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Hey some nerd (me) is quoted here in this Columbia Journalism Review story about how low-power FM radio stations weathered federal funding cuts by being too small to be eligible for federal funding... in contrast to NPR. The invulnerability of the truly grassroots? 📻💚
cjr.org/feature/public-media-f…

#LPFM #media #radio #PublicMedia


Against the precipitous backdrop of funding cuts to public media, low-power radio emerges as a lesser-known source of inspiration.

Columbia Journalism Review
#radio #media #publicmedia #lpfm
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AI6YR Ben
mastodon - Link to source
AI6YR Ben
• •
Interesting, I take it this requires a license and "low power" is extremely low power. Curious if this is even possible in such an FM-crowded place like Los Angeles. (I know there's a low power AM radio site run by one of our radio clubs, but they can't put programming on it -- their local city is in charge of that).
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tools for commensality 🧿
hometown - Link to source
tools for commensality 🧿
• •

@ai6yr
It's 100 watts or less, and yes a license is required. They reach a neighborhood or small town (tho many also stream). We have one in Long Beach, i believe its antenna is in the port area:
klbp.org/

There are at least a couple in LA too, one is
kqbhla.com/


Home - 101.5FM KQBH

On Air play_arrow KQBH Encore access_time2:00 am – 3:00 pm On Air play_arrow KQBH Encore access_time2:00 am – 3:00 pm On Air KQBH Encore access_time2:00 am – 3:00 pm play_arrow Jazz Women Creating Magic 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm more_vert Women Creating Magi…
101.5FM KQBH
@AI6YR Ben
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Burning Joint USA
pixelfed - Link to source
Burning Joint USA
• •
Do you have any idea the legality of using those super low power transmitters that say they are FCC approved on ebay and connecting them to a raspberry pi that is pulling a stream and then doing that in multiple locations? Like technically having no one location exceeding the FCC limit to transmit without a license, but increasing coverage by just simply running one per block or something like that? Aside from other technical issues that might crop up with timing and what not, does that break any FCC regulations that you're aware of?
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AI6YR Ben
mastodon - Link to source
AI6YR Ben
• •

@grimacing Looks like 61 meters per transmitter. All the rules I am aware of are "per transmitter", but I am not an attorney... I mean, if you had an entire block of people with their own FM transmitters playing Halloween music or Christmas music (noncoordinated) that is legal as long as each transmitter meets requirements. If they are all coordinated, I would (guess?) they are all separate transmitters, as long as every transmitter is below the limit. Great idea!

fcc.gov/media/radio/low-power-…

@Burning Joint USA
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Burning Joint USA
pixelfed - Link to source
Burning Joint USA
• •
I've been working on using a python library to coordinate streaming to a bunch of raspberry pi's with this in mind. 61 meters is a good amount of distance to be honest... I have had this loophole in mind for many years, but I guess I should probably consult a lawyer before going through with it. I feel like if this got used for pirate radio at any real scale, new laws would pop up pretty quickly to address it, so I am not trying to ruin anybody's good time either... Just thinking hypothetically at the moment.
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AI6YR Ben
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AI6YR Ben
• •
@grimacing It's a great idea! And you could distribute it through neighborhoods.... So, even if transmitters not next to each other, you could make that station available widely through your community in hotspots. Which could be a cool thing anyway.
@Burning Joint USA
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Burning Joint USA
pixelfed - Link to source
Burning Joint USA
• •
My thought though for the technical aspect, was to use my airsonic server, then post the days playlist and each client pulls that down over python and gets the stream link for each song, then plays them using a headless VLC. I've only been playing with it for a few days so it's not working currently, but the real challenges I see are like what happens when one client buffers a bit longer than another and somebody switches range from one transmitter to the other... It wouldn't be a seamless experience. Not sure how to address that problem or the geographic timing issues, which honestly, I'm not quite as concerned with, because it would still be pretty close together geographically for the most part. I am toying with the idea of downloading the days entire playlist to the client a few hours before it would be set to play. That way streaming issues could be avoided, but I am going to have to play with it.
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AI6YR Ben
mastodon - Link to source
AI6YR Ben
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@grimacing So... VLC has support for RTP, real time streaming -- which is synchronized in time. It may be there is a way to send RTP to your headless VLC instances so they will auto-sync.

prime-5.videolan.me/vlc-user/s…

Stream over RTP — VLC User Documentation streaming_files documentation

prime-5.videolan.me
@Burning Joint USA
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AI6YR Ben
mastodon - Link to source
AI6YR Ben
• •

@grimacing Ooh, there's more than a few solutions out there. This one uses WebRTC and Websockets

github.com/sahil-mengji/sounds…


GitHub - sahil-mengji/soundsynk: SoundSynk is a real-time audio sync application that allows multiple devices on the same local network to share and play audio in sync without the need for a server. Using WebRTC and WebSockets, SoundSynk creates a seamles

SoundSynk is a real-time audio sync application that allows multiple devices on the same local network to share and play audio in sync without the need for a server. Using WebRTC and WebSockets, So...
GitHub
@Burning Joint USA
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Burning Joint USA
pixelfed - Link to source
Burning Joint USA
• •
Definitely appreciate all the resources. I will have to take a good look at these to see what I can fit into my project, would be pretty rad to have something useful at the end of this that I could put up on github. Would love to help people start little pirate radio stations TBH.
Unknown parent

AI6YR Ben
mastodon - Link to source
AI6YR Ben
• •
@pixplz Wow, just did a query and there's a TON! Well, that would be fun (maybe?) I assume you have to pay streaming fees and whatnot, etc... Plus fill airtime!!
@Schools are superspreaders
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Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
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Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
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@ai6yr @pixplz
I was the news director for several years at the lpfm back in Denton
It covered pretty much the whole town

There have only been two windows to apply for licenses so far, and the second window ended last year

You may have to wait another 10 years for the application window to open again

@AI6YR Ben @Schools are superspreaders

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