Category Archives: Media

Grassroots Radio Conference Coming to Urbana: Hundreds converging July 26-29 to chart the future of community radio.

From July 26-29, the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center will be hosting the Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC), an annual conference celebrating the vibrant and democratic medium of local, community-driven radio. Highlights include a Friday night keynote by New York Times best-selling … Continue reading

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Thank You Urbana-Champaign Sustainers and Readers

Thank You Urbana-Champaign Sustainers and Readers From the Editors and Facilitators of the Public i This is the 10th anniversary issue of the Public i and we want to thank all of those who have made this paper possible. These … Continue reading

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Bigger is Better! Help WRFU Erect Epic Radio Tower

It happened one weekend in November five years ago. Some 200 people swarmed the Independent Media Center. By the end, when the clouds gathered over Urbana, a radio station was born. The volunteers had traveled from across the country to … Continue reading

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Thousands of New Community Radio Stations on the Horizon with the Historic Passage of the Local Community Radio Act

Saturday, December 18, 2010, just days away from the end of Congress when all unresolved bills die, the Local Community Radio act passed the Senate, after a swift victory in the House the day before. This victory, which was the … Continue reading

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WILL Changes FM Format, Cuts Jobs, and Eliminates Weather Department

ON FEBRUARY 11, 2010 Illinois Public Media General Manager Mark Leonard announced steps the organization’s leadership will take to address ongoing budget concerns and ensure that Illinois Public Media is sustainable in a new financial and technological environment. Changes include: … Continue reading

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Makerspace Urbana Brings Tech Knowledge to UC-IMC

An unusual group for Urbana-Champaign has begun meeting at the IMC recently. They plan to forge a new model for creating and democratizing technology within the community. Urbana-Champaign has been fortunate to have community groups and workshops capable of teaching … Continue reading

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UC-IMC Celebrates 10 Years of Independent Media

NOVEMBER 30, 1999 (N30): WTO PROTESTS IN SEATTLE The “Battle in Seattle” took place when the World Trade Organization was targeted for protests by a wide range of organizations that included labor unions, anarchists, environmentalists, peace activists, and representatives from … Continue reading

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Livening Up the Airwaves

Carly Nix is passionate about community radio, and her enthusiasm shines through to anyone interacting with her. Nix, a Decatur native who graduated this past spring from Boston University with a B.A. in religion, is the Ameri- Corps News Media … Continue reading

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Make More Local Radio!

There is a new sound on the radio. Listen past the endless drone of manufactured music and centralized news feeds, and you might already hear it. It started with the murmur of a few hundred community radio stations, broadcasting with … Continue reading

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The Legacy Of The 1999 WTO “Battle Of Seattle” On Champaign-Urbana

During the late summer and early fall of 1999, I saw a multitude of e-mails and postings on the relatively new internet, from numerous citizens’ organizations and individuals, indicating their plans to go to Seattle in November to protest the … Continue reading

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There is s War Going on for Your Mind: Labor Media in Central Illinois

UNTIL THE LATE 1970‘S, EVERY MAJOR newspaper in the United States had at least one labor reporter with regular stories about unions and working class issues. Labor related news stories were also heard regularly on radio stations, and begining in … Continue reading

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Bye, Bye To Freedoms Of Protest And The Press

A MOST REMARKABLE THING happened in St. Paul before and during the Republican National Convention. Prior to the convention, the St. Paul police and federal agents raided locations in which journalists were making preparations to cover the planned demonstrations. One … Continue reading

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Media Reform: Taming Corporate Media

NOT SO LONG AGO, mainstream media provided a valuable and reasonable source of news and information. News organizations large and small supported independent journalism and held the public trust to empower citizens with knowledge and protect against government corruption and … Continue reading

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UPTV and the Chief Controversies

The glaring similarities between the controversy surrounding the broadcast of the anti-Semitic videos on Urbana Public Television and the characterization of a Native American during athletic events and in the Homecoming Parade at the U of I are that: (1) … Continue reading

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Independent Media Still Remains Unequal

WOMEN’S VOICES ARE JUST NOT HEARD. If you randomly turn on the radio for an hour during any program (music or public affairs), count how many times you hear a woman’s voice and even more rare, a woman of color … Continue reading

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U.S. Government’s Anti-Democratic Media Operations

Robert McChesney’s and Mike Weisbrot’s article on the Venezuelan government’s lifting of the license of RCTV and the outcry in the U.S. over its being a violation of the freedom of the press needs to be situated in the context … Continue reading

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Venezuela and the Media: Fact and Fiction

To read and view the U.S. news media, there is an episode of grand tyranny unfolding, one repugnant to all who cherish democratic freedoms. The Venezuelan government under “strongman” Hugo Chavez refused to renew the 20-year broadcast license for RCTV, … Continue reading

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Stamp Out the Rate Hikes: Stop New Postal Rules from Stifling America’s Independent Media

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” —Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 16, 1787 WHAT’S AT STAKE Our nation’s … Continue reading

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Media Reform Activists Come Together in Memphis

The 2007 Media Reform conference organized by Free Press met in Memphis, Tennessee this year. After holding conferences in Madison and St. Louis, this year’s organizers are to be congratulated for taking the event to the South, where many stories … Continue reading

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No Room for Neutrality in Net Neutrality

Imagine the Internet as being like cable television. To access websites of your choosing, you’ll have to pay extra to your Internet service provider (ISP). To put up your own website or blog, you’ll have to pay an additional surcharge … Continue reading

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