WGXC is now broadcasting on the FM dial!

Congratulations to our friends and barnraising partners at WGXC for their official FM launch! On February 26, WGXC began its full time FM broadcast on 90.7 FM, which will reach 78,000 people in the Hudson Valley, New York.  

WGXC Hands on Radio is a full power community-run radio station in New York’s Greene and Columbia Counties. WGXC partnered with Prometheus for our first full power radio barnraising in September 2010, when over 400 volunteers came together to teach DIY media making workshops,build the WGXC studios, and celebrate the launch of the station and the debut of its amazing  programming schedule.  

Since then WGXC staff and volunteers have been hard at work, producing programming on their internet webstream, continuing to build community support, and preparing for the station’s FM launch. Governed by a Radio Council which represents many of the diverse communities in the station’s range, WGXC offers a great model of participatory radio. 

WGXC’s first broadcast was celebrated with an event in Catskill New York on Febrary 26, where community members came together for performances, inspiring words from WGXC programmers and programming directors, kids activities, and delicious potluck food put together by the WGXC volunteers.  The event took place at the Catskill Community Center, where WGXC will eventually have its second studio (the first studio was built with the help of barnraising participants in Hudson, NY, across the Hudson River from Catskill).  Front and center in the center’s storefront window was a cardboard mock-up showing the placement of all the equipment in the future studio space.  Attendees were asked to donate towards each item, allowing the station to eventually replace the cardboard with functional equipment.  

The FM launch comes more than a year after the start of WGXC’s online streaming which will continue.  To listen to the stream, find more information about the station and its programming, and to learn how you can support WGXC, check out their website at http://www.wgxc.org.