Present at the Grassroots Radio Conference 2025

"Fight for First Amendment Rights"

  WBPU-LP would like to share our experiences and successes in fighting back against violations of our First  Amendment rights, and to connect with other stations that may be facing similar challenges. WBPU-LP, aka  “Black Power 96” is a Pacifica-affiliated FM radio station serving the black community of south St.  Petersburg, Florida since 2017. It is currently suing its local county government, the Pinellas County  Commission, in federal court, for denying $100,000 in federal COVID relief grant funding, with the local  Commissioners expressing their displeasure with the First Amendment-protected political affiliations and  editorial positions of the station. This attack on free speech through defunding parallels the recent  unconstitutional defunding of major universities for allowing pro-Palestine demonstrators to exercise their  rights on campus. Another aspect of our federal lawsuit cites racial discrimination because the federal  funding was distributed disproportionately to nonprofits serving white communities.

- Presenter Bios -

WBPU-LP’s Station Manager Eddie Maultsby is 100% blind, with a local background as a gospel performer. He has built a strong team of volunteers and community connections. WBPU-LP is “not just explaining the world but changing it!”

WBPU-LP’s volunteer grant writer and technical consultant Sandy Forrest has four decades of experience in radio broadcasting, fundraising and media work.

 "Rivendell User Group Meetup"

  Session for stations using or interested in using the Rivendell radio  automation system. 

- Presenter Bio -

David Klann has been running an independent Community Radio consulting service called Broadcast Tool &  Die (BTD) since 2016. BTD assists stations with their audio chain challenges, focusing on audio playout  systems (aka automation) and online audio streams. Klann also volunteers at the legendary WORT, Madison,  WI. 

"Community Radio Myths and Facts"

 An updated version of the session I did at the 2025 NFCB conference, in which I take down a dozen widespread community radio myths concerning the rules surrounding underwriting, copyright, streaming,  indecency and more.  

- Presenter Bios -

Ken Freedman is the Station Manager of WFMU (wfmu.org), the longest running and most renowned 

freeform radio station in the United States. Under his guidance, WFMU became independent of Upsala 

College, WFMU's original owner. Freedman also developed WFMU's internet presence, making it one of the 

most popular and forward looking internet radio stations in the U.S. WFMU was the first radio station to 

offer full on-demand listening, podcasts and a working iPhone stream. He recently founded Congera PBC 

which is developing the Audience Engine, an open source platform for small and medium sized 

broadcasters and journalists. He previousy founded the Free Music Archive (freemusicarchive.org), an 

online music library and social site based on curated music licensed under alternative copyrights such as 

creative commons licenses. He pioneered the use of copyrights and waivers to address restrictions placed 

on broadcasters by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Freedman has served on the board of public science 

and technology company New Brunswick Scientific Company and was a board member and technology 

advisor to the National Federation of Community (NFCB) broadcasters. He has spoken and presented at 

conferences sponsored by The Future of Music Coalition, O'Reilly Media. National Public Radio, the 

Integrated Media Association, and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

"Media & Democracy"

"Media & Democracy" is a fortnightly series of interviews with leading experts on media reform to improve  democracy. The goal is to help educate the public on what might be done to reverse the trend towards  increasing political polarization and violence worldwide. In addition to posting 29:00 mm:ss MP3 files to  Audioport, each MP3 file is also posted to Wikiversity with a brief description, inviting others to join a  discussion of the issues raised, subject to the standard Wikimedia rules of writing from a neutral point of  view citing credible sources. This extends each interview to a wider audience,  including people who may  not have previously heard of Pacifica. Attendees are invited to contribute show ideas, experts to interview,  and join the production team. All episodes are available under "Category:Media reform to improve  democracy" (https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Category:Media_reform_to_improve_democracy).

- Presenter Bio -

Spencer Graves is a Vietnam era veteran with a PhD in statistics, books, patents, technical papers, software used all over the 

world. Progress on every substantive issue I've studied is blocked, because every countermeasure threatens 

someone with substantive control over the media. I started volunteering with KKFI in 2016 hoping in that 

way to overcome some of these obstacles. This work led me to  produce the "Media & Democracy" series 

featured in this presentation.

"History of KYRS Thin Air Community Radio"

How KYRS went from a low-power to full power radio station. Exploring the conception of Thin Air 

Community Radio, the alliances, development, and legal issues surrounding its creation. Also including a bit 

of a future vision of community radio.

- Presenter Bio -

Lynnea Urania Kaylor is the Office Manager and Archivist for KYRS Thin Air Community Radio, the host 

station for the Grassroots Radio Conference. She is also a feature news reporter for KYRS Local News. She 

has been previously published in Shabbat Shalom, TV Epic, and Trans Muse Planet as well as self-publishing 

books and language study modules. She has also been a civil rights activist for a quarter century.

 "DIY FM Monitoring and Silence Sensor" (workshop)

In this workshop I will demonstrate and share how I built several DIY FM (on-air) monitors and silence sensors with common off-the-shelf parts and software.

- Presenter Bio -

David Klann has been running an independent Community Radio consulting service called Broadcast Tool &  Die (BTD) since 2016. BTD assists stations with their audio chain challenges, focusing on audio playout  systems (aka automation) and online audio streams. Klann also volunteers at the legendary WORT, Madison,  WI. 

"The Role and Function of Local/Community Radio in the Preservation of Oral Literature and Culture"

Shedding light on how and why local community radios must record and save oral literature and 

culture.

- Presenter Bio -

Khoro Rasouli, from Iran. I have two decades of experience in Iranian national and local radio as a 

writer, producer, director and editor journalist. Academically, I hold a Master of Art Research degree in my 

own country and I have also been educated in the field of radio feature production at Deutsche Welle  

academy in Germany. I am an award-winning professional, having received the gold medal at the 2011 URTI 

Radio Grand Prix in Paris, first place at the 2025 UK international audio festival, and ABU prizes 2009.

 "Saving College and Community Radio History"

College radio has a rich history, dating back more than a century, with community radio emerging a few 

decades later. Are you working to preserve and archive your station's materials? You might be surprised by 

the items that are of interest to researchers and historians. Multiple efforts are underway to help college 

and community radio stations preserve both audio as well as paper artifacts from the past and present. 

We'll share resources from the Internet Archive's Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications, a 

project that collects and digitizes amateur, college, and community radio materials.

- Presenter Bio -

Jennifer Waits is Assistant Curator of the Internet Archive's Digital Library of Amateur Radio and  Communications (DLARC), where she manages collections focused on college and community radio.  Additionally, she is co-founder of Radio Survivor, a website, podcast and syndicated radio show devoted to  radio and audio culture. She loves digging into the history of college radio and champions the importance of  preserving that history through her work as co-chair of the College, Community and Educational Radio  Caucus for the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force. She's also a long-time DJ at Foothill  College radio station KFJC-FM in Los Altos Hills, California. 

"Riot4Radio"

"Is this story worth getting my ass kicked?"  Shared experiences and tips of the trade from long-time 'street 

level' reporters.  Topics covered can include: DIY press credentialing, dealing w friendly/unfriendly law 

enforcement, obscenity and the Seven Dirty Words , "B roll," Cameras UP!", is everyone a reporter now? This 

is a BYOBa workshop: Bring Your Own Body Armor."    Some call and response. Some obscenity. Some mildly 

disturbing images.

- Presenter Bio -

Austin Airwaves has been involved in community media for 40+ years putting stations on the air; including 

Austin & Kyle, Texas. Put radio station RZPF back on the air in Fonda, Haiti following 'quake; put station on 

air at Houston AstroDome following H. Katrina. Former Int'l BoD member of AMARC. Longtime member of 

GRC, NFCB. Next stop: Bhutan.

"Radio is a Team Sport -- Organizing the Organization"

An introduction to governance and management, and their vital importance to the life of your station: From 

effective boards to volunteer handbooks and station policies.

- Presenter Bios -

Paul Bame - After chatting with Prometheus Radio Project folks at Grassroots Radio Coalition conferences for a decade or so, and leaving his Fortune 100 R&D job, Paul volunteered at Prometheus in 2010 and is currently their nerdiest engineer. His electrical engineering degree and ham radio experience comes in handy for FCC application engineering, station design, construction and troubleshooting.  Paul also created and maintains the free-to-use RFree software to make application engineering easier.

Betty McArdle - Betty has been around radio, both commercial and non-commercial for many decades.  She has been 

the Executive Director of Community Media Assistance Project (CMAP) for twenty years doing a variety of 

tasks.  She also has served on many non-profit organizations' boards of directors.

"How to Promote the Helloutta Yr LPFM Station...for Cheap or Even for FREE!"

 Workshop focuses on 'old school' promo items and events. How to write a Press Release, hold a press 

conference, do publicity stunts, including local community events.  Signage, stickers, business cards, swag, 

(with little or no plastic crap.) Working with the corporate media to get your station on the front page. (For 

free.)

- Presenter Bio -

Goodness, where to start?  Promo person for Wheatsville Food Co-op, promo'd numerous radio stations, 

shows, newspapers, cable access shows, etc.  I seem to have a knack for dealing the press on behalf of 

poor and inexperienced folks. This workshop was most recently presented at the AMARC A/P conference in 

Bangkok and the last several GRCs.