Fighting for independent, community-owned media, WGOT broadcasts with Airtime
WGOT is an FCC-licensed, low-power radio station running out of Gainesville, Florida. We only recently came to know that they were also using the power of Airtime, Sourcefabric's open source broadcast automation solution. However, Ed Porras, their technical contact informs us they've been using Campcaster and then Airtime since 2008.
The volunteer-operated station has a bit of an unusual setup. WGOT shares its frequency with two other radio stations. To their knowledge they have one of the first FCC licenses to be established this way. They share their radio waves with Faith Presbyterian Church and Calvary Baptist Church, and while spiritual broadcasts are not the focus of WGOT which programs a wide variety of music and talk shows, they are happy to support independent, locally-produced, community-owned media.
The mission of the station is to "take back the public airwaves by providing a fresh, engaging, and empowering approach to news, entertainment, cultural and educational programming." The founders of WGOT were spurred to action by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which deregulated radio and paved the way for "big box" corporate stations like Clear Channel to dominate radio in the United States. In 2008 WGOT came to life and has been working hard to support independent media ever since.