SPECTRAL UTOPIAS: COMMUNITY RADIO IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1970-PRESENT

On the anniversary of the first century of broadcasting, this article surveys the formation of broadcasting in the United States, and the free radio, mircroradio, and low-power FM (LPFM) movements as key moments in small-scale, noncommercial broadcasting. Introduced in 2000, LPFM contains lessons for the wider media landscape in the second century of broadcasting. In a heavily consolidated broadcasting environment with substantial barriers to entry, and an online environment dominated by large commercial platforms that gatekeep and algorithmically intermediate online communications, noncommercial community radio stands out as a very different template for communication infrastructure, one with an avowed commitment to carrying out democratic community relations.