Amplifying local voices – a new FM station for Lansing

Peace Community Media’s new community gathering room includes fake microphones for decor as seen shortly after the new Lansing radio station signed a lease. Photo by Mike Ellis

If you look at the Old Town skyline sometime in the near future, you might notice a new homing beacon for the kind of people who would start an FM radio station in 2026.

These people are called Peace Community Media. Once the antenna is up, you can call them 105.3.

They just signed a lease on a building on N. Washington Ave. in Old Town, just off the main drag.

And they’re starting to raise money to put up that homing beacon, a 30-40 foot radio tower on top of the old home. It’ll be built out of the laundry room, with its nice electric hookups.

The upstart radio station is run by local people with a focus on local people.

“We’ve assembled a diverse board and a base here,” said board member Cheryl VanDerkhove, “gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation. We’ve got a variety of programming ideas in the hopper and we’ve already conducted one training for content creators. Our intent is to amplify local voices.”

New radio stations are rare.

The last time a fully new FM station started in the area was in 1994, said Dave Downing, a former station manager for that station, WLNZ.

He said a few stations on the local dials, including WKAR, have added an FM broadcast to an existing AM station in the last few decades but starting from scratch is extraordinarily rare.

“I think the bulk of our listening (for PCM) is going to come from online, and that gives us a local flavor and gives us the purpose of doing it local,” Downing said. “People can listen in the car or from the internet but I believe the internet is going to be our main place for having listeners, at least that’s what the data shows.”

Radio stations shine the brightest in the darkest times

Having access to radio stations can be life-saving, Downing said. He went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and helped get one of the first local radio stations back on the air, giving updates about shops and staff and assistance and more.

During and after Hurricane Helene in 2024, North Carolina WWNC’s Mark Starling and Tank Spencer were among those who kept the radio news and updates coming, for both safety and uplifting communities.

Most radio broadcasts are much less urgent, but the connection that radio hosts can build with a community – even for people who would only tune in during the worst of times – is a valuable thing, Downing said.

How does somebody start up a radio station?

The PCM station dates back to a Federal Communications Commission program around 2000 that began allowing AM stations to use low-power FM signals, Downing said.

Many of those AM stations stop broadcasting at night and there are serious concerns that AM radio could largely evaporate if, as some have pushed for, vehicles are no longer mandated to have built-in AM radios.

Terry Link, a board member and former chair of Peace Education Center, said his group was contacted in 2023 by a group that monitors available radio station frequencies, generally a once-in-a-decade opening up of the frequencies.

It came down to two bids.

“Just before Christmas 2024, we got approval for a permit to put up a radio station and we are able to put the tower transmitter,” Link said. “Peace Education Center decided we didn’t want to own this singularly; we wanted this to be community-owned, so we started brainstorming organizations out there to see who we talk to.”

Several organizations and people came together and Link said the people outside of the Peace Education Center pushed to keep the Peace name.

Community came from the mission statement emphasizing groups like refugees but also staying local in Lansing and Media was picked instead of radio because they see internet as a leading part of the broadcasts.

That early group formed a 501c3 last year, Peace Community Media, and are on a deadline to start beaming out a signal on 105.3 LPFM (for low power, to distinguish from traditional FM stations).

“Until the end of next year is how much time we have,” VanDerkhove said, “we’re kind of ahead of schedule.”

Announcing a radio station

Jack Roberts, a board member for Refugee Development Center and former executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, said there are so many organizations in the Lansing area that are doing great work.

But a lot of the work isn’t being seen, he said.

There are 65 nations with refugees locally, because the Lansing area community is so supportive, but those stories aren’t well known, Roberts said.

“That’s at least 65 stories that can be told and that’s how just one organization can view this as a place to be heard,” he said. “Once one organization sees what they can do, others are going to say ‘we can too.’”

The station is getting some early backers. In addition to a GoFundMe campaign, they have gotten a $30,000 grant from Edgewood United Church and community donor-advised funds from Community Foundation.

More than two dozen people are now involved in planning shows and building out the station and this article is serving as a big signal that the radio station is ready for listeners.

How to tune in

The station is live on peacecommunitymedia.org and will be on the radio at 105.3 on the FM dial.

If you’re interested in joining the conversation, they’re looking for ideas and volunteers of all sorts, along with fundraising and backend support.

Visit the same website to sign up for shows, volunteer opportunities or to donate.

Participating organizations

• Peace Education Center
• Refugee Development Center
• The Fledge
• Justice League
• Crowded Table
• Tenants Resource Center
• Greater Lansing United Nations Association
• Audio Air Force