Two years after Arlington Independent Media’s implosion, the organization’s FM radio station is seeking a second life with a focus on education, news and the arts.
Despite AIM laying off its entire staff in March 2024 and losing its entire broadcast studio at a county auction following a blistering financial audit, the organization’s remaining legal and technical representatives have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to transfer the license to WERA 96.7.
Arlington officials say they’ve exhausted all options to settle up to half a million dollars in debts from Arlington Independent Media (AIM) after the organization’s operational collapse.
Local leaders have “spent a lot of time and energy” to make sure there is no replication of the situation with other grantees, County Manager Mark Schwartz said at a Jan. 22 meeting of the county’s Audit Committee.
An Arlington artist with a growing involvement in civic life is planning a new project in the aftermath of Arlington Independent Media’s demise.
Wilson Bender — the Penrose-based satirist behind numerous posters poking fun at local public figures, a new zine about life in Arlington, and a pop-up art studio in Clarendon and Courthouse — has announced plans to launch “Arlington Autonomous Media,” an independently funded Roku channel with a focus on local happenings and political commentary.
Arlington’s top elected official says there’s nothing the county government can do to prevent the demise of Arlington Independent Media (AIM).
“The law is what the law is. We cannot do too much about that,” County Board Chair Takis Karantonis said at the Sept. 13 Board meeting, responding to concerns raised during the public-comment period about the state of local media in Arlington.
An entire professional broadcast studio is going up for auction because of about $70,000 in unpaid debt at Arlington Independent Media, an official says.
Hundreds of professional-grade items — including camcorders, cameras, MacBooks, iPads, microphones, audio mixers, audio recorders, turntables, lighting kits, TVs, desks, chairs, broadcasting equipment and a 360-degree photo booth kit — are up for bidding over the next few weeks.
Arlington Independent Media’s website and flagship radio station are down, but the bedraggled nonprofit’s leadership has few answers about what happened.
Multiple tipsters informed ARLnow that WERA, AIM’s low-power FM radio station, stopped broadcasting its lo-fi beats earlier this month. Additionally, AIM’s website now directs to a page reading “bandwidth limit exceeded.”
Arlington Independent Media’s flagship FM station is back on the airwaves — but beyond that, the troubled nonprofit has effectively gone radio silent.
Arlington listeners tuning into 96.7 FM can once again catch lo-fi beats on AIM’s public radio station, WERA. Every now and then, they’ll hear a message inviting them to listen online at WERA.fm.
Arlington Independent Media has paid a visit to the county’s radio room, but the organization’s FM station isn’t back on the air just yet.
The county allowed the struggling nonprofit to access its transmission room — with supervision — today (Thursday), county spokesperson David Barrera told ARLnow this afternoon.
The results of an audit on Arlington Independent Media are out, revealing substantial gaps and errors in how the nonprofit handled some $2 million in county-provided funds.
The audit report appears to have been uploaded by Arlington County yesterday, the day after ARLnow reported on delays in its release. It suggests that AIM failed to provide adequate documentation for over $1 million in expenditures, including payments to dozens of third-party contractors.
An impending deadline for Arlington Independent Media’s broadcasting license is reinvigorating the nonprofit’s requests for county help.
AIM — which has been attempting to reboot after laying off its entire staff last March amid significant debt and a pending county audit — has until March 21 to resume broadcasting at WERA 96.7.
Arlington Independent Media now has new board of directors and the outlines of a battle plan to bring itself back from the brink of extinction.
“We’re not giving up the ghost,” the organization’s outgoing secretary, Claire Seaton, said at the end of AIM’s annual membership meeting, held Sunday (Oct. 27).
Arlington Independent Media’s floundering finances have left a former employee with significant personal debt.
Linda Lawson, AIM’s former head of production, obtained a credit card to help cover operating funds at the struggling nonprofit in the second half of 2023, AIM Treasurer Amanda MacKaye said in an email to members last week. At the encouragement of AIM’s former executive leadership, according to the email, Lawson racked up a debt of about $15,000.
