On January 18th, help organize the return of progressive talk radio with Norman Goldman

Edi­tor’s note: At NPI, we believe strong­ly in coop­er­a­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion, which is why we’ve been assist­ing a grass­roots group called Pro­gres­sive Radio North­west in their effort to bring talk­ers like Stephanie Miller, Thom Hart­mann, Ran­di Rhodes, and Nor­man Gold­man back to the Seat­tle radio dial. Read on to learn more about their work and their upcom­ing event, Par­ty on for Pro­gres­sive Radio.

On Jan­u­ary 2nd, 2013, Seat­tle became the lat­est in a string of major cities to lose its only pro­gres­sive talk sta­tion when KPTK was switched to an all-sports for­mat by its East Coast cor­po­rate own­er. What’s a pro­gres­sive radio enthu­si­ast to do? Stay silent? Kvetch and com­plain to CBS? Shrug our shoul­ders and car­ry on?

We say: none of the above. As Moth­er Jones once said, “Don’t mourn, orga­nize!” And that’s exact­ly what we’re doing. We’re Pro­gres­sive Radio North­west (PRNW), a group of ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers work­ing to devel­op a well-thought out plan to bring back strong-sig­nal pro­gres­sive radio to the greater Seat­tle area.

We sup­port pod­cast­ing, stream­ing, satel­lite and new means of deliv­er­ing pro­gram­ming as a way for activists and engaged cit­i­zens to stay informed. But that does­n’t mean we should aban­don pro­mot­ing the pro­gres­sive point of view on the free pub­lic air­waves. As cit­i­zens, we all ought to be able to hear a diver­si­ty of views when we are chan­nel surf­ing on the AM or FM bands.

Here are some impor­tant rea­sons we believe local, ter­res­tri­al pro­gres­sive radio should have a place on the radio dial here in the heart of the Northwest:

• Radio sta­tions root­ed in the diverse, inher­ent char­ac­ter of their regions can be invalu­able com­mu­ni­ty resources.
• Lis­ten­ing to a live broad­cast can be a unique­ly pow­er­ful com­mu­nal expe­ri­ence, and in turn a pow­er­ful vehi­cle to pro­mote com­mu­ni­ty. The new­er tech­nolo­gies offer con­ve­nience, but so far lack this potential.
• Just because ter­res­tri­al talk radio is dom­i­nat­ed by right wing talk­ers like Rush Lim­baugh does­n’t mean we have to cede the free pub­lic air­waves to intol­er­ance and misinformation.
• Even as broad­cast tech­nolo­gies con­tin­ue to evolve in com­ing years, the most wide­ly lis­tened-to out­lets will be the ones that have already estab­lished a ter­res­tri­al radio audience.

With vision and bold, cre­ative ideas, pro­gres­sive ter­res­tri­al radio can be a valu­able, viable endeav­or that makes a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to the qual­i­ty of life in the Pacif­ic North­west and to the nation­al conversation.

The PRNW team has been review­ing a num­ber of pos­si­ble paths for­ward, from cre­at­ing a com­mu­ni­ty owned sta­tion to sim­ply tak­ing over an exist­ing fre­quen­cy. Stream­ing capa­bil­i­ties and oth­er ways to inter­face with new tech­nolo­gies are a pri­or­i­ty. We believe a new sta­tion ought to fea­ture pop­u­lar nation­al shows as well as com­mu­ni­ty con­tent and local talent.

The chal­lenge is clear. Broad­cast con­tent that used to be con­fined to the tra­di­tion­al AM/FM dial is mov­ing beyond its ter­res­tri­al moor­ings to an expo­nen­tial­ly expand­ing, increas­ing­ly decen­tral­ized media uni­verse. With the prop­er lead­er­ship and finan­cial sup­port, how­ev­er, the poten­tial exists to cre­ate a new kind of busi­ness that will help local ter­res­tri­al radio thrive in the dig­i­tal era.

We invite you to join us in paving the way for the return of pro­gres­sive talk to the pub­lic air­waves. Let’s show poten­tial adver­tis­ers and investors that the Greater Puget Sound can sup­port strong-sig­nal pro­gres­sive programming.

On Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 18th, at the Impact Hub in Seat­tle, we’re hold­ing a spe­cial event to reunite KPTK lis­ten­ers and thank past adver­tis­ers — Par­ty On for Pro­gres­sive Radio, with spe­cial guest Nor­man Goldman.

It promis­es to be a won­der­ful evening, and we invite you to join us. Tick­ets are avail­able now from Brown Paper Tick­ets, start­ing at $10.90. You can learn more about the event and our mis­sion at our web­site. You can also like our page on Face­book to get updates from us. We hope to see you in a cou­ple weeks!