Episodes

In our 11th episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we interview Steve Reneker -- the Chief Innovation Officer & Executive Director of SmartRiverside -- of Riverside, California. We discuss why Riverside built its own wired and wireless networks and how it is using them to improve the efficiency of local government operations and increase digital inclusion. Riverside has received numerous awards for the local government and the nonprofit SmartRiverside progra...

The tenth episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast features Vince Jordan, Telecom Manager for Longmont Power and Communication in Colorado. We have long followed the trials and tribulations of this community as they fought through two referenda against Comcast's deep pockets. Now they are expanding their network to connect businesses and residents. You can learn more about Longmont's approach on its website for the project. Our interview discusses some of the h...

The ninth episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast features Leslie Nulty, from the East Central Vermont Fiber Optic Network, commonly called ECFiber. ECFiber is using a unique financing arrangement, wherein debt is sold to those in the community as the network slowly expands. They have already raised over $1 million dollars and are providing services in three towns. The network is ultimately owned by the 23 towns that joined together to form the initiative. Les...

The eighth podcast in our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] series is a discussion with Jim Moorehead, the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County in California. Mendocino is a large, rural county in the northern part of the state that has been left behind by major incumbent providers including AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. We talk about what steps they have taken to solve their problems and discuss the frustrating state of broadband mappin...

For the 7th Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we talk with Mary Beth Henry from Portland, Oregon. Mary Beth is the Director of the Portland Office for Community Technology and Mt Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, as well as a past president of NATOA. Our discussion covers the long struggle to ensure local businesses and residents had a real choice in broadband providers in Portland. We start with how the famous "Brand X" Supreme Court decision came into being. But aft...

Our sixth episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast features a discussion with Cheryl Leanza, broadband consultant with Progressive States Network. Cheryl has been very active in legislative battles at the state level, where she has helped to defend the public against anti-consumer deregulation led by AT&T, CenturyLink, and cable lobbyists. We touched on the effort in Georgia to revoke local authority as well as once again noting the bad bills in North Carolina ...

For our fifth episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we have a discussion with Catharine Rice of SEATOA - the Southeastern Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. We discuss legislation in North and South Carolina designed to stop communities from building their own networks. Catharine Rice has been a strong advocate for local authority, helping communities respond to the CenturyLink and Time Warner Cable lobbying Juggernaut in the state cap...

The fourth episode of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bit[/no-glossary]s features Kevin Kryzda from Martin County, Florida. We discuss their county-owned network that is saving millions of dollars for the community -- as detailed in our case study published last month. Activists that want to encourage publicly owned broadband in their communities should familiarize themselves with the cost savings and advantages from Martin County's approach. Though Martin County is serving schools, libraries,...

For the third Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bit[/no-glossary]s podcast, we decided to do a double interview, perhaps making up for skipping last week due to our Independence Day holiday. In this show, we talk with Todd Marriott from the UTOPIA open access network in Utah. The second interview is with a provider on the network: Pete Ashdown, the founder of XMission. The UTOPIA web site is here. If you want to learn more about UTOPIA, an excellent site is Free UTOPIA, run by Jesse Harris. And ...

In our second podcast, we have interviewed Monica Webb with the Wired West Initiative in rural western Massachusetts. Like our first podcast, this should be an excellent resource for those who are still in the early stages of community broadband and seeking ideas or inspiration. We continue to be interested in your feedback and suggestions for the show - please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address. This show is...

In our excitement to produce this podcast, we forgot to credit Fit and the Conniptions for the intro/outro music. Much thanks for releasing their music under a creative commons license that allows us to use it for this purpose. If you like their sound, buy an album! We have decided to start a podcast- a recurring audio program that you can listen to on your smartphone, iPod, computer, this web page, etc. We are calling it Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bit[/no-glossary]s and our plan is to of...