Generally, console permissions are given to the user logging into the console, and are always available to root. Those are your first two options.

Another option is to change permissions on /dev/console to allow your program to access it, for example by running your program in a special group and giving that group write access.

You can also solve this with a small network program or setuid program to provide access to the console as appropriate, or perhaps by playing a sound via the soundcard instead, whose permissions might be a little easier to manage (and less tragic if they're wrong).

Update: Also see Does Perl ring a bell?.