Mission Statement


Syracuse Community Radio is bringing grassroots, non-commercial radio to the Syracuse area, and serves civic, cultural, and educational needs through creative, diverse, and informative programming.

We promote programming produced by local volunteers passionate about their subject matter.

We give voice to groups, issues, and music that are overlooked by other media.

We foster grassroots democracy through listener sponsorship, volunteer-driven decision making, and as varied a group of on-air voices as possible.

History


Syracuse Community Radio (SCR) was officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization under the auspices of the Board of Regents of the Department of Education of New York State specifically to secure an FCC license to bring community radio to Syracuse's FM dial. The project grew out of organizing by the Westcott Nation Music Association (WNMA) that included micro-radio in the Westcott neighborhood and a community television audio feed on Time Warner Cable. Eventually, SCR would license WXXE 90.5 FM, which put a very weak signal over eastern Onondaga County from a tower site outside Cazenovia.

After years of attempting to improve this situation through numerous engineering efforts and several FCC filings, SCR was finally granted permission in 2014 to use 93.7 FM over the City of Syracuse and 103.3 FM over the northern suburbs. In 2015, SCR will be selling off WXXE, as the FCC won't allow us to own it and start broadcasting on our new frequencies at the same time. We look forward in 2017 to fulfilling our original mandate of bringing community radio to Syracuse and Onondaga County after a long struggle.