[IMC] Release: Somali community station KALY on the air in Minneapolis

[Prometheus Radio Project]

Prometheus Radio Project
 P.O. Box 42158
 Philadelphia, PA 19101
 215.727.9620 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 October 9, 2015 

SOMALI COMMUNITY GETS ON THE AIR WITH KALY IN MINNEAPOLIS:
 PROMETHEUS RADIO PROJECT SPARKS COMMUNITY RADIO IN THE TWIN CITIES 
Mahamed and Will in the KALY studio 

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Today a new radio station broadcasts Somali music and
Somali language talk programming in the Twin Cities. The new Low Power FM
[1] station, KALY 101.7-FM [2] began broadcasts from its South Minneapolis
location on the Eid al-Adha holiday on September 24th. Prometheus Radio
Project worked with the new station, operated by the nonprofit Somali
American Community, to build the studio, install the broadcast equipment
and train volunteers in its operation. 

The station will provide basic information like weather updates as well as
conversations about issues affecting the tens of thousands of Somali people
in the state of Minnesota. "This is the first Somali FM radio station in
the US and it's in Minnesota," said Mahamed Cali, Director of KALY, adding,
"oh my goodness, everyone is excited!" KALY will help new immigrants
navigate life in America with instruction on "how to communicate, how to
order at a restaurant, talk to their landlord, how the system of education
works, how the country works," he said. 
Mahamed and Abdirahman prepare the KALY antenna for installation 

The KALY station build concludes a summer residency in the Twin Cities
during which Prometheus Technical Director Will Floyd worked with other Low
Power FM stations in the area. In Saint Paul, Prometheus worked with the
Dayton's Bluff Community Council to build WEQY [3], now on the air at
104.7-FM on the east side of the city. Prometheus also provided
organizational and technical support to two new Low Power FM projects
slated to go on the air in 2016: WFNU [4] operated by Frogtown Neighborhood
Association and Center for Hmong Arts and Talent in Saint Paul, and another
in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis operated by Pillsbury United
Communities. 

"In a media landscape dominated by national networks and clickbait
headlines, low power FM is media at its most local," said Will Floyd,
Technical Director for the Prometheus Radio Project. "Stations like KALY
and WEQY return local flavor to our media and are part of a larger movement
of localism and community investment." 

The KALY and WEQY station builds are the culmination of years of
collaboration between the Prometheus Radio Project and Twin Cities
nonprofits. Prometheus began outreach efforts to spread the word about the
one-time-only Low Power FM opportunity to community groups around the US in
2012. Prometheus also provided extensive engineering support and legal
resources to groups in the Twin Cities, and over 300 across the nation, to
prepare them for successful radio permit applications. 

These new Low Power FM stations, particularly those in urban areas, are a
victory for the Prometheus Radio Project and its supporters, who led the
grassroots coalition that pushed Congress to pass the Local Community Radio
Act of 2010 [5]. The law expanded community radio by directing the FCC to
make more stations available nationwide, reversing an earlier law that kept
stations out of urban areas. 

Low Power FM stations that cover urban areas like WEQY and KALY can reach a
population of several hundred thousand people. According to engineering and
population studies conducted by Prometheus Radio Project, KALY's signal
will cover close to 200,000 people in Minneapolis. 
Abdirahman solders the last audio cable for the KALY studio 

Contact: Will Floyd, Technical Director at Prometheus Radio Project, will
[at] prometheusradio.org, 215.727.9620 x 524 

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 		Prometheus Radio ProjectPO Box 42158
Philadelphia, PA 19101
United States




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