STORY UPDATE: As of March 31, 2009,  33 construction Permits have been granted by the FCC

On the Rez: Permits in hand for 29 new Native stations
Originally published in Current, Nov. 24, 2008
By Dru Sefton and Steve Behrens

Native American public radio stations will nearly double in number if tribes and nonprofits are able to build the 29 or more that have received FCC construction permits. There were already 33 Native-controlled stations, mostly on reservations.

Sites range geographically from the Ka’u district of Hawaii’s big island, licensed to a nonprofit in Hilo, to northeastern Minnesota, licensed to a Chippewa tribal band (list below). Twenty-one of the 29 CPs are held by tribal governments, said Loris Ann Taylor, executive director of Native Public Media.

For many communities — especially the country’s Native American tribes— radio still promises a way to spread news, share stories and support a cultural or regional identity.  As new technologies take hold in the marketplace — and in the minds of consumers — old media are starting to look, well, older.