Four tribal radio stations signing on in northern Minnesota

Four new American Indian radio stations are on the air across northern Minnesota, reports Minnesota Public Radio. The stations, in Callaway, Nett Lake, Cloquet and Cass Lake, all benefited from a new Federal Communications Commission policy that gives tribal entities priority for radio frequencies that cover tribal lands, MPR notes. Loris Ann Taylor, president of Native Public Media, said 90 percent of tribal members nationwide don't have access to broadband Internet, and about one-third don't even have basic phone service. The stations "come from different angles," Taylor says. "There's not one single template. All the stations will have different needs; it all depends on what's happening locally and on the ground."