The emergency LPFM station set up in Houston to serve those displaced from New Orleans by Katrina ran for just five days. Due to the consolidation of the remaining evacuees into one of Reliant Park’s smaller arenas, on-site media were asked to move to a different parking lot. Instead of deal with the hassle, KAMP volunteers decided to pack it in after power was cut to the station Saturday morning.
A KAMP spoke has nothing but high praise for the local authorities (a somewhat surprising turn of events), and wants to make sure they suffer no blame for the station’s premature sign-off: Continue reading “KAMP: Over and Out”
Tag: hurricane katrina
Scene Reports: Louisiana, Texas
Louisiana: The microradio station in Algiers is broadcasting community information, survivor stories, and any Katrina-related content it can find online on 94.5 FM. It’s desperately in need of volunteers to collect and broadcast news, as part of a larger community media center that’s opened up in the neighborhood.
The heart of the station is a 10-watt lunchbox transmitter donated by KRRR, an impromptu outlet that participated in an anti-Clear Channel protest last year in San Antonio, Texas. That is feeding a homemade dipole antenna held up by a mast fashioned with wood scavenged from damaged/destroyed buildings. The signal gets out pretty well, although with just 10 watts its primary coverage is neighborhood-level, not citywide by any stretch. Continue reading “Scene Reports: Louisiana, Texas”
Microradio Moves to New Orleans
The primary target is the Algiers neighborhood, on 94.5 FM. The transmitter was assembled in the hardcore lunchbox motif. More gear is moving south as we speak. These stations will supplement the autonomous community organizing that has maintained a semblance of order among those who stayed in place through the flood.
LPFM For Houston Displaced On Air
KAMP 95.3 began test broadcasts late Monday and will officially go on the air today. It plans to be a place where the displaced can relate their experiences directly, as well as share information with each other. The FCC approved a minor amendment to special 90-day authorization which allows the station to broadcast from a trailer in the Houston Astrodome parking lot. Continue reading “LPFM For Houston Displaced On Air”
Astrodome Radio DOA?
Wired News has a story from someone on the ground in Houston who gives the impression that the emergency LPFM stations authorized for the Reliant Park complex have been “officially, finally denied” by local authorities.
Salient quotes: Continue reading “Astrodome Radio DOA?”
Local Officialdom Stymies Houston Emergency Stations
[Donate to the KAMP Radio Project via Prometheus]
The situation in the Houston Astrodome sounds more like a detention center than shelter. Perhaps that is why the emergency LPFM station authorized to broadcast from there (actually, there’s three, covering most of the Reliant Park complex of which the Astrodome is a part) has been dismissed by local officials.
Organizers of “KAMP” 95.3 were first told they had to have 10,000 portable radios ready to distribute to the displaced before they could begin broadcasting. Not just any radio would do: they had to be of “walkman type,” listenable with headphones. Within a day that goal had been met. Now, authorization for the station has been denied by an “Incident Commander” on the scene. The reason? Not enough electricity. Continue reading “Local Officialdom Stymies Houston Emergency Stations”
Refugee Radio at the Astrodome
Houston Indymedia and the Prometheus Radio Project have secured emergency support from the FCC to set up a 30-watt LPFM station to serve those currently housed in the Houston Astrodome. Now they just need 10,000 portable radios for everyone to hear them.
Contact with any assistance (radios and batteries, especially): Tish Stringer or Hannah Sassaman. Or support Houston IMC and/or Prometheus directly. Continue reading “Refugee Radio at the Astrodome”