Note, it's a lot of work.

Applying for a license, public hearing etc. complying with regulations etc., getting the station running - studio, transmitter, antenna location etc. requires a group of dedicated people with a wide variety of skills to pull the whole operation together.

I know, as I've done it. Years ago, not only was I involved in helping getting a community FM station running but back then where I live there was no FM service and we had to petition government to hold a commission of enquiry just to get the FM service approved. And that even meant having interlopers who were then occupying the international 88-108MHz FM band evicted.

If that weren't enough we even built our stereo exciter and transmitter from scratch.

Out of curiosity, if you don't mind divulging, what general area was it operating? Alaska?

No, we've been notoriously inept at documenting our own history (and without pushing our barrow too far, I'd say some of it is milestone stuff that ought to rate higher in the history books on broadcasting). A number of our people have tried and there is lots documentation of sorts but nothing by way of a 'how-to' book. As is often usual with founders (especially techie ones), documentation is usually disorganized and rates a poor second to everything else. And we're no exception.

Not sure what you'd need exactly (I'd roughly have to know your expertise, resources, human and otherwise and so on). BTW, there are many groups who've done this before so my group isn't unique by any stretch.

I've no objection to providing you with some info from time to time if I can so long as it doesn't bog me down in too much work.

"...if you don't mind divulging, what general area was it operating? Alaska?"

No it's not Alaska, in fact Alaska would have already had FM services by the time we'd started (at least I think it did). I'd prefer not to divulge specific details here - not because of any secrecy or such but because it'd only further improve Google's indexing of me which I find irksome. I've no objection to contacting you by other ways if possible. I'll say this much I'm not in the US (however I'm familiar with and have visited the stations mentioned immediately below).

In the meantime/for starters try these links, our listener-supported radio is similar to these services, albeit somewhat smaller:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KQED_Inc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBAI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifica_Foundation

First, note the age of these stations, this is quite relevant. It's unlikely you'll get any help from them directly as by now their founders will have either retired or have died (my experience is that the second generation of people is much more interested in talking on the radio than creating a radio station (in fact, there is a stark difference in attitude). Moreover, this later generation usually has little interest in the station's history so they actually know very little about how it started or came into existence.

Nevertheless, you should get the flavor of things if you chase down rabbit holes and crevices in these or related links.

Good luck.