In the new age of media and information-overload, the blizzard of choices means loyalty among consumers can be a difficult thing to get and maintain. However, this has not deterred the resolve of fifteen local nonprofits and universities, who are ready to apply for low-power FM (LPFM) radio licenses to serve Seattle's neighborhoods.

As we reported earlier, there's a group that is looking to start a station up in Ballard, led by Ballard High School teacher Eric Muhs.

These community groups will be at a public event today at noon at Pike Place Market to present their vision of what low powered FM can do for communities around Seattle. A map of neighborhoods and locations (seen above) will also be available.

A list of the applicants can be found at: http://community.brownpapertickets.com/Doers/radio.html. Seattle-based Brown Paper Tickets is assisting these nonprofits in their application, and has helped eligible groups across the country learn about the opportunity to own their own radio station, as part of it’s National Make Radio Challenge.

The government shutdown is causing an unexpected delay in the Oct. 15 opening of a two-week window for nonprofits to submit applications for thousands of low-power FM (LPFM) radio frequencies now available as a result of the Local Community Radio Act. Pike Place Market is considering application, but is not yet ready to commit to it, and may actually benefit from the extra time created by the government closure.

The public meeting at the Market will allow any interested party to ask questions of the applicants. The one hour meeting gets underway at 12 noon in the Pike Place Market, Atrium Loft on the top floor of the Economy Market.

Here's a list of who will be there:
Sabrina Roach, Doer specializing in public media and director of Brown Paper Tickets’ national campaign to proliferate LPFM

Ben Franz-Knight, Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority

David Keyes, City of Seattle, Department of Information Technology

Sahar Fathi, City of Seattle, Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs

Randy Engstrom, City of Seattle, Office of Arts & Culture

Debra Twersky, 4Culture

Representatives from the following nonprofit organizations, applying for a neighborhood radio station when the FCC reopens:

• OneAmerica (SeaTac)
• Earth on the Air Independent Media (University District)
• Fulcrum Community Communications (Neighborhoods North of the Cut)
• Hollow Earth Radio (Central District)
• Sand Point Arts & Cultural Exchange (Magnuson Park)
• Seattle University Radio (Central District/First Hill)
• SouthEast Effective Development (Rainier Valley/Rainier Beach)
• Sustainable Bainbridge (Bainbridge)
• UWave Radio at University of Washington at Bothell (Bothell)
• YOUR.FM Skyway (Skyway)

Those at the meeting hope to discuss how neighborhood radio can help foster arts and culture, close the gap on the low number of media outlets owned by people of color and women, partner with neighborhood blogs and other forms of hyper-local media to develop sustainable business models, innovate programming and incubate talent because of low-barriers to participation, and help train and provide networking for the next generation of media professionals.

Brown Paper Tickets has implemented a National Make Radio Challenge to fill every available frequency in Seattle with a qualified applicant, to get the word out to nonprofits nationally, and to give free assistance and counsel to applicants anywhere across the country who asked for help.

Follow Ballard News-Tribune on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ballardnewstrib

And Twitter at http://twitter.com/ballardnewstrib