In this case Driftless refers to the section of Wisconsin that was not glaciated and that their frequency will never drift…because they are not actually on the air. Driftless Radio actually illustrates the reverse case of most community radio stations.
The “theory” of LPFM stations is that lowering the power and engineering requirements will make it possible for community broadcasters (that is to say, groups without a lot of money) to reach people. The reason we want to use radio to get our message out, the theory goes, is so anyone in the listening area can tune in with any old radio, an investment of a buck or two.
But even a LPFM station is pretty expensive to build and run. On the order of tens of thousands of dollars. Less than the hundreds of thousands for traditional broadcasting, but still not pocket change. And we still have to face the fact that even in the absence of regulation, the radio spectrum is limited. Add to that the fact that the FCC has pretty much stopped issuing new LPFM licenses, and a community group is pretty much stuck.
Unless you turn the tables, like Driftless Radio did. This is an internet only community “radio” station. Getting on the internet is quite inexpensive in comparision to a tradtional or even LPFM station. So the good news is that even a small group could have a nice internet presence, if not for pocket change exactly, at a cost that runs thousands rather than tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, essentially an unlimited number of “radio” stations can coexist on the internet because of the scalabilty of the net structure.
But there is a huge downside, of course. Instead of community members being able to receive the “broadcast” essentially for free, they need to incur some serious costs. Perhaps someone could get by with a used computer of a hundred dollars or so, but listening to internet radio is certainly best with a broadband connection, dial-up leads to to much frustration. But either way, listeners have to pay someone (usually a big corporation) a healthy monthly fee to listen to the radio!
This is one very good reason to support city wide wi-fi efforts that are springing up in cities across the country. Using tax support to give all citizens the infrastructure to use broadband internet makes a lot of sense — and may actually lead to an increase in the number and diversity of community “radio” stations like Driftless Community Radio.
