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What Is a Barnraising?
Portsmouth local and volunteer technicians rush to build the studio before the Sunday night ribbon-cutting!
Want to Bring LPFM to Your Town? Click here.
Prometheus Barn Raisings!
Our Sixth Barnraising -- WSCA-LP in Portsmouth, New Hampshire!
In Judd Gregg's Home State, Diverse Voices in the Heart of the Seacoast Community
The Prometheus Radio Project was thrilled to participate in the launch of Portsmouth Community Radio, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the weekend of September 10th-12th. Our first barnraising in the New England region, this event drew our largest crowd yet -- about 250 people passed through the station's doors throughout the weekend, and participated in workshops, helped to build the studio from the ground up, and produced a wide selection of news for community radio stations all across North America.
The Portsmouth Community Radio organizers built their station in the center of downtown Portsmouth, and reach communities in Kittery, Maine alongside their listeners and volunteers in Portsmouth. Organizers at WSCA were happy to host Prometheus and LPFM builders from all across the United States and Canada, not just because they hoped to enjoy the energy, vitality, and skill-sharing that a barnraising traditionally provides, but because they realized how important their station was as a symbol, as we all fight to expand LPFM to reach thousands more communities across the United States.
Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican elected to office in 1992, waged a strong fight against Low Power FM when we established the service in 2000. Under the direction of huge corporate broadcast lobbies like the National Association of Broadcasters, he led the battle in Congress, convincing legislators to limit the service, and keep it from reaching America's biggest cities (read more about this effort at this page). But this year, as we succeed in proving that the corporations' claims of interference were totally bogus, and jumpstart legislation that would, if passed expand the LPFM service to reach thousands more communities just like Portsmouth, we celebrate the beginning of real community broadcasting in Portsmouth!
Over thirty workshops were held, featuring production and audio editing, fundraising, DJ skills, news production, legal issues and more. The WSCA has already received over 40 program proposals, ranging from political talk shows to gardening, and even a yoga show. The station will be open to all political viewpoints, and has community-wide support as well as the support of numerous local business owners, Portsmouth City Hall and the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce. There will definitely be room for a wider spectrum of viewpoints than the region's corporate media currently allows. The community voices that Congress has done so much to thwart are about to get their turn in front of the microphone!
The Portsmouth barnraising featured a brand-new, expanded news production track, which brought veteran producers from the community media movement into a dedicated workshop space that produced news around the clock for three days. Dozens of new producers made audio pieces, which played on the inaugural broadcast of the station, and travelled back to their home stations with them! Keep checking here for examples of their amazing work.
We have dozens of allies and friends in LPFM, community radio stations, and public access stations all across New England! With their help, this was the biggest, best-attended, most successful barnraising yet. Thanks to everyone who helped Portsmouth Community Radio build a diverse, vibrant, local station in one of the most beautiful regions in the country!
