various internships, Prometheus Radio Project

Posted by on August 14, 2011

We are looking for interns seeking to gain useful skills and a meaningful experience in the movement to democratize the airwaves and the media.

The Prometheus Radio Project builds participatory radio as a tool for social justice organizing and a voice for community expression. To that end, we demystify media policy and technology, advocate for a more just media system, and help grassroots organizations build communications infrastructure to strengthen their communities and movements.

We envision a world in which the media is not a means to limit democratic participation, but a way for communities and movements to express themselves and struggle for justice. We imagine a nationwide community radio infrastructure made up of hundreds of independent, locally-orientated stations, part of a global movement to put media in the hands of the people.

Fall Internships available:

Technical Intern
Development Intern
Station Support Intern
Policy Intern
Outreach Campaign – Communications Intern
Outreach Campaign – Organizing Intern

When: Fall internships go from early September to mid December. Precise start and end dates can be negotiated, however, there will be a mandatory orientation the first full week of September. Spring and Summer internships are also be available.

Where: Philadelphia, PA

Time commitment: Flexible, 15-30 hours per week is desired. Please indicate how many hours you can commit to in your cover letter.

Compensation / Benefits: A limited amount of funding is available to support individuals who have a financial need that would otherwise prevent participation in this internship. If this is the case for you, please attach with your application a separate document titled “Financial Need Statement” indicating any such need. This will not affect your acceptance.

Interns who are university students are eligible for course credits. Other benefits include a rewarding experience, training, a letter of recommendation, ability to travel with Prometheus, and the option of paying the premium to access our health care program.

How to Apply: To apply, send a resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Please include the title of the internship in the subject line. Applications are due by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, August 21, 2011.

Technical Intern
This intern will work with the technical director to improve the technical resources available to community radio stations and their supporters. The internship will focus primarily on developing open source software for FM radio station allocations, which will allow broadcast engineers to do affordable channel searches for aspiring community radio stations.

The ideal candidate will be passionate about democratizing technology through both open source projects and participatory media projects.

Primary responsibilities:

Set up infrastructure for coordinating an open source project, including version control, bug tracking, and mailing lists.
Write code to extend the capabilities of the software. This could include automating channel searches and queries to the FCC’s database and/or adding a graphical user interface.

Secondary responsibilities:

Perform channel searches to identify regions of the country with open channels for new community stations.

Required qualifications:

Experience working on open source software projects
Experience designing, programming, and debugging software in various languages

Preferred qualifications:

Fluency reading Fortran and writing C++
Basic background in radio frequency engineering, especially in FM signal propagation

Please include in your cover letter why you want to work with the Prometheus Radio Project and how you expect to apply what you learn in this internship to future projects in your life.

Development Intern
Plays a major role in the development and support of Individual Giving program at the Prometheus Radio Project.
With support of Development Director, responsibilities include:

Donor Research
Maintaining donor files
Coordinate donor mailings
Responsible for development, collection, and layout of monthly donor enews content
Create and post content on organizational website
Oversee the Station Profile Project
Create Support materials for fundraising

Station Support Intern
Works with Community Radio Director to improve the station support resources available to existing and up-and-coming community radio stations.

Primary responsibilities:

Project manager for station support instructional videos
Contacts stations to inform them about LPFM survey, license renewals, and EAS equipment upgrades
Contributes to the station profiles project by interviewing existing LPFM stations
Follows up with inquiries from existing stations and LPFM hopefuls
Assists Community Radio Director in creating educational materials and resources for the station support part of the website
Assists with publicizing Prometheus webinars, conferences and workshops
Updates Prometheus’s Facebook page and other social media with news and information

Qualifications:

Experience in radio or instructional design preferred
Excellent writing and communication skills
Social media skills
Video editing/audio editing skills preferred
Ability to work in a team atmosphere on collaborative projects
Bilingual English/Spanish a plus
A background in public relations, organizing or media production is a bonus, but we will consider candidates who have a educational background of any sort and a passion for learning new things

Interns will also gain skills in radio production, FCC database research, and using social media for nonprofits.

Policy Intern
After the recent passage of the Local Community Radio Act, the FCC is reviewing its rules and preparing to accept applications for new low power radio stations. The Prometheus policy intern will fight for a better media system by helping to change the rules on community radio. This will include researching the impact of proposed FCC rules, educating the public on that impact, and helping groups around the country to file their own FCC comments. The policy intern will also play a key role in a major data gathering initiative to better understand the community radio landscape. This project will gather qualitative and quantitative data from community radio stations across the country, which will be presented publicly at http://communitymediadatabase.org. This position will offer the chance to learn both about the world of community radio as well as the regulatory system that governs our media system.

Primary Responsibilities:

Support campaign to involve grassroots groups in the FCC rulemaking processes with direct outreach and written materials
Publicize opportunities to participate in the LPFM survey through email, social media, and direct outreach to stations over the phone or in person
Support regulatory staff in ensuring that LPFM survey data is successfully integrated into communitymediadatabase.org
Research other issues related to the policy goals of Prometheus and present this research to policy staff through written reports and presentation

Qualifications:

Ability to work independently, but also report progress and take direction from staff
Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously and meet set deadlines
Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially in communicating effectively over the phone and in person with diverse groups
Interest in media policy

Note: The policy internship will be flexible for 8-24 hours per week, Monday-Wednesday during office hours (9am-6pm). Candidates seeking an internship of more than 24 hours or on days other than Mon-Wed should have exceptional self-management skills and a willingness to work without close supervision for a majority of their time at Prometheus.
Outreach Campaign – Communications Intern
After ten years of organizing, the Prometheus Radio Project and a widespread grassroots coalition successfully passed the Local Community Radio Act in early 2011. In the wake of our victory we are positioning groups to take advantage of the largest expansion of community radio stations in U.S. history. The Prometheus Radio Project is launching a nationwide, coalition-based campaign to prepare social justice and community groups throughout the country to apply for low power community radio station licenses.

Prometheus is running a strategic outreach campaign to spread the word about this one-time opportunity to social justice and community groups around the country who may want to start stations. Nationally and regionally, we will inform social movements and communities about the upcoming license opportunity and share the potential of community radio and independent media as tools for social justice.

Primary responsibilities:

Update and create stories for the Prometheus website
Work with the outreach team to connect with press outlets, write op-eds, and use social media to gain widespread visibility of our campaign
Work with volunteer participants to generate local and regional press coverage
Maintain contact data in a constituent relationship management system

Qualifications:

Strong communication (oral and written) and research skills
Ability to work in teams and independently
Experience working with communities historically marginalized from media access, representation, and ownership a plus
Understanding of existing social justice movements in a plus
Bilingual English/Spanish a plus

Outreach Campaign – Organizing Intern
After ten years of organizing, the Prometheus Radio Project and a widespread grassroots coalition successfully passed the Local Community Radio Act in early 2011. In the wake of our victory we are positioning groups to take advantage of the largest expansion of community radio stations in U.S. history. The Prometheus Radio Project is launching a nationwide, coalition-based campaign to prepare social justice and community groups throughout the country to apply for low power community radio station licenses.

Prometheus is running a strategic outreach campaign to spread the word about this one-time opportunity to social justice and community groups around the country who may want to start stations. Nationally and regionally, we will inform social movements and communities about the upcoming license opportunity and share the potential of community radio and independent media as tools for social justice.

Primary responsibilities:

Work with volunteer participants to organize regional and national outreach events to promote community radio
Perform research and prepare materials for outreach
Identify and connect with social justice and community organizations in key geographic regions
Maintain contact data in a constituent relationship management system

Qualifications:

Strong communication (oral and written) and research skills
Ability to work in teams and independently
Experience working with communities historically marginalized from media access, representation, and ownership a plus
Understanding of existing social justice movements in a plus
Bilingual English/Spanish a plus