Three Eldorado residents recently shared a pot of high-quality Hawaiian coffee and discussed their ideas for what they hope will be Eldorado’s first community radio station.

They were inspired to start the project by the June 21 passage of the Local Community Radio Act of 2007. The act provides licenses to communities that want to start low-power, community-oriented, noncommercial radio stations.

Eldorado resident John J. Geier headed the group because he said such a radio station would be perfect for a community like Eldorado. He was joined by Don Dayton, Frank Schober and Bruce Blossman.

“This would be largely an opportunity to provide information to the community about what’s going on in Eldorado,” Dayton said.

While they are just planning, the three men have ideas the community might appreciate.

They plan to work in collaboration with many entities in Eldorado, such as the Eldorado Residents Association, the Eldorado Community Improvement Association, the Ken and Patty Adam Senior Center, El Dorado Elementary and the volunteer firefighters so each can provide information and possibly broadcast meetings and fire-danger ratings.

When the station is up and running, it can be a source of information during an emergency. Such a source would have been useful during the December 2006 storm that buried Eldorado in snow, Schober said.

“This community is very vulnerable from an emergency standpoint,” he said.

If trucks hauling dangerous cargo along Interstate 25 or U.S. 285 were to crash, “you could have a situation in which it was necessary to get information out to the whole community,” Schober said. “That’s very difficult to do.”

Geier said he’s spoken with El Dorado Elementary principal Yann Lussiez about making school announcements and also keeping the community updated in the event of an accident. He cited the recent bridge collapse in Minnesota in which a school bus full of children was on the bridge as a reason why the station would be useful to parents.

They would also like to involve the school so students can get involved in the management and organization of the station.

“Some of the people interested in our group feel that this could be a very educational activity for the kids,” Geier said. If the station comes to be, he’d like to target third- and fourth-graders to help out.

While the radio station will serve many purposes, it will not be a vehicle for political agendas.

The men plan to soon take the first steps to make the station possible. They plan to start a tax-exempt nonprofit foundation and apply for the funds they’ll need to run the station. They’ll also apply for a license to the Federal Communications Commission.

Since the planning is in its early stages, they don’t know where the station would be located or how much it would cost to start.

They are calling on all Eldorado residents to get involved, especially anybody with technical skills, engineering skills or legal knowledge.

For more information, call Geier at 466-6174, Dayton at 466-4348 or Schober at 310-8593.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 995-3803 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.