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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.

How do we broadcast now?

Syracuse Community Radio currently operates WXXE 90.5 FM which was originally licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 11, 2000. In 2006, the FCC approved the license renewal of WXXE through June 1, 2014. WXXE 90.5 FM is licensed to Fenner, which is a rural community in Madison County, between the communities of Cazenovia, Chittenango and Canastota, in the Syracuse NY metropolitan area. Fenner is probably best known for its extensive windmill project. Since December 2006, SCR has been airing public affairs programs in the areas of Madison and Onondaga counties where WXXE can be heard currently, which is severely limited because of FCC required protection of WBXL 90.5 FM in Baldwinsville and WRVD 90.3 in Syracuse.

What's next?

In March 2003, SCR applied to the FCC for two translators that will rebroadcast the WXXE signal from Fenner to the FM dial in Syracuse. One of these translators is intended to cover primarily the City of Syracuse and the eastern suburbs, while the other will primarily cover the northern suburbs. Both have been held up from approval by the FCC because of conflicting applications filed by other parties in the same general areas. Given a recent decision of the FCC, we now expect these conflicts will be resolved sometime in 2008 and that SCR will get a construction permit for one or both of these new facilities.

Then in October 2007, SCR applied to the FCC to broadcast on 88.7 FM with an effective radiated power of 6,000 watts for the Syracuse area. Though licensed to the Syracuse suburb of Marcellus, advanced engineering studies indicate this new signal should reach most of the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County, Cayuga County and significant portions of Oswego and Cortland counties. This was the first opportunity since April 2000 that the FCC allowed such applications to be filed.