Community Radio and Community

Recent experiences have strengthened my respect for what local people, with good ideas and energy, can accomplish with little money.

Southwest Environmental Center, La Semilla, and the Mountain View Market Co+op are all locally-created. None is the local office of any state or national group. Each fends for itself. 

Same for Friends of the Taylor Family Monument, The Beloved Community Project, Doña Ana Communities United (with its Timebank), and The Great Conversation. Neat ideas getting implemented on a shoestring. Dreams being realized. 

My own experience? More than two years of hard work and uncertainty, collaborating with a great group of people, grumbling over frustrations along the way, all to put a community radio station on air. Two years feeling like an idiot, wondering if it would ever happen.

Now I'm humbled and grateful to be listening to people do interesting local interviews and an astonishing variety of music shows on KTAL-LP, 101.5 FM. Some are pros. Others, with little experience, always kind of thought they could do radio – and they can! It's delightful.

Tuesday, Nan Rubin interviewed two local men doing some interesting local film-making. Doing it – not just talking about it. Wednesday, I was privileged to host the three municipal judgeship candidates, each sounding as if s/he would make a great judge; then the articulate District 6 City Council candidate Yvonne Flores, whose opponent declined to appear; then representatives of the Potters' Guild and El Caldito talking about the annual Empty Bowls event. (Potters make bowls, local restaurants donate soup, and folks like us contribute money to the soup kitchen and get in return a handmade bowl, tasty soup, and enjoyable conversations.) 

Thursday, Kari Bachman treated us to a wonderful hour with Florence Hamilton. At an age most folks don't reach, Ms. Hamilton spoke movingly about growing up in segregated Kansas City, Missourahh, struggling to find work in a world where young black women were meant to be domestics or elevator operators (“Light-skinned only,” read the newspaper ads), and later watching her kids experience the mixed bag that was school integration after the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. Her comments were a welcome respite from the steady drumbeat of mostly white male pronouncements that all that racism stuff is past.

I'd stack those three morning shows up against the three morning shows most any other local radio station did this week in any comparable or much larger city. 

Our trials in getting “Que tal!” on air also enhanced my sympathy for the great group of people I watched working for months to make the recent SWEC gala the best ever; and for the folks who created and sustain the Timebank, where people contribute what they can do and get something done for them in return. Same with Beloved Community, now coping with a loss of funding, yet still committed to making young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities feel uniquely beloved. And too the Progressive Voters Alliance, where people confronting changing political realities gather to exchange ideas – with two minutes or less per speaker. Then there's El Caldito, community staple, feeding more needy people each year.

A recent radio interview also gave me insight into how hard folks work so that Las Cruces has a symphony of exceptional quality for our size.

With globalism all the rage, and Washington a playpen, these local efforts are truly heroic. And I could name many more! Fellow Las Crucens struggling to survive and do right. 

Add in a vibrant and generous arts community, and our desert home is rich in the stuff that really matters.

                                                                -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 22 October 2017, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air periodically on both KRWG and KTAL-LP.  (Speaking of which, at 9 a.m. this morning on KTAL - 101.5 FM - "The Sunday Show" features an interview with Roman Catholic Bishop Oscar Cantú.)]

[Mostly, I felt delighted by how the radio station is doing.  It desperately needs money; but people are getting a chance to host radio shows are doing so quite well.  I run into people who enjoy the station, for both its local programming and the acquired show, and tell me they listen to it all day.  It's strange.  I remember wondering more than once whether we'd ever even get on the air.  I still worry how we'll survive.

Meanwhile, I had recently watched friends go through intense planning for or work on successful events for non-profits.  (I think some folks are more active than ever because of distress over last fall's national election results.)  We have a pretty fine community of caring people here.  Some we're hearing from in radio interviews as well.]  

Community Radio - for All of Us

We have a great opportunity that both political parties, the P.V.A., the Tea Party, Aggie Solidarity, churches, and soccer moms should all relish. It's called community radio, and might not exist if not for Pete Tridish (known widely as Petri Dish), who passed through Cruces recently.

I like him, 'cause he thinks outside the box.

The FCC used to insist on a wider space on the dial between huge stations, so their signals wouldn't interfere with each other.

Petri pointed out that there was plenty of space for much smaller stations – say, 100 watts – in between the 50,000-watt behemoths. The little guys could use their localized signal to do interesting local things, without harming the big guys' signals

He convinced the FCC, and in 1998 the FCC enacted a rule to open things up. (This was after he'd spent a few years moving equipment from place to place and ducking FCC raids while running a “pirate” station.)

The National Association of Broadcasters (“NAB”) was horrified by the rule-making. The little guys might compete for local advertising dollars. NAB lobbyists chatted up senators and congresspeople. Thus in 2000 Congress enacted a law undoing the new FCC rule.

NAB claimed the small signals would interfere with the bigs. Congress insisted on a five-year engineering study. After two years the folks charged with doing the study had gotten a look at the facts, and announced that the NAB claim was so fatuous there was nothing to study. A 100-watt station could cause problems only in the immediate vicinity of its transmitter.

It took another few years to undo the 2000 law, but eventually the FCC started issuing licenses for small stations. (New Orleans, allowed no small stations under the 2000 law, could now have five.)
Throughout history, radio authorities have favored big broadcasters, with their deep pockets. Says Petri, “Drawing the largest audience made for the largest profits, so the assumption was, build the biggest station you can. And there's nothing wrong with that.”

The behemoths can do some things very well: national elections, wars, huge catastrophes, etc.
But they can't tell you much about your city council or the quality of local education. There's no incentive. “Stories about the Iraq War or the President pay a lot better than stories about the local city council.”

Petri is quick to articulate the irony: exactly the stuff we citizens can have the greatest impact on, such as local governments and improving local education, are exactly what we're most ignorant about, since national media ignore local issues; but we're flooded with information on issues we can do little about.

And what of accuracy? Big stations belong to big corporations. If GE, a huge defense contractor, owns a network, how confident are you that the network's news is accurate regarding a possible new war --- which, if it starts, will make GE a fortune?

Community Radio has time for local discussion, local performances, and slices of local life.
So what's this mean for us?

Within the year, Las Cruces could have a new radio station most of the City and some folks North and East of it should receive. It's licensed, and soon will have call letters. Supporters have started fund-raising. A small group has been meeting periodically to help with the early tasks.

The station hopes to be a resource for everyone, regardless of political views.

Look for notice of a meeting in January to invite input and ideas from any and all. Or consider donating a little money toward space and equipment and the all-important coffee-maker.

If you want to get on the group's mailing list, email lascrucescommunityradio@gmail.com at your convenience.
                                           -30-
[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, 21 December.]
[I should probably have stressed that there's still a fair amount of work to get a new station on the air. In particular, we need to locate and lease studio space -- and the space has to work for radio.  Fund-raising for a year's operations is a definite task, although the amount needed is reasonable. 
And helping teach on-air talent something about the practicalities and non-substantive elements of running a radio show is important.
At the same time, a lot has already been done.]

[I got invited to the early meetings because I've worked some with radio and TV.  Nan Rubin ran 'em, being the most knowledgeable about starting and running a community radio station.  At the meetings were mostly people with significant radio experience.  People sounded interested in a successful community radio station representing a many facets of the community as feasible.  They weren't ideologues.  The license was procured technically by SWEC, because it was a convenient pre-existing non-profit group.]

[I think I'll stay involved in this thing.  I'm hoping that folks with something to say or discuss will use it, whether their subjects are political or not and, if political, whatever their political views may be.]

[I don't see the new station as competing with other available stations here because so much of it will be material those stations aren't interested in or don't have time for or suppose won't be profitable.  If we're lucky and work hard, the station will provide a unique service, covering Las Cruces and the County in a broader and deeper -- yet more spontaneous and lively -- way.  It'll offer a lot less prepared material from elsewhere and a lot more of what our friends and neighbors and local government are doing and thinking.  Along with music and features.  Definitely no Rush Limbaugh.]
  

"Speak Up, Las Cruces!" - What We Hope to Do

“Speak Up, Las Cruces!”

For two weeks now I’ve been saying that a lot, mostly during the hours of 8-10 a.m., Monday through Friday.

Keith Whelpley and I co-host a daily two-hour radio show called “Speak Up, Las Cruces!” on KOBE 1450. We first aired on Labor Day.

We took it on in the perhaps foolish hope that it could become a useful tool in the community’s ongoing dialogue with itself.

We discovered that we share certain assumptions: first, that we live in a community.  That community members can and will disagree, sometimes vigorously, without necessarily leaving – or tossing someone else out of – the community.  That communities, both in elections and otherwise, make decisions that affect the lives of their members; that decisions are better made when a community has the fairest, and most complete information; and that this sort of information is often best found, or developed, in frank but reasonably courteous discussion and debate.

While there will be shows in which Keith and I tallk with each other and our listeners who call in, we frequently bring in guests.  With a controversial issue like the gross receipts tax hike, the funding freeze on mental health providers, and same-sex marriage, we bring in knowledgeable people who disagree.  Aside from specific issues, we’re inviting community members we disagree with to spend time with us, if they’re willing, and let the listeners figure out what it all means, if anything.  (Among those count Neal Hooks, Tea Party representatives, and Steve Pearce.)

Wednesday we discussed same-sex marriage with: the newly famous Lynn Ellins, our County Clerk; Republican State Sen. Bill Sharer, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Ellins; Neal Hooks, a Sun-News Op-Ed Columnist who disagrees with Ellins as strongly as Sen. Sharer; and Carrie Hamblen, who’s the President of PFLAG Las Cruces and one-half of a newly-married couple.  Callers were free to question anyone, or comment.

Earlier that day, we had an hour-long, reflective conversation with the new Bishop, Oscar Cantú.  We wanted to introduce listeners to a prominent member of the community whom many, particularly non-Catholics, haven’t met.  (I’m far from being a Catholic, but thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and tend to think Bishop Cantú is a pretty good guy.)

Our vision, if I may over-dignify our hopes with that word, is that through honest and sometimes bold reportage, but with courtesy and respect toward guests, we can examine facts or situations – or bring together others who’ll do so – in a way that’s useful for all of us.

That’s a challenge.  We also want to have fun doing it and make it fun for our listeners.  We’ll do that through occasional flippancy and irreverence, a lot of goofy news items when we’re without guests, and an openness to all sorts of guests and all sorts of subjects.  We’ll have the mayor and senators on, but also a number of people who are lot less well known but just plain interesting.  The college basketball coach who went to Ireland to coach, so as to learn Irish fiddling, and ended up a writer, teaching at NMSU.  The guy who felt like making rainbows, and did, and now gets flown around to foreign countries to make rainbows.  A former Hollywood stunt man who as a youth gained a wealth of knowledge from the Mescaleros, is now developing an interesting breed of horse, and has also recently put out a book that isn’t really about any of those subjects.

Tuesday after a spirited discussion of the gross receipts tax with City Manager Robert Garza and City Councilor Miguel Silva, we talked with three members of Crossroads City Roller Derby.  Who would have supposed that a conversation about roller-blading would lead us into frank talk about how their sport had helped each of them in some profound way in their careers, including helping one of the three guests recover from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after eight years in the military?

If you’ve tune in, you know that our two weeks on radio have featured a comical series of mistakes (by me) and misfortunes in the technical end of what we’re doing.  Like most things, hosting a radio show takes a little more than outsiders might imagine.  The variety of things that can go wrong (including forgetting to put on headphones and then construing the silence as being off the air – or forgetting to turn off everyone’s mikes the moment a commercial starts and everyone mistakenly thinks s/he’s off-air and might say anything.)

But it’s fun.  Keith and I are both curious.  We’re also experienced reporters. Sometimes we feel like a couple of curious kids just given free reio their town and ask folks all sorts of things, serious and silly.

And there are light moments. Wednesday when I invited Keith to read the list of our sponsors, I led into it by asking him to “remind us who brings us here” – and instantly realized that when you use a phrase like that around the bishop, it’s capable of meaning someone other than your sponsors.  He’d had the same thought, and we kidded about it with the bishop.

But then, what do I know about who brought us there?

What started in hopes we could contribute to our community also turns out to be enough fun that we’ll keep letting it turn out lives upside-down for awhile, and see where it leads.
                           -30-

[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News today, Sunday, September 15.

We really are interested in suggestions, criticisms, and what-not that could help us improve the show.  We have a Facebook page (if you're on Facebook, please search "Speak Up, Las Cruces" and "Friend" us or "like" us or post a comment) and even an email account at KOBE (send to peter and/or to keith  at  @bravomic.com).

The Sun-News headlined the column "More than a Radio Show."  That bothered me, although I had to admit maybe that was what I was saying.  But I wasn't, exactly.  What I hope I said was that we hope it'll be a damn good radio show -- and, yes, more than a radio show.  A community water well where folks from all walks of life stop to drink, and gab.  A chance for each of us to connect with a whole lot of interesting folks with whom we share this valley but whom he don't know at all.  

But I'm selfish, too.  I'm curious, one of those guys who's always watching everything, overhearing everything, wondering how folks got the way they are and where they dream of going from here, and how the world looks to 'em.  I'm a curious guy, and journalism has often served as a way to satisfy curiosity without being impolite.  It gives me a socially acceptable reason to ask all sorts of folks all sorts of things.

Just walking through the market yesterday talked to half a dozen potential guests.  A fellow named Jerry whose mission is helping veterans with PTSD fit back in to our community.  An artist whose work we thoroughly enjoy, who stressed when I asked him about being on radio that God was a big part of what he does, and that if he came on the show that's something he'd be wanting to talk about -- that helping spread the Word would be why he'd come on.  I urged him to think about it, and he gently corrected me:  "I'll pray about it, he said."

I don't happen to share his religious views, or those of our delightful guest last Wednesday, Bishop Cantú; but I've noticed, in working sporadically on a documentary about folks who produce healthy food and sell it at the market here, that God is a major part of what they're doing and why they're doing it.  I find that interesting.

Rush Limbaugh (aside from wanting to promote Rush Limbaugh) has a set of positions he wants to convince you to take.
Well, I have some views too; but I also find a whole lot in the world that fills me with wonder, or sparks my curiosity, and so I want to check things out -- and, by doing so on radio, invite you to check 'em out with me, and share your thoughts by calling in.  
It's tough not to sit at home mornings with the hummingbirds and the beautiful morning light, rather than in a studio so small Lynn Ellins announced he had bigger closets; it's tough to be somewhere by 8 a.m. with some semblance of brains turned on; it's tough to crash early night after night; but the show is fun.  And I'm learning a new trade.]