This article explores the cultural dynamics of the microradio movement in the USA. Viewed in the wider context of political economy and participatory democracy, I argue that the microradio movement is an expression of the felt need of local populations to reconnect with the civic and cultural life of their communities. Furthermore, I contend that the unique features of the medium - its ubiquity, low-cost and low-tech credentials - make microradio particularly well suited to meet the needs of diverse urban neighborhoods and underserved rural communities alike. The article concludes that, in its efforts to reinvent radio as a vehicle of participatory democracy and a resource for community development, the microradio movement not only demonstrates the medium's significance to our understanding of community, democracy and citizenship, but underscores the role media activism plays as an agent of progressive social change.