The FCC has approved a low-power FM (LPFM) broadcasting license for WHAV of Haverhill, according to an announcement on the station’s website. Congratulations to Tim Coco, who has worked tirelessly to revive this once-thriving independent source of community news and information.
Here is a blog post I wrote about Coco’s efforts in 2013. And here is a video I produced last fall about local media; Coco is one of my subjects.
WHAV is currently a mostly online station, supplementing its Web stream with an extremely weak AM signal and some distribution on local cable. The new signal (97.9 FM), once it’s in place, will reach all of Haverhill and surrounding communities.
Until recently Coco and WHAV were part of the Banyan Project, which has been attempting for the past few years to launch a pilot site in Haverhill to test out the idea of cooperatively owned community news.
Correction: Post updated to reflect Coco’s recent departure from Banyan’s Haverhill organizing committee.
