Radio, since its inception, has seen a vast array of uses, from President Roosevelt’s fireside chats and Orson Welles alien invasions to the rise of FM radio through the 70s and 80s, to the classic rock station your dad turned on when your family went on a road trip.
Radio has been a defining part of American culture for decades, connecting communities through music, news, personalities, and shared experiences. As streaming platforms and podcasts have expanded the ways people consume audio, listeners today simply have more choices than ever about what, when, and how they listen.
However, a brand-new radio station is about to breathe new life into your daily audio options: WPNX 107.7 LPFM, a passion project spearheaded by Sean Linezo, Coy Glass, and Fred Touchette.
It seems to be happening all of a sudden, but the station’s beginnings have actually been slow-moving and idealistic.
During the early 2000s, Sean was couch surfing in California with a mini-DV cam and no destination. While he was in Berkeley, he began filming media activists organizing, campaigning, and lobbying for the FCC to allow educational non-profits to apply for Low Power FM radio stations, which would provide an option to corporate-controlled and advertiser-driven radio.
That is where he first learned about the Prometheus Radio Project and two years later he found himself in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, volunteering to ride down to a barn raising in the birthplace of Zydeco music in Opelousas, Louisiana. A barn raising was when a group of volunteers gathered to help raise a radio tower and launch an LPFM community radio station.
This was his introduction to the grassroots radio community.
Although those projects eventually came to an end, the desire to create a station for Pensacola was always in the back of his mind. This desire was complicated, though, by the fact that the FCC only opens its application window for new low-power FM radio stations once every ten years, so acting on this dream proved to require immense patience. So, when the window opened in 2023, Sean was an active co-founder and co-director of the 309 Punk Project, a local non-profit art residency and local history archive.
The nonprofit status was a requirement for the LPFM application, and he knew who to call to ask for assistance with the engineering details. To his surprise, the application was processed and accepted, and he had his very own frequency on the dial among the other official FM stations.
WPNX doesn’t center around a specific genre of music; instead, the station will act as an eclectic reflection of Pensacola’s own population.
“We really want to focus on music, arts, and culture,” Coy stated regarding WPNX’s niche. “We want to make WPNX uniquely Pensacola, focusing on the community and the musical legacy of Pensacola and the Gulf South. We really just want it to be something that brings people together.”
While many of the curators and contributors are local, the station’s content will by no means be limited to the region.
The PNX contributors have no set boundaries; rather than playing local artists exclusively, PNX aims to showcase the community by reflecting what the community is listening to, which means that you could tune into Ethiopian jazz one day and nineties rap the next. The content will be global, but the curators will be local.
The PNX goal to bring the Pensacola community together extends beyond the station’s wide array of music. The station is a volunteer-run and community-supported non-profit with many roles waiting to be filled by people with a deep love of music and radio.
If you have an interest in helping with the station or have a skill that pertains to radio, then there could be a place for you on the PNX team.
Building on the momentum of the launch, WPNX is scheduled to hit the airwaves in late September, but that’s not the only major event connected to the burgeoning station.
From September 24-26, the team will host the 30th annual Grassroots Radio Conference, which will not only include Pensacola’s WPNX, but numerous other community radio teams from across the country, including WWOZ, WHIV and WTUL from New Orleans; WVFS from Tallahassee; WXOX from Louisville; and the indie-radio mothership, WFMU, among many others.
The conference boasts a wide range of workshops for those interested in learning the ins and outs of radio, recording techniques, disaster response, and other panels led by those already in the business. This gathering will act as a way to network with other low-power stations, while also introducing Pensacola locals to their new community radio station and how they can participate.
“Nowadays everyone streams music on their phones, which is convenient and interesting, but it also isolates people into their own wormholes,” Sean concludes. “The purpose of community radio is to create a shared listening experience.
It’s made by people in the community to be shared with the community. This literally cultivates and enhances our local cultural ecosystem. We are not in competition with streaming; we are simply adding an alternative dimension to everyday life in Pensacola.
We are offering a free invitation for the community to turn off their phones, escape the World Wide Web and tune in to what’s happening around us.”
Although WPNX isn’t broadcasting on the airwaves yet, if you’re interested in volunteering or learning more, information is accessible via the website www.freeradiopensacola.com or their Instagram: @freeradiopnx.
