Open Radio

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Example: KRUU-FM

From an article by Richard Poynder at http://poynder.blogspot.com/2007/01/open-radio.html

James Moore, station manager of KRUU-FM, describes his radio as being "grassroots, community, public, non-profit, Open Radio."

It refers to the following characteristics:


1. Use of free/open source software

"Amongst other things, it seems, he meant that KRUU has made a commitment to use only Open Source software. As KRUU founder Roland Wells explained on Open Views, all KRUU's PCs run on the GNU/Linux operating system, and the audio editing tools (Ardour and Audacity) used by DJs at the station are also Open Source. Likewise, the office suite used by Moore to administer the station (Evolution) is Open Source, and the station's web site was built using Free BSD UNIX, and is hosted on the Open Source web server Apache." (http://poynder.blogspot.com/2007/01/open-radio.html)


2. Community participation


"a determination to involve the community in the station as much as possible. And since KRUU broadcasts on a 24-hour round-the-clock basis — and uses only one half-hour of syndicated programming (from Free Speech Radio News) — this means that Fairfield's 10,000 or so citizens not only get to hear a lot of local content, but they provide it themselves."

"In other words, in true Open Source fashion, KRUU has spurned a top-down model in favour of a bottom-up, do-it-yourself approach. And where traditional radio stations aspire to little more than pumping out an endless flow of anodyne, mass-produced programming, KRUU invites local citizens to select the kind of programming they want, and then produce it themselves." (http://poynder.blogspot.com/2007/01/open-radio.html)

More Information

See Open Source Radio Station Management