This year's Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC) will be from October 5 through 7, 2018 in Portland, Oregon.
For LPFMers (as well as full-service NCEers) who have never been to a GRC before, it is a great opportunity to get to meet like-minded folks and learn a few new things along the way. This year's program, though shorter than previous years is definitely crammed with a lot of good stuff. This year's GRC is hosted by KBOO, a full-service non-commercial station in Portland that is also celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Registration
Registration for the GRC is $259.74 (service fee included) for all three days. We recommend that you purchase your registration now.
Workshops of interest to LPFM stations
REC has worked with the planners of this year's GRC to assure that LPFMers with a limited entourage will be able to take in the workshops that would be of most interest to LPFM station managers, board members, tech folks and other volunteers and staff who are attending.
Friday 9:30AM
Open Source EAS - REC has invited the folks from Open Broadcaster (who came a long long way from the cold cold Yukon) to demonstrate their Raspberry Pi-powered Pyrate Radio and Open EAS software. Open-Source EAS is an REC initative to address the high cost of legacy EAS decoders. REC's goal is to work towards the development of an open-source EAS decoder that can be integrated with software defined radio or other audio sources to provide a Part 11 compliant EAS unit and to raise awareness within the FCC and within FEMA to allow open source projects to move on as an inexpensive alternative to legacy units. Becase there is no "over-the-air" monitoring requirement in Canada, this system is already legal for use by small radio stations there.
Other workshops going on at this time include an NFCB-led session on strategies for leading change, a case study of the KBOO archive and an introduction into mobile journalism.
Friday 11:00AM
Community Radio in the Streets and Digital Inclusion - This appears to be a very interesting workshop presented by Sabrina Roach, formerly the LPFM "Doer" at Brown Paper Tickets. Learn about literally embedding chips and sensors in your neighborhoods so that stories produced by your station can reach further and live longer. Make stories of those displaced by gentrification visible. Connect with community partners you might not connect with otherwise. Play a non-profit role in the Internet of Things and possibly with area utilities and bridging digital divides.
Organizing the Organization - If your LPFM is in the Community Media or Cause-Based segments or you have a microstation desiring to make a greater mark on your community. Betty McArdle of CMAP will be presenting this introduction to governance and management and their vital importance to the life of your station.
Other workshops include Turning Listeners Into Raving Fans, Podcasting.
Friday 2:45PM
All Things Content: Programmers' Roundtable - Content is king and queen on LPFM stations. Unique and compelling content is what differentiates a true community radio from one that may be perceived as a jukebox. Ursula Rudenberg of Pacifica Network will be leading a roundtable discussion on a subject that is vital to the success of any community station. Your tech folks can check out David Klann's Survey of Automation Tools.
Other workshops include Jim Ellinger's (Austin Airwaves) "How To Promote The Hell Out of Your Station or Show for Cheap or Even for Free!" and a very intriguing workshop, "Defending our Movements".
Friday 5:30PM
At Portland City Hall will be the GRC 2018 Opening Event. The featured speaker is former FCC Commissioner and champion of net neutrality and community radio, Mignon Clyburn.
Saturday 9:35AM
There will be a plenary panel on Radical Inclusivity where issues such as how station culture and institutional culture may alienate members of certain communities such as persons of color, LGBTQ, women, socioeconomically disadvantaged and other disenfranchised communities.
Saturday 11:15AM
LPFM Roundtable - Join Sharon Scott along with other LPFM station stakeholders from across the country to discuss the topics that affect LPFM stations nationwide.
Also at this time: launching local news bureaus, music licensing, avoiding burnout and how to make smart fundraising decisions.
Saturday 1:45PM
Rules, Regs and Policies - Join REC's Michelle Bradley and attorney Michael Richards as we discuss some of the various issues that are affecting LPFM stations including AM Revitalization, Class C4, the ยง73.215, EAS and perhaps the TV repack and any other items you would like to bring up.
Other workshops include interviewing techniques, listening between the lines, how to make media more accessible, a workshop on training, creating a funding prospectus and pledge drives.
Saturday 4:00PM
Underwriting, PSAs and Internal Promotions: Laungage, Myths, Similarities and Differences - Join Luisa Cardoza and REC's Michelle Bradley as we tackle one of radio's hot buttons and one of the things most likely to get you a dinger (fine). What you can and can't say and how underwriting, PSAs and internal promotions are related, and how they are different.
Also at this time, Michael Richards will be hosting an "ask a lawyer" session. There will be an overview of music and sound design techniques for radio plays and podcasts, working with educational institutions and also a session on Pacifica AudioPort hosted by Pacifica Network's Ursula Ruedenberg.
At 5:15 PM, there will be a meeting for Pacifica Radio affiliates.
Saturday 6:45PM
Radio Survivor Live Recording - This year's GRC will be immortalized as Radio Survivor (heard Wednesdays at 11:00AM EDT on REC-FM) will record an entire episode "live" from the GRC.
Stick around after 8PM as there will be station open houses at both KBOO-FM and KFFP-LP.
Sunday 9:15AM
Errant Translators and You - Attorney Michael Richards will host a workshop addressing the issues related to the recent AM revitalization FM translator windows and other application activity, and the increase in encroachment, especially to LPFM stations. Learn how one LPFM station took on the translator.. and won.
Other sessions include website/internet security, local radio news programming, lessons learned in the Government-PEG LPFM segment and audio streaming with Icecast.
Sunday 10:45AM
Forming a statewide or region-wide community media organization - Learn from the problems and solutions to forming a state-wide community media organization.
Also at this time: Audacity for audio recording and editing, starting a local volunteer newsroom, RDBS - sending text by radio and the philosophies of editing.
Sunday 1:45PM
Keynote speaker - Wade Rathke and the film "The Organizer".
Come join us!
Please come to Portland for to attend. We will do our best to try to make live programming available on REC-FM.
