Berea College Radio will soon be available on FM 91.7, thanks to a low-power FM license recently awarded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The license permits Berea College to build a low power FM radio station by constructing an antenna and connecting it to a transmitter to broadcast. The new antenna will likely be built on top of the Computer Science, Digital Media and Information Technologies building, which will house the radio studios as well.
“The FCC only opens FM application windows every few years or so, and we applied in December of 2023,” said Jacob Dickerson, Berea College professor and supervisor of Berea College Radio. “Before that, the last time the application window was open was 2013, so it’s a pretty rare thing to be able to get these licenses.”
Being a low power station, the facility is licensed for around 100 watts, translating to a 10-12 mile broadcast radius. The College says the signal is enough to reach all of Berea. The new license also allows the Berea Radio team to move from their current model of online-only broadcasts to the FM radio band.
The Berea College Radio team hopes the new license will make them more accessible and easier to find in the community, leading to more community-oriented programming.
The plan is to begin construction of the station as early as this summer, with a goal of FM broadcasting beginning this fall.
