In 2003, free103point9 became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, marking our commitment to supporting experimentation with radio and increasing access to public broadcast. This image shows the first letter we received confirming our status.

In the late 90s, free103point9 was aligned with thousands of others committing civil disobedience on the nation's airwaves, protesting lack of access to the public airwaves. Eventually, through a combination of that civil disobedience, court challenges, much media coverage, and intense lobbying, the Federal Communications Commission launched the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service in January 2000, allowing hundreds of communities around the country to have their own neighborhood radio station.

With this improvement to access to the airwaves, free103point9 turned its focus to exploring how this medium could be used in interesting and new ways, and how the conventions of radio could be subverted. With encouragement and assistance from the free103point9 community at large, and generous grants from the New York State Council for the Arts and Experimental Television Center, free103point9 shifted from artist collective to nonprofit organization, employing the term "Transmission Arts" as an umbrella for our interactions with airwaves.