Local arts organization free103point9 begins public workshops for a new community radio station this month with events at the Catskill Community Center and hosted by the Cairo Library at the Cairo Town Hall. free103point9, an 11-year-old arts organization, recently won a license for a 3,300-watt non-commercial radio station broadcasting at 90.7-FM that will be a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. The station’s inclusive programming will connect diverse voices, and distribute information across the public spectrum in New York's Greene and Columbia Counties.

Studios for the station will be in the Catskill Community Center as well as in Hudson, Cairo, and other towns throughout the two counties, and live programming may also originate from a number of other local venues, and including town meetings, workshops, lectures, school events, and local performances. “We are being overwhelmed with people calling and e-mailing that want to be involved,” says free103point9 Program Director Tom Roe. “These first public meetings are a chance for anyone who wants to be be a DJ, or help organize fundraisers, or interview your neighbors, to come out and meet others who are working to bring community radio to this area in person.” The station is hosting a community meeting and workshop for anyone who wants to get involved. The workshops with the Cairo Public Library are at Cairo Town Hall Thu. Feb. 26 from 6:30-8 p.m., and Sat. March 7, 12:30-2 p.m. Admission is free.

The two Cairo Library meetings will be a chance to get involved with the radio station, and are also workshops training future radio journalists and DJs how to use a digital recorder that will be available at the Cairo Library for locals to record community events, performances, meetings, and lectures, to play later on the radio station, and to be archived on the station’s web site. The Cairo Library is hosting these meetings in the Town Hall.

An online version of the new community radio station will begin in May, and the FM community radio station is expected to get on the air by June, 2010. To volunteer to help get the radio station started contact Tom Roe at tr@free103point9.org, or call 518-622-2598. A web site with more information about the station and these events is at: http://www.free103point9.org/communityradio/

The Cairo Public Library and Cairo Town Hall are located at 512 Main St. in Cairo, 518-622-9864.