Updated: Community Radio Station in Peril

Editor's note: We have updated this story with a map indicating the coverage included in the station's signal. Also note that the station may be heard online anytime at http://wdfh.org.

There are only about 250 community radio stations in the United States and only one in the Lower Hudson Valley, WDFH-FM. The station is in dire straits and needs to find more funding and space for a studio if it expects to last to the end of the year.

This was the message at a meeting held last night at the Chappaqua Library. The station is running on its reserve funds, said WDFH founder and chief executive Marc Sophos. If fundraising efforts are not successful, it is possible that the station's broadcast license will be sold, he said.

"Community radio is by the people and for the people," said Vinny Cohan of Croton-on-Hudson and a volunteer with the station. "We need to help spread the word and get a level of excitement going to help save community radio."

A community radio station is nonprofit, noncommercial, and largely run by volunteers. Such radio stations are often described as "grass-roots media."

It is one form of public radio, Cohan explained. But public radio stations cover much larger areas and cannot cover local issues in depth, he said. Having a radio station that is responsive to local needs is a rarity and if the license is sold it would be almost impossible to get another one, he added.

"Something precious could be lost forever," said Cohan.

For years, WDFH was hampered by a very small signal. A small antenna in Ossining could only reach about 10,000 potential listeners. At the beginning of 2009, the station put up a taller antenna in Mount Pleasant and can now reach about 400,000 potential listeners including northern and central Westchester.

But this increase in signal strength came after the station lost its studio space at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry.

While it had the studio space at Mercy College in 2004, WDFH covered both the Republican and Democratic national conventions in depth. It frequently presented live performances by local musicians and hosted debates by local politicians.

Without studio space, WDFH is limited in how much original programming it can produce, said Sophos. Despite this limitation, it still produces two shows. In Focus covers news and events in Ossining. Recovery Talk focuses on issues concerning recovery and addiction. The station is also an affiliate of the Pacifica Radio Network. A WDFH documentary on the Midnight Run program, which brings food to homeless people in Manhattan, has been picked up for national play by Pacifica.

The station needs a minimum of 1,000 square feet for a studio, which must be within 25 miles of Ossining. But it needs to raise $50,000 before it can even move to a new space, Sophos said. If the license were to be sold, the buyer would probably be from outside the area.

Most of the people attending the meeting already knew of WDFH and expressed concerned about the possible loss of the station.

WDFH can be heard at 90.3 FM and at http://wdfh.org.