KSKQ 94.9 lpfm applauds Astrodome KAMP LPFM
suzia/prometheus/kskq, 13.09.2005 12:11
KSKQ applauds KAMP at the Astrodome
After a Week of Struggle, Radio Station Will Serve Thousands of
Displaced Families
After a week of waiting, relief volunteers and independent media
organizers in Houston, Texas, have finally launched Katrina Aftermath
Media Project radio -- KAMP 95.3. This 6 watt radio station, which
recieved a license to serve the people and families currently living at
the Astrodome andadjacent buildings, will celebrate its official launch
at noon central time, on September 13th.
The radio volunteers, led by community media organization Houston
Indymedia, worked with a pack of volunteer engineers and technicians
from all over the United States to get this station on the air. The FCC
permit that the group is now using is the second permit the FCC approved
for the emergency relief station. The first never went on air, after
Harris County staff at the Astrodome and attendant buildings chose to
deny the organizers of the station access to the Astrodome facility.
Spokeswoman for the Astrodome's Joint Information Center, Gloria Romer,
told Renee Feltz of KPFT Local News, "The demands they required to do
this we could not meet... Elecricity supplies, phone lines, internet,
chairs and computers, we could not accomodate that."
"Though the communications office of Harris County claimed that they
didn't have the facilities to accomodate us, and that giving our
producers regular access to the facilities would pose a security risk,"
said station organizer Tish Stringer. "But the residents of the
Astrodome kept working with us, telling us the struggles they faced in
getting the information they needed. So we didn't give up."
The Federal Communications Commission approved a second license that
broadcast from the parking lot of the Astrodome complex this past
Sunday. This license, while broadcasting from outside the Astrodome
rather than right inside, will reach the thousands of residents spending
time in the parking lot outside the Dome, as well.
"A lot of the people don't know that they can come register for FEMA aid
at the Tech Center rather than waiting in line all day," said Adan
Medero, a volunteer working inside the Astrodome. "A radio station would
help to get that message out, because the paging system is not working
very well. A lot of times you can't hear it. So this would be great if
the radio would do that for folks in the Astrodome."
"Katrina Aftermath Media Project -- 95.3 -- is an essential tool for
families who really need communications right now," said Hannah
Sassaman, an organizer with Prometheus Radio Project, a group which
builds and supports community radio stations. "We will organize in
Congress to build more Low Power FM stations for every big city and
small town in the country."
To listen to some recorded audio from 95.3 FM, visit
http://evacuationradioservices.org, or http://houston.indymedia.org. To
learn more about Low Power FM radio, visit
http://www.prometheusradio.org.
Contact: Tish Stringer, 713 478 4559, 
tish@rice.edu
Contact: Renee Feltz, KPFT, 713 906 0407, news@kpft.org
Contact: Hannah Sassaman, Prometheus, 267 970 4007, hannahjs@prometheusradio.org