Although it’s been a big year for Little Raleigh Radioits webstream launched last February, airing live shows and new, prerecorded programming online every dayfounders Jacob Downey and Kelly Reid are still waiting to hear if the FCC will grant them a low-power FM license.
Little Raleigh Radio is competing with two organizationsboth affiliated with the Catholic Churchfor the 106.5 frequency: The Raleigh chapter of the Knights of Columbus and the Corporation for Educational Advancement, also known as the CEA. The latter sponsors the Thomas International Center, whose mission, according to its website, is “cultural renewal in light of Western and Christian intellectual traditions” as represented in the writings of Thomas Aquinas.
Downey says Little Raleigh Radio has filed a new objection against the CEA “on the basis that they provided incomplete and false information when disclosing their board of directors.”
A different Raleigh group, Capital Area Team Sports, Inc., which is applying for the 101.9 frequency, filed an earlier objection against CEA, seeking dismissal of its application on the basis that it is a foreign, rather than local, organization.
Little Raleigh Radio’s original timeshare partner, a Raleigh Spanish-language church, moved its application from the 106.5 frequency to 106.7 in Clayton.
“We considered moving our application with them, but from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, our vision is Radio for Raleigh from Raleigh,” Downey wrote in a Little Raleigh Radio December newsletter.
Little Raleigh Radio has also been busy trying to raise money for music licensing fees, operating costsincluding rent and utilitiesand its nonprofit application filing fee. The group is hosting its first training class for station volunteers. The next training will be held in May, with workshops held in between.
This article appeared in print with the headline “The waiting game.”
