*Noise*

Frequency Jam
Locals Struggle to Start up Community Radio
by Dan Thalkar • Illustration by Rebecca Bennett

In rural Fenner, N.Y., a 40-minute drive from Syracuse University, a radio tower stands beside a cow pasture. It currently broadcasts liberal talk radio shows, like "Democracy Now." No one listens. There's really no one to listen in this town of 1,670, except for the cows.

The tower, broadcasting on 90.5 FM, is the vision of Syracuse Community Radio. Someday, it hopes this tower will broadcast cutting-edge, independent, and local music throughout the city of Syracuse. SCR has tried to bring community radio to Syracuse for more than a decade.

“We have zero interest in duplicating what’s in town,” said Danny Danhauser, general manager at SCR. “We really wanna spice up the programming as much as we can.”

Programming isn’t the only way SCR plans to differentiate itself from what’s already in town. As a community radio station, it will be run exclusively by volunteer community members. Danhauser said this will present an opportunity to play obscure local music, explore issues the mainstream media ignores, and more importantly, give a voice to people who otherwise won’t have one.

But it hasn’t been easy getting off the ground.

Numerous plans for community radio have failed. Because SCR has invested in technologies that turned out to be impractical, it has not been able to afford other promising leads. It’s also received lots of bad advice, including some from a hired engineer, who suggested that the station break a few laws and hope no one notices. He didn’t last long.

Danhauser said all of these roadblocks are a shame, since local artists desperately need a way to get heard.

“There’s an immense amount of creativity in Syracuse that’s craving for outlets,” Danhauser said. “There’s a lot of really cool music in this town that people need to hear.”

As of now, SCR has two options in the works. While it can’t predict when or if they will succeed, there is a sense of cautious optimism that success is at least getting closer.

One option is the low-power transmitter in Fenner. With that and the help of two relay translators — devices used to relay radio signals in areas the original translators can’t reach —SCR hopes to bring its radio into the city and surrounding suburbs. However, each translator would broadcast on a different frequency, making it necessary for people to change stations as they drive through the city. SCR is currently awaiting approval from the FCC.

The other option, and the one Danhauser is most excited about, would establish an FM frequency based out of Marcellus on 88.7. SCR filed an application for the frequency in October 2007. It’s currently competing with several other groups who applied at the same time, including a high school in Auburn that plans on playing syndicated Catholic radio full-time. Again, everything depends on what the FCC eventually decides.

The main problem, Danhauser explained, is that the FCC reviews applications for new translators and FM frequency licenses very irregularly. The current FM frequency review is the first since 2000. And since there is only room for one new non-commercial frequency — 88.7 FM — in all of Onondaga County, the process is competitive and often frustrating.

“There’s just not room,” Danhauser said. “The FCC tries to protect stations so they all have a service area. I have a feeling it’s going to drag out for a couple of years.”

In the meantime, members of SCR play the music they love on their sister station, Westcott Radio. Though the two were once part of the same project, they are now separate legal entities with their own goals. Essentially, the group divided between people who wanted to focus on a webcast and people who didn’t.

“It was kind of schizophrenic,” Danhauser said. “We were trying to do two different things and we were doing them both badly. The feeling of the board of trustees was it was best to split up.”

Afterwards, most of those who wanted a split quit, so SCR and Westcott Radio ended up being run by basically the same people.

“They split the project up and then walked away,” said Danhauser, who also maintains SCR’s Web site, www.wxxe.org. “The rest of us picked up the pieces anyway.”

Danhauser said the split has worked out, both for legal clarity and financial reasons. SCR is now the longer-term project, while Westcott Radio covers the short-term, offering a glimpse of what SCR will be. Westcott Radio, operating out of a converted walk-in closet in the Westcott Community Center, is run by community members and plays everything from hardcore to reggae. It no longer offers a webcast, and while it operates a very weak signal, it plays the local and independent music SCR members think Syracuse needs.

“Part of the larger vision is to put a stronger signal over the city to really promote local artists,” Danhauser said.

Dana Bonn, president of the SCR board of trustees, has been with the project since its inception in 1991. He said he never expected it to last this long or be this complicated. “When we started out we were naïve,” Bonn said. “We figured five to six years. A lot of people told us ‘think 15 to 20 years.’ A lot of it is how long it takes the FCC to do anything. ‘Right away’ for them can be six years.”

In the meantime, Bonn said, tens of thousands of dollars have been invested in SCR. All of the members — currently hovering around 70 — pay annual dues. They’ve held fundraisers, received grants, and relied on donations. They raised around $6,000 last year.

Bonn’s spent more money than he originally intended, invested more time than he expected, and seen fewer results than he hoped. However, his original reason for joining the community radio project has not changed.

“Years ago FM 88 used to be a real cutting-edge station,” Bonn said. “It was fun to listen to. I wanted to recapture some of that.”

FM 88 — WAER — used to be a free-format radio station operated by SU students. It is now owned by SU and plays jazz, National Public Radio, and covers SU sporting events.

Bonn said SCR, or any community radio station for that matter, should play local music, local news, and small indie bands that may not get airplay elsewhere.

For the rest of the story, pick up this month's copy of Jerk.
 

The Lone Ranger
SU professor wants to bring art
to the community’s doorstep
By Laura Van Wert • Illustration By Rachelle Boyd

Religion. Politics. Education. Culture. These words appear on a large multicolored spinning wheel that sits adjacent to the desk of Syracuse University pofessor Joanna Spitzner.
 
The object of the wheel is for people to spin it and voice an opinion on the subject where the arrow lands. The people are videotaped and voila! Performance art.
 
At least that’s how Spitzner, who teaches Visual and Performing Arts classes, interprets it. She’s much more into free speech as performance art than gallery art. Or rather, art that doesn’t feel like art. Human interaction. Voicing opinions. Sharing ideas.
 
And now Spitzner is taking her art to the neighbor-hoods and streets of Syracuse. In the fall, Spitzner started the Urban Art Rangers, a group that will go into the community and talk to residents about art. Dressed in black and red uniforms, the Rangers will knock on doors and ask residents about whatever is on their minds.
 
The Urban Art Rangers is in its infancy, but Spitzner said she hopes to recruit and train 20 to 30 people of different backgrounds and ages. She’s currently working with officials at Henninger High School and community leaders on the North Side and in Eastwood to recruit possible Rangers.
 
Spitzner also plans to expand the program with the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force, a North Side-based youth empowerment group, but for now its focus is on the North Side and Eastwood communities.
 
“We’re going to start small and see how that goes,” Spitzner said.
 
Creative problem-solving
Like Spitzner’s multi-colored wheel, the goal of the Urban Art Rangers is to engage the community in art through open dialogue.
 
The Rangers will open the discussion by informing residents about what is going on in the local art world. They’ll tell them about gallery openings, concerts, and other related events.
 
But the Rangers’ primary question is what changes people want to see in their communities. This could range anywhere from adding artwork in a nearby park, to finding a solution to the excess of potholes, Spitzner said. The Urban Art Rangers will then take the ideas and opinions of the community and try to fix the situation through what Spitzner calls “creative problem-solving.”
 
“There’s already a strong sense of identity there,” Spitzner said. “But art really isn’t in their everyday lives. It’s considered this elitist thing.”
 
The elitist vibe that most people get from art is specifically what Spitzner said she wants the Rangers to tear down.
 
Spitzner said culturally interesting cities mostly attract the white-collar community, but she’d rather appeal to those already established in Syracuse.
 
“The Rangers is more about connecting residents and backgrounds,” she said. “It’s just about making the city a better place.”
  
Prostitutes, politicians, and a boat
The Urban Art Rangers isn’t the first group of artists to merge performance art and social improvement.
 
In 1993, a group of artists in Austria founded the WochenKlausur, a program that works with the public to form creative solutions to serious social problems. It began helping solve social issues in Vienna, but quickly grew into an international project.
 
The group’s first project helped provide medical care for the city’s homeless. By talking to people on the streets, the group was able to arrange mobile medical vans that circulated around the city and helped those in need. It also set up storage spaces where the homeless could store their belongings.
 
The WochenKlausur next went beyond charitable actions, and in 1994 boldly placed politicians and drug addiction experts in direct contact with those in need. It did this at a time when the city of Zurich, Switzerland faced problems of rampant prostitution linked with drug use.
 
The WochenKlausur arranged a series of boat parties to get the attention of the political and medical community. Politicians, drug counselors, and drug-addicted prostitutes alike were all invited to these events. By virtue of proximity, the oddly matched groups were forced to talk through their problems.
 
“People came together that wouldn’t normally talk to one another,” Spitzner said.
 
As a result, the WochenKlausur set up a daytime women’s shelter, and the government made small adjustments that provided women with drug counseling and medical attention.
 

An Economic Boost
Performance art aside, the Urban Art Rangers could help boost the economy in Syracuse, said Maarten Jacobs of the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force.
 
“I think it’s a more exciting way to do it,” he said. “It’s a way to get the community involved.”
 
Jacobs said the city is trying to attract new businesses and that cultural development is a great way to do that – the more people attend events in the city, the more money gets spent in restaurants and other such places.

But even though the idea of gaining economic benefits is great, Spitzner said she doesn't want to stray from the Rangers' purpose to stimulate and inspire the community to participate in art.

“I think a healthy economy is about the connections among people and places,” she said.
 
In fact, Spitzner believes in the power of the arts so much that she’s currently funding the Urban Art Rangers on her own. This, like the wheel and her classes, is an art form in itself.
 
In addition to teaching at SU, Spitzner worked at Price Chopper as a cashier for a few months in 2005 to raise money for The Joanna Spitzner Foundation, a not-for-profit fund that aims to support contemporary artists. Spitzner turned the job of a cashier into performance art by blogging about her experiences.
 
Currently, Spitzner is just excited for the Rangers to start training. When asked about future funding, she simply shrugged and smiled. “I guess I’m going to have to get another job soon,” she said. “Maybe at the mall.”