"Free the Spectrum!" Activist Encounters With Old and New Media Technology * (TOP STUDENT PAPER IN CAT).

This paper contextualizes discourses surrounding new media technologies by examining activism around independent media, using as a case study an activist group who since the mid-1990s have advocated for greater citizen access to low power FM (LPFM) radio. The continuing interest in the viability of FM radio demonstrates the need for a nuanced understanding of the uses and impacts of communication technologies. I argue that the significance of new media technologies can be grasped most effectively when considered in a dynamic field that includes older technologies; emerging technologies are often viewed through the lens of patterns of use and interpretation of older technologies, at least initially. I follow the activists' assessments of not only FM radio but emerging digital technologies, including webstreaming, "smart" (or software-defined) radio, and wi-fi networks. In practice, the activists circumspectly negotiate expanding their efforts to encompass community wi-fi networks, while trying to retain the vision, flavor, and organizing strategies from their LPFM campaigns. I trace the tensions they experience as they consider the implications of this shift for their emphasis on a "grassroots mandate", for their policy work versus hands-on technical work, and for their identification with FM radio technology versus the inclusion of computer and wi-fi technology in their conception of their work. By attending to the interplay of old and new technical options, it is possible to better understand the trajectory of technological adoption without relying on deterministic or revolutionary explanatory mechanisms. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]