Tube City Almanac

August 03, 2009

Lightning FM, Tube City Online to broadcast International Village

Category: Shameless Horn-Tooting || By P.R. Flack

"International Village" will be really "international" this year when it takes to the World Wide Web.

Lightning Community Broadcasting and Tube City Online will provide live, streaming coverage of McKeesport's 50th annual International Village, a spokesman said.

The coverage will begin daily at 3 p.m. Aug. 18, 19 and 20 and will be available online at www.lightningfm.org.

In addition, two small radio transmitters will provide additional coverage in the Renzie Park area on AM and FM. Visitors in the vicinity of Stephen Barry Field will be able to listen on 1640 AM and 88.9 FM using portable or car radios.

The groups received permission last week to stream the event from Village Co-Chair and City Councilman Darryl Segina and Mayor James Brewster.

An annual ethnic food and music festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to McKeesport's Renziehausen Park, International Village presents live entertainment from 6 to 11 p.m. nightly, with fireworks on the final night.

One of the largest ethnic festivals in Western Pennsylvania, International Village evolved from McKeesport's "Old Home Week," first held in 1960. The festival moved to Renzie a few years later.

International Village will be held this year on Aug. 18, 19 and 20.

Lightning, which merged into Tube City Online's parent organization earlier this year, will present interviews and a live feed of the entertainment on the main stage at International Village, says Jason Togyer, editor of Tube City Almanac and executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc.

The two radio transmitters in Renzie will operate under the restrictions of the Federal Communications Commission's so-called "Part 15" regulations, which allow groups to provide limited, ultra-low-power AM and FM service to restricted areas such as public parks and college campuses.

Lightning, as a subsidiary of Tube City, plans to seek one of the FCC's low-power FM licenses when applications are accepted, hopefully later this year.

If such a license is granted by the FCC, the group will operate --- either by itself or in partnership with other local organizations --- a 100-watt, non-profit, non-commercial FM transmitter to provide public service programming to the McKeesport area.

The station's goals will be to promote the McKeesport area and provide an outlet for local residents --- especially young people --- to learn about radio.






Your Comments are Welcome!

To comment on any story at Tube City Almanac, email tubecitytiger@gmail.com, send a tweet to www.twitter.com/tubecityonline, visit our Facebook page, or write to Tube City Almanac, P.O. Box 94, McKeesport, PA 15134.