Save Grassroots Radio: home

David Barsamian!

Grassroots Community Radio: an Endangered Resource

Friday November 2nd, 7-9pm, in the River Rock Common House. Click for directions.

Next Meeting

November 27th at 6pm in the River Rock Common House. Click for directions.

Missing Chuck's Commentaries?

Chuck Ogg scoured the alternative press to produce a weekly commentary for KRFC's local news program which apparently stopped playing them.

Norberto Valdez' MLK day speech in Fort Collins.

download mp3
(courtesy A-Infos Radio Project)

Struggles at grassroots radio stations [1] are probably as old as community radio itself. One of the best-known struggles is the attempted takeover of the Pacifica Radio Network by an increasingly bureaucratic staff and board separating Pacifica from its stated purposes, origins and ideals. The Save Pacifica coalition formed, and after a long ugly battle, including demonstrations and court cases, prevailed in returning the control of the Pacifica Network to the member stations.

KRFC and Save Grassroots Radio (formerly Open KRFC) are located in Fort Collins, Colorado

KRFC's board of directors voted March 16th, 2006 to adopt a new mission statement despite a petition signed by ten times as many people as board members. Many signers were convinced by comparing the original and proposed missions. At the same meeting, the board avoided their own KRFC's own due-process discipline policy by voting to revoke three volunteer's memberships. Save Grassroots Radio (formerly Open KRFC) is an outgrowth of the petition signers.

"KRFC was founded as a democratically run station. This was very clear. What was unclear is what exactly that meant. Everybody had an opinion, volunteers, members and board. Instead of discussing this in an open manner, the board instead hired a manager who ended the discussion for them and sealed the station into what could be called a shotgun consensus model.

- Eddie Arthur, 2007, in the library > important letters

"Dialogue is a conversation between adults the outcome of which is unknown."

-Martin Buber

"The workings of KRFC have truly become a nightmare for anyone interested in a community radio station run in a democratic manner, or to be precise, "a community radio station that is listener supported and democratically managed." That's from the KRFC Mission Statement. [The] recent e-mails from the Station Manager and the President of the Board of Directors reveal, in my opinion, obvious violations of the KRFC Mission Statement."

- Jeff Rowan, 2005, in the library > important letters

"Grassroots radio fosters democracy, both in its programming and its governance."

from The Grassroots Radio Movement in the U.S.
- Marty Durlin, Cathy Melio

It seems essential to first define what is meant by the terms "democracy" and "accountability " Here's what it means to me: (what does it mean to you?)
The people affected by a decision are the ones who make it
People who are doing work decide how they do that work.
People doing work on behalf of others must be accountable to those others, and work on behalf of the needs of others as well as their own.

Lyn Gerry, a founder of the FreePacifica movement in the mid 90's