Seattle, WA (PRWEB) January 22, 2013
Brown Paper Tickets kicks off a series of free information sessions to educate nonprofits about the opportunity to apply for a low power FM (LPFM) radio license Thursday, Jan. 24, at 1 p.m. at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave. S. The event is free with registration at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/302076.
The series of information sessions is prompted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announcement that it will open an LPFM license application window to nonprofits, educational institutions, tribal nations, emergency services and more, Oct.15. The majority of groups eligible to apply are not yet aware that this opportunity exists. This application window will be the first time that groups in urban areas can apply for an LPFM radio license, and there is no guarantee that another application window will open after this.
Eight different radio frequencies may be available for LPFM radio stations around Seattle, said Todd Urick, technical director for Common Frequency, 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to innovative new community and college radio. Urick provided hundreds of pages of channel analysis to the FCC for a study regarding LPFM availability on the FM band nationwide.
LPFM stations are non-commercial and operate at 100 watts, reaching a radius of 3.5 miles consistently, and often reaching listeners up to 10 miles away.
They can function as broadcast studios and multimedia training facilities; when integrated with new technologies, they can allow local content, such as hyper-local news and music, to be amplified nationally and globally.
Brown Paper Tickets donates 5% of all profits to building healthy communities, and we believe that LPFM is an important and powerful tool in that mission, said Sabrina Roach, a Doer specializing in public interest media from Brown Paper Tickets, who is producing the series of LPFM information sessions. The goal of the series is to illuminate a path for local nonprofits to evaluate the LPFM opportunity, and to create awareness for resources available for helping them apply for, build and operate a radio station. An average of 70% of Seattle events on Brown Paper Tickets benefit a nonprofit organization. Because of that 12-year relationship, our company feels a responsibility to communicating the LPFM opportunity to local nonprofits and to those who support them.
The first information session will feature a panel of speakers from the Seattle Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Seattle Department of Information Technology, 4Culture, the University of Washington Bothell, and OneAmerica. Each will share their knowledge of resources available to nonprofits to evaluate their ability to build and operate a LPFM station. The University of Washington Bothell and OneAmerica will explain why they are applying for LPFM licenses and what they are doing to prepare.
Beginning in February, those who want to apply for an LPFM radio station can download a video of the information session (courtesy of the Seattle Channel), and materials distributed at the event, at http://community.brownpapertickets.com/Doers/radio.html, where they can also sign up for the next free LPFM information session.
This event is made possible with support from Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, the Seattle Channel, the Seattle Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Seattle Department of Information Technology, 4Culture, and Brown Paper Tickets.
About Brown Paper Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.BrownPaperTickets.com), was the first event registration and ticketing company to offer free, professional tools for ticketing any-sized gathering on the Internet, with the most versatile technology tools and the highest levels of customer service for the lowest, most transparent, ticketing fee in the industry. An innovative Not Just For Profit business model made the company social entrepreneurs with a commitment to building healthy communities as part of doing business. As a result, 5% of the profits from each ticket sold are earmarked for philanthropic donations, inspiring giving in others, paying employees to work 40 hours annually for the cause of their choosing, employing a team of Doers to fix, improve and revolutionize the communities they serve, and providing crowdfunding opportunities to collect fee-free donations for any cause, raise money and give tickets to groups and causes as a part of planning any event.