Utah Free Media Brings Community Radio to the Web as KRCL Changes Format

There's more press this week about some interesting developments in light of the upcoming format change (see my February post about this) at Salt Lake City community radio station KRCL 90.9 FM, including two stories about new Internet-only community station Utah Free Media, being established to fill the void left by changes at KRCL. According to today's article in SLWeekly.com:

"Some volunteers manning the brooms come from the ranks of volunteers at KRCL 90.9 who have—or soon will—lose their on-air DJ spots to a format change scheduled to take place May 5 at the community radio station. Others, like [Troy] Mumm, one-time KRCL music director, staffed KRCL in an earlier era. Their big idea is a big experiment. Scads of radio stations now stream on the Internet. But instead of music-on-demand streaming, Utah Free Media will attempt a live broadcast hosted by volunteers. That is, freeform radio, like KRCL. Or, as some Utah Free Media volunteers say, like KRCL before the eminent format switch."

The Salt Lake City Tribune also ran an article about Utah Free Media, stating:

"[One of the founders of Utah Free Media Michael] Place insists they're not starting UFM as a slap at KRCL, which angered many volunteers and listeners in January when it announced plans to replace 18 volunteer on-air hosts with three paid deejays...[co-founder Troy] Mumm and Place say UFM hopes to eventually air talk shows and public-affairs programming. For starters, though, the station will broadcast music - a broad mix of rock, blues, folk, world beat and other genres - punctuated by community announcements."

Additionally, KRCL gets a shout-out in this post on Living in Stereo about the merits of community radio in general. Roy Kasten writes:

"As a teen I had discovered something called 'community radio' in the form of KRCL, a volunteer-based music and talk station that broadcasted (and still broadcasts) along the Wasatch Front from the far left end of the FM dial. I think I first heard Bob Marley, the Grateful Dead, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams and John Coltrane on that station. It was a part of my secret teenage life, something no one else would understand, a place and space of solace and discovery."