Reading this article brought to mind one of my favorite radio stations, WOJB. It's located in rural northern Wisconsin. I live in Minnesota outside of its broad

Reading this article brought to mind one of my favorite radio stations, WOJB. It's located in rural northern Wisconsin. I live in Minnesota outside of its broadcasting range, but I always look forward to listening to it on my trips to visit my relatives who live in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The first time I listened to it the DJ had his 4 year old daughter with him in the studio and during one of the breaks she asked him to sing her favorite song. He obliged and it was some depressing country song, but towards the end she joined in enthusiastically, breaking the tension. It was very heartwarming. That is my favorite radio memory and the kind of radio you don't get from corporate stations. After that I looked the station up and learned that it was founded to bridge the divide between the Native American and white populations of the region between whom there were significant racial tensions. I can't speak to whether it did or not, but it certainly seems like it has. One year while driving through I caught a live broadcast of a pow-wow which was a delightful surprise. A few years ago I was driving through the area and I couldn't pick them up. The next town I got to I stopped to look up the station to see if I had just forgotten the right frequency but it turned out that their transmitter had broken and needed a complete replacement. In the end it took them about a year to raise the funds to buy and install the new transmitter and I think they are still operating at reduced power because their antenna needs to be replaced (which is apparently in part what caused the original transmitter to break). It just goes to show how fragile these institutions that can form the pillars of communities can be. They do broadcast online, but I find that when I'm not traveling I mostly listen to local stations here in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is almost certainly a beneficiary of the policies the article cites as the cause of the decline of rural radio. Radio here is as vibrant and alive as it's ever been (at least that I've been around). I have 6 different public stations that all have different programming in my car presets and there are many more commercial stations I listen to on occasion. The FM dial is completely packed (I don't think there are any open frequencies right now) and the AM dial is pretty full as well. I just wish this did not come at the expense of my rural neighbors (and I don't think it has to).