy era.
- 1955 Poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti bring the Beat Generation to the airwaves. The FCC questions Pacifica's broadcast of some of their works as "vulgar, obscene and in bad taste."
- 1962 The FCC withholds the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFK pending its investigation into "communist affiliations." Pacifica was never ultimately cited in any of these or subsequent investigations.
- 1970 KPFT in Houston goes on the air and is bombed off twice during its first year by Ku Klux Klan attacks on its transmitter tower. Federal agents ultimately arrest a Klansman and charge him with plotting to blow up KPFA and KPFK, as well as the actual KPFT bombing.
- 1973 Pacifica provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings.
- 1984 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Pacifica's favor that non-commercial broadcasters have a constitutional right to editorialize.
- 1987 Pacifica's coverage of the Iran-Contra affair is carried by 33 stations and wins two national journalism awards.
- 1993 Pacifica wins its third Court of Appeals ruling in six years, overturning the FCC restrictions on "indecent" programming as unconstitutional restrictions of the First Amendment rights of the radio audience.