WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
The history of Bloomington’s community radio station; a continuing series.
Pirate radio in America has been a thing since 1912, when the US Congress passed a law regulating the use of the airwaves by hobbyists, experimenter, and others. Over the years federal regulation of the radio spectrum became more stringent with the FCC allotting frequencies to both commercial and private operators.
Long before the 1980s, freelance unlicensed broadcasters had become outlaws. One such “pirate” was a fellow named Bruce Quinn here in Bloomington. Operating out of garages and living rooms and always on the move, Quinn transmitted low power signals and played music for several hours each night. Unbeknownst to the Bloomington Community Radio people, Quinn was eager to go straight.
Jeffrey Morris had located yet another potential frequency, 95.1 FM, for a local community radio station. The BCR filed an application for it on July 1, 1986. The group already had hired a Washington, DC law firm specializing in FCC applications to help push the process along.
But the FCC allowed for other applicants to compete for the spot on the dial. If another operator could prove it could serve a more deserving audience, it could snatch the frequency away. Quinn, in his challenge application to the FCC, said he could use the frequency to serve Nashville, Indiana. Brian Kearney and Morris tried to negotiate with Quinn to no avail. “We wound up lawyering up,” Kearney says. “Talking wasn’t working.”
BCR would spend more than $10,000 on legal fees throughout the process.
In June 1989, the FCC ruled for Quinn, reasoning Nashville had no radio station serving it and so had priority over Bloomington, which already had several stations. “We played this game of chess and he wound up winning,” Kearney says.
It was the BCR’s second rejection in the decade. The group, though, redoubled its efforts to get an FCC license after that.
A postscript: Quinn never operated a station on that frequency. He sold his license to a Christian broadcaster with a target audience in Bloomington.
NEXT POST: DEVINE INTERVENTION
Come back for more tales from the WFHB genesis story in this space. We’ll be posting each week as WFHB celebrates its 31st year as Bloomington’s home of community radio.