The Essential Role of Volunteers at Local Community Radio Stations in West-Central Florida

Volunteers at local community radio stations in West-Central Florida have a crucial role to play in keeping the station alive and thriving.

WMNF volunteers

receive training and are assigned a central part in the production, operation, and development of radio programs. Young people also have the chance to take part. The stations continue to respond to the needs of the community and are constantly seeking the opinion of the listeners.

Even with the help of interns, WSLR always needs volunteers. Right now, the broadcaster's mission is to improve its news department and is particularly looking for members of the community who want to work as citizen journalists. Everyone is welcome as a volunteer and, recently, the station has been working to get more people involved and encouraged by offering free workshops on topics such as citizen information, audio editing, broadcasting podcasts and improving interviewing skills. These include Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of SiriusXM (class of 198), Jim Bowden of Network Radio of Major League Baseball (class of 198) and María Paz Gutierrez of RadioLab (class of 201), while the internationally popular DJ Diplo stands out among the former volunteers of WPRK community. Often referred to as “the best basement radio” and the voice of Rollins, radio station WPRK has been on air in Central Florida for 70 years.

Conversational radio enthusiasts may also have the opportunity to participate, as Sweeting hinted at the possibility of WSLR broadcasting some of its talk shows in front of studio audiences. Firefighters and volunteers will need to attend regular meetings and training sessions to stay up to date. In addition, WPRK regularly presents live performances by local musicians in its studio and sponsors concerts on campus, such as Fox Fest, an annual festival featuring local artists and student talent held every year during family weekend. The participants find it extraordinarily satisfying not only to create the radio in this unique way, but also to help transform the life of the community. Many of the changes will give listeners more reasons to visit the new location, but the broadcaster is also preparing to literally bring the studio closer to the community by broadcasting remotely at various locations.

The need to create community radio satisfies the basic desire for communication and self-expression and is at the forefront of today's democratic movements. WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of services needed to keep their community radio station alive and running. The national community radio movement has reached a crucial phase of political development that could involve the establishment of many new stations throughout the country in the next three years or so, as a new license application window opens for low-power FM stations, which are stations that broadcast (such as WSLR) at a maximum emission level of 100 watts. Community radio is where people produce and broadcast their own programs and participate in running the radio station. In the coming years, St. Petersburg may have its own fledgling community radio stations, which WSLR will be happy to mentor.

Sitting in WSLR's new broadcast studio with volunteer DJ and 53-year industry veteran David Milberg (known live as Radio Dave) for a few moments will probably instill an appreciation for his enthusiasm as he reviews his schedule of carefully selected song selections, funny jokes and even tailor-made WSLR jingles. Volunteers at local community radio stations in West-Central Florida have an essential role to play in keeping these stations alive and well. They receive training and are assigned a central role in production, operation, and development of radio programs. Young people also have an opportunity to participate. The stations continue to respond to needs of their communities while seeking opinions from their listeners. Even with help from interns, WSLR always needs volunteers.

Currently, their mission is to improve their news department by recruiting members from their community who want to work as citizen journalists. Everyone is welcome as a volunteer; recently they've been offering free workshops on topics such as citizen information, audio editing, broadcasting podcasts, and improving interviewing skills. The participants find it extremely satisfying not only to create radio in this unique way but also help transform their communities' lives. Many changes will give listeners more reasons to visit new locations; they're also preparing to bring their studio closer by broadcasting remotely at various locations. The national community radio movement has reached a crucial phase that could involve establishing many new stations throughout America when a new license application window opens for low-power FM stations (which broadcast at maximum emission level 100 watts). Community radio is where people produce their own programs while participating in running their station. In coming years St.

Petersburg may have its own fledgling community radio stations which WSLR will be happy mentor. Sitting with volunteer DJ David Milberg (Radio Dave) for few moments will probably instill appreciation for his enthusiasm reviewing his schedule carefully selected song selections funny jokes even tailor-made WSLR jingles.