On the air: Low-power radio stations give New Mexico communities a voice

Video, DVDs, the Internet, even the iPhone haven’t killed it. Radio is alive and well and thriving in a new form in New Mexico’s rural hinterlands and its biggest urban center. Low-power FM radio is giving communities like Placitas and Madrid a chance to showcase the talents of local musicians, artists and writers and play an eclectic mix of tunes that seldom hit the airwaves on mainstream stations. Radio stations broadcasting at a power of 100 watts or less whose signal can reach only a few miles have been around legally or illegally since the late 1940s. The latest wave of stations to open stems from the 2011 Local Community Radio Act that resulted in the Federal Communications Commission giving nonprofits a chance to apply for licenses during a one-month period in the fall of 2013. Folks in Central New Mexico who had been waiting for the opportunity to get a license pounced. Powdrell’s station 99.9 KMGG went live in mid-2014 as The Beat. The Placitas station KUPR 99.9 first broadcast in May this year and Madrid’s 96.9 KMRD followed in mid-June. “It’s something that people around here have been wanting for a long time,” said Stella Linder Byrne, Madrid’s station manager...more