KFFP-LP (90.3 FM, "Freeform Portland") is a low-power listener supported

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...

station in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. It broadcasts live programming at

90.3 FM The following radio stations broadcast on FM frequency 90.3 MHz: Argentina * 90.3 Tolhuin in Tolhuin, Tierra del Fuego * 903 Radio in Rosario de Lerma, Salta * Cielo in San Rafael, Mendoza * Delta in Buenos Aires * Estilo in Villa Mercedes, S ...

24 hours a day, seven days a week. It first began broadcasting live in April 2016.

Freeform radio

Freeform Portland is modeled after

WFMU WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey. Since 1998 its studios and operating facilities have been headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. It broadcasts locally at 91.1 Mhz FM, in ...

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Freeform radio Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commerci ...

is a radio station programming format in which the

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

is given total control over what music to play, regardless of

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercial radio stations, in which DJs have little or no influence over programming structure or

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

History

During 2013, Common Frequencies, a nonprofit organization dedicated to community radio, applied for and was granted a low-power FM license from the FCC. In December 2014, Freeform Portland registered with the state as a nonprofit and held their first meeting. There were three volunteers present during the meeting. They discussed the mission of the station, which was to create an outlet for music and art enthusiasts to gain access to the airwaves. Between January and April 2015, Freeform Portland hosted benefit shows and prepared for the launch of their Indiegogo campaign.

Ken Freedman Ken Freedman (born February 18, 1959) is general manager of WFMU, a freeform and independent radio station. He co-hosts the comedy program Seven Second Delay with Andy Breckman, as well as hosting his own freeform radio program. Freedman is a r ...

, general manager of WFMU, recorded a video in support of Freeform Portland during the initial fundraising period of the station, stressing the importance of the community building aspect of the genre. May 2015 saw Freeform Portland kicking off their Indiegogo campaign to purchase station equipment. They had over 20 volunteers and their overall station goal was to raise $7,500 in donations. The fundraiser surpassed its goal and raised $11,500. Freeform Portland continued to search for a future home during the months of June through October 2015. During that October, Freeform Portland were introduced to Jen and Mark Pendergrass, who run the Baker Building at 5511 N Albina Ave in North Portland. By November, Freeform Portland set up their studios within the historic 1912 landmark. On April 1, 2016, Freeform Portland had its soft launch via online streaming only and on April 15, 2016, Freeform Portland threw its launch party, during which their radio engineer, Dave Fulton, flipped the transmitter switch. Freeform Portland is the only freeform radio station in Portland.

References

External links

* {{coord, 45, 33, 34, N, 122, 39, 15, W, type:landmark_region:US-OR, display=title FFP-LP FFP-LP Community radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2016 2016 establishments in Oregon