Thursday, September 01, 2005

Katrina

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Is my credit card information secure?My donation was denied. Why?Can I cancel a donation?View All FAQsAmerican Red Cross Emergency Vehicles respond to disasters nationwide.Did you know... The American Red Cross provides assistance to people in need... free of charge... every single day!Donate by Phone Donate by Mail Donate Spare Change Donate In-Kind Products Donate Airline Miles Donate Stock Latest NewsPrivacy Policy Dear Rogi,Thank you for your generous gift to the American Red Cross 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund. This fund makes it possible for the Red Cross to help nationwide Hurricane disaster victims of 2005 with critical needs such as shelter, food, clothing, counseling and other assistance. It's because of the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund that our response can be immediate regardless of its location or the community’s ability to financially support our efforts. Your generous support means the most to the families who rely on Red Cross to help them through some of the most difficult times of their lives. Please continue to visit us at http://www.redcross.org/ to see how we’re using your 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund donation to make a difference, and for the most current disaster updates and stories about the people being helped.Together, we can save a life.American Red Cross*************************************************To verify that your company participates in a matching gift program, please contact your human resource representative.Please print or save this message for your personal records.Donation InformationDonation Form:Hurricane 2005 Relief and other Related EventsThis organization's tax ID is:53-0196605This letter serves as the tax receipt for your gift. The American Red Cross is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization as described in section 501(c) (3) of the IRS Code for 1984, as amended. Our tax identification number is 53-0196605. Adequate records will be maintained and made available to the IRS upon request. In accordance with IRS regulations, no goods or services were provided to the donor by the American Red Cross as part of this contribution.Your gift may be recognized in future Red Cross publications. If you prefer your gift to remain anonymous, or have questions about your gift’s designation, or would like to learn more about the services that the Red Cross is committed to providing, please call 1-800-797-8022.The American Red Cross is not a government agency and all Red Cross disaster assistance is free thanks to the generosity of people like you. The value of your donation is increased by the fact that the ratio of volunteer Red Cross workers to paid staff is almost 36 to one.Contributions to the American Red Cross, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.© Copyright The American Red Cross. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

auction

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One can find info on this "auction" at http://kunm.org

I was horrified and wrote this:

Seems Goodman has also agreed to "Preferred" seating, with reservations, to her lecture for KUNM volunteers. Well, a dinner conversation is different than a lecture. We don't get to interact; we just get to listen, closer than the rest of the thundering herd.

It's not ok to exclude the majority.

E-mail message

(Gather�ideas�from�KUNM�volunteers)
From: (Rogi�Riverstone)
Date: Tue, Apr 5, 2005, 4:26am
To: KUNMIDEAS-L
Subject: Re: [KUNMIDEAS-L] KUNM Benefit Online Auction with Amy Goodman

"The minimum bid for the KUNM auction is $125.00. If you make a generous contribution of $1,000 we will automatically reserve a seat at the table for you, with no other bid required."

These "twenty, lucky winners" aren't lucky, at all; they're privileged. Period.

Volunteers come to KUNM and toil tirelessly to keep COMMUNITY radio on the air. Those contributions are, in my opinion, taken for granted by staff, whose salaries come, in large part, from the hard work of volunteers.

Not ONE seat at this table is reserved for volunteers. MANY of us are low income, and could NEVER afford a seat at that table.

"Whatsoever you do to the least of these, that you do also unto me." -- Jesus

Thank you, one, more time, for the respect and dignity we volunteers deserve as the backbone of the station: a station which, more and more, reflects the privileged and not the COMMUNITY from which it comes.

That Amy Goodman agreed to this speaks volumes as well.

This is community radio; it is not a country club. Nor is it a college fraternity.

Thank you,
Rogi Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com

Exclusive

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This is an email to the KUNM ideas list, re: a "benefit" for the station.


E-mail message

(Gather�ideas�from�KUNM�volunteers)
From: (Rogi�Riverstone)
Date: Thu, Apr 7, 2005, 8:45am
To: KUNMIDEAS-L
Subject: Re: [KUNMIDEAS-L] KUNM Benefit Online Auction with Amy Goodman

Words like "preferred" (as in seating) and "exclusive" (as in undisclosed location of events for the wealthy, to keep us riff raff out) are, in my opinion, the antithesis of community. They divide. They don't unite.

Statistically, I've heard and read, it is the people more likely to use the services of nonprofits and charities who donate the most to them. Therefore, lower working class people donate the most.

My experience in community fund raising teaches me that it's a lot easier to get a thousand people to donate twenty dollars each than to get twenty to donate a thousand each.

And this is for a radio station; we have the ability to promote events very handily to most of the state.

We have great talent in Albuquerque: artists, environmentalists, musicians, chefs, lecturers, poets..... Many of them would donate their time and knowledge to fundraisers. Nature walks on water conservation and native plants. Poetry slams. Crafts festivals. Dinner-for-two raffles. Open mic picnics. KUNM Aid concerts. Bed and breakfast weekends......

It would be a fabulous way for listeners to meet each other, to build a sense of community. We could get to know each other. I saw many people who were very excited to hear from each other at the media conference at TVI. A lot of us didn't know others felt as we did. It was very healing.

I worry about the influence the wealthy can have over programming decisions at KUNM. Who lives in Santa Fe? Shirley McLaine? Who, in "Out On A Limb," (the LAST time I'll ever read a book by her), said she no longer felt a sense of duty to social justice, because, in her warped interpretation of "karma," has decided people CHOOSE to live in suffering, to work out some hidden, cosmic agenda!

Or maybe it'll be Ali McGraw, who, on a KNME special about celebrities and trees, whined that she must stoop under the branches of a pinon that grows in her yard, because she refuses to allow her (working class) gardener to trim it. No mention was made of how much fun it must be for the gardner to conk his/her head on the branch and get stabbed in the eye, trying to rake under the tree.

Maybe Santa Fe only wants to hear new age happy talk? Maybe they only want white, talking heads? Maybe they want puff about their investments?

Scott Company underwrites programming on PBS. They produce Round Up. Monsanto pushes GMOs that are Round Up resistant in the 3rd world. Their subsidiary, Abbot Pharmacies, produces AIDS drugs. The deal is: if 3d world govts. refuse to allow GMO crops, Abbot won't provide low-cost AIDS meds. Scary.

And ADM underwrites PBS news: supermarket to the world. Scary.

The agenda of the wealthy worries me. Remember in Paper Moon. Dad says he won't do something because, "I have scruples. You know what scruples are?" Daughter replies, "No, I don't know what scruples are. But if you got 'em, you sure as hell stole 'em from someone else!" Privilege comes, almost always, at the expense of others.

So, promoting an event in which most people can't participate and aren't even allowed to know its venue sends a message to KUNM listeners which I find extremely problematic.

Amy Goodman, who sneered at the Bush campaign's multi-thousand-dollar a plate dinners, in which GW smiled to the wealthy and said, "YOU are my constituents," scoffed at Bush rallies, in which the Department of Homeland inSecurity BARRED any but the faithful from attending, is participating in what, to me, is just as exclusive and just as dismissive of the struggles of low income people. Having all the verses to "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" memorized is not radicalism.

Exploiting the urgent needs of the poor to self-promote (which is what it's starting to look to me like she has done to sell books) is evil, whether republicans do it or communists do it.

I'm hurt. I'm offended. If I can't trust community radio to represent my needs, whom shall I trust? Fundamentalists? Fascists? Corporations?

Thank you,
Rogi Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com

Friday, February 18, 2005

ClearChannel: Liberal?

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Clear Channel adopts liberal programming on growing number of stations
Date: Friday, February 18 @ 10:11:00 EST
Topic: Media
From The Associated Press

DETROIT -- The day before President Bush's inauguration, listeners tuning in to the Detroit sports station WXDX-AM were suddenly greeted by the sound of braying donkeys. By the time Bush was taking the oath of office, the radio station had new call letters and a full schedule of liberal talk shows.
WXDX-AM -- now known as WDTW-AM -- is one of 22 stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. that have switched to a liberal talk format in the last year. This month, KTLK-AM in Los Angeles became the latest Clear Channel station to adopt the format.

Those who track broadcasting trends say there's money to be made in liberal talk radio. Todd Webster, a consultant for Washington-based liberal talk show producer Democracy Radio, said Clear Channel is expected to introduce the left-leaning format on 20 more stations by the end of the year.

"There is a tremendous appetite out there for progressive talk," he said.

Webster said that even as recently a year ago, no one thought Texas-based Clear Channel, a media conglomerate that owns 1,200 stations -- including Twin Falls radio stations KEZJ-FM, KLIX-AM and KLIX-FM -- would ever become partners with upstart liberal talkers.
"There has been a tectonic shift in the industry from all of the big brains and the head honchos saying, 'Nobody wants to listen to a bunch of whiny liberals on the radio,"' Webster said.

The partnership might seem surprising because of Texas-based Clear Channel's conservative reputation. Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays and his wife gave $65,000 to the Republican National Committee in the last election cycle, and two-thirds of the company's federal donations went to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

And last summer, a Berkeley, Calif.-based group sued Clear Channel, which also owns an outdoor advertising business, after it refused to run an anti-war billboard in Times Square during the Republican National Convention.

The company also isn't seen as socially progressive. In December, Clear Channel stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, St.
Louis and Detroit awarded breast enhancement surgeries to 13 women as part of the "Breast Christmas Ever" contest; at the time, the company said it had no oversight of the contests and didn't sponsor them. Clear Channel also pulled talk show host Howard Stern off the air because of concerns over mounting indecency fines.
The company says politics aren't involved in its decision to put liberal talk shows on the air.

"I'm trying to identify needs in our various communities, whether it's German industrial music or punk rock or progressive talk," said Gabe Hobbs, vice president of news and talk programming for Clear Channel. "That happens to be good business."

Hobbs said Clear Channel began programming offerings from Air America Radio, which produces comedian Al Franken's three-hour talk show, and Democracy Radio, which produces a popular show by liberal talker Ed Schultz, because listeners were demanding an alternative to conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh during the 2004 election.

"The election dramatically raised everyone's interest in hearing political talk," Hobbs said. "I think polarization is one of the facets of any talk radio format, regardless of orientation."

Hobbs said liberal radio is actually a return to the days before Limbaugh, when talk radio was dominated by left-leaning hosts like Alan Colmes, who is now seen on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes."

Local station managers have the final say over the switch in programming. At WDTW, General Manager Dave Pugh was eager to give Detroiters a format they couldn't find anywhere else.

"We are a blue state and a blue region and it just made sense," Pugh said.

From Associated Press:
http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/index.asp?StoryID=7501

This article comes from The Smirking Chimp
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com

The URL for this story is:
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com/article.php?sid=19969

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Queer & Homeless

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PRESS RELEASE The 8th Annual Homelessness Marathon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Rogi Riverstone
Albuquerque: 505-842-8175
Toll Free: 1-877-718-0691
(rriverstone@yahoo.com)

8th ANNUAL HOMELESSNESS MARATHON Broadcasting in Albuquerque

Local producers will carry a live, hour discussion, to be aired at 10pm local time, on the impact of homelessness on Gay, Lesbian, Transexual, Transgendered, Pansexual and Bisexual people in Albuquerque. Stay tuned to KUNMfm 89.9 and http://kunm.org for further details.

The 8th Annual Homelessness Marathon is a nationally-produced show. Participating Pacifica, NPR and independent, community and public radio stations will both broadcast and air it. The Marathon will be broadcast from 9pm, EST on Monday, February 14th to 11am, EST on Tuesday, February 14, 2005. The broadcast will be carried on KUNMfm 89.9.

The Homelessness Marathon has been called, "the most significant media event focusing on homelessness and poverty" by Donald Whitehead, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. And it is unlike any other broadcast in the world.
The Marathon is almost entirely live, covers taboo territory and features the voices of people who are rarely heard on the air. Perhaps for this reason it has grown rapidly. The first Marathon, in 1998, was on one tiny station in central New York. The 7th Marathon, in 2004, was on 80 stations coast-to-coast, with another 30 stations across Canada carrying a parallel Canadian Homelessness Marathon.

As always, the 8th Marathon's broadcast booth will be set up outside, to dramatize the plight of people with nowhere to go in the cold, and calls will be taken from around the country. But there will be no on-air solicitations. The Marathon is a consciousness raising, not a fundraising broadcast.
The 8th Marathon will be distributed via the NPR and Pacifica satellites and will be streamed on the web. More information, including broadcast schedules and audio clips from past broadcasts may be found at the Marathon's web site: http://kunm.org and http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Women's International News Gathering

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Dear WINGS contributing producers:

I am opening a new email for WINGS producers to write to me. It is wingsproducers@yahoo.com. Using this email will keep your messages from bouncing when the wings@wings.org email box is full, and will make it easier for me to keep track of our correspondence.

WINGS is also going to try something different this year, which is a discussion list for WINGS producers.
Soon you will get an invitation from yahoo asking you to join the wingsproducers@yahoogroups.com listserve. � Please respond to it if you are willing to receive email from this list.

The 40 producers I am inviting work in 16 countries. Almost all of you have had a piece appear in WINGS in the past two years. A few have pieces that are pending or have proposed ideas that I feel confident you can complete.

The reason I am creating this listserve, is that I feel it is not good for just me to be the only person at WINGS who is in touch with all of you. Using this list, you can help set priorities, share ideas and leads, and pressure me to do my job of coordinating better. My hope is that we will develop a sense of community around being active in WINGS.

Only members will be able to send messages to this list, or receive messages from it. If you feel there are too many messages, I will change it to be "moderated," so that messages for the whole list only come through me.

If you have a yahoo.com email account, you will also be able to see things posted to the web for this group. There should be enough room for pictures and audio. Right now, we have 250 megs of space, which is equivalent to about 10 half-hours of mp3 sound. � It is possible to purchase more space.

If you do not have a yahoo.com email account, you can receive emails but not see what is posted on the web. I believe you can register to get a free yahoo email account, at www.yahoo.com. Let me know if you change your email.

You can write to just me at wingsproducers@yahoo.com. The email for the whole list will be wingsproducers@yahoogroups.com.

Hoping to see you together online.

Frieda
Frieda Werden, Producer,
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service,
Box 95090, Kingsgate
Vancouver BC V5T 4T8
Canada

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

where's da broadcast?

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KNME, our local PBS station, shares our transmission tower. Well, at three days' notice, they've informed us they'll be knocking us off air from midnight to 5am all week.

Our volunteer coordinator is madly riding her bike all over town, locating late night broadcasters who don't have phone and email, informing them they don't need to come in.

At 6:38 this morning, our poor station STILL didn't have a signal!

Our Chief Engineer posted the following in our email list:

Dear Boss,

I like 1.6 million other New Mexicans will be late to work today due to the failure of radio station KUNM to wake me up. �Please note that KUNM was off the air until
6:33 AM and therefore I am running an hour and a half late.

Please don't blame KUNM as they have no control over the situation and are at the mercy of KNME-TV who held the FM station at bay until after 6:30.

Should you have any questions concerning my lateness, please contact Ted Garcia or James Gale, KNME-TV, (505) 277-2121.

I'd like to avoid being tardy again, but you should expect this from me as KUNM will be off the air again over the next three nights.

Sincerely,

Joe Employee

Monday, January 10, 2005

Homelessness Marathon

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Homeless?

Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Transexual, Bisexual, Pansexual?

We want to hear from you!

Join us for a live discussion.

February 14, 2005


(hour still to be determined)


KUNMfm Albuquerque (http://kunm.org) will host a one-hour broadcast during the Homelessness Marathon. Our local focus will be about the issues facing the Queer community who are homeless.

Participants have the options of remaining anonymous. We can even digitally alter your voice, so you can't be recognized.

We want to hear your experiences, not cause further victimization. Your voice matters. Your experience is important. This is an opportunity to tell a national audience what life is like as a homeless person who is maginalized as a result of your sexuality, gender and orientation.





(505) 842-8175 Albuquerque or 1-877-718-0691

rriverstone@yahoo.com

The URL for this flier is

http://rriverstone.com/homelessmarathon/flier.html

Please feel free to print, distribute and post this flier anywhere!