The Hideout is coming — an all-volunteer, independent radio station.
When Patrick Chizeck moved to Richland, he knew he wanted to start a station.
Chizeck moved to Richland with his wife when she became employed at PNNL a couple of years ago. Before the move, Chizeck had volunteered with an independent radio station in Portland, where he says there were three or four community stations on FM radio. “There was this kind of a glut of radio stations, and it was hard getting volunteers at that point,” he says.
After moving to the Tri-Cities, Chizeck decided to gauge community interest in an independent radio station here. “I put up four flyers [at the] Uptown and expected maybe two or three people to show up,” says Chizeck. When almost 20 people came to the first meeting, Chizeck realized he just might have a chance to get his modern day ‘pirate’ radio station up and running.
A friend of Chizeck’s has a nonprofit that monitors when radio station signals are available to claim. “He said, ‘There is one that's coming up pretty soon, but you're going to need to get there pretty soon to get it,’” Chizeck recalls. It used to be a commercial station in the Tri-Cities, operated by a large radio group.
Chizeck has the frequency locked in, now. They went through the proper channels with the Federal Communications Commission to obtain the frequency for The Hideout — a low-power FM radio station (LPFM). LPFM stations are authorized for noncommercial educational broadcasting only (no commercial operation). They operate with an effective radiated power of 100 watts.
Chizeck is hoping with volunteer support, The Hideout will have people operating commercial-free radio 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Chizeck says they need $15,000 to start. The start-up costs cover music royalty fees, a location, a transmitter — all the things to get them going.
They are already fundraising to purchase the equipment they’ll need to start the station. The Hideout’s number one need is a transmitter. 100 watts doesn’t seem like that much power, considering other commercial stations in the area are 100,000 watts; but, as Chizeck explains, the transmitter for the station doesn’t need to be at the physical location of the studio. “In a perfect world, we'll have the tower up one of the mountains [to] cover the entire Tri-Cities,” says Chizeck. “We have a temporary location for now; but once we get a little bit of money, we can then hopefully move it to a better spot.” The location Chizeck is looking at for a studio space to operate from is in central Richland.
On November 8th, The Hideout had a fundraiser at the Caterpillar Cafe in Richland and featured live music performances, improv, belly dancing, and tarot readings.
They have already been holding concerts, workshops, and more at local places like Caterpillar Cafe and Aub’s Lounge. You can follow them on Instagram: @thehideoutfm to see upcoming events.
Chizeck says he’s styling The Hideout like a vintage pirate radio station. The Hideout will be a freeform station, modeled after similar stations like WFMU in New Jersey. “Freeform programming format means there's no music director,” Chizeck explains. “Every DJ is in charge of their own playlist, so there's no genre limitations. There's no expectations. DJs can play whatever they want, as long as it is FCC appropriate for the time.”
And The Hideout will give local bands the opportunity to have their music played on local stations — something that the Tri-Cities hasn't had for a while. Chizeck says, “It's impossible for a local punk band to get a song on the radio, unless we have a community station that wants to play it.”
What was once a local commercial dial location will now be playing music no one else in town is playing. “We have no commercial concerns whatsoever. We just want to play music that people want to play and people want to hear.”
To donate to The Hideout https://www.thehideout.fm/donate/.
They are also on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheHideoutFM
A lifelong resident of Eastern Washington, Dori enjoys the outdoors, her family, and making good trouble. She has worked for many years in broadcasting and reporting and believes in the value of the 4th estate. She is a true community advocate that loves Washington.
