How it all started

For more than 20 years I have researched community/alternative/citizens' media in my own country (Colombia) and in many other corners of the world (Nicaragua, Cataluña, Chile, among others). Since 2000 I live in Norman, a small town in Oklahoma, the heart-land of the USA (long story how I got here and a scary heart! Apart from Alaska, Oklahoma is the ONLY state where Obama did not win in any county. As my friend Lisa says, this is what hegemony looks like!) 

A few months ago a former student recruited me to moderate a panel at a sustainability conference. Bored with my panel on intentional communities, I left the speakers to their questions about by-laws and rules in three-ring binders and wandered into a nearby panel on community radio.

To my surprise I found a woman speaking about how she had single-handedly applied for a community radio license to the FCC. Mary Francis is her name. At the end of the session I approached her and introduced myself. So now I am part of a group working with Mary, as we wait to see if the FCC actually approves our license to have our own Norman community radio station.

So, from being a community media researcher, I am journeying now into DOING community radio. And I am finding it much more challenging that I anticipated. With this blog, I want to document my experiences as I enter this new world of actually doing (and not just studying) community media.