Spinning Indie: 2011

Monday, May 16, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 27 - KEAR and Family Radio in Oakland, CA

KEAR offices on May 12, 2011

(All photos by J. Waits)

When I started my radio station field trip series I had intended to focus solely on college radio stations, but I pretty quickly made some exceptions when I ran across interesting commercial and community radio stations. Last week, I took an even greater detour when I decided that I needed to visit Christian radio station KEAR-AM, which is at the helm of the Family Radio network of religious stations. After hearing a Family Radio broadcast I became intrigued by its General Manager's proclamation that May 21, 2011 would be Judgment Day and that October 21, 2011 would mark the end of the world. When I first heard Family Radio General Manager Harold Camping over the airwaves a few weeks ago, I had no idea that his station was based in Oakland, California. When I realized that it was so near by, I knew that I had to tour before the predicted Armageddon.

One of Harold Camping's books in the Family Radio offices on May 12, 2011

(Photo: J. Waits)

So, on Thursday, May 12, 2011, I ventured out to Family Radio headquarters in order to tour the station, interview Harold Camping, and learn more about the inner-workings of the massive Christian radio network (see Radio Survivor for my full report on Camping's take on Judgment Day). I began my visit by attending a taping of a Harold Camping-led "Family Bible Study," which was being recorded for television and radio. As a studio audience and camera crews from Nightline and Univision watched, Camping flipped through Bible passages and talked about the nearness of Judgment Day.

Although Family Radio began in 1958 with one radio station (KEAR-FM at the time in San Francisco), it has since expanded to 60+ radio stations across the United States, 50+ translators, a shortwave station in Florida, and television stations in San Francisco and New York. Programming originates out of their Oakland headquarters, with operators in their Network Control department monitoring the patchwork quilt of signals 24 hours a day.

Family Radio President and General Manager Harold Camping in His Office on May 12, 2011

(Photo: J. Waits)

Harold Camping was one of the founders of the network in 1958 when he worked with a group of people to purchase KEAR-FM in San Francisco. When I interviewed him last Thursday, May 12, 2011, he told me that didn't have an interest in radio before that time. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in engineering and had a career in the construction business. When I spoke with Camping, he relayed to me the beginnings of Family Radio:

Jennifer Waits: So you were saying you had no interest in radio before?

Harold Camping: Right. That was not my interest. I was interested in dairy cattle and I was interested in math and interested in physics and science, but not radio.

Jennifer: What got you thinking about starting up a radio network?

Mr. Camping: Someone came to my office...and he wanted to find some Christian businessmen to buy a radio station and share the gospel. And, oh, to share the gospel, that's what got my interest. So, I agreed that provided we have a non-profit corporation so that nobody could ever realize any gains for themselves. And so, we formed a non-profit corporation called Family Stations, Incorporated. I became President and he became Vice-President. I had another young man working for me and we made him the third member to be legally a qualified corporation. And I put this man on my payroll...and he found a station here in San Francisco and we bought it and that was the beginning of Family Radio.

Jennifer: And what do you now love about radio?

Mr. Camping: I've been enmeshed in it for 52 years. I've been able to supervise the construction of radio and supervise the construction of TV. We built a 350 kilowatt station in Taiwan and a 600 kilowatt station in Taiwan to carry our programming to China and to the Philippines and so on.

Jennifer: So, you've been doing Open Forum for 50 years. How did that show start?

Mr. Camping: That started because at that time we were not getting any help from any churches and although we had paid very little to whatever employees we had, we were running out of money. So we had the idea that if I would be behind the mic as President and answer questions about finances or about music policy, that might encourage people to begin to give. So, we opened the telephone lines and I did my first program and they didn't ask any questions about finances or music, but they asked counseling questions and Bible questions. And I found that I enjoyed that very much and I was somewhat qualified because I had been doing quite a bit of study in the Bible and doing some private counseling. And so that began Open Forum.

It's clear when walking through Family Radio headquarters that the company is much more than a network of radio stations. They have their own print shop, which produces books and literature related to their beliefs. The Internet department maintains the website and creates Family Radio ads for placement on Facebook, Google and Microsoft websites.

KEAR-AM Studio in Oakland on May 12, 2011

(Photo: J. Waits)

Family Radio airs a mix of programming, including the popular live call-in show "Open Forum" (which has been on the air for 50 years) hosted by Camping 7 nights a week (it was 5 nights a week until a few weeks ago), children's programming, programs on "Positive Parenting," shows about Creationism and intelligent design, religious music shows, and the other live show, "Prayer Time," which broadcasts prayer requests from listeners (ranging from someone's desire for "a new transmission" to requests for prayers for cancer-stricken relatives). Most programmers and producers at Family Radio craft their shows remotely, so when I visited I didn't get the opportunity to see any live programming in action. I did see a producer working in one of the 8 control rooms and got the opportunity to check out the set up.

A portion of the vinyl library at Family Radio

(Photo: J. Waits)

The walls outside the production studios were filled with long-forgotten vinyl LPs that are no longer played. Although I saw numerous turntables, apparently vinyl records are now a relic at Family Radio after an archiving project a decade ago paved the way for the digital library of about 8000 pieces of music that is currently in use today. Beyond the vinyl LPs that I spotted outside the studios, in a Music Department office, and in a packed-to-the-gills closet, there's apparently more music housed in an off-site storage facility. In addition to the music shows that air today, Family Radio used to have a classical show on Sundays.

The music in Family Radio's digital archive is categorized across a number of different types of music, including organ, piano, orchestra, instrumental, male solo, female solo, choirs, male chorus, duets, trios, and quartets. I was told by a member of the Music Department that all music is carefully screened by several different reviewers on staff. In addition to screening music for its lyrical content to verify its take on the gospel and theology, the staff also ensure that music adheres to Family Radio's overall air sound, which was described to me as being "traditional" and "more of the hymn type" style of sacred music. A Family Radio staff member told me, "we don't have drums" or "anything with a beat," although she acknowledged that "it can be a little upbeat...but not loud percussion." And, as I listened to the station today, I did hear a slightly upbeat song with male harmonizing vocals that reminded me of the Beach Boys. So, it's true that they do mix it up a bit musically.

Closet at Family Radio Chock Full of Vinyl and CDs

(Photo: J. Waits)

Although listeners often call the network to ask about music that's been played, it's not Family Radio's policy to announce artist names over the airwaves. They will gladly provide that information to callers, but I was told that as a rule, "we don't promote people" over the air, which means that they don't do on-air back announces of the pieces that have been played. For the most part the music that they play is old, as evidenced by some of the titles that I spotted in their vinyl library. The old-fashioned music that I heard while listening to Family Radio on several occasions was actually kind of alluring in that it was so vintage. In that respect, it did sound like nothing else on radio and brought to mind my own memories of my grandparents glued to broadcasts of the Lawrence Welk show. Oddly enough, one of the albums that I saw on my visit featured Norma Zimmer, the "Champagne Lady" from the Lawrence Welk show. Stranger still, unbeknownst to me, Norma Zimmer died 2 days before my visit and her album happened to catch my attention while I was scanning through the record library at Family Radio. I hope that's not a sign...

Norma Zimmer LP at Family Radio

When I took this photo I had no idea that she had died 2 days before!

(Photo: J. Waits)

To learn more about Family Radio's take on Judgment Day, see my article on Radio Survivor, which also includes more from my interview with Family Radio's General Manager Harold Camping.

Equipment in Network Control at Family Radio

(Photo: J. Waits)

Radio Station Field Trip 25 - WZBC at Boston College

Radio Station Field Trip 26 - KSFS at San Francisco State University

Friday, May 13, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 26 - KSFS at San Francisco State University

View from KSFS Production Studio into Station Lobby

(Photo by J. Waits)

After the events of January 18, I kind of went into an obsessive spiral, fixating on every last detail of the unfortunate situation at University of San Francisco's college radio station KUSF. I find it tragic that the only terrestrial college radio station in San Francisco's city limits was yanked from the air by the university in order to beef up its cash reserves. Yet, I also tried to remind people that KUSF was actually not the ONLY college radio station in San Francisco. San Francisco State University has a long tradition of college radio, which continues to this day with its online-only station KSFS.

On November 19, 2010, I accepted an invitation to sit it on a friend's show at KSFS and was excited to get a chance to check out the station. A few weeks later I sat down with KSFS advisor Jeff Jacoby to learn more about the station and also chatted by phone with former KSFS advisor Rick Houlberg. After touring the station and attempting to research its history, I became frustrated by the lack of information about the 50+ year old station and then got distracted by reporting on the KUSF saga.

So, here is my much belated field trip report from KSFS, along with a plea for an interested broadcasting historian to take up the challenge to compile a proper history of the station, as I'm sure it's fascinating.

KSFS DJ Nick Carpenter

Before visiting KSFS, all that I really knew of the station was that music journalist and radio fan Ben Fong-Torres had been a DJ there back in the 1960s and that Real World Seattle alum Irene McGee got some attention for her radio show there around 2005. But the station's history goes back much further. From what I've been able to ascertain from my limited research, the Radio Department was founded at San Francisco State College around 1946 and it's possible that a campus radio station began in the late 1940s or early 1950s. According to Rick Houlberg (who joined the station as its advisor in 1982), in the early days of the station, then known as KRTG (for "radio television guild"), broadcasts were from a pre-fab Quonset hut structure utilizing 2 loudspeakers. By the early 1960s the Creative Arts building was constructed on campus and the Radio Department and station were given a permanent home.

Lobby of KSFS

(Photo: J. Waits)

Ben Fong-Torres remembers being at KRTG around 1965 or so. He told me that at the time the station switched formats from being a mix of jazz, folk, spoken word, and educational material to a Top 40 music station. He said that there were basically no listeners, although the station was piped in to the dorms. Ben described a phone receiver-like device that was in each dorm room and told me that one had to dial it to 880 to listen to the station over 880 AM.

Radio Sign on Creative Arts Building at San Francisco State University

(Photo: J. Waits)

Today, KSFS is still housed in the basement of the Creative Arts building. Although KSFS was never a licensed station, it did broadcast into dorms and campus buildings through a carrier current system (as described by Ben). Eventually it got hooked into the campus cable system before going online-only. Rick told me that there's a rumor that in the late 1960s or early 1970s KSFS had a chance to obtain an FCC license after a commercial radio station offered to sell its entire station, from microphones to transmitter, to San Francisco State for $1. San Francisco State turned down the offer, apparently fearful of giving the students a larger broadcast platform.

Rick told me that KSFS eventually had a small transmitter (less than 1 watt) and an antenna on top of the library. A line was run from the antenna to KSFS in the Creative Arts Building. The transmission on campus was so weak, that one could only hear it within the line of sight of the antenna at 88.1 FM. Because of fears of complaints about interference from local stations (namely public radio station KQED) and local residents, the station was never able to get more powerful than 1 watt. One of the main ways that students on campus used to listen to KSFS was through the university's television cable system. Additionally, KSFS had its signal broadcast within San Francisco over cable television.

KSFS Studio

(Photo J. Waits)

One of the most interesting stories that I came across was in a history of San Francisco State written by Meredith Eliassen. She recounts a story that took place in 1966 involving Ken Kesey,

"Kesey, flanked with bodyguards from the Hells Angels, performed an 'acid test' in the studios of the campus radio station KRTG. The event aired to listeners in the Commons, in the Redwood Room, outside through speakers, and to the KRTG audience in the dormitories."

Rick told me that he'd never heard this story, but that it was "entirely possible" and said that at the time the university thought the station was "subversive" and that the school "did not want people to know that students had a voice."

Window to KSFS Studio

(Photo J. Waits)

Eventually, due to a number of factors, including construction on campus and lack of listeners, the low power FM broadcasts ceased after the antenna was removed from the library in 2008. A 2004 student newspaper account described the station's lack of a signal:

"The only way you could pick up a clear signal of the station's low broadcasting range is if your radio was no further than the sidewalk surrounding or steps leading up to the library."

Around the same time, though, KSFS was being broadcast in The Depot in the Student Center and was also broadcasting online.

KSFS Studio

(Photo: J. Waits)

Rick said that the station has functioned for more than 60 years as a "laboratory" for students interested in careers in broadcasting. In order to get on the air, one is required to be enrolled in a radio class at San Francisco State or be an alum.Having a live radio show is actually a requirement for the advanced radio class. Typically there are between 75 and 100 people involved with the station in a given semester and KSFS still seems to function as a training ground for radio and music industry hopefuls.

When I stopped by in December 2010, I chatted with the station's General Manager Tiffany Lintner. In addition to doing her show "Special Sundays" at KSFS, she was also working at commercial radio station KMEL as both an on-air host and a member of the promotions department. Her hip hop show at KSFS had over 900 followers on Twitter and she told me that she did have aspirations to be a commercial radio DJ. Last fall the KSFS Music Directors were also involved with commercial radio stations and labels.

Last fall the KSFS schedule featured live DJs from 8am to 11pm on weekdays and from 9am to 5pm on the weekends, with an automated loop of material filling in the slots without a live DJ. I was told that KSFS had just finished a project to digitize all of their CDs and that they were planning to get rid of the CDs. The station planned to hang on to its "large library" of vinyl records, however.

KSFS Vinyl Library

(Photo J. Waits)

Today, KSFS invites listeners to "Embrace the Chaos" as it broadcasts a mix of music and public affairs shows across its schedule. The current mission statement for KSFS reads:

"We provide cutting-edge, free-form radio with varied programming, including music, theater, talk, art, & information. The shows we stream seek to push the boundaries of what radio can be but are always focused on our listeners. KSFS serves as a training laboratory for students and as a radio station for the university, the City of San Francisco, and our worldwide Internet audience. We intend to be an integral part of the ongoing media (r)evolution and the myriad communities we serve and to offer a dynamic educational experience for the students of San Francisco State University."

Thanks to everyone at KSFS for sharing your station with me and for your patience in waiting for this report!

Radio Station Field Trip 25 - WZBC at Boston College

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Save KUSF Live Remote Broadcast Brings Together 15 College and Community Radio Stations from across the United States

Amoeba Music on Haight Street in San Francisco on a Cold February Day

(Photo: J. Waits)

One month ago college radio station KUSF was taken off of its terrestrial signal at 90.3 FM after the administration of University of San Francisco signed paperwork to cede control of the station to Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN). Although the sale needs to still be approved by the FCC, in the meantime, CPRN is airing broadcasts from formerly classical radio station KDFC on KUSF's frequency of 90.3 FM.

As I've extensively documented on Radio Survivor, supporters of KUSF have been fighting the sale ever since it was announced. They have solicited support from politicians, the faculty of USF, and from like-minded radio stations from all over the country.

WFMU Microphone at Amoeba

(Photo: J. Waits)

Yesterday the independent radio community came together to spread the word about the plight of KUSF by taking to the terrestrial airwaves. Orchestrated by DJ Billy Jam, of well-respected New Jersey community radio station WFMU, the Save KUSF live broadcast from Amoeba Music in San Francisco on Friday, February 18 featured six KUSF DJs "in exile" on stage spinning (yes, there was a ton of vinyl trekked in for the event) music from noon to 3pm Pacific time. WFMU did a live broadcast over both the airwaves and over their Internet stream and invited other stations to piggy back on the broadcast by sending out the Internet stream over their respective FM signals.

The "Honor Roll" of Participating Stations (not listed are KXSC and KUSF.org, who also broadcast the event)

(Photo: J. Waits)

Ultimately, 15 stations ended up broadcasting the Save KUSF event, including WFMU (91.1 FM in New Jersey), Stanford University station KZSU (90.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area), Loyola Marymount station KXLU (88.9 FM in Los Angeles), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill station WXYC (89.3 FM in Chapel Hill, North Carolina), Foothill College station KFJC (89.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area), Georgia Tech station WREK (91.1 FM in Atlanta), Cazenovia College station WITC (88.9 FM in Cazenovia, NY), University of California at Davis station KDVS 90.3 (90.3 FM in Davis, CA), University of Texas, Austin station KVRX (which broadcast over their webstream), University of California at Berkeley station KALX (90.7 FM in Berkeley, CA), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor station WCBN (88.3 FM in Ann Arbor, MI), community radio station KRFP (Radio Free Moscow at 92.5 FM in Moscow, Idaho), Santa Clara University station KSCU (103.3 FM in Santa Clara, CA), University of Southern California's online-only student radio station KXSC (Los Angeles, CA), and even KUSF.org (which is for the most part separate from the efforts of Save KUSF and still in the process of being conceptualized. It's currently airing a mix of student and cultural shows from the old KUSF studios at University of San Francisco).

DJ Schmeejay, whose show turned to static when the KUSF transmitter was shut down January 18, begins the Live Remote

(Photo: J. Waits)

As DJs and KUSF fans mingled at Amoeba Music on Friday, it was easy to sense both the inspiration and the optimism that everyone was drawing from the event and from the outpouring of support from radio stations from all over the country. It was clear that the fight for independent radio in San Francisco resonated across the United States, as other stations stood in solidarity while giving over their airwaves to the KUSF DJs who had been silenced one month prior.

DJ Carolyn at Amoeba Music

(Photo: J. Waits)

When I started Spinning Indie back in 2008 one of my goals was to try to bring more attention to college radio. Not only was I attempting to get people to listen to college radio, but I was also hoping to expose college radio DJs to other stations that they might not have been aware of. When I've gone to college radio conferences hosted by CMJ, IBS, and the University of California Radio Network (UCRN) I've loved the opportunity to swap stories with DJs from other stations and I've witnessed how hungry other station volunteers have been for building those cross-station connections. When touring stations in my own neck of the woods I've talked to people about bringing back the long-gone Bay Area college radio picnics and have heard rumors about casual sports competitions between stations.

So, for me, yesterday was a dream come true, witnessing the cross-country radio love. A few of us noted that in times of crisis it's incredible to see how people will come together, even stations who might normally feel tinges of competition. Particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was an unprecedented display of radio activism, as KUSF DJs could be heard emanating from 4 different college radio stations up and down the radio dial (KFJC at 89.7 FM, KZSU at 90.1 FM, KALX at 90.7 FM, and KSCU at 103.3FM).

At the same time, it was almost mind-boggling to think about the fact that people in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Moscow, Idaho were tuning in; perhaps hearing about KUSF for the very first time.

DJ Irwin Cues Up a Record at Amoeba Music

(Photo: J. Waits)

Beyond the community love that I was feeling all day, it was also a great relief to just hear KUSF DJs back on the air again spinning music. For me and for many other people, radio is inextricably linked to musical exploration and to sharing sounds with listeners. Yesterday it was nice to take a break from all of the protests, conversation, and writing in order to get back to music and get back to radio. As I listened to beautiful sets of music by all six KUSF DJs on stage, I was again reminded of why I still care so deeply about the power and art of human DJ's who are musical curators. My ears were tantalized by Rudy Vallee, Yoko Ono, Chin Chin, Felt, Can, Omar Souleyman, Alice Coltrane, Grace Jones, Sylvester, and Dead Moon.

It still remains to be seen what will happen to KUSF, but as a college radio DJ and fan I am really proud to see that they are fighting hard for the future of independent radio and are spreading the word about their plight far and wide.

If you want to relive yesterday's event, there's video documentation on the Yowie website, there is an archived MP3 of the broadcast on WFMU's website, individual MP3s for each DJ's set can be found on the KUSF Archives webite, and the complete playlist (as well as listener comments) are on Billy Jam's page at WFMU. To learn more about Save KUSF's efforts, take a look at their website (where they are also actively seeking donations).

***
You can read my reaction to the KUSF shut down here on Spinning Indie, as well as my article chronicling my KUSF field trip two years ago. And, I'm really proud to say that many of the stations that participated in today's multi-station simulcast have been stops on either my Spinning Indie 50 State Tour (KXSC, which used to be called KSCR) or have been places I've visited for my radio station field trip series (WFMU, KZSU, KUSF, KSCU, KALX, and KFJC). For more on the bigger picture of college radio station sell-offs, see my December 2009 piece “Cash-strapped Schools Turn Their Backs on College Radio.

Save KUSF Merch Table

(Photo: J. Waits)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

KUSF Taken off the Air Without Warning and Replaced with Classical Station

Irwin Swirnoff, a KUSF Music Director, in the KUSF Library Back in 2009

Around 12:00 noon yesterday I got an email titled "Upsetting News about KUSF" from one of my fellow DJs at KFJC. It's the kind of email that you dread seeing in your inbox and after diving into its contents, I was shocked to see what I was reading. I am a KUSF listener, have profiled the station on this blog for my radio station field trip series, and have rhapsodized about one of their shows ("Radiodrome"), calling it one of my favorite radio shows ever. In a weird twist of fate, it turns out that KUSF went off the air during my favorite radio show yesterday and the DJs had no idea what was coming.

Throughout the day more and more details came to light, making me feel even more troubled about the loss of a great college radio station from the San Francisco airwaves.

So, here's what happened:

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011:

9:00 am: The General Manager and Program Director of KUSF were called into the Dean's office and told that KUSF was sold effective 10am

10:00 am: KUSF signal goes to static, as the transmitter is turned off. The on-air KUSF DJ's show is cut short and he has to cancel a scheduled live performance by the band The Pickpocket Ensemble

11:52 am: KUSF tweets: "ATTENTION: USF just sold KUSF! #WTF we're off the air. we need your help. Impromptu demonstration on the USF campus tomorrow at 7"

11:58 am: CarolyntheDJ tweets: "Just showed up @kusf to my show and the doors are locked. USF has sold the station. Management was in on it. They're keeping all our records."

Around the same time, University of San Francisco released a statement that they planned to sell the station to Classical Public Radio Network, a public radio group owned by University of Southern California (apparently replacing the old, now defunct online-only Classical Public Radio Network). The press release stated that KUSF will transition to an online-only station effective immediately and will be able to retain its call letters.

It wasn't until later in the day that the entire picture was revealed. A press release from around 3:30pm announced that commercial classical radio station KDFC was going to be moving to KUSF's 90.3 FM frequency as part of a complicated deal involved both commercial and non-commercial radio stations. According to the release:

"...The University of Southern California (USC) today announced it has entered into an agreement with Entercom Communications to convert KDFC into a non-commercial classical music station based in San Francisco. In keeping with Entercom Communications' commitment to classical radio, the company has entrusted the stewardship of the new, noncommercial KDFC Radio to a new nonprofit company based in San Francisco, commencing on January 18...

The new station will use the call letters KDFC, the area's former commercial classical outlet since 1947, the result of a series of transactions involving several radio owners in the region. The new KDFC will broadcast over the two non-commercial signals, 90.3 and 89.9...USC has purchased the rights to 90.3 KUSF, from the University of San Francisco and 89.9 KNDL from Howell Mountain Broadcasting Company. KUSF will continue online as a webcast station."

When I tuned in to 90.3 FM at 5:15pm yesterday it was already airing programming from KDFC. The DJ announced that the station was excited about their new "commercial-free" status and that they would officially be moving to 90.3 and 89.9 FM on Monday, January 24 at 12 noon. The KDFC website also eagerly announced this move (the station was formerly on the commercial band at 102.1 FM) and encouraged supporters to donate to the new "listener-supported" station.

Since KUSF staffers and DJs were taken by surprise, they are still trying to make sense of the situation. Several of them attempted to get answers from University of San Francisco's Director of Business and Finance Charlie Cross. A video recounts their encounter at his office, as he rebuffs them and asks for security to be called:

KUSF listeners and staff are peeved about this and have already started sending letters to the administration expressing their displeasure. In her tongue-in-cheek letter to USF President Stephen A. Privett, Julia Mazawa writes,

"The University's dedication to service to the community, promotion of critical inquiry, and promotion of cultural diversity is no better exemplified than in its recent sale of KUSF's FM frequency. And it has been the acme of deft public relations to boot!

USF clearly demonstrates the need to prioritize service to its amazingly diverse local community, San Francisco, by pulling the plug on the terrestrial signal of the highly-regarded station KUSF. Now, thankfully, there will be no more Chinese Star Radio clogging the airwaves with its foreign chatter, no more Radio Goethe bumming out the lower end of the dial with that bizarre German music, no more In the Soul Kitchen filling the airwaves with the soul classics that were actually interesting, and THANK JESUS there will finally be an end to that intolerable New Music programming that wasted valuable airtime with its nonsensical notions about what exactly constitutes music.

Thank you, USF, for ridding the airwaves of those crazy deejays who challenged the San Francisco community to invest a couple brain cells into actually thinking about the media fed to them. Thank you, you sons of bitches who now find yourselves $3.75 million richer, for replacing this needlessly challenging and frighteningly novel programming with tepid classical swill. Your selfless service to the community awes me...."

Amazingly, USF President Privett responded to Julia's email:

"Dear Ms. Mazzawa(sic),

Thank you for your letter of support. Your understanding that our students’(sic) do not pay their rather high tuition to subsidize providing alternate music for the outside community is not widely shared by ...those who disagree with my decision. I further appreciate your understanding that a university's first responsibility is to its faculty and students, not to the community-at-large. Yours is a conviction that is not shared by those who believe that USF should first and foremost serve those whose contributions have never covered the cost of delivering the service they enjoy at the expense of USF students and their families. Finally, I applaud your support for USF’s primary mission: the education of its students and not serving as an entertainment resource for the outside community, no matter how valuable or important that service may be. Would that more people had your wisdom, insight and appreciation for the role of a university.

Warmest regards,

Stephen A. Privett, SJ
President"

KUSF supporters will be rallying on the University of San Francisco campus on Wednesday night around 7pm at Fromm Hall. Unfortunately Stephen Privett is not expected to show up at the meeting to discuss the future of KUSF. No doubt his inbox will still be flooded.

Although Twitter and Facebook have been buzzing with this news all day and local media outlets (especially indie media) have been doing a great job of covering the situation at KUSF, supporters are just getting a Save KUSF page set up on Facebook and a Save KUSF blog set up online.

Another opportunity to join in the discussion will happen on the San Francisco public radio airwaves on Wednesday morning. One of KUSF's Music Directors, Irwin Swirnoff, will be appearing on the KQED radio call in talk-show Forum to discuss the situation at 9am on Wednesday the 19th.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 25 - WZBC at Boston College

When we were gearing up for a family vacation out to Boston last summer I knew that a visit to the Boston College radio station WZBC had to be on the top of my to-do list. It had been 2 years since I'd been to the area and on my last visit I became enamored with WZBC while flipping through the dial in our rental car. I vividly remember sitting in the car late at night on a freezing cold winter evening because I was enjoying the music so much that I wanted to hear the end of a track and catch the DJ's back announce. That's dedication to a station!

Part of what lured me to WZBC was that their air sound reminded me a lot of KFJC, the station where I've been DJing for over a decade. And, the more I dived into WZBC's programming philosophy, the more I realized that the two stations really are kindred spirits. Located at 90.3 FM in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, WZBC prides itself on its devotion to experimental music with "no commercial potential" (aka NCP).

View of WZBC from its lobby

Radio began at Boston College 50 years ago, with the launch of AM carrier current station WVBC in 1960. In 1973 they became the licensed FM radio station WZBC and operated at a mere 9 watts for their first year, moving up to 1000 watts (where the station remains today) the following year. In addition to the FM signal, WZBC also continues to operate the former WVBC as an online-only station (which also airs on a Boston College cable channel) that serves as a training ground for new DJs.

WZBC DJs from Days Gone By

I visited WZBC on the afternoon of Monday, August 30th, 2010 as summer break was drawing to a close at Boston College. Program Director Gavin Frome and Operations Director Megan Pietruszka were my guides and made me feel incredibly welcome at their college radio station

WZBC has inhabited its current location on the Boston College campus for 30 years and the station has the cozy feel of a place that's been well-loved for decades. It's housed in a building with a dining hall, bookstore, and extracurricular offices; so the station is near a hub of activity on campus. Within the station, walls are covered with stickers and posters and every nook and cranny seems to be filled with music. The spacious lobby is covered with pop culture gems (and, of course, a couch) and there's even a skeleton that looks down on new visitors as they enter the station. If you keep an eye out, you might also see a collection of tiny Care Bears perched on ledges in various parts of the station.

The 1980s marked a major shift for WZBC, as the station moved towards a format of "modern rock" and experimental music. Today the station airs rock music on weekdays from 7am to 5pm and is focused on music with "no commercial potential" on weeknights from 7pm until 1am or later. Specialty programming inhabits weekend slots and early evening slots (5-7pm) on weekdays and includes a range of shows including "Sunday Morning Country," "Oscillator Drift" (early electronic, '60s moog, tape experiments, etc.), "Raggamuffin International" (reggae, ska, dance hall), "Industrial Factory" (industrial electronic music), and "Mass Ave and Beyond" (local music).

Cassettes at WZBC

In addition to music, WZBC airs news, public affairs, and sports programming (including broadcasts of live games). Shows include the WZBC-produced "Truth and Justice Radio" and the syndicated "Democracy Now."

I was happy to hear that WZBC only utilizes live DJs and doesn't currently play any automated programming. Unfortunately that also means that when there is no live DJ (typically starting between 1am to 3am and ending between 6am and 7am), they shut down the station's transmitter. Gavin told me that there are "ambitious DJs" who will take on graveyard shifts and that quite often the station is on the air all night on weekends.

The station is run entirely by students, but has a mix of community and student DJs, with a 50/50 split between the two during the school year. I was told that most of the "non-commercial potential" shows are hosted by non-students, which is a nice indication of the experimental-leaning tendencies of their community DJs. According to Gavin, it's many of the community DJs who "push us musically."

And, in fact, I was told that the non-commercial potential format is actually a bit challenging for some students with its range of sounds (Gavin described some of the sounds as "drone, ambient, pigeon calls, etc."), so WZBC works with them to help pass along the station tradition of more experimental music. To that end, all students joining the station begin with an internship in order to get oriented to station rules and the music philosophy.

Community DJs are expected to come in with prior music knowledge and are able to submit proposals for air shifts in the Fall and Spring semesters. One long-time community DJ at WZBC is Victor Robert Venckus, host of "Expanding Awareness" for 35 years. I remember catching his Saturday morning show on a drive in Boston a few years ago and being mesmerized by the mix of music, spiritualism, and spoken word.

DJs at WZBC have a lot of freedom on their shows and don't have any requirements in terms of percentage of new music that they have to play. There is a "new music" bin in the studio containing material added in the past 3 months, but it's just there to encourage DJs to play some recent material. Additionally, genre rules aren't hard and fast, so DJs often play music outside of the stated genre of their program. For example, "rock" DJs are free to play music from the "non-commercial potential" library.

Some of the "No Commercial Potential" (NCP) Vinyl at WZBC

WZBC continues to add vinyl to their large music library. DJs are able to play vinyl, tapes, and CDs over the air. Apparently it wasn't until recently that WZBC got rid of their 8-track player. Despite the vast library, I was told that most younger DJs at WZBC prefer to play music off of CDs, iPods or a computer and are less likely to explore the vinyl stacks.

Although WZBC is focused on physical music and don't really add anything digitally (they will occasionally burn a digital release to a CD to add it to the station), Gavin and Megan admitted that space is a big issue at WZBC. They are running out of space for music and are researching ways to start digitizing their library. Music does get removed from the library when artists get too big, but I was told that those decisions about what should be removed are often controversial amongst DJs

WZBC Program Director Gavin Frome

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Spinning Indie

Monday, May 16, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 27 - KEAR and Family Radio in Oakland, CA

Friday, May 13, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 26 - KSFS at San Francisco State University

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Save KUSF Live Remote Broadcast Brings Together 15 College and Community Radio Stations from across the United States

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

KUSF Taken off the Air Without Warning and Replaced with Classical Station

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Radio Station Field Trip 25 - WZBC at Boston College

Spinning Indie Radio Station Profiles

Jennifer Waits/Spinning Indie Press

About Jennifer Waits

Recent Comments

My Radio Survivor Articles

My Other Blogs

Search This Blog

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Labels

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Content of this Blog May Not Be Reproduced Without Permission