David Klann
Reverend Joan Ross at the helm in WNUC-LP studios, 96.7 FM, Detroit.
Reverend Joan Ross founded WNUC-LP 96.7 FM to give her neighborhood a voice.
While managing food pantries, Ross witnessed the role that unreliable public transit plays in the cycle of poverty by keeping local residents from jobs. “If a city doesn’t have transit, it dies,” Ross says.
In 2011, she founded the North End Woodward Community Coalition to educate and gather input on a proposed metropolitan light-rail system. But within a year, the envisioned 9.3-mile rapid transit route spanning the length of Detroit was scaled back to 3.3 miles. The new QLINE streetcar terminated before it reached North End, the central Detroit neighborhood where Ross works. In Ross’s eyes, the new rail system serves relatively affluent populations and prioritizes “development for the few [over] the needs of the many.”
The light-rail struggle convinced Ross that major media outlets were ignoring her predominately African American neighborhood. The community needed a voice. “I won’t let people I care about be deliberately silenced,” she says.
In 2012, a friend in the nonprofit world told Ross about an upcoming opportunity to start a low-power FM (LPFM) radio station. In North End, where Internet access is limited and literacy rates are below average, radio promised to be an effective and empowering way to share information. Ross applied for an LPFM license in November 2013. She chose “NUC” in the call sign to stand for “North End Uniting Community.”
LPFM stations operate at 100 or fewer watts. They transmit weaker signals and cover smaller geographic ranges than traditional FM stations. Because they operate non-commercially, they’re not beholden to advertisers and can tailor their programming to a neighborhood’s needs.
Low Power FM stations operate at 100 or fewer watts. Because they operate non-commercially, they’re not beholden to advertisers and can tailor their programming to a neighborhood’s needs.
President Obama made available a host of new LPFM frequencies in 2011 when he signed the Local Community Radio Act. The act faced years of resistance from big-money broadcasters. They argued that smaller stations’ signals could interfere with theirs, yet the Federal Communications Commission—moved in part by the example of tiny pirate radio stations—deemed low-power broadcasters beneficial to communities and no threat to commercial signals.
After the act passed, over 2,800 people filed applications for LPFM stations. Close to 2,000 of those proposed stations made it to the airwaves. Hundreds of other applicants, however, lost their permits due to lack of money, expertise, or planning.
To survive the process, WNUC had to overcome a number of hurdles.
In May 2014, Ross received a one-line email message from the FCC notifying her that WNUC’s application had been approved. “It seemed like a hoax,” she recalls, because the agency provided no further information—no guidance, for example, on what to do next. She sought help from others around the country who had experience in establishing community radio stations.
Some radio professionals told her that an LPFM station could be built for about $10,000. But because of its proximity to Canada, WNUC needed an expensive directional antenna to prevent its signal from crossing the border. With that and a transmitter, rooftop tower, studio mixers, amplifiers, speakers, and computer networking gear, equipment costs for the station totaled $47,000. In addition, an estimated $50,000 would be needed for rent and other operating expenses. (Because it’s run entirely by volunteers, the station has no staffing costs.) Ross paid some of the early bills from her own pocket and obtained grants and donations to cover the rest.
One funder is Detroit-area surgical oncologist Dr. Richard Keidan. Keidan was familiar with community radio through his work with the Detroit2Nepal Foundation. In the Himalayas, he uses radio to educate people on health issues.
“There are similarities between Detroit and remote areas of Nepal,” Keidan says. “People don’t have easy access to information.”
Detroit’s local bureaucracy posed even more significant obstacles to the station’s completion. City officials demanded multiple permits and documents. Some proved elusive, such as building codes from the year when the landlord’s building was constructed. Some were spurious, such as records of the building’s nonexistent historical designation.
After years of stalling, the city finally granted WNUC permission to broadcast in April 2017, less than a month before the station’s FCC construction permit would expire. The station went live in May.
Neighbors were initially reluctant to believe in the station during the three years it took to build it. “People are so beaten down,” Ross says. They would tell her they might get involved “if this thing ever happens.” Now that the station is broadcasting, a number of locals have stopped by to learn how they can participate.
With its 58-watt transmitter, WNUC reaches up to 300,000 potential listeners within a three-mile radius of its antenna tower. In addition to North End, the station reaches the Southwest and Near East Side neighborhoods, Hamtramck and Highland Park, including Latino, N
David Klann
WNUC commmunity radio broadcasts to up to 300,000 potential listeners in Detroit.
ative American, and Bangladeshi communities.
Along with nationally syndicated programs, WNUC broadcasts locally produced shows. One volunteer hosts a gospel music program. Others have helped train youth in media literacy and listening skills with hopes that they’ll produce a student news hour. Ross is hosting a talk show called “My Block, My Hood, My City” featuring civic leaders talking about Detroit’s issues. Another show will bring together representatives from all of the city’s transit groups to exchange perspectives on public transportation.
WNUC’s program coordinator, Ayana Rubio, moved to Detroit from the Bay Area seven years ago. The only Spanish-language programming she’d been able to find in Detroit was commercial and light on news, which she regards as essential. She intends to air an early-morning broadcast that translates daily headlines into Spanish.
Rubio learned about WNUC two years ago, when she was organizing with community groups around redistricting concerns. She saw the station as a way to broaden their media strategy. She notes that for those less privileged in how they can spend their time, radio helps people engage around common issues.
“It feels more feasible to fight against eviction when you hear from others going through it,” she says.
WNUC is Detroit’s only true community radio station—the only noncommercial station not affiliated with National Public Radio or a university. Ross believes the other noncommercial stations target predominately white, suburban populations. WNUC is reaching a different audience, one whose voices aren’t represented elsewhere on the dial.
“We have a right to be heard and people have a right to hear our story,” she says. “If we don’t have independent media, we’ll only have one story.”
Tamara Dean is the author of essays, articles, and books and a co-founder of community radio station WDRT in Viroqua, Wisconsin. More of her work is online at www.tamaradean.media.