Local radio waves may soon pulse with the sound of a community access radio station, a project those involved hope will better serve community minorities than commercial broadcasting.

Tom Egert, spokesperson for project organizers at Heterodyne Broadcasting, said the project is in its last stages. It awaits only a permit from City Hall to erect a building at 224 N. Washington, a lot behind Longbranch Coffee House.

Egert said Heterodyne Broadcasting has met all FCC requirements and secured call letters and a broadcasting frequency. With financial support from Dr. Paul Runge, Barrett Rockman and area citizens, he said, the group was able to solicit EMC Construction Group and E. T. Simonds Construction Co. to erect the broadcasting tower.

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Haresh Thakkar, consultant at EMC, said they expect the permit to be issued any day now.

Egert said his interest in the project is derived from his observations as a traveler and a love for his hometown.

Carbondale is ready for the kind of progressive development that’s happening in other cities, he said. This is no longer just a college town with a strip and a few bars.

Egert said that Carbondale’s radio stations do a fine job fulfilling their specific missions, but that each must define itself as a regionally-based operation.

There’s definitely a niche to be filled, he said. A not-for-profit radio station for the community, and paid for by the community, gives everyone equal access to a public forum to air their views and concerns.

Egert said in this type of setting volunteers are motivated to provide the programming because mainstream radio cannot answer their specific needs. With block programming, some part of the listening audience is happy all the time, he said. Conceivably, people could be clamoring to get to the microphone.

Dennis Cronin-Doyle, station manager for the St. Louis-based public access station KDHX, said since its 1987 start-up his station has gained as many as 70,000 listeners.

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Cronin-Doyle said the broadcast day at KDHX is 24 hours, filled with 80 programs run by more than 100 volunteers. Programming format does not tend to be formal except during the morning and afternoon drive times the most important part of the day for an urban radio station, he said.

Because programming has no specific focus it can be a pain in the butt for a station manager, but that’s also what makes it so interesting to listeners, Cronin-Doyle said.

Volunteers at the St. Louis station submit programming ideas to an internal committee which reviews the submission and provides consultation and training to the applicants.

If they survive the training process, we know they’re committed to the project. Cronin-Doyle said.

Egert said the Carbondale station can provide windows to the music of various cultures, many of which are represented on campus by foreigners who are otherwise isolated from their homelands.

Egert said with public access volunteers and listeners can air their opinions more satisfactorily than as attendees at a city council meeting or by writing to local newspapers.

Public access radio offers an opportunity to minorities, women, fringe groups and music lovers to engage in creative or informational programming specific to their tastes or interests, Egert said.

I want to emphasize that the primary purpose of community access radio is community service, he said. The music comes second.