Steve Pierce is a long-time media activist, who has worked on some of the cable franchise renewals in the sixty communities comprising the New York State Capital Region. He helped organize the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center, and has been involved with grassrooots community radio for the past 25 years. He was formerly executive director of the Deep Dish TV Network, assistant manager of the Pacifica Foundation's WBAI in NYC, and program director of WWOZ in New Orleans. His academic work, for which he reeceived an MS and PhD from the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, focuses on media and democracy.