Electronics Faire - Building Radical Communication Networks with a DIY FM Transmitter

This workshop series was developed and taught throughout 2025 as a collaboration between Derek Schwartz and Hannah Tardie. So far it has been taught at Philly Cam’s People Powered Media Festival and at Termite TV. This beginner friendly workshop series teaches attendees how to build a small FM radio transmitter while breaking the assumption that you need an engineering degree to start building your own electronics. In addition to teaching technical skills, we offer a brief political context of radical radio organizing, past and present, and how people can start to think about building their own communication networks to keep themselves and their neighbors safe. Understanding radio is a great first step in demystifying networked communication.

Attendees of all ages and experiences with electronics are invited to imagine a world where corporations don’t own our ability to communicate with our neighbors and take a first step towards making that world a reality!

We also created a companion zine with instructions to build the FM transmitter, as well as cultural context, which is available here.

About the Instructor:
Derek Schwartz (he/him) is an audio engineer, writer, and technologist practicing the art of weaving networks. His values are rooted in DIY music culture, and prior to coming to Philadelphia, he spent time in St. Louis as a music writer and production assistant at KDHX Radio. In his current audio practice, he produces, mixes, and records audio for film and music, and creates experimental audio projects that play with waveforms, radio, and physical media. He is current pursuing a Masters of Science in Music Technology at Temple University.