rriverstone radio

Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0

2012-01-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Uploaded by TEDtalksDirector on Jan 17, 2012

http://www.ted.com What aspects of religion should atheists (respectfully) adopt? Alain de Botton suggests a "religion for atheists" -- call it Atheism 2.0 -- that incorporates religious forms and traditions to satisfy our human need for connection, ritual and transcendence.

TV tricks of the trade -- Quotes and cutaways

2011-09-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

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Obama Urges Those in Irene's Path to Prepare

2011-08-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

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"Bright" future for radio?

2011-04-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

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Well, they don't make it easy, now, do they? Google doesn't acknowledge audio even exists! I can't post audio directly on my blogspot blogs, for instance. It's not like we're Luddites, living in a world of 21st century denial, or something. Look at all the creative ways we've found to get our audio out there. Even Facebook doesn't cooperate with their video options. If you ain't got no purdy, moovin pitchers, you cain't put it on our website! WHO is backward?

Radio's future is a lot brighter than it looks

...The problem is not that radio is hobbled with a
doomed technology but that it’s failed to take advantage of the
opportunities these new digital technologies have made available. . . .
There’s Hulu, countless video services, such as Netflix, where viewers
can catch reruns of favorite TV shows and on-demand services from most
cable providers with rich catalogs of content. . . .

Where is radio by comparison? Way behind. Broadcast companies have
watched as others, like Pandora, have risen to dominate the emerging
audio venues and they are equally far behind in mobile.

Telling AIR I'm leaving

2011-04-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

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2 emails to Association of Independents in Radio:

Hi,

I just wanted to say good bye and thanks for the support and information I've received here.

I'm homeless. I've been actively seeking affordable housing, but there is none in New Mexico ("Weekly Alibi" newspaper). I look every week.

I live without sewage, running water, heat or air conditioning, in a travel trailer, in the drive way of a house I rented last year that is uninhabitable. I'm 100 miles, round trip, from provisions. I have no car; there's no public transportation. So I have to hitch hike.

I tried to save up for my AIR membership this year. But, if I find a place, I'll need every dime I have to hire someone to haul my trailer there. So I cannot take the risk of renewing my membership this year.

I leaned a lot here. Thanks.

Rogi
====================================
I've thought, all day, about what to say. I don't have AIR's permission to say this, but they discounted my membership 2 years in a row. My circumstances have been so bad, the past 2 years, that my life is, literally, in danger. But, on $700/month, with NO support, it's taking longer than two years to recover; I'm barely surviving.

Last year, I was robbed and stranded, hundreds of miles from my animals and possessions, with only $200 and only 2 weeks to find housing. Many of my animals were killed and I lost most of what I owned, including 30 years' worth of air checks of programs I've done, all over the country, as a volunteer at community radio stations.

I called an AIR member, the only phone number I had memorized, and begged for a ride. I was given the ride, but told not to speak, at all. Once I found this hideous place to "live," I sent that person an email, asking to be treated with respect, explaining that my life was in danger and that I had nobody else to ask for help. The reply was insulting; my note was called a "screed," as though it were just a rant of no significance. I had forgotten my place, I realize now. I was ordered never to call or email that person again, was immediately fired as that production company's transcriber and told never to ask for a professional or personal reference from that person again.

That person was my radio production mentor, access to markets and liaison to NPR. That person is in a position of significant influence with AIR, PRX and NPR.

I had already been branded as a loose cannon and made unwelcome at our state's largest public radio station. My productions were sabotaged by management and I was called "crazy." I was even hit and screamed at by paid staff there. I have lost all privileges as a volunteer there and any staff or volunteers I contact let me know I am not welcome to do so. The person of whom I spoke, above, is closely associated with that station.

I cannot produce radio a mile from the BNSF railroad tracks, in a travel trailer, on a windy prairie; it's too noisy. And I can't drive anywhere to record interviews. I'm trapped and abandoned.

If I had a professional career, credit cards and alphabet soup after my name, that station would fall all over itself to get me to participate. I'm very talented, have a good heart, and a great researcher, good writer and, despite my broken teeth and lisp, a good voice for radio.

But I am branded as a loser, a pariah, an embarrassment, a threat to the status quo of a public media cartel with cozy relationships to very influential politicians, entertainers, business leaders and wealthy donors. My humble documentaries about brain injuries, Native American veterans with Post Traumatic Stress, homeless Queer kids, sustainablity, subsistence living with grace and dignity, poverty, homelessness, disability, etc. are not welcome here. And neither am I.

I know I'm not welcome and never was. I bent over backward to reassure them, to try to build their confidence in me. I worked five times harder than others around me to show that a person in poverty, with brain injuries and post traumatic stress, can make at least as valuable a contribution to society as anybody. It was a wasted effort. They were determined to silence and shun me.

So, I'm not welcome. But I'm too destitute to move, to start over. I'm trapped and I'm alone. And all that talk about nonviolent conflict resolution, tolerance, acceptance and treating people with dignity makes great radio, but I'm not seeing it displayed to me.

Meantime, my neighbors throw beer bottles and rocks at me, threaten to burn me out and kill my animals and call me the most vile and hateful things. They even think I worship the devil, because I have goats.

So, enjoy your career, dude. The least you could have done was give me closing credits for helping, transcribing when I had no access to internet and had to endure the humiliations of the Fort Sumner librarian, as I transferred your transcripts from my thumb drive to their computer, to email them to you. I'm a hard worker. I did my job as well as I could under circumstances that would have killed a weaker person.

I will be back. And you will be ashamed at the way you treated me when my life was so endangered, I lost control of my bowels.

Sincerely,

Rogi.

How to handle a troll @ KGLP's FaceBook

2011-03-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

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So, as admin. for the facebook page, I post a lot of news stories, including this one:
Our local troll got into it and I wonder: is everything I post just an opportunity for him to get attention, raise a stink and treat people like crap?

KGLP 91.7 fm Radio via TheRoot.com

Juan Williams: Afraid of Black Men? Not Exactly

So, as admin. for the facebook page, I post a lot of news stories, including this one:
Our local troll got into it and I wonder: is everything I post just an opportunity for him to get attention, raise a stink and treat people like crap?

I replied:

KGLP 91.7 fm Radio Please document your assertions with facts. Rumors by white people about people of color can be construed as racist. There is a lot of precedent. Surely, you can understand how any perceived attempts at race baiting might be unwelcome.

So, he called me "fishy." I'm wondering if he's paranoid. He has also called me a liar and is implying the station has a "far left wing Marxist-Leninist agenda." I took off my admin hat and said,

Rogi Equality Riverstone One might perceive genocide and slavery on this continent as "the most disgusting forms of racism." One wonders who, in their right mind, could possibly perceive otherwise. Painting millions of people with such an hysterical and misrepresentation brush causes one to suspect a neurotic terror of people of color and so-called "race traitors." In other words, this troll post looks very cracker, from here.

That's when he called me "fishy," for speaking of his race. So, I replied as KGLP:

KGLP 91.7 fm Radio

What is "fishy" is that we live in a world where it is in the best interests of powerful institutions to attempt to erase the fact that we do not live in a society where all people are treated equally. This "post-racism" notion pretends the... playing field is equal and that anybody who declares otherwise is simply a whiner, a malcontent or an opportunist.

Opportunism exists; that is fact. That it is endemic to the civil rights work still required on this planet, that every member of very group you mention, struggling for true equality in society, is guilty of "the most disgusting form of racism" is a generalization and is unfair, unjustified, and unwarranted. It is also very offensive to people of color whose not-too-distant ancestors lived under slavery, Jim Crowe, boarding schools, "Indian" wars and the like; those are arguably "the most disgusting forms of racism." Pretending not to know that does not change history or its consequences on subsequent generations, nor does it disappear the reality of real racism, right now, in Gallup, New Mexico and the USA.

When a white person (who still, statistically, in this so-called "post-racism" world) makes broad, sweeping accusations such as yours, it is fair to suspect racism.

One might suggest you "like" the groups with whom you have these disagreements and take your arguments there. We imagine they would be more willing and able to address your concerns than can a humble, rural, community radio station's FaceBook page.

We are trying to run a radio station for the entire community and we want its members to be respected, welcome and comfortable.

Inflammatory accusations, calling people liars, accusing them of motives not their own, putting words into people's mouths that they did not say, attributing false motives to people one does not even know, posting sweeping generalizations and overtly trolling posts do not lend themselves to civil conversation, community building, honest examination of issues or education.

You have a strong history on this FaceBook page, which is less than a month old, of all of the above, but no proven history of participation in, support of nor contribution to KGLP. Your opinions of KGLP, or anything else, for that matter, are taken into consideration in this light, alone. When and if that were to change, your input might have more value to our efforts.

We want the community to be involved in KGLP. Everyone who wishes to contribute something constructive to the station is more than welcome, no matter their world view, so long as we all agree to approach each other with civility. It is unfair for one individual to demand so much attention from such a small and precious resource without contributing into it, as well.

This is a FaceBook page for a radio station. We try to provide news, announcements, resources, information and skills sharing. Nobody is paid to administer this page; it is done out of genuine concern for community. We have no time for destructive, divisive, resentful, derogatory behaviors, comments or attacks.

what I'm up to at KGLP

2011-03-23T22:49:00.001-07:00

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The part of KY Bettina's in is truly luscious. I'm afraid she was there a smidge too early to see the real festival nature puts on: red buds, dog wood, lilacs, wild violets. But she beat the smothering humidity of summer, so that's a good thing It's very like the rain forests I was in in Chiapas, except shorter. The world is a constantly rotting and sprouting soup.

Rachel is loving that station. She's scared about money. The NPR funding bill is hurting all of us in community and public radio. Whether the Senate passes, and the President signs it into law is not the point. It hurts. On a very, VERY profound level, it hurts us personally. I'm a member of AIR: Association of Independents in Radio. A lot of my chums on the email list are NPR reporters. We barely even speak of it anymore. We did, during that Juan Williams kerfuffle, but with that pathetic O'Keefe tape, that Glenn Beck's website even says is shoddy, manipulatively edited and without merit, followed by the "emergency" bill to cut funding to NPR, something very resigned and sad has happened to the independents. And we don't talk about it anymore. I want to hug them all and thank them all. You know, independent producers make next to nothing. Even NPR reporters have to work SO HARD to complete a story by NPR's very demanding standards that it really doesn't pay much.

So, Rachel's making sure the equipment is right, putting out her first station newsletter...which quotes MY letter to Independent producers here: http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/2011/03/open-letter-to-fellow-independent-radio.html and getting ready for the Spring Fund Drive.

KGLP now has a FaceBook page, thanks to me. And I keep it fat with news stories, not just from the usual suspects like NPR or PRI or even Pacifica and FSRN, but Queer, Latino, Native, poverty, homeless, spoken word...... radio from my independent friends. It's my hope that soon, everybody in Gallup will come to that FaceBook page, for everything from weather and the local Drag Queen Ball to passive solar and innovations in programs for the homeless. The mayor's wife joined yesterday and "liked' my post on Elizabeth Taylor (who died today), where I quoted her:

”There
is no gay agenda, it’s a human agenda,...Why shouldn’t gay people be
able to live as open and freely as everybody else? What it comes down
to, ultimately, is love. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad
stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate
...and from ignorance.”-Elizabeth Taylor

In fact, I got more "likes" for that one quote than for anything else I've posted yet. The FaceBook page is only a week old, not well promoted yet, but has 20 "fans," including "Abmer Yokum," a rabid Tea Parody shill (whom I suspect is paid to rouse rabble), who flounced in one day, calling KGLP and NPR "Marxists," because KGLP airs Amy Goodman (whom I, personally, can't abide. It's old school chicken little reporting: the sky is falling, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it but be pissed off and paranoid. I stopped listening, except when people post snips on particular topics, years ago). Well, Yokum stirred up a little discussion in which I, as the Administrator, calmly and politely told him NPR has nothing to do with Goodman. He screamed and ranted a bit more. A Navajo dude who's on the KGLP board, flat out called him a fascist and a Taliban. I went back in as Rogi and just asked him what the hell was WRONG with him, he'd been told four times NPR and Goodman are not associated. Rachel got a kick out of that one. When I'm KGLP, I'm very formal. Even when I'm Rogi, ANYWHERE on facebook, I try very hard not to be rude, use inappropriate language or let people know what horses' asses I secretly think they are! hee hee.

A little trans person, Allison Wonderland, sent me a private message. She wants to do Youth Radio and volunteered in her high school, so I told Rachel. I think it would be SO COOL if Rachel had a little foster daughter! I feel Allison's joining the FaceBook page is my greatest achievement of all. It's very hard to be Queer in Gallup, especially if you're Navajo, even with Renaldo and Gallup Pride and all.

So, I got this idea. FaceBook is ok for little announcements, but it doesn't facilitate larger articles, of a page or more. Facebook limits original postings to small paragraphs, although there is no limit to comments. But what if we want to post something longer, with mixed media, like audio, video or photos? So, I up and started the KGLPfm BLOG go look. I'm SOOO proud of it. And there's a picture of Rachel, too. http://kglp.blogspot.com/

As administrators on FaceBook, Rachel and I both receive emails when someone posts to the page. So she's very impressed to see so many notices I've posted there. And she loves the blog and the photos. So, she emailed me today and said, If I'll keep up the internet work, she'll pay me $50/month and take it off my house trailer payments! So, starting in April, I pay $50/month for my house! She's not sure she can afford it, and she's awful worried about money, but she's going to try.

And, I liked the way the KGLP blog looked so much, I'm redesigning all my blogs, too. And then, I'm beefing up my website, adding audio, etc. It will have neighborhoods: writing, audio, arts, goofy stuff, etc., instead of a mishmash all over the front page. It'll still be a circus, but better organized.

I need to start selling some damn radio and I need to take my own stuff seriously.

open letter to fellow independent radio producers

2011-03-17T14:08:00.003-07:00

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House votes to end funding for NPR

open letter to fellow independent radio producers

Since the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have free speech, I no longer recognize my nation. For their convenience, those newly elected through an AstroTurf campaign, claiming to be a “Party,” but not held accountable by campaign finance laws and other restrictions on a registered political party are rolling back unions, discrediting educators, destroying independent media and gutting community and public broadcasting, one of our nation's best treasures.

I'm a volunteer administrator for the KGLPfm Gallup, NM FaceBook page. The spokesperson for the local Tea Party ("Dog Patch"), "Abner Yokum" (AKA Joe Schaller) is railing that NPR and, hence, KGLP, have a "far left wing Marxist-Leninist agenda," because KGLP airs DemocracyNOW! As Admin, I pointed out the inaccuracies of his information, which he dutifully ignored.

I think NPR, PBS, CPB need to grow a pair. It's not enough to laugh about "death panels for Elmo," although I loved that on this list and made a graphic of it, which you can see on my FaceBook page). It's not enough to speak in high-toned rhetoric, either. People need practical examples of how public and community broadcasting are benefiting their communities. AND people in those communities need to feel welcome, no matter their class, race, academic credentials, gender or orientation.

Personally, I've been made to feel like a suspect, second class and unwelcome at some stations (one of which served giant shrimp, Italian bottled water and pate at a fund raising lunch at the station) that have cosy associations with lcoal politicians, business leaders and celebrities. There's not a lot of tolerance for those perceived as "outsiders." The feeling seems to be, "we're doing just fine as we are and don't need anybody rocking the boat."

Well, the boat is capsizing and we should be coming out, swinging -- not just to protect jobs and funding sources -- to champion free speech, education, news, culture, etc. AND the voices of the under-represented.

This campaign to destroy community and public broadcasting is carefully orchestrated. It has been in planning, like a military operation, for years. That is obvious to me. It is a full on assault. It is anti-intellectual, opposed to free information and education. Its assaults are coming to all communities, on a lot of issues, not just community and public broadcasting. It is a "shock and awe" campaign and, so far, it is working efficiently to create chaos and strip citizens of much more than just Big Bird or Click and Clack.

My example of "Abner" points the way. Mr. Yokum/Schuller is also a staunch advocate for stripping the University of New Mexico of all state and federal funding, aka "his tax dollars," that are being "wasted."

Quoting "Abner:"
UNM Gallup? Private schools are far more student oriented than our ivory towers of academic corruption. What a waste of taxpayers money.

We are only seeing the beginnings of what this military-style operation has in mind for shifting our nation's agenda toward something I find terrifying. We cannot sit back, cajole, beg or brush this off.

We have the advantage over the Abners; we have facts. These need to be presented to the citizens clearly and firmly, without condescension, without arrogance.

NPR, PBS and CBP should not be perceived as an elitist country club, pandering to the well-heeled, smirking at the working poor who are frustrated and angry, daily reporting stock prices while not reporting on how social welfare programs that impact the poor operate, what the term, "corporate welfare" means, etc. We need to involve our communities, not alienate them, provide them with practical information, train them in reporting, editing, interviewing, producing and fund raising, bring them into our stations and conversations.

We need to approach the American people with humility, honesty and respect, inviting them to the largest open house party on the face of the Earth, so they begin to appreciate more fully what a national treasure community and public broadcasting are.

I believe it is the Suffis who have a saying that a really good way to get loyal students is for the teacher to feed them. That's a good part of it. But the other part is that we need to be the students. We need to hear people's real, boots-on-the-ground concerns and priorities and address them, clearly, honestly.

I'm glad a soccer mom in a Prius stops in her driveway to listen to the end of a story on NPR. I really, truly am.

I will know community and public radio have succeeded when a football mom sits in her driveway, outside her peeling single-wide, in her dented, old pick up to listen, too.
On May 10, 1994, I planted corn in a field in southern Indiana. I had just learned it was a Ku Klux Klan town. I was very discouraged, but could not afford to leave. I lived in a pole barn. Just inside the big, barn doors, I had my stereo speakers turned toward the field where I worked. I was listening to National Public Radio as they began a tape-delayed broadcast of the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa: an event I had never imagined I would ever witness. I cried in joy and silently hoed weeds. Suddenly, I heard the sounds of jet air craft. The NPR announcer described the military aircraft passing overhead, billowing streamers of colored smoke, in the colors of both the Apartheid and African National Congress flags. At that precise moment, I looked at shadows of leaves on the ground around me. The tiny holes, through which light passed through and shone on the ground, were crescent shaped. And I remembered we were scheduled for a partial eclipse that day: something else I'd learned on NPR.
None of my neighbors witnessed any of these miracles. They were inside, watching game shows or driving, listening to “talk” radio, totally oblivious to how wonderful that day was. But I knew. And I felt badly that they didn't. I think we can help our neighbors see the marvelous in the world with community and public media.

Please help me make this happen. And thank you for all you've done. Community and public broadcasting have made my life, as a very low income person, much richer and has allowed me to participate, not only in a national conversation, but around the globe, as well. I'm very grateful that my universe is so much larger, and still expanding, as a result of community and public broadcasting than it would have been without it.

Rogi

To The Homelessness Marathon on facebook

2011-02-14T18:33:00.001-07:00

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Note: I need to put that broadcast up on prx.

Here's what I wrote to the Homeless Marathon:

I produced for you one year on KUNM. I was treated like crap and my program was sabotaged by the chief engineer, the production manager and the program director, who each did everything HE could to make the broadcast unnecessarily stressful, inconvenient and terrifying. It was my first ever live broadcast, and it was national! Examples include, but are not limited to: seating me in the studio facing AWAY from the window to the control room and waiting until only a few days before the broadcast to FINALLY borrow that thing you needed for us to connect to you in real time. I think it's called a telos?

I think it's because I called my hour, "Kicked Out Queers," and invited homeless LGBTQI people to come to the station. I also got them some "swag:" sheets, toiletries, food, shirts . . . donated by local businesses, for which I was chastised.

The station had "no budget" from their underwriters to buy a few pizzas and soda pop for my guests, who would be out in the middle of a cold, February night, to volunteer for the broadcast. I was told, "we won't be able to give them any food to take home," to which I replied, "They HAVE no homes!" The program director told the volunteer coordinator he no longer wanted to work with me because I am "crazy," a slur against people with behavioral health challenges; he knows I have brain injuries.

The program director had put out on our email list that we could broadcast for you and asked for volunteers. NOBODY ELSE wanted to do it. I jumped at it!

I'm very proud of that broadcast. Your people told me it was the first time anybody did an hour on that subject. And we ended it with that song that STILL makes me cry, "Rainbow Connection."

how does one get funding?

2011-01-02T07:48:00.002-07:00

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Reply to an email at AIR:
David: Yeesh. I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now

You're cool. It's New Year's weekend. No sweat.

David:
Is it just me or does all the pub radio grant $ always seem to be
"granted" to the same small group of people/organizations? Seriously,
isn't it always the same people announcing, receiving... Getting the
money? Money is "sticky" in most industries. Radio too?

It's just that people who've discovered a source in the past reapply to it and new people, getting started, don't even know it exists. AIR helps with this, as they have pages on the website about grants and grant writing, which I hope to exploit, as soon as I'm living some place safe.

The other thing is connections. I'm outside the loop about whom to pester for funding and I have such a small, and old, body of work, few people even know I exist. Again, I plan to exploit the resources of PRX and Transom in this regard, once I am safe.

David: How does one
get serious funding for a start up? I mean, without entering some
sort of contest.

Well, I hope to submit some things to a few festivals, contests, etc., although the concept of competition is not healthy to me, so I'll really need to let go of any expectations around it.

I don't know how to get funding, so I'm no helpful. I went to New Mexico Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. I asked for a modest fund with which to buy better equipment, software and computer. I think the total was under $1,500: well within their means. I also broached the subject of returning to university, to complete a Bachelors degree, as no degree doesn't look very good on a resume, despite my vast life experience.

I was turned down. The reasons are prejudicial: I have brain injuries and I'm fifty-five years old. In other words, in their infinite ignorance, DVR has decided to hedge its bets; only those with very high statistical odds of "success" will receive funding, never mind that I have many years' experience and am already trained in my field! I am old, crazy and want to work in an industry they've never heard of, and assume means I want to be a disc jockey. They refused to even listen to samples of my work! This, of course, is discrimination based on age and on "disability," but how am I supposed to fight a federally-funded, state bureaucracy? I can't.

My tactic is as follows: I am simply collecting sound, documenting my stories in blogs & videos. When I am safe, I will produce pieces without any hope of getting paid. These will broadcast on the local, community radio station. I will post them on PRX. I will submit audio/video blog posts to Transom, if they might be interested.

And I will not shut up, give up, slink off or take "no" for a final answer.

I am good. Self taught, but good. My voice is different, not in an amateur, sloppy or irresponsible way; I'm different because my life experiences and how I got here are very unique. That makes what I have to share MORE, not less, valid, useful, interesting and entertaining to listeners.

Look, actors in Los Angeles work as waiters and bus persons, right? They don't expect to be loved. They expect rejection, even as they're lugging their wardrobe change onto a bus for the next audition.

It's like applying for those weird, semi-secret scholarships from places like Clairol, to go to school. It's boring, tedious and, more often than not, useless, but if I don't bait the hook, I'll definitely go hungry, right?

Hey, P. I.?

2011-01-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

STAY THE FARK OUT OF MY BLOGS!

Who's not talking to NPR?

2010-10-27T07:37:00.001-07:00

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I wrote the following to a frustrated radio reporter. Potential interview subjects won't talk to her, because of the rhetoric circulating these days about NPR. i wrote the following:
I'm going to respond to you as a listener who discusses all this stuff with other listeners on FaceBook and elsewhere.

A lot of us (as you can hear from the boos and laughter at the last CA governor candidate's debate on the issue of negative ads) are pretty fed up with the rabid, cynical mob mentality of contemporary political tactics. Most of us don't voluntarily listen to or watch the mouth foamers out there and are frustrated by it when someone forwards us an audio or video file. We are wondering how we are supposed to address truly critical issues in an atmosphere where school board members call for "fags" to die and campaign volunteers stomp opposition folk on the head.

We come to public & community media battered and bruised by all this, because we know we'll actually learn what the hell is going on and who's doing something about it, without a sensationalistic knife fight or freak show. This is particularly true of local decision making. ClearChannel, satellite radio, PBS (in most markets who can't afford to produce local programming), Faux Noise and tantrum (not talk) radio don't give a damn whether the candidates for President of the Navajo nation are on the take, know what a Gay person is or want to sell our birthrights to coal and uranium miners.

I know it's not your job as a reporter, but I think we need to open the doors, be as transparent as we can and have town halls and other conversations, on the local level, about public and community broadcasting, what this resource is, what its mission is, what journalistic ethics are and how we intend to provide our listeners with solid information they can actually use. Maybe public & community radio stations need to hold open houses. It would increase the subscriber base, inform the community and bridge the chasm between rabid rhetoric and what's actually happening behind the microphone.

As for your morale, you need to understand that we depend on you. We don't tell you that often enough, true. But that might actually be a compliment. We have come to trust you so much, we just expect you to be there for us. We might not even know your name or what you look like, but when we turn on the radio, you're there, and we know we can trust you because your standards are high, your curiosity is intelligent, you expect to present verifiable facts and you're not going to -- intentionally, at least -- mislead us.

If someone gets huffy and refuses to speak to you, could an editor or station manager speak with that source, explain the circumstances and try to support your need to get the information from that source?

This is not, none of it, going to be easy. It's like we can't slide down into the Dark Ages fast enough. But public and community media are probably the only brake we really have and we listeners really do support your hard work, even if we don't say it often enough. So, thank you.

All Programs Considered

NPR staff told to stay away from Colbert, Stewart rallies if not covering them

2010-10-13T12:48:00.001-07:00

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http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/ethics/

Memos to NPR staffers

From: [NPR chief executive] Vivian Schiller
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 8:58 AM
To: AllStaff
Subject: FW: NPR Journalists and political activity

To ALL NPR staff,

Please see Ellen Weiss' note to her staff below (and in particular, the
reference to the upcoming Jon Stewart rally). In addition to News, the
other divisions that are required to abide by the NPR News Ethics policy
are digital, programming/AIR, legal and communications.

However,
no matter where you work at NPR you should be very mindful that you
represent the organization and its news coverage in the eyes of your
friends, neighbors and others. So please think twice about the message
you may be sending about our objectivity before you attend a rally or
post a bumper sticker or yard sign. We are all NPR.

If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to your supervisor.

Vivian

-------------------

From: [Senior vice president for news] Ellen Weiss
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 8:46 AM
To: News-All Staff
Subject: NPR Journalists and political activity

As we head into the final weeks of this political season, I thought it
would be valuable to send out a reminder of what NPR News Ethics
Policies and Social Media Guidelines are regarding political activity.
These are the relevant excerpts from the full documents that can be found online .

Please review carefully and if you have any questions please talk to your direct supervisor.

Many thanks,
Ellen

Political activity:

* NPR journalists may not run for office, endorse candidates or
otherwise engage in politics. Since contributions to candidates are part
of the public record, NPR journalists may not contribute to political
campaigns, as doing so would call into question a journalist’s
impartiality.

* NPR journalists may not participate in marches
and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers, nor should they
sign petitions or otherwise lend their name to such causes, or
contribute money to them. This restriction applies to the upcoming John
Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies.

* You must not advocate for
political or other polarizing issues online. This extends to joining
online groups or using social media in any form (including your Facebook
page or a personal blog) to express personal views on a political or
other controversial issue that you could not write for the air or post
on NPR.org.

* NPR journalists may not serve on government boards or commissions.

This is a COMEDY Central event, similar to a concert. When management orders staff not to attend, they are setting weird precedent. Should we be prohibited from watching Leno, because his monologue contains political jokes? Shall we be prohibited from reading opinion sections of media outlets? If we forward a cartoon to a friend, are we violating ethics codes?

As for the proscription in their ethics policies against "friending" folks on FaceBook: if I want news from the Tea Parody (oops, slipped in an opinion), the GOP, Communists against sandals, Green Party, etc., I pretty much HAVE to "friend" or "like" those pages. I didn't choose the vocabulary of this; FaceBook did. Mother Jones is not my friend and I don't like Conservatives for Bashing Baby Seals as Sport, but I want to read their news.

If I eat free range turkeys, drink fair trade coffee, drive an electric vehicle, am I exhibiting "liberal bias?" And WHY are we letting the hysterical babble thumpers make us so NERVOUS?!?! They're all watching Faux Noise, anyway!

NPR pimpin' studio space

2010-10-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

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Share |

This policy is, of course, going to affect the ppl who can least afford it: self-trained, low income, learning disabled, etc. If I had to pay that much, I couldn't produce, for sure. And NPR is very specific on their quality requirements; they might not accept something home made.

I think it might have been smart to write a grant to defray expenses here.

I understand there's a recession and all? But pimpin' out the studios?! Ugh. I can see my local radio station doing that and it would devastate local programming.

'course, I don't expect my puny, gimpy, trashy voice to have any influence, and it's not like I live near an NPR studio; I don't even live near a gas station. But I've been to DC and I know it's heavily low income and folks of color, so I'm thinking this makes NPR even more exclusive.

I just wanted to fill everybody in on some new practices regarding use of NPR studios to mix pieces.

First of all, the use of NPR studios to mix pieces is not an issue for most independents. Many independents are among the pace-setters in using digital technology to produce audio stories, and we’ve learned a great deal from you about the complexities -- and ease -- of using audio editing software and sending audio files over the internet. So, this will not apply to most of you, but I wanted to update everybody.

NPR is going to start charging independents to use NPR studios to track and personally mix pieces. The charge will be a minimum possible fee to cover our costs: $40/hour for a one microphone room, $60/hour for a two microphone room, and $60/hour for piece production in a studio with an engineer. The new fees go into effect on Monday, October 11.

Here’s the reason: NPR is taking advantage of the opportunities of digital technology. Work that used to be done in a studio with an engineer, such as recording interviews and mixing pieces, is now done in self-operated production rooms. We have created a workflow for our engineers and for our studios that no longer accommodates the equivalent of analog-era production. To do so, disrupts the efficient use of our studios and often requires scheduling an engineer on overtime.

NPR reporters and correspondents have moved to digital software to produce and submit pieces or elements. The same expectation is now being applied to independents. NPR has producers available to mix pieces for any reporter or correspondent – staff, station or indie -- who wants or needs to send elements and leave the mixing to us. As I say, most independents already send finished pieces or elements for us to mix, so this changes nothing for the great majority of you. But if anybody wants to continue to use a studio to track or to mix a piece, the charges will apply. (Yes, there may be exceptions when breaking news calls for last-minute tracking in an NPR studio. But, exceptions will be rare and, as a rule, the fees will apply.)

We do not expect everybody to snap her or his fingers and switch practices without help. As always, NPR will provide guidance and training for anybody filing pieces. NPR’s Charlie Mayer (cmayer@npr.org) is available to discuss software options and equipment needed to properly track on computers and to send elements over the internet. Charlie can also put you in touch with an NPR sound engineer who can critique the technical aspects of your work. Jeff Towne also does terrific, comprehensive, readable reviews in the Tools column on transom.org, and AIR’s Radio College [

http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=255

] is a rich repository of tutorials and articles. Paul Ingles, NPR’s liaison with the independent community, is also always available for consultation and support. He can be reached at. If Paul can’t answer a question, he’ll be glad to refer anybody to the right person at NPR.

Thanks very much and please let me know if you’ve got any questions.

Stu

Stu Seidel

Deputy Managing Editor, NPR News

Jane Pittman idea

2010-04-18T07:35:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Kate,

I have an idea.

There's a lot of information on the internet re: this tv movie, including audio interviews with cast members, etc.

One of the things that truly drives me crazy about historically significant movies is that nobody makes the background story of the making of the movie accessible to viewers.

"Pittman" was a risky and very important project. I don't think a lot of people these days really know much about the challenges of making it.

Look, I'm a movie fan. And, until I watched it again this morning (I haven't seen it since it aired on TV when I was a kid), I didn't know it was Odetta who played "Big Laura!"

So, my idea is very simple. I look at the International Movie Database (IMDb) listing http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071175/ and the Wikipedia reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Miss_Jane_Pittman and I start chasing links.

I can profile individual actors, screenwriter, director, costumes, makeup, etc.

I can discuss Civil Rights through the context of the film itself, including contemporary news stories on the night the film first aired.

Kate, I could easily create a one hour documentary on this, using, primarily, online audio and local field interviews with regular folk, African American & cinematography studies people, etc. right here in New Mexico.

Who knows? I may even score a few interviews via telephone or Skype (which is better quality audio) to include in the piece.

My primary focus is on The Making Of. That narrows it to a manageable place. By introducing a new generation to this film, I can invite them to learn more on their own.

Also, I must say I have a hidden agenda in all this. I think it's WAY more than time for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to give Ms. Tyson a Lifetime Achievement Award How long did it take them to give Ms. Berry the first Best Actress award to a Black woman?

Ms. Tyson has had an honorable career. It wasn't easy, but I'm sure it was quite satisfying, "Oscar" or not. She doesn't, probably, need the acknowledgment, personally, to feel fulfilled as an actor. But there are two, maybe three, generations of young folk who really don't understand what a transformational symbol it is for an old, Black woman to take a drink of water. I think we need to remember.

What do you think?

Any suggestions on narrowing focus, prioritizing, etc. further? I don't want this diluted. I don't want it too scattered and distracting. I want this tight, profound, respectful and useful.
http://rogiriverstone.com

Too Small to Fail!

Digging my way back up and out.

2010-03-11T13:45:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

While the weather's bad, I've been studying radio production, listening to independent producers' programs to analyze what works in documentary production, reading product reviews of various hard and software.

I just settled down to watch this video of a lecture by Jay Allison, one of my heroes, at Univ. of Mich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30F_4-V_G8c

[quote]Brought to you by U-M School of Art & Design.
Thursday, March 09, 2006

Jay Allison is an independent broadcast journalist whose work airs on NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition, PRI's This American Life, ABC News' Nightline, and other national programs. He is now heard weekly on NPR as the curator and co-producer of This I Believe.

In partnership with the Knight Wallace Fellows Program.

http://art-design.umich.edu/stamps/[/quote]

. . . when I had this overwhelming sense of guilt for not trying hard enough to produce radio. Jay's still being introduced by an elf like woman I don't know, but the crowd likes, so I pause the vid to come here, because I've had a revelation about that.

It's cold. I have no vehicle. It's difficult to get out of this rural neighborhood in which I live. Even if I interviewed people here, most aren't here during the day and I don't know them.

I need to be using this cold weather time to study production skills, listen to productions, gestate ideas and research them.

When it warms up, I can take my gasoline powered bike out and drive around. I can take the train to Albuquerque and even Santa Fe.

Right now, I need to be planning my productions. I can write scripts and outlines. I can research. I can make phone calls and send email. Then, when the weather's warm, all I need to do is gather sound to edit at home.

There is nothing about which I need feel guilty.

http://thisibelieve.org/

try "please" and "thank you

2009-07-11T04:19:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Rogi Riverstone

1 message

Rogi Riverstone

Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 5:16 AM

To: Tristan Clum, Richard Towne

When the stream finally decides to load, we're ordered to pledge now. The message is too long and not friendly, but demanding.

This is particularly annoying when the stream breaks up repeatedly and we hear it over and over.

Other stations and media manage to thank their subscribers, too -- not KUNM, which sounds bossy.

Alternative: "Your pledge at kunm.org keeps steaming on the Internet. Thanks for subscribing!"

I realize, after three years of close proximity, this posturing of arrogance is a prerequisite among the subculture of KUNM staff. But the rest of us, out here in the real world, just find it unattractive and laughably snotty. I mention this because my neighbors in Fort Sumner have heard it, have curled their lips at it, have laughed at it and said, "That's the best example of why I'd never live in Albuqueruqe I've ever heard!" I simply agree with them, remind them I have no plans to move back, and we listen to the program together.

Nobody out here, including me, plans to subscribe. We need groceries, water, electricity and gas a lot more. And, although there is NO entertainment in Fort Sumner beyond cable TV, 2 bars and 2 scratchy radio stations over the air, we don't perceive KUNM as having any need for us. We get bossed around enough in every day life by arrogant jerks who think they're better than we are because they shower before, instead of after, work. We only put up with it when we HAVE to.

Maybe they eat that stuff with a spoon in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but bad manners won't cut it in the real world; common courtesy says a lot about motives and upbringing in the real world.

Rogi Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com

A Horse Named Buckwheat

2009-05-23T18:30:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

http://www.aarp.org/aarp/broadcast/aarp_radio/prime_time_postscript_pastshows/articles/buckwheat.html

I detest the copy they wrote.

Download MP3 for your iPod or other player.

MP3: http://real.aarp.org/content/radio/2009/pt_postscripts/pts05122009.mp3

Five Farms

2009-05-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I've been meaning to mention that the Five Farms series you've seen referred to here is (pardon the pun) coming to fruition. It's a series of five one-hour shows being distributed by PRI and has started airing in some markets with many more to follow in the coming weeks.

You can listen to the hours (or download them for that next long drive), and see great photography from the farms, at our updated website:

www.fivefarms.org

One of the photographers, by the way, is an AIRster: the multitalented Alix Blair.

A shout-out to the visionary AIRster Wes Horner, who dreamed up this ambitious project and created the network of collaborators to make it possible.

jb

--
John Biewen
Audio Program Director
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University

Wikipedia vs. research

2009-05-23T07:32:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Given PRX, AIR, and other various unnamed platforms, how can we make
our stories better?

I've been thinking about this since this thread started. The comments on the lack of fact checking have truly chilled me.

30 years ago, back when I could afford school, I remember going to the UCLA research library to look up literary criticism on a play by Ianesco. Don't remember which one.

I remember the creepy, skin-tingling feeling of being in a library, surrounded not just by students (albiet wealthier: they were attending UCLA while I smuggled myself in from a community college in the Valley), but by actual literary critics, professors, theater reviewers, writers of plays, maybe even some journalists. I was in the Belly of the Beast, surrounded by Professions, seeking wisdom.It was humbling.

I don't feel that way when I rummage around in Google in my jammies with a cigarette and a cup of coffee with a cat on my lap

The work I'm doing is still earnest, still sincere, still research and still hard work. That hasn't changed.

The MEDIUM has changed. Basically, I'm looking at a TV screen in my living room, not a vast and serpentine labyrinth of the Knowledge of the Ages, spread out before me in bewildering solemnitude.

I'm alone; there are no colleagues, peers, experts, professionals or pompous gas bags around me, except me.

So, I'm sitting at a veritable TV, alone, casual as can be, in MY space, doing MY thing.

There's something about having to open a library door, carry a library card, take hand-written notes about a library book that made me feel part of the Search for Knowledge.

Now, I just feel like an anonymous cog in a gigantic database in the Collection of Information.

Are there any other old ferts here who grasp what I'm saying, who remember #2 lead pencils and little, spiral notebooks in shirt pockets, who kept boxes of 3x5 index cards?

I walked among tomes by philosophers and queens.

Now, I'm spammed by Viagra and Christian moms, earning $5,000 a month.

I think the main paradigm shift is from KNOWLEDGE and, perhaps, WISDOM to information and data.

How can we make it better? It's as old as Moses and as new as blogging: resist the machine that would have us be cogs. We HAVE to be humans.

We have to teach each other, remind each other, encourage each other toward passionate care of the craft, of ethics, personal responsibility and KNOWLEDGE.

I think they don't teach that so much anymore in universities. We have to do it for ourselves and our colleagues.

Once it's forgotten, the special interests and corporate lobbyists win -- if they haven't already.

Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal. We're on the other side of the looking glass, Alice

Musical Migrants

2009-05-23T07:25:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

BBC Radio 4 is running a very compelling first-person series called
Musical Migrants this week, with contributions in large part from
Rachel Hopkin - who is, I believe, an AIR member.

Stories about people who moved to another country because of music.
You can listen again to most of the series at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kct09

, the first part will still be
up for listening through Sunday night.

Countries covered are Jamaica, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Georgia.

Cheers,

Thomas

Thomas Marzahl

Facebook audio player widget

2009-05-23T07:21:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Facebook audio player widget http://www.reverbnation.com/

"

I just tried this and it works. The catch is that you have to register as a "band" with ReverbNation (free) and the tab on your Facebook profile says "MY BAND." You can upload "songs" under 8MB. I did upload one of my pieces, but it doesn't look like that upload appears as an event in the newsfeed (if that's important to you) and you can't "tag" it like you can a video. However, you can collect Fans, who can sign up for your Mailing List.

Another workaround (if you have video editing software) is to render your audio file as a QT movie, using black video. My 5-min 65 MB file uploaded to FB fine. I also rendered the video as an MPEG4, using the mobile device preset H263, resulting in a .3gp format of only 5 MB. It sounded fine, but I didn't try uploading that format to FB.

Facebook audio player widget

2009-05-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

TAL

2009-05-23T07:19:00.001-07:00

A new round of themes-in-progress are detailed below and we're coming
to you for story pitches, thoughts and suggestions for our upcoming
shows.

How this process works: When you send in a story idea to me, I'll
respond with a generic email letting you know that I received your
pitch and that I've read it. I promise. I read every pitch. (I
won't send you the auto response until I've read your pitch so expect
a day or two delay sometimes to get that email.) If we think the
pitch is right for us, or if we need more information from you, I'll
send you another email asking for more info on the story or letting
you know we'd like to commission the story. But if you don't hear back
from us within two weeks, beyond the initial auto-reply email, it
means the story just isn't right for us or for the needs of that
particular show. The idea of doing it this way is just to get through
pitches and get back to all of you contributors a little more quickly.

Like always, these themes are shows we're actively pursuing right now
but we're always on the lookout for new stories or ideas. So if
you've got a story that you think would work especially well for us
but doesn't fit a specific theme listed below, please send it along
anyway.

Thanks so much for your pitches. All of us here are very appreciative.

Best,
Julie

*****************************

ORIGIN STORY: This show is coming up in about a month so if you've got
an idea, you might want to get in touch pretty soon. Basically, we're
looking for stories about beginnings - or, rather, stories about the
story of the beginning. Creation myth stories would work well for
this show. But also true stories, maybe, about a little known or
surprising or unexpected beginning. We're working on one story about
a man who is trying to set the record straight about his career
achievements, including but not limited to, writing the "It Takes a
Licking and Keeps on Ticking" slogan, inventing thumb-wrestling and
popularizing the eating of shrimp in the New York Metropolitan region.
We've also got a story about corporate creation myths. A story we'd
love would be where the origin story itself is almost more important
than the actual thing it spawned. If just the tale of
how-we-got-started is too good to let the thing fail. Historical
stories would also be great for this show. As you can see, we're
pretty open to anything.

THE FALL GUY: We're looking for stories about people who take the
brunt of the abuse, usually undeserved. We're working on one story
about federal indictments against mortgage fraudsters and examining
who gets charged and, tellingly, who doesn't. Another story is a much
smaller one where a lowest-on-the-totem-pole office worker tries to
hire someone even lower. Stories that would be great for this show,
too, would be stories of patsies or dupes, taking the blame for
someone else's crime or actions. Maybe a story about trying to
manufacture a scapegoat? Using a person to make an example of
something?

DETROIT: We're putting together a show about the fall-and-fall of the
American auto industry. We're trying to answer bigger and more
complicated questions: Who can we blame? And smaller, more concrete
questions: what happens in Central Michigan during a summer furlough?
Other questions: are American cars any good? Is the demise of the
auto industry such a bad thing? How many people really are being
affected? If you've got more questions for us or thoughts on this
show about under-reported or unexpected stories out of Detroit in the
last ten years, please let us know.

TO PROVE A POINT: After a fight with his father ends with the father
yelling "and I bought that car!" a grown son decides to take his wife
and kids on a 10 hour trek walking back to their home. The father is
waiting for them when they finally get home and the father and son
immediately start up their fight all over again. We're looking for
more stories about going to extremes to prove a point. Stories about
making illogical decisions or cutting off a nose to spite a face,
would work well for this show. Even better, though, would be a story
about actually making a really brilliant move fueled entirely out of
revenge or malice or pride. We'd also love a story that weighs the
pros and cons of a decision, where the point to prove is actually
really important and does justify a seemingly extreme decision or
action.

FRENEMIES: Our own version of US WEEKLY. We are a little worried
about the 2007-ness of this theme but, on the other hand, we can't
help ourselves. We love frenemy stories because a frenemy is the
worst kind of nemesis to have - are they entirely bad and full of
hate? Or is there a part of them that really still is our friend?
We're working on one story about the FBI's friendly overtures to
certain Muslim groups in the last few years and the, of course,
ulterior motives both sides had in the arrangement. Personal stories
would work really well for this show - stories about friends or family
members who seem to give with one hand and backstab with the other. A
story from an admitted frenemy would be nice here, too. Maybe a
corporate frenemy story?

THE FINE PRINT: For this show, we'd like stories that more literally
take place in the fine print - in a legal contract or user agreement
or credit card application. But we're also open to stories that live
in a sort of metaphorical "fine print" - where there was, maybe, an
implicit agreement or understanding that wasn't really apparent to
either one or both parties. The literal stories can be about legal
nightmares or binding arbitration or fighting with a corporate giant.
For other stories, though, maybe they could be about sort of willfully
overlooking details or circumstances that later turn out to be
deal-breakers?

**************
Julie Snyder
Senior Producer
TAL
153 West 27th Street Suite 1104
New York NY 10001
(212) 624-5012

places to pitch

2009-05-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

NPR NEWS

VP for News Ellen Weiss says that despite the belt-tightening at NPR, there has been no edict for programs to cut back on acquisitions from independents. All shows have been challenged to cut costs where they can and, she says, some may be putting a higher bar on buying pieces but that overall work is still being commissioned. Editors are still interested in pitches. Contact the regional editors listed on the AIR pitch page - or me (paul@paulingles.com) first if you'd like an opinion on your pitch. Of course, NPR's Newscast unit is always interested in wraps. 1-800-433-1277.

PRI's THE WORLD

William Troop at The World says they are indeed in a budget crunch and while they are still wanting to receive pitches, they are only taking the ones they feel best match their international focus and style. This will remain the case at least until the end of their fiscal year through June. He's predicting that the '09-'10 budget will have a somewhat downsized acquisitions budget and that the bar for commissions will remain high. william.troop@bbc.co.uk

APM's MARKETPLACE

John Haas at APM's Marketplace says they are still taking features from independents. Features are considered at a weekly meeting on Fridays (soon to move to Thursdays). MP features are shorter than many shows (2-4 minutes depending on which show it winds up). He says local economic/business/personal finance stories with national implications are considered. Stories pegged to recent news or specific dates have the best chance. They also regularly review more timely material - quick turnarounds pegged to the day's news - but mostly they work with folks they are familiar with on those stories. John says pitch to him if you like: jhaas@americanpublicmedia.org

THE WORLD VISION REPORT

Leda Hartman at The World Vision Report says like anywhere else, their program is trying to do more with less but they are definitely still accepting story pitches. The program has had to cut back on paying as much on travel as in the past so it's best to be clear about that on a story pitch up front. She says, rather than being able to help pay for overseas travel, the program is trying to work with reporters already stationed where the stories are. To that end, they are looking for experienced stringers in Asia - Pakistan/India/Afghanistan. ledahart@mindspring.com

THE SPLENDID TABLE

APM's The Splendid Table, says Jen Russell, is commissioning very few pieces these days. What they do accept is more likely to be a finished piece as they are under-resourced to edit a piece. So they will check out your 3 - 5 minute produced piece if you want to send it to her for consideration. As usual, have a good idea if it will be a good match for the show. jenrussell@americanpublicmedia.org

LIVING ON EARTH

LOE's Eileen Bolinsky says that at the moment, LOE is not acquistioning outside of what they have already assigned. She expects the doors to open up again soon.

ONLY A GAME

OAG's Gary Waleik says they are still accepting pitches from freelancers and paying at the same rate they have in the past. Their softer longer features are booked a month or two in advance. More time-sensitive shorter features considered too. Check out their website first to see if they've recently covered the topic you're pitching. gwaleik@bu.edu

WORD OF MOUTH

New Hampshire Public Radio's Word of Mouth has a small budget for freelance work, according to producer Avishay Artsy, "as long as it’s sound-rich and fits the mission of our show, which is covering new ideas and trends. " They pay $60/minute for features produced for their show, $100 for pieces re-broadcast and between $75 - $150 for producing "interview scripts" (not sure what that means). Contact Avishay AArtsy@nhpr.org or Jen Nathan jnathan@nhpr.org.

THE ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Lester Graham at the ER says they are taking pitches, paying independents, operating full steam ahead. Looking for new freelancers in the Southeast, Southwest and West Coast. He says visit their website first (www.environmentreport.org), go to "About Us" and "Submission Guidelines" first. llgraham@umich.edu

WBUR'S HERE AND NOW

Kathleen McKenna says they have scaled back on acquisitions recently and right now, Here and Now is not commissioning new material by independents. She's hoping things will change before long but isn't able to say when.

STUDIO 360

David Krasnow says in their current fiscal year (which ends June 30) they have not cut back on commissioning an average of 2 to 3 independently produced featured in each new show they prepare. He's not sure what the new budgets will show in terms of acquisitions. DKrasnow@wnyc.org

SOUNDPRINT

Jared Weissbrot at Soundprint (the half hour documentary series) says it's largely "business-as-usual at Soundprint. Anyone with grant money looking for a national outlet is always welcome. Anyone with a proposal that totally wows us, we'll do our best to fund/help fund. Anyone with a finished product that we like, we'll offer up an acquisition contract based on factors we've discussed before." (see my interview with Jared for more - http://www.paulingles.com/Soundprint-JaredWeissbrot.html)

"Boot Cokie!" Some questions

2009-05-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Perfectly Obvious Cokie
Behold how little substance NPR's Cokie Roberts can pack into four minutes of airtime.

http://www.slate.com/id/2216890/

"his criticisms could be leveled at most any talking head on most any show."

OK, here are my questions:

if this could, indeed, be leveled as a criticism against any talking head on any show, what does that say about mental laziness among talking heads? Are they discussing issues of import to voters and constituents, or merely using the time slot to float trial balloons from their political affiliations and lobbying influences?

Also, if we're speaking of the influence of commercial media's talking head shows on public and community radio, why would we allow them to define the terms of what we say and how we speak?

Might we not consider speaking from a more authentic and more informed voice, rather than theirs? Ought we allow the corrupting influences on the talking heads influence us, as well?

Using Ms. Roberts as an example, Ms. Roberts speaks, I'm thinking, in a rather generic manner. She seems, very consciously, trying not to alienate anybody.

When she's done, or as her introduction, it is mentioned that she has a new book on women's history.

Might it not be better if Ms. Roberts spoke from her authority on women's history, when discussing beltway politics, rather than aping commercial talking heads?

Surely, we've progressed far enough past the stereotype of feminism as man hating lavender herrings that Ms. Roberts' views on the historical impact of beltway politics on women and, therefore, families and, therefore, culture in general could be insightful and provocative for NPR listeners.Those who don't learn from our history are doomed to repeat it. If we have not progressed that far, ought we not continue to push that envelope?

Perhaps Ms. Roberts' experiences of coming to a place of influence in media have been so informed by the sexism even she - as a member of an affluent, political family -- has experienced that it has has made her voice more timid, assimilated and conceded than it would have been, had it not been formed under the hostility of sexism in her profession that she experienced some thirty years ago. Sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, a microphone is just a microphone.

We need to remember that Ms. Roberts, like me, comes from an historical time when women weren't allowed access to credit, had little control over the conditions of their children's lives, were defined and named by the men who controlled their lives, couldn't prosecute a husband for rape, were medicated for "depression" by addictive substances like Valium and had hell to pay if they entertained the notion of pursuing a "man's" profession.

I see, in my own life, how these have changed my own voice. Perhaps they changed Ms. Roberts, as well. She is a "success" in an unhealthy culture; I am not. Her voice is more conciliatory; mine is not.

While I'm not thrilled that she "phones it in," literally, from home, I do not begrudge her the fact; telecommuting radio in the modern, digital age is saving my life.

Have you looked at your local news tv stations? Are the women intelligent, well-educated in investigative reporting, good journalists? Are they Barbie dolls, flashing a bit of cleavage and bling, batting their eyes as they banter with the dudes who do the more substantive (though also scant) reportage? Are any of them fat or older or living with visible disabilities? Do they look like models or do they look like they work for a living? Do they write the news or make editorial decisions? Or are they just reading from a teleprompter?

I'm going to suggest, for you younger producers here who never saw it, that you watch a movie, "Broadcast News," in which Holly Hunter speaks at a convention to an hostile, apathetic audience of young, local news people. It is a brilliant soliloquy, beautifully written. This was in the 1980s. At one point, she consults her notes and mutters a topic she's deciding not to address, as she sees the audience literally getting up and walking out. The phrase she reads is,"The historical influence of "Entertainment Tonight."

That phrase drilled a permanent hole in my brain. It shocked and horrified me then, and it still does, today.

Newspapers are folding. NPR has cut its news staff. Few local outlets even have real news departments anymore. Fewer even attempt commentary on policy making, local, national or international.

We are living in a media age of bread and circuses. We are not an informed democracy; we are over-informed consumers. The lobbyists and special interests control the dialogue on policy in this, the most influential nation on Earth.

Ought we not, as community and public radio producers, resist this trend?

Siskel & Ebert - Broadcast News (1987)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nd56EAV4Tg

On 5/5/09, L H wrote:

his criticisms could be leveled at most any talking head on most any show. you have to wonder what else is going on here.

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

list serv continues

2009-05-05T07:20:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I am the canary in the coal mine. Because of my behavioral health disabilities, I am more acutely aware of things like exclusive language; it causes me real pain. People misinterpret that as my being "overly sensitive" or "taking it too personally." I see it this way: if it causes me discomfort, it is probably uncomfortable to others, whether they are conscious of it or can articulate it or not.

I only posted this to let people see an example of how much harder it is for people like me to participate at KUNM. We have fewer privileges and are SO overburdened by the disabilities of a society that refuses to respect our dignity; we have to fight so hard for basic survival. When we try to participate in the larger community, we are not welcome; we feel rejected, ignored, snubbed, attacked and stigmatized. Is it any wonder so few of us make the attempt or stay around very long, if we do?

I posted to the group because J called me out to the group. Yes, I've asked J not to email me privately. I don't feel comfortable getting emails from people at KUNM if others can't see them. People have done some nasty things to me when others at KUNM couldn't see them.

Yesterday, for example, I received the following, from someone I do not know, without explanation:

fuck cowboys and the whore they rode in on
do not get me busted
xxxxp

I asked who s/he was and why this was sent to me. The person responded s/he was drunk and had an "intense" day. Like that's my fault?

I don't think those of you who work inside offices during the day, who only show up at the station to do your own shows and who never go to KUNM at all have any idea how brutal and cold my experience has been.

Nobody -- not management, not the Ideas List, not this committee -- has addressed that. I have been, at best, ignored. This suggests that I am appropriately uncomfortable in a dysfunctional atmosphere and culture. I see absolutely no commitment to heal any of that and, because I have the gall to point it out, I am branded.

How is the atmosphere at KUNM any better than the redneck Bible thumpers out here who call me a Communist, a "N" lover and a bag lady?

Every time I make a contribution to KUNM, it is received rudely.

Wouldn't anybody at the station like it to be a happier and healthier place -- for EVERY person who works there?

professional arrogance

2009-05-04T22:33:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Actually, something is really bothering me about the word, "Professional." The word is inappropriate for the Ideas List. It is exclusive, intimidating and, frankly, smacks of elitist snobbery. It also sounds like only staff and academics are welcome to participate at KUNM; that's too true, already, and needs to change. It implies that being an amateur is synonymous with being a slob or incompetent. An amateur is someone who pursues a study for the love of it, as an avocation, adding the extra burden over vocation, family and other personal commitments. Many amateurs contribute invaluably to the station, and that needs to be appreciated and honored, not devalued.

I would substitute a word like, "adept," "proficient," "competent," "skillful" or "efficient" over "professional."

We are not, most of us -- including some staff, board members and work studies -- "professionals."

That word needs to go.

From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional

A 'true' professional must be proficient in all criteria for the field of work they are practising professionally. Criteria include following:
Academic qualifications - a doctoral or law degree - i.e., university college/institute

This is ridiculous at KUNM. Most work is done by volunteers. Academic background is not a prerequisite -- YET! -- to volunteer at KUNM, nor should it EVER be! Just because someone can't afford to buy an academic ticket is no reason not to broadcast, work or volunteer at KUNM.

Expert and specialised knowledge in field which one is practising professionally

Again, this is nonsense at KUNM. It's a UNIVERSITY, where people are expected to LEARN things.

Excellent manual/practical and literary skills in relation to profession

Are people who want to LEARN skills no longer welcome?

High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, presentations, consultancy, primary/other research, administrative, marketing or other work endeavours

Everyone is trying to produce high quality work. We need to be tolerant of the diversity of KUNM participants and give them the benefit of the doubt.

A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or partnership/associate/colleague, etc.)

I'd be more comfortable if the last was better defined. Who determines "high" quality?

========================================================

J

It has taken me over one hour to address your reply. I truly detest it when people assume things about me, even when I've written very clearly what I think. Your reaction to my arguments against the word, "professional" truly dismayed, demoralized, frightened, hurt and angered me. I wasn't expecting that. I didn't deserve this. What follows is my attempt to address you as respectfully as I can, but I must say, I'm in tears.

your aversion to the word professional

I have no "aversion" to the word; it's simply inappropriate language to describe KUNM and the subscribers to the list serv, and I stated why I thought so. I took the time to research definitions of the word, "professional." I took the time to consult a thesaurus for other options. How we speak informs how we think. How we think informs how we act. How we act impacts others.

It is interesting, because the word does not have such negative connotations to me.

It doesn't for me, either, and I don't see why you would assume that. There IS a culture of snobbery at KUNM; several volunteers, work studies and staff have discussed it with me over the years. I'm not crazy, J; it's real. There's no need to solidify that atmosphere any worse than it already is. It needs to be HEALED.

Your professionalism is not the point of the list serv; it functions as a communications device for ALL at the station. The majority of us are not professionals; we are amateurs. We need not to be disappeared. In fact, we need to be respected and honored as amateurs.

I'd like other moderator opinions - *IF* this were a list posting, I personally would welcome a personal suggestion from Rogi directly to me rather than putting up what might be a flame-starter posted to the list where everyone would jump in.

Yet, you posted this chastisement of me to the group, not to me personally. Thank Heavens!

If the list is discussing policies, as we were, why would I only direct my comments to you, rather than the group? What you had to say is not more important than what I have to say to the group. Why would we not want the group to discuss things that are important to us? Are you aware that I live about 200 miles from the station and that these emails are my ONLY opportunity to discuss these issues?

I wasn't flaming; I was discussing. I thought you asked for feedback or input about what had been written. I have no idea who first used the word, "professional;" I assumed it came from that Usenet manifesto, not Ellen or you. I thought KUNM was big on "speaking truth to power." When I do it, I hear how inappropriate I am. It's not I who seems to be flaming.

I cannot imagine this would yield a productive dialog.

All I did was look up the word, "professional," and state my arguments against the definition! Of COURSE, it's productive dialogue! It's an attempt at opening communications on how we define ourselves. It is ALWAYS productive to learn from others, even amateurs like me!

consuming the list with word wars.

I'm not being adversarial; there is no war coming from me. I'm participating. I don't see why it deserves to be turned into a personal attack against me. Is this the big fear: if we HEAR each other, we might actually have to respect each other? Please don't brand me as a crack pot, simply because my experience is different than yours.

Rogi, Is it true, even though the specific word is offensive to you,

J, I don't know your life experience, but where I come from, women speak for themselves. I never said it was "offensive" to me. I said it was not appropriate. Please don't put words in my mouth. I don't need editing.

that the character of what I tried to present was at least understandable?

Obviously: I even edited it down, as you'd suggested you wanted! I thought that's why you emailed it to us: so we could suggest revisions. I did that, but the word, "professional" didn't sit right with me, so I wrote back.

Do you assume I'm intellectually challenged, have poor language comprehension or am mentally unstable? Would that be because there is so much discrimination and prejudice against economically exploited people and people with behavioral health disabilities? You do realize that I'm very intelligent, articulate and thoughtful, don't you? Do you realize writing is my profession?

This is not the first email I've received from you that seems to indicate resentment and condescension. It would appear that I'm being put in my place and this is an attempt to embarrass me. You are the professional here. I didn't attack or try to speak for you in any way. Please grant me the same professional courtesy.

This is EXACTLY the sort of atmosphere that intimidates and disheartens those of us who have the nerve to break in to the consciousness of the nine-to-five staff at KUNM and presume we have any rights to the facility.

When I talk to people about why they don't participate in the Ideas List, they use language like, "bitchyness," "nit-picking" and "arrogant" to describe their reception. Those are their actual words, not mine. We NEEDED to ask the community at KUNM THEIR opinions, needs and experiences before we put together anything difinitive for the Ideas List!

If that's the way people talk to each other on Usenet, I TRULY have no use for Usenet!

1st meeting of list serv committee

2009-04-28T12:10:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

We will meet again on Friday, May 8, from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m.

Nobody asked if I could participate on that date. Is anybody taking steps to accommodate my participation from out of town? I was never contacted. Please explain why not. Couldn't anybody send emails during the meeting, to let me know what was happening? What about chat? What about skype? What about streaming live on a secure URL so I could at least email responses?

It was noted that while any individual can set up a yahoo group, for example, to discuss KUNM matters, Richard Towne wants KUNM-sponsored discussion restricted to internally managed services.

This doesn't mean anything to me. Please explain.

I believe that there was a sentiment against limiting the number of posts each day, and to evaluate on a case by case basis

HERE IT IS: "Case by case!!" No policy, just double standard. Are we ever going to explain to people what we consider "acceptable," or will we continue contemptuous silence to "offenders," hoping they'll be punished?

(it was noted that if there is a dialogue that relates to KUNM community, it might result in multiple short-term postings.)

There may be other news of importance to KUNM, too, that arrives more than once per day.

Subject headers were discussed, including the option of participants creating new headers, as needed, perhaps relating back to a broader theme, such as MUSIC, MUSIC/NEWS, MUSIC/OBIT, etc.

We discussed the possibility of recruiting a qualified volunteer (once guidelines were in place) to help with managing the Ideas List (there is precedent for this – the list was initiated by a volunteer in collaboration with a staff member.)

What does "managing" mean?

I noted that I can place individuals on moderation for Ideas List posting without affecting the majority of participants at all, and release individuals from moderation where applicable.

What "place individuals on moderation" mean? Is this some sort of punishment or restriction? For what offenses? Was any of that clarified? "Release?????????????????????????"

We discussed publicizing whether ticket giveaways or other freebies should be offered only through the Ideas List (in order to encourage participation. Response to this idea was positive.)

I thought the problem was too much participation, already. Does this mean more people ON the Ideas List, but still discouraging posting?

For discussion (I’m just mentioning it here): Should the Ideas List be mandatory for KUNM volunteers and staff? (If so, posting would presumably be more closely monitored.)

If it had a website, like AIR and Transom do, people could check it without receiving email. Ops bulletins go out to everybody.

After the meeting of May 8, we hope to have a post/summary ready for sharing on the Ideas List, asking for feedback from the full list before fine-tuning.

How does this solve the content squabbles? Did everybody agree to something not mentioned here? Are we following Katie's demands: no job postings, no info from other aspects of community radio, nothing that's not narrowcasted to special interests, no matter who else might want to know? Unless it's about a yuppie vacation to Hawaii and visiting the station there. I see nothing resolved here: people we don't like will be "handled" on a case-by-case basis, but nobody knows what the rules are, still. This seems very unfair. What are the RULES???

Once we have a working set of guidelines, Richard Towne will review before it is published on the Ideas List (for new participants and periodically, as needed.)

Again, if we used a format with an actual website, like AIR, we could post guidelines there. In fact, when I joined AIR, I asked for a copy of the guidelines. They decided to post them on the web site; they hadn't been there before. It made for some joking and silliness among old time posters.

By the way, I recently joined AIR and their email list. It is a friendly and helpful place, accepting and generous. So are the forums at Transom, which is how I began correspondence with several producers for APM, NPR and Jay Allison, himself. People in both places are genuinely happy I'm there and enthusiastic about my postings. They appreciate my offers to volunteer, rather than ignoring them. It's been a blessing to get out of the small town and back to the big city online. Too bad KUNM is so brittle and rigid in its approach to every aspect of herding volunteers and monitoring correct speech.

Whom does this committe represent? It's not the users of the list.

I thought the decisions of this committee were to be trusted by the whole community -- which we can't represent honestly, because we're not allowed to ask them what they want. Seems very undemocratic to me. If Richard Towne gets final approval, if we represent nothing like the volunteers and staff who use the ideas list, why is this committee doing this work? Why isn't Richard Towne? Is the committee just reinforcing the unclear guidelines and double standards already in place (with the addition of complicated and long subject headings) so Richard Towne can blame any flak on us?

Whoa.

about bogus postings and civil discourse

2009-04-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Someone recently posted something to the ideas list that was not directly relevant. I suppose either they thought it was news, or that others on the list would share their opinion of the subject. I, naive fool that I am, read it and clicked a link. I was taken to a website of the most outrageous, chicken little, paranoid conspiracy theory junk I have seen in quite some time. AND it was ablist AND it was sexist. I replied. I researched the subject and found it completely full of holes. In other words, not only was it not of interest to the news department, it ought not be of any interest to anyone with a serious commitment to educating and informing people: something we do a lot here at KUNM. A few days later, the person tried again, from another source. Well, I had developed an interest in the subject by then. Specifically, I was curious about in whose interest it would be to launch such a misinformation campaign that people about whose work I care a good deal would have begun to believe it. So, when the next post came in, I refuted it. And I busted the hypocracy of progressive, open minded people who would resort to such epithets against marginalized social groups to debate their position on this particular subject.

I firmly believe that sloppy thinking has no place in community building. We need to be rational. We need to debate our points without lying or calling people names like "bitch," etc., unless we are speaking about literal, female dogs. I think we, of all people, need to be very careful with how we argue our positions on things and not resort to the tactics of what the Evangelicals would call "the enemy." EXAMPLE: Frankin apostrophe ---my apostrophe has died--s book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" is completely unacceptable to me. Oppressive language is oppressive, if Jesus himself uses it. I mean "we" as in communicators, journalists, community activists, experts in progressive causes and even experts in local music. Call me a "nigger" or a "ho" on KUNM, and you will DEFINATELY hear from me! I do not care how hip, cool, together and popular the programmer is: I will not tolerate abusive language that exploites marginalized populations of our listeners. Period. That trash is for commercial media, not here.

So, I am reasonably sure this is ANOTHER reason this committee was formed: because I was frank in my discussion of this issue in reply to the poster. I WISH someone in the News Dept. had backed me up in this. I wish someone knowlegeable in the subject under discussion had said something. They did not.

Now, I look like a crack pot and and over poster, because I beliveve in INFORMED democracy, responsible speech, civil discourse, logical debate of issues and something-- ANYTHING - better than a half baked YouTube video calling people bitches and inbred morons to make a point! The integrity of this station: its content, its programmers, its news department is a vital issue to me. I will defend with my LIFE our right, duty and responsibility to be the fifth estate, to inform voters and citizens, to keep the conversation out of the gutter and to ethically and logically defend the First Ammendment of the Constitution of the United States by providing a forum wherein people of ALL persuasions, parties, ethnicities, religions, abilities (INCLUDING INTELLECTUAL), national origins, genders, sexual identities and colors of underwear are welcomed to discuss openly whatever is of importance to our larger community. We DO NOT have enough of that; nobody is training people in that; WE have to MODEL that for ALL listeners -- including, apparently, some of the most "progressive" among us.

I am not a crack pot. Far from it. It was my hope to engage in this sort of civil discourse within the KUNM community, on the Ideas List. What better place for such discussion? I guess I was wrong. People just want to be told when we switch to Daylight Savings Time. Hell, the minutes and agendas of the General and Board Meetings are not even posted on the Ideas List, for the most part. I have NO idea what kinds of decisionsare being made there, as I cannot attend and have no access to a proxy vote, via email.

This whole thing saddens me greatly.

kunm ideas list committee

2009-04-13T17:54:00.005-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Ok, I'm already confused. I thought this was about the Ideas List.

I didn't know there WAS a prob with website forums.

At any rate, what E has posted here re: forums seems pretty much like what's already going on w/Ideas List, so I don't see much need for committees and discussions.

As far as what people call those who pretend to usurp the word, "Christian," while not practicing the red parts of the Bible, my experience is that they've never held back their opinions of ME, so I'm not too worried about their feelings. Christians, as in followers of Christ, wouldn't act like that as group policy. Jesus sure as hell wouldn't, and got nailed to a stick because of it. So, if they're going to carry banners at funerals that say, "God hates fags" and "A.I.D.S. is God's punishment," they're pretty much setting themselves up.

It's a very unfriendly environment for honest discussion if people insist on sniping minutiae, which has been my experience. I ignore it, as much as I can. It's not my job to educate people about their presumptions, prejudices and pretenses.

Eighty per cent of the time, the Ideas List is on topic. The other 20, it's usually still of interest to people involved in the station. Can we not just forgive the difference? How are H's posts, and my replies, on that silly house bill more egregious than J' post about the UNM press dept. closing or someone else's obit on a singer or activist? Is Ps' mention of Cs' ill family member acceptable, but mine on struggling with food insecurity not? Why? Because he's middle class and I'm not? Because he's "cool," and I'm not? If L is pissed that her program got pulled, how is that more acceptable than my post that staff deliberately put up nearly-impossible obstacles of my production for the Homelessness Marathon? It's ok for K to call out R and, basically, call him a coward on the whole list, but my post about news stories on R, the diversity of issues he knows well and articulates to media is inappropriate? RK can promote a storytelling or one-woman-show she's producing outside KUNM on the Ideas List, but I shouldn't mention my work with De Baca County's Behavioral Heath Planning Council, the story telling group I'm starting here or the Youth Radio project I'm initiating? Nl can offer AMP concert tickets, but I can't ask for used MiniDiscs? M can write how much she appreciates the labors of the staff & volunteers at KUNM, but I can't?

Please know that I'm very conscious of Z's position about me on a number of topics. I don't even know what the guy looks or sounds like But he has been UNBELIEVABLY cruel to me, broadcasting personnel business to the Ideas List (which is the first inkling I ever had that he was in negotiations with M M to have me "banned" from the web forums, apparently because they didn't like my poetry about news stories I'd heard on KUNM -- because I CERTAINLY wasn't in violation of any published policies or procedures, re: the website forums). Apparently, he's invested in perceiving me as a rather dim witted crack pot, and reminds me when he can, on the list.

The use of the phrase, "borderline crazy postings," reminded me of it again. Ah, epithets about behavioral health disabilities! How refreshing! As if people with behavioral health issues CHOOSE to have difficulty with thought processes, emotion and memory! We just sit around all day, looking for ways to freak out temporarily "normal" people, who can't be bothered to try to tolerate, understand, accept, listen to or communicate with us!

Hell, at least people are finally POSTING to the website! How many YEARS did I go there, to see nothing new had been written by anybody about anything?

If the webmasters resent the extra work of "moderating" discussion there, they could ask for volunteers to help. I'd do it.

Will we be hiring a clinical psychologist to analyse posts to the website and ideas list, to decide what's worthy? Who determines what's evidence of too large a behavioral health disability to be allowed free speech? Is behavioral health disability the criteriion for silencing people? If it is, we'll have to shut the website and the ideas list down. First, everybody has behavioral health issues. Second, if we discriminate against ONE disability, we're still in violataion of the A.D.A. THERE's your lawsuit!

People make mistakes. But, at KUNM, that's grounds for swift, severe and permanent punishment. Poor L now has a note in her permanent record about that dang radio play with 'f'bombs in it! Is there an equivelent note about how HARD L works, how DEDICATED she's been to the station, Radio Theater, the Board, the General Meeting. She even donated FURNITURE to the volunteer room! Not crappy milk crates and bean bags: REAL FURNITURE! Is THAT in her file at KUNM?????

"...it is an unfriendly environment for honest communication." Damn right, if you're going to get your head bit off for honest mistakes, if someone's always going to go behind your back to management, to whine that THEY don't think what you have to say is important and, therefore, you should be immediately and permanently silenced!

The ideas list can be received in digest form. I don't get it that way; I get individual posts. And guess what? I rarely get more than 5 in a day! It's not an undo amount of incoming email, on the worst of days!

=====================================

I don't understand how the Ideas List is a record for posterity. I thought it was a closed list, available only to subscribers. I didn't know it was a permanent archive to be unearthed by archaeologists and grad students in the distant future. How is it "easily accessed?" We talk about LOTS of things, ALL of us, that we wouldn't particularly want out there for general consumption! That's why we talk about them on the list, before we broadcast them.

I think the KUNM ideas listserv is a valuable tool, and has done a lot toward facilitating staff/ volunteer conversation. I also think that more could be done in general to open up conversations with the community at large, but I don't think that's possible without defining some kind of terms for acceptable communication in each of these areas.

Does this mean that the list is being opened up to the general public?

How is KUNM supposed to get sued for another person's opinion? There IS a disclaimer on the website, isn't there??? There was ONE lawsuit, which was frivolous and pathetic. Nobody ever discriminated against that guy for his religion OR his politics. We (as INDIVIDUALS, NOT as representatives of KUNM) disliked him BECAUSE HE'S A JERK. Period. The lawsuit just proved it.

I smell upper middle class rules of decorum in this: Conform to our standards of "making nice," or we'll throw you out, you crazy bag lady! I don't hear any attempt to make all people feel welcomed and respected. I hear threats of punishment and banishment. I don't hear efforts at being supportive, understanding or facilitating true community building. This is what we'll do TO you, not This is what we'll do ALONG with you.

Yes, I'm different. I have severe disabilities with which I struggle on a regular basis. For this, I'm ridiculed, ostracized, snubbed, ignored, mocked and excluded on a regular basis, even at KUNM

Despite this, I am a productive and positive contributor to the KUNM community. No, I don't speak in small talk. I don't know the code words and jargon of academics, engineers, IT specialists and the upper middle class. I try to be as honest and supportive as I can of people at KUNM. Some days are better than others. I've endured threats, humiliations, verbal and physical abuse, snubs and sarcasm from volunteers and staff at the station. I didn't leave; I KEEP contributing, even though it takes me much more effort and time to contribute than it does those with more privilege than I. You have no idea how bereft, defeated and full of self hatred I've been at times as a result of my attempts to interface with people at the station who've hurt me very deeply, deliberately.And I KEEP comig back, because COMMUNITY is more important to me than a few individuals who insist on despising me, no matter what I do, how far I've come and how much potential I have for the future. They've been hinderances, not helps. And I KEEP coming back! Some things are too important to quit; KUNM is one of them, to me.

Now, we're going to reign in the off topic posts. We're going to make sure nobody is bothered with my second class babbling, antics and interference. I'm ridiculous: worthy of ridicule. In the back woods of Kentucky, TO THIS DAY, some people CHAIN their relatives with behavioral health disabilities to back porches, or lock them in cellars. They don't know how to cope and they don't have any support systems or health education to do better. I'd have thought all this book learnin' progressivism would do better, but I see it coming: FINALLY, we won't have to listen to that crazy Rogi any more! We can get her sanctioned, get it in writing in her volunteer file, get her out of this station and out of our hair forever!

I've fed some of you, cleaned up after you, listened to your worries and concerns, defended your honors, hugged you and given moral support, helped you research projects and use equipment. I've cheered you up and cheered you on. I've defended KUNM on several levels. I'm agonizing right now, because I can't afford to pledge at present. I've introduced KUNM to the War Zone in Albuquerque and the citizens of Fort Sumner. Hell, people from Maine to California are listening to podcasts and live streams from the station, because I told them about it.

But, let me post one thing that SOMEBODY thinks isn't relevent to THEIR life, and I should be bound and gagged.

I've been through this before. I see it coming now. I figured I'd better be honest and direct about my fears and concerns about this committee.

I'm blunt. I'm from Los Angeles: take too long to ask what you need, you'll be waiting your whole life. And I don't deal well with all the curliques and flourishes of abstract obfuscation; I just say what I mean. That seems to offend the HELL out of some people. Those people do ME a lot more damage with their circuitous manipulations than I do them with my direct speech. I'm tired of people insisting I conform to a dysfunctional culture that nearly killed me! Why can't Who I Am be Good Enough? Because you think Who You Are ISN'T Good Enough? How does that make ANY sense? WHO's crazy?

One Station, Many Voices: all of them upper middle class.

Sorry if I've offended, but if the shoe fits.....

=======================================

The list serv has very little volume. There's seldom any "tone," that I can discern, except a disdain for Republicans and Greens.

"Just the facts" is covered by Operations bulletins, etc.

some people who are currently subscribed to KUNM ideas are frustrated with the volume and tone of this free discussion. And while I like the idea of encouraging better netiquette through training, encouragement, and community-based moderation, I have a hard time believing members of the KUNM community have the time, patience, or inclination for such.

Again: DIGEST!

I don't need someone to abridge my freedom of speech through "moderation" because someone else needs to learn patience! Why should MY patience be taxed to accommodate the intolerant?

I should be banned from the website forum because I post "too much" (it was about 1 or 2 posts per week). I should be banned from the list serv because I post too much (not including forwards of info pertinent to broadcasting), I post about 3 times per week.

Speaking of time, my comments to this group take a LOT of time, and go unacknowledged, for the most part. And my questions go unanswered.

Maybe it has more to do with the expression, "members of the KUNM community." I don't feel much "community" among volunteers who broadcast. I see individual egos with narrow-focused agendas who promote only their own interests. It's what T mentioned: I don't see people encouraging or promoting other programs or programmers. It's like none of them knows the other exists, unless they get in a territorial fight at shift change. Others of us who volunteer -- or work -- at the station become human furnishings: we only count if we directly impact a particular programmer or program. The atmosphere frequently feels elitist, exlusive, snobbish and cliquish. It's not just me who has experienced this; I've had discussions with staff, volunteers, work studies, etc. who feel like they're perceived as being in the way, under foot, distracting . . . That's not community. There's little flexibility, acceptance, tolerance, etc.

Since living in Fort Sumner, I've become much more active in the community radio community nationally and internationally. I see active and vivid discussions, within stations and about them. I see people struggling to be supportive and accommodating. I see people LISTENING to each others' needs, concerns and ideas. I see policy decisions change to reflect better the community served.

EXAMPLE: When I write to the Development Dept. at KUNM and offer to volunteer (and this has happened under 2 directors) to raise funds, I am ignored. I mean, I'm not even politely refused. How am I supposed to interpret that? I'm so far beneath contempt, I don't deserve acknowledgement? I'm just a crack pot, trying to muscle in on someone else's territory? It's rude. It happens all over KUNM.

When I write to Transom.org and offer to volunteer 5 hours a week with some sort of telecommuting job, the founder writes to thank me and, a week later, a Transom teeshirt arrives in the mail, because I "deserve it, just for offering to volunteer."

M ARGUED with me about which size KUNM tee shirt I should get, after pledging last year! I think she wanted to save the really big ones for people whose money was more important than mine! I like M a lot, but come ON!

At other stations, they get permits to block city streets for craft fairs, concerts, etc. where the listeners stroll with the station personnel and build connections and share skills and information.

At KUNM, programmers and staff usually only know listener community members if they're Somebody.

EXAMPLE: The Queers prepare for their Pride Parade in or near Onate Hall's parking lot. Do we ever set up a table, give people water, have subscription sign-ups and program guides available? It's not far away; it's not hard work; it doesn't last very long. It would be fun.

I don't need Big Brother to do my thinking for me, to screen me for PC speech, to deny me access to community building.

I'll tell you one thing: since I've decreased my involvement with KUNM as "community" and increased my involvement with vivid, active, inquisitive and proactive radio communities elsewhere, I'm finding I'm getting validation, support, encouragement and real enthusiasm from my fellow community radio colleagues.

For years, I thought there was something wrong with me, because people at KUNM tended way too often to treat me like dog poop on their shoes.

Now, I see it is the atmosphere at KUNM more than it is me. Yes, I make more mistakes than some others at KUNM. Oh, well. I also contribute much-needed content. I've been a loyal supporter of the station (which is often perceived more as fanatical party crashing than as useful). My gifts are often refused at KUNM. I felt crazy: SURELY what I have to offer has value?

Yes, it does, and others in community radio recognize that.

I can show you the difference dramatically. The agenda at KUNM is frequently set by "Democracy Now" style cynicism and political correctness. It's a bummer. Even though Goodman is currently pushing her book about regular people making change, her programs are too seldom about that. They're disempowering. They instill fear, resentment, anger and distrust. They describe, in agonizing details, the problems, but not solutions.

Look at this program on WFMU:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/03/new-podcast-the-media-squat-with-douglas-rushkoff.html

This is a young man who grew up on computers, who's an economist, whose Jewish heritage informs his thought processes as much as any other training he has had. He believes in grass roots, "bottom up" solutions. His programs are vivid and alive. He's also about 20 years younger than Goodman and our programmers. He doesn't broadcast the same, old leftist rhetoric; he seeks viable solutions that can be implemented immediately by individuals. That's solution-based radio. Everybody is welcomed, not just the same organizations and institutions that have received some sort of secret society acceptance and get heard over and over.

KUNM doesn't need LESS discussion; it needs MORE.

Brand me as a hairbrained malcontent bag lady party crashing dim witted crack pot if you must, but I'm not wrong in this.

===================================================

Ok, let's say it is I who have made the most posts. That's about 160 msgs. in about 16 months. That's about 10 posts per month. About half of those are job announcements, community radio news, etc. That means I'm averaging about 5 original content posts per month; apx. 4 of those are "on topic," and about KUNM directly.

In the real world of list servs, that's not very much content from one individual. Some list servs to which I subscribe have posts half a dozen times a day, some by the same person.

Basically, people want an email list serv, but no content generation? People only want to hear what they want to hear? I don't get it. How do we learn from each other without communication? Don't we want to learn from each other? There's so much isolation at KUNM already. I just don't think it's healthy.

===================================

Rogi, since you can recognize your own tally, reinforces my point that this particular communication forum is not representative of the some 200 volunteers and staff that comprise the station.

Most people at the station don't need to use the wheelchair ramps. Let's tear them out. Most people at the station aren't impacted by exclusive marriage legislation. Let's enforce one man/one woman marriage. Most people at the station went to college. Let's prohibit self-educated people without degrees from contributing. Most people at the station own cars. Let's tell the others how weird they are. Most people at the station live on over $1,000/month. Let's keep poor people around just to scrub out toilets. Most people at the station aren't Asian. Let's never cover stories about Asians.

Most people at the station don't subscribe to the ideas list. Let's get rid of the ideas list.

"You're not like the rest of us; we need to make a rule to keep you out. That's democracy."

I get told this a lot at KUNM. When the news room was too busy for me to get my work done, I started working in what's CALLED the "Volunteer Room." The coffee pot, refrigerator and copy machine used to be in there, before the remodeling. A member of staff COMPLAINED that I was in there, workiing! She resented me for being friendly and saying, "hi" when she came in. I was a volunteer, in the volunteer room! That, somehow, interfered with her coffee!

So, I was ordered back to the news room. The big solution? Build partitions around me and WALL ME IN! JESUS! And then, complain that I hung some personal stuff on the partitions! I was in total isolation, inside a grey cube, KNOWING it was so people didn't have to look at or relate to me. I was totally demoralized and DETERMINED to keep contributing. I put up a few things to remind me I was a worthy human being. And they complained about THAT! Other people had toys and widgets and gizmos all over their work stations!

What is representative of the station is that people choose not to participate and communicate with each other, beyond the bare requirements. What is representative is that most of us don't know what each other looks like, who we love and how we are doing.

That's a management choice: to build an atmosphere of alienation, potential "punishments," isolation, intimidation and division. The fact that so many of us go along with that as the Status Quo is really demoralizing to me.

Are we so afraid our values and priorities don't really stand the light of day that open discussion would destroy our integrity?

People who work at KUNM get SICK from it! There's passive-aggressive mumbling, not open dialogue and problem solving. There's random sniping and character assassination bombs. It's not healthy not to communicate!

I guess I'm being handed my hat.

10 posts a week isn't much, either.

Nobody replied to my questions about "Spoken Word" playlists. So I went to the "Spoken Word" discussion forum on the web site. Mine is the FIRST POST there! Nobody speaks about "Spoken Word?" What?

I SO hoped people could see the ideas list is a very valuable way we can know each other, solve problems together, discuss innovations in technology and programming, share skills . . .

It looks like what people want is to be left in isolation, undisturbed by the larger community, to persue their own thing without any interference from the rest of the people around them.

I swear, I've worked in about 10 radio stations, and I've never seen anything like this before. Well, WLOU in Louisville, KY: All canned classical music and NPR. The Unitarian Church was directly across the street. The minister held a series of concerts there. He had HELL to pay, trying to get people from the station to walk across the street with some equipment to record the concerts for broadcast! Only rich yuppies listened to that station, and they liked it that way.

Even this podunk station, out here in Portales, is more welcoming and enthusiastic toward me than KUNM.

=======================

Yes, let us, by all means, not reach out to people to communicate with them about how to communicate. That would be most inappropriate. We weren't talking about a survey of netiquette. We were talking about asking people what they want.

And let's always keep in the front of our minds that the bottom line is how we can punish people for taking the risk of communicating at a community radio station! Implied threats keep us distrustful, suspicious of each other and divided. In other words, threats keep us manageable. Heaven forbid we be trusted to manage ourselves and forgiven for honest mistakes!

No, let's never acknowledge or respect the efforts, sincerity and commitment of those pesky risk-takers who make our lives so miserable.

Yes, this is a healthy atmosphere.

Anybody who's human, who gives a damn about KUNM enough to actually have DONE something useful at and/or for the station gets to be on the list. It's not a Greek society, a country club, a klan meeting or a cloister. If you've paid in, you're qualified. Period.

Nobody should be silenced for trivial garbage! What's next? Yellow stars?

Spammers, porno promoters and hate mongers should be bounced, as if they'd ever sign up.

So, here's the real bottom line: the station's thinking about silencing people -- probably me, in particular -- and that's what we're supposed to discuss. WE get to frame it, so management can say, "We asked you to participate on the committee, but you did not. A group of your peers did. THIS is what they decided (even though they knew they didn't represent the population, but couldn't get an opportunity to ask you). Live with it or get out." Management smells like a rose; we do the dirty work. great.

Why is this about hurting people: threatening to temporarily or permanently shut them out for "chronic" behavior (whatever that means; there's been no flame wars, spam, etc. on the ideas list that's of any consequence or duration).

Why are we pretending this committee is even welomed? Sounds like Richard will make the final decisions, no matter what we say, anyway.

I thought we already had criteria for participation in the list serv.

Every TIME R says these things, I get the sneaking suspicion that this wasn't set up to be a committee, but a lynch mob, and I'm the one being measured for the rope!

Sounds like a lot of back channel complaining has been going on, and now it's time to get a group together who will justify management, lowering the boom. Don't tell me I'm paranoid, either. I USED to trust KUNM regulars, but I'm still trying to heal the knife wounds in my back!

Oh, don't take it personally, Rogi. You're being overly sensitive. Like I haven't been around this May pole before.

Do you have any idea how much courage it takes me to participate in this?

Did any of you ever consider how much pain this causes me? Do you have any idea how offensive it is? Do you know how bitter I feel that nobody is acknowledging my experiences at the station, taking them seriously and offering me support in trying to get some justice and some of my dignity back? Does kindness cost money? When did it become uncool to care?

========================================

Listen very carefully: there is nothing wrong with the Ideas List. It's there for us to discuss topics of interest to us as station community members. Subscription is voluntary.

Ops Bulletins and some other sort of bulletins -- I can't remember what; they've been used very seldom -- discuss urgent issues, and are sent to everyone. They are "professional;" one cannot reply to all.

RECENT HISTORY:

I accidentally sent something to the List that I meant to send to R. She knows this, because she got half a dozen other emails from me, citing a programmer's violation of FCC laws, with quotes of on air programming and exact times of occurance. One of these, subject: "I't Your Fucking Life," accidentally got sent to the Ideas List. I can't see my monitor well; I'm 6 inches from it. I accidentally clicked on the list address, rather than operations' address. It was an honest mistake and I apologized to the list almost immediately. I was trying to protect the station's license; no good deed goes unpunished.

In addition, someone posted something of very dubious origins, the contents of which were sexist and ablist and not good journalism. I addressed those 2 posts, as well. By doing myself, I "outted" myself as low income and not politically correct.

I'm sure all of these generated complaints to management within the past month.

I can't even have a private conversation in the so-called, "Volunteer Room" without someone complaining to management and management dangling the threat of "further action" over my head. THAT happened during the last Pledge drive.

I have cited MULTIPLE examples in my correspondence to this body about my treatment as second class at the station.

My income status, lack of formal education and behavioral health disabilities make me a very easy target, no matter how hard I try.

I firmly believe this committee was formed to create sanctions -- particularly against me -- so that management won't have to look bad for doing it. But management won't let us ask others at KUNM what they DO want, so we must be psychic and speak for everybody -- which, of course, we can't.

I'm sure these sanctions will be formed in such a way as to be retroactive, so I can be "dealt with" as soon as possible.

I have been physically assaulted by people from KUNM twice. I am screamed and cussed at, threatened, insulted, ignored, shunned, humiliated and mocked on a regular basis by people at KUNM.

There's nothing wrong with the Ideas List. The purpose of the committee is to try to, once and for all, get rid of me. Period.

NOBODY has cited a valid reason for this committee's assembly. Nobody has explained where this sudden need to change the Ideas List came from.

The Ideas List was never set up as a "professional" list; it was set up as a list for volunteers' ideas. It's not about staff, although staff is more than welcome to contribute. And I'll mention that Marcos Martinez, former Program Director, used to curse in a good number of his posts to the list -- INTNTIONALLY, NOT accidentally, as I did.

I use the list more than anybody, it seems. J has made that very clear. I didn't realize that actually using a KUNM resource was grounds for suspicion and resentment, but this has happened to me on multiple occassions, including but not limited to: the Call In Show, the "Volunteer" room, the website forums and now the Ideas list.

R is the one who brought up taking action against "Chronic" (which would seem to refer to me, as I'm the most consistent user) "abusers." R is the one threatening -- not to welcome, educate and support people, but to punish and banish people. She is doing this as a representative of management. She tipped the hand, not I.

My reference to nooses is metaphorical; I am a poet. But I've been ganged up on before at KUNM, and I smell it now.

As to yellow stars, they started by telling Jews they couldn't ride bikes, use radios or attend classes. A thousand tiny cuts of inaccessibility and withdrawl of rights to participate.

I know those cuts. I know them well.

This committee is "suddenly" important, within a month of the posts I cited above. I'm not naive enough to think it coincidence. This committe wasn't formed right after K's tantrum at R, now, was it? K generates press and subscribers; I do not. I'm more than expendable. In fact, for several people, it would be a pleasure to threaten me, punish me, hurt me and abandon me. Someone in this very discussion knows that, very well.

I'm not making this up. I am not delusional. I'm making it very clear in my communications to this group that I'm well aware of what is happening and what I can do about it. I am not second class and I'm sick of wasting time, trying to prove it.

Management, staff and volunteers all need tolerance training. It's not my job to provide it.

"Brainstorm" aired tonight on WCAI

2009-03-15T19:18:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Let me explain why this is so validating for me.

The show it airs on is called, "Arts and Ideas Radio." It's produced by Jay Allison.

Who's Jay Allison?

Ever listen to "This I Believe" on NPR on Sundays? That's Jay Allison.

Ever hear of Atlantic Public Media? That's Jay Allison.

Ever hear of WCAI & WNAN? Jay Allison is a founder of both stations.

Ever hear of http://transom.org (the FIRST website to ever win a Pulitzer)? That's Jay Allison.

Ever hear of http://prx.org ? That's Jay Allison.

Ever hear of "Nightline?" The real one, with Ted Koppel? That's Jay Allison.

You cut this guy, he bleeds documentaries and diodes.

He picked out "Brainstorm" from a SLEW of independently produced pieces (by people with far more experience, education, productions, connections and polish than I) over on PRX, where "Brainstorm" is listed.

Jay Allison picked something I produced to air on his show. He picked something I care about deeply, that affects me, personally, to air on his program.

I can't think of better validation, except that Paul Ingles has supported it -- and me -- enough to encourage me to offer it on PRX.

This is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me as a radio producer. It means I'm swimming in the deep end now.

http://debacabhpclc10.blogspot.com/2009/03/brainstorm-experience-of-brain-injury.html

Maybe rejection by NPR is a compliiment?

2009-03-08T20:15:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

http://transom.org/?p=1038

This was rejected by NPR because -- well, they chickened.

Could we wangle this for Radio Theatre?

Here's what I wrote in a discussion of the piece:

Larry Massett said, "the rule is nobody listens to a single piece that long." Yeah, well, KUNM has an hour call in show; the lines are always full when time runs out. They broadcast specials on Sunday mornings, and actually prefer 1/2 to 1 hr pieces -- not to fill air, but because our listeners like hearing things in depth. We've run Radio Theatre, one of the LAST venues for original plays, for years and have no intentions of losing it, because it's so appreciated. Every documentary I do for Sunday Specials is an hour: how should I discuss Native American Veterans with PTSD, brain injury or the lives of a single mom and her two developmentally and physically challenged daughters with the intimacy and focus on healing these subjects deserve if I don't allow the listeners time to absorb the content? Maybe commercial radio and, more insidiously, TELEVISION, have so corrupted not the audience attention span, but the MINDSETS of PRODUCERS that the latter can no longer conceive of life as more than a sound bite and an Arbitron rating.

There was a time in my life when I aspired to be "as good as NPR." When it comes to skill, technique, richness of sound and just plain quality of broadcast, that will always be true -- unless NPR finally and totally loses its collective mind.

But I came to community radio through KPFK. Ok, sure, sometimes it's polemic, strident, some might even say paranoid and delusional, at times. It can be technically sloppy. It can be one-sided (but, after the invasion of Iraq, and NPR's "coverage," well, speaking of "sloppy!"). But one thing about KPFK was that it was sincere, usually. I cut my teeth on sincere broadcasting, and that will always resonate with me. NPR's self conscious quirky/cutesy tendencies sometimes make me want to slap Scott Simon with Leanne Hansen or is it the other way around?

I'm a woman. I know the shock & awe of the stirruped nether regions. I also know a good rack (of lamb) when I see one. I also know a little about women's liberation, pansexuality and the deformity of culture through unnatural gender roles.

More men need to speak like this. ALL men, AND women, need to HEAR men speaking like this. If beltway dainty NPR can't listen to this, that says something profound and frightening about NPR. 'course, after eight years of an administration which treated everything honest, sincere and real in the world with contempt, I wonder if I can blame them for their timidity. Maybe things will lighten up for awhile now.

If it were customary in our culture to speak of our bodies and their amusements and frailties with this sort of honesty, we wouldn't live in a world of Seven Deadly Words. If we loved ourselves, nothing about our bodies would be "dirty." Messy, yes, and smelly and often sticky, but not dirty.

They say you're only as sick as your secrets. Imagine: if we could speak openly about our bodies, how many men wouldn't needlessly die of prostate cancer, or women of breast and ovarian cancer, because they were too "ashamed" and afraid to seek treatment?

Isn't it ironic that it is those who've nearly died of disease who often have the most healthy perspective on their bodies?

Yeah, hot flashes, dude. Men THINK they're tough. One hot flash, and that's all over. Try losing a pregnancy. "Women are not afraid to talk about their bodies." Well, most of us don't know what our genitals look like. Too many of us have never experienced orgasm. A lot of us don't know what a clitoris is, and quite a few of us who DO know only know because the culture we live in expects us to cut it off. No, dude, you do NOT know a woman's experience. Buying shoes is not hormonal; it's a symptom of women's feelings of powerlessness. But we do talk with each other, apparently, a lot more often than you dudes do about stuff that's real.

I'm going to leave this page, copy and paste the URL for this show and post it to the KUNM Ideas List, in hopes we might find a way to broadcast this, maybe as Radio Theatre. 'course, people would probably like to get PAID to have this air on our station, and we don't have a budget for either Sunday Specials or Radio Theatre, so it's probably a moot point.

The music was awesome!

Don't stop doing real radio, no matter how many rejections you get. You're good at it

home made speakers

2009-01-19T06:40:00.006-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

http://www.josepino.com/other_projects/?homemade-hifi-speaker.jpc

"Hi-fidelity Homemade Loudspeaker.

"From the Inventor of the Styrofoam Plate Speaker, here are the instructions to build the "Hi-Fidelity homemade styrofoam-plate speaker". (8/6/2007)

Source: http://www.josepino.com/other_projects/?homemade-hifi-speaker

"After I built my homemade speaker With a plastic cup, some people started to criticize it without even trying to build one. The worst rant was the "quality of the sound". Other people started to make their own homemade speaker based on my instructions without even giving me the credit as the original author, so I decided to build a new version, simple and better.

"When I said, "keep your socks up", I really mean it. I was working and doing some tests until finally I was able to build my own homemade speaker with the sound quality that competes with commercial speakers."

audio links

2009-01-17T19:56:00.003-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

populair
http://www.populair.eu/
Mix Tape
http://mixtape.exopolis.com/
Windows Mix
http://www.cothrun.com/gallery/albums/Misc/windows_mix.swf
Concert Vault
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
Free Indy Music
http://www.freeindie.com/rock/
Hendrix
http://www.new.co.za/~currin/jimi_hendrix_bio.html
tv tunes
http://www.televisiontunes.com/
find sounds
http://www.findsounds.com/types.html
'70s top 100
http://www.superseventies.com/singles.html
internet Broadway database
http://www.ibdb.com/index.php

Music
no category
Ditty Bops
http://www.thedittybops.com/
Suzanne Vega
http://www.suzannevega.com/

blues
Desktop Blues
http://www.desktopblues.lichtlabor.ch/
Pinetop Perkins
http://www.pinetopperkins.com/
bb King
http://www.bbking.com/

rock
airborne toxic event
http://www.zoom-in.com/music/rehearsal-space/rehearsal-space-the-airborne-toxic-event
Radiohead "Creep"
http://www.lowmorale.co.uk/creep/flash/lm_creep_(FLASH).swf
auf der maur
http://www.aufdermaur.com/
Rock albums, '65-'78
http://www.qkly.com/
Dolls Eye
http://www.dollseye.com/

world
http://www.heartheworld.org/
http://www.niyazmusic.com
http://www.azamalimusic.com/
http://www.putumayo.com/
http://www.essayrecordings.com/media/video/bucovina.htm
http://www.ravishankar.org/
http://ethniclink.net/

pop
Bill Withers
http://www.billwithersmusic.com/index1.cfm

Folk
Woody Guthrie
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/
Sacred Harp Singing
http://fasola.org/

Sound Track
http://www.cinemusic.net/
David Lynch
http://www.davidlynch.de/

Jazz
Mingus
http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/
jazz improv tv
http://www.jazzimprov.tv/
Duke Ellington
http://www.dukeellington.com/
Cook Trio Gypsy Jazz
http://www.thecooktrio.com/Home.html
Miles Davis
http://www.milesdavis.com/

Audio
how to build a pocket amplifier
http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/
sonic visualizer
http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/
learn Morse code
http://www.learnmorsecode.com/
how to build a solar generator for under $300
http://www.rain.org/~philfear/how2solar.html
madtracker plug-ins
http://www.madtracker.org/plugins.php?category=Instrument
PC-VST compatible plug-ins
http://www.uv.es/~ruizcan/p_vst.htm
Renoise songsmith
http://www.renoise.com/
Testing, 1,2,1,2: sound engineer glossery
http://www.testing1212.co.uk/
advanced urban rhythm machine
http://www.motu.com/
AccuRadio
http://www.accuradio.com/
Exact audio copy
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
Reason Freaks
http://www.reasonfreaks.com/

News
CO2 emissions
http://www.breathingearth.net/
bike to work
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/12/it-pays-bike-work/
Mapping Rights GLBT
http://www.mappingourrights.org/
the future of our worldWindows
http://thefutureofourworld.ytmnd.com/
bra ball
http://www.braball.com/
illegal interest rates
http://www.debt-professor.com/bizarrecreditloophole.html
IBM to build brain-like computer
http://www.nerdshit.com/
Newseum
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp?page=2
Steal This Book Abbie Hoffman
http://www.tenant.net/Community/steal/steal.html
world processor
http://worldprocessor.com/catalog/world/
Project Censored News
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2007/
Complete Your Evil Plan
http://www.darksites.com/evilplan.php
one-sentence true stories
http://www.onesentence.org/
Ecology news
http://ecology.com/index.php
Alternative news links
http://www.outofthedark.com/CorporateWars/AltNewsLinks.html

No Particular Reason
Timothy Leary
http://www.leary.com/
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (attn: Bob Ottey)
http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail.htm
ninja cat
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Family-Lifestyle/Pets/Video-Ninja-Cat.html
virtual kaleidascope
http://www.zefrank.com/byokal/kal2.html
I don't know what it is; just play with it.
http://www.00112358.net/
Death to the Tinman
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v12272529WMNAK6WWM
Conference Bike
http://www.conferencebike.com/
Haiku error messages
http://www.strangeplaces.net/weirdthings/haiku.html
Hipster handbook
http://www.hipsterhandbook.com/

Ft. Sumner Radio

2008-10-01T09:58:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I feel VERY fortunate: I am one of only a small handful of Ft. Sumner citizens who can actually hear the community radio station in Portales, although they are SUPPOSED to have a translator here (I wonder if it's working? The GM of the station will get paid, whether we hear the station or not!)

I also manage, intemittantly, to receive all 3 PBS tv stations (Brought to you by the same people who are broadcasting community radio in the area) through an ANTENNA -- a real, rabbit ear antenna (albiet with yards of aluminum foil attached), through my digital conversion box I bought.

NOBODY in Ft. S. gets TV without Comcast or some dish contraption. I do. I don't care about other channels; I get 3 PBS stations and that's fine with me.

Shoot, the local library, from which I'm typing right now, doesn't even have their card catelogue back online, after several months!

Access to information is tricky out here.

Supporting local, community broadcasting, in ANY medium, is essential in rural areas.

Local Community Radio Act Would Increase Public Independent Media
Published 29 Sep 2008, 10:17 am

http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=3439

Listen to this segment
http://www.archive.org/download/DailyDigest092908/2008_09_29_lawson.mp3
the entire program
http://www.archive.org/download/DailyDigest092908/2008_09_29_uprising.MP3

If you are one of millions of Americans sickened by cookie cutter
commercial radio that assaults your ears with standardized "safe"
playlists, inane shock-jock-talk, and incessant aggressive ads, you may
want to urge your representatives in Congress to pass a new bill on local
community radio. In 2002 the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC,
began licensing what are called low-power FM stations - those that have a
small signal that fits in the empty spaces on your radio dial. Predictably
major commercial radio companies like Clear Channel fought this initiative
and its lobbyists pressured Congress into opposing the LPFM movement
saying that it would cause interference. But a 2006 study showed that no
such interference is caused by low power FM stations. Now Congress is once
more faced with the Local Community Radio Act which, if it is passed,
would expand LPFM across the country.

GUEST: Jonathan Lawson, Executive Director of "Reclaim the Media" and
organizer of the Northwest Community Radio Network.

Related Links

* Reclaim the Media
* Prometheus Radio Project
* The Local Community Radio Act Will Increase Local Voices, Choices
* H.R. 2802: Local Community Radio Act of 2007
* Support Low Power FM Radio

Local Community Radio Act Would Increase Public Independent Media

2008-10-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

whining about campus parking

2008-08-24T02:59:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

So, they're goig to start enforcing parking regs. on UNM campus on Saturdays. The DJs are up in arms. One volunteer is demanding $5/per parking passes and stamping her little foot that our "countless hours" of volunteer work aren't appreciated.

Here's my reply:

Well, don't count ME in on this. For one thing, I detest it when someone offers to do somethig and then complains about doing it, as though one's posterior requires affectionate licking for one's efforts. People all over the planet perform countless hours of gut-wrenching, dangerous, unappreciated volunteer efforts to their communities -- often at risk to their liberty and lives -- because it's necessary and it's the right thing to do.

I'm a volunteer to the COMMUNITY, not to the administration of some cheesy, smug, corrupt, mediocre "university." I call UNM the best community college in the state. I tolerate the institution to get at the medium, to contribute to the community. I CERTAINLY don't volunteer for the university.

And this community is so apathetic, so cliquish, so defeatist because it's IGNORANT -- therefore, it needs the medium far MORE than any other community in which I've ever lived (except Pekin, Indiana -- a KKK town -- where you can't even check out a book from the county library, because the alderman doesn't think it's necssary for the town to pay the county fee). So, I have a LOT of volunteer work to do here.

Parking is just another example of the fact that the old boys' network is going to exploit those of us who use its resources -- OUR resources: we PAId for them! -- for every drop of blood it can get out of us. Paper-pushing, butt-covering and penny-pinching are FAR more important to the administration than are education, community building, health, safety, justice . . . you know, the stuff we try to broadcast?

It's just more evidence for my argument that real community radio can't be done in a self-determined, self-reliant fashion at a station that's controlled and funded by a university.

It's also more evidence for my argument in favor of alternative transportation: electric bicycles, gasoline scooters, etc. can be chained to bike racks or hidden from theft in the basement or the shrubbery. There are no parking fees or large gasoline payments. In fact, under 49CCs, there are no: licenses, insurance or registrations required, either. And the environmental impact is negligible. Who cares what Cheney's cronies do to the price of crude with reckless speculation, when one is not under their thumbs?

Even if one lives far away, such as the East Mountains, one can drive into town, park free almost anywhere else in Albuquerque and ride to UNM via alternative transportation one has packed in one's car or truck.

Note: I carry pepper spray on my key chain. I also have a tazer. Each are easily purchased for less money or hassle than a gun and are purely defensive. Of course, when one uses alternative transpo, one can usually outrun an attacker with ease, and drive it RIGHT to the door. Walking through parking lots alone isn't safe, either.

We can't depend on that university for ANYthing. We MUST take care of OURSELVES! We must NEVER believe the institution: wants, needs, respects or cares about US! THAT IS A LIE! The university cares about MONEY, not people. Defense contracts outweigh our petty needs, every time. Community radio cares about PEOPLE. Never confuse the two.

As for being appreciated as a volunteer: I appreciate what I do, what I create, what I make available to my neighbors when I do community radio. Occassionally, someone will say something supportive -- that's usually not another volunteer and it's CERTAINLY not university administration! But, generally, I do my work in cold silence. Nobody licks my posterior for my efforts and -- while I'm generally a rather peaceful person - I'd smack them in the face if they tried. I seldom hear that my work has even been HEAED, let alone appreciated. I didn't get into community radio to be famous; I got into it because its cheaper, fewer YEARS of training and less beholden to an insttution than a teaching degree. Just because I don't have sheep skin hanging on my walls doesn't mean I don't have anythig useul to contribute, or shouldn't bother to try.

If I want to be told how wonderful I am, I could turn tricks down on Central and get more appreciation than I'll ever get for doing community radio. I KNOW this is true; I've been around poor women, pimps and johns for decades. I've also been around university administrators and politically correct cliques for decades. This isn't a theoretical statement; I know this for a fact.

I've been: hit, screamed at, cursed, falsly accused of the craziest stuff, viewed with suspicion and contempt by people at the station -- and hassled by campus police, as an extra bonus, for bothering to volunteer. And I STILL come back, because the work is more important than my little ego.

I gratify my ego elsewhere.

If one needs to be appreciatd, community radio is NOT the first place I'd recommend to anybody.

Brainstorm available on PRX

2008-08-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

http://www.prx.org/pieces/28271

rebroadcast "Pueblo Revolt" drama ASAP

2008-07-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

There's a trememdous local interest in Don Onate, since PBS broadcast
"The Last Warrior," about the world's largest equestrian statue,
erected in El Paso, TX. The "In Focus" show on KNME last night was a
town forum on the Acoma, the Pueblo Revolt and issues of class, race,
history, art and culture.

Onate was a bona fide criminal, as documented by the SPANISH,
themselves. Why is such a HUGE statue "representing" that part of New
Mexican history, of which most of our citizens are unaware?

We produced the radio theater drama, "This Miserable Kingdom," a
fictionalized account of the Pueblo Revolt. It was followed by a 1
hour panel discussion with historians who've studied the largest
Native rebellion in the contiguous United States. The acting was
wonderful; the direction and production were of the highest calibre.
The feedback was extremely supportive

It was a live, national broadcast (aired on AIROS stations), with
foley and prerecorded sound effects, with a rather large, professional
and multicultural cast, including children. It was rehearsed for WEEKS
before air.

The ONLY reason this drama was hustled into a back corner was because
a tiny, bur STRIDENT group of "Hispanics" decided the Pueblo Revolt
was the equivelent of 911 and complained to high heavens about it: the
best press the radio drama could have had. These people are officially
represented by people who tell Native people to "just get over it."

They complained SO loudly that the Pueblo Cultural Center's director
backed out of an agreement to let us broadcast from there! It's a
drama about their own history: fully, historically researched for
accuracy, backed by an academic discussion that verified every aspect!
We made the papers.

We need to rebroadcast "This Miserable Kingdom" IMMEDIATELY! Public
interest in this seldom-taught and extremely noteable part of New
Mexican history has revived. KUNM BEGAN this discussion wth "This
Miserable Kingdom!"

no respect

2008-07-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

PLEASE, take flame wars off list!

Take it to General Meeting, Radio Board, Board of Regents, Board of
Bored White Guys, Whatever!

NOBODY who volunteers or is paid at KUNM is ever fully appreciated,
respected or thanked. Some aren't even acknowledged as humans! Morale
sucks and many seem to think their own needs outweigh the needs for
COMMUNITY radio.

Everybody feels rectally probed, from Richard Towne to the maintanance staff.

Nobody has privacy or a place to play, exercise or let off steam. It's
a radio station, not a national park.

Hell, I was told I could no longer use the (pre-rennovation) VOLUNTEER
ROOM computer to research news stories because a staff member didn't
like having to see me when she came in for a cup of coffee! There
weren't enough computers in the newsroom, and it was too chaotic
(under a previous news "director") for me to concentrate. I was left
with no place to produce news for the news dept.!

Nobody has chairs, access to the copier, staplers, or anything else
they need without unlocking fifty million locks, wandering from office
to office to beg or filing requests to UNM in gazilliplicate. The only
thing efficient about a university radio station, apparantly, is we
always have toilet paper. I'm not even sure about THAT!

The station's off limits to ALL of us, because a few sociopathic thugs
steal and break everything that isn't locked down.

Most kids -- and adults -- on the planet are working every morning for
subsistance wages or as slave labor. Nobody ever thanks them. They
don't have electricity to plug in a tv. This includes a LOT of people
in New Mexico.

See quote in my signature, below.

--
Rogi Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com
PWD Powered Radio Blog
http://pwdradio.blogspot.com/

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never
stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and
neither do we."
-- President George W. Bush, August 5, 2004.

"feedback?"

2008-05-06T04:03:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I've never heard of a volunteer producer at the station "suggesting" content to another producer. Perhaps I could suggest that the programming for youth do a production on how neglegent and indulgent parents of children with behavioral disabilities, who accuse the general community of "discrimination" when their children assault people and destroy property while the parents ignore it, are setting their kids up to be social rejects or criminals. But I don't think that idea would go over very well. I think I just got "complimented" on, and "congratulated" for, a piece someone didn't even hear!

K said:

Thanks for such a thoughtful discussion about TBI and its effects.

Me: This was not a discussion of TBI, although some of the participants acquired Traumatic Brain Injury. As I began my research, the Brain Injury community quickly educated me to the fact that those who have NOT been labeled "TBI" get ignored and receive even worse care & treatment by the medical industry.

Personally, I can't see how the medical industry can NOT think ALL forms of brain injury are "traumatic."

K: As you know, my daughter was born with cerebral palsy and we've experienced many of the symptoms of TBI that your guests describe.

Me: No, I didn't know; nobody told me. My guests and I described experiences with brain injuries. In fact, in the intro, I tell the listeners that this is "an experience of brain injury." I could not, in the limited time I had available, address all forms of brain injury. Nor could I secure interview subjects with every label of diagnosis. A lot of brain injuries were not, specifically, listed; the list could have consumed the entire hour.

K: It's a little different to be born with brain injury, in that you
don't get plugged into "rehab" instantly, but have to seek it out on
your own.

Me: I've never "instantly" received rehab; in fact, I've NEVER received rehab, because I'm not affluent enough to afford adequate insurance which would cover diagnostic testing, beyond speculative musings of psychotherapists (I stated this in the intro). I, therefore, as is true of most people with BI, still don't have an "official" diagnosis of BI (as I stated in the intro), which is the primary reason WHY I'm not affluent enough to afford adequate insurance.

Glen Ford, founder of the now-defunct Brain Injury Clubhouse (which could not secure adequate funding, due to general community's arrogance, lack of interest, under education and nonexistant empathy) and board member of BIANM didn't, as he said in the piece, receive treatment for -- or acknowledgement of -- his brain injury for over three years. HE was a very affluent, government engineer, and the feds are STILL forcing him to fight his case, 12 years later, as he said in the piece. I also stated in the piece that apx. 85% of people with brain injuries never receive accurate diagnosis or treatment. Most people with BI have to seek therapies on their own.

I think, given limitations of time, resources, voluntary and (at my insistance, as "professionals" in the medical industry frequently have a far different, and often harmful, agenda on the subject of brain injury) nonprofessional interview subjects, I did a pretty thorough job. Ralph Shields, board member of BIA, said he thought it was the best presentation he'd seen in 25 years of advocacy for the Brain Injury community, and wants to assist me in broadcasting it nationally. That's got to count for something.

K: How about a show on autism and adults in New Mexico - possibly the most under-served of all adult developmental disabilities?

Me: You can apply for an Independent Producer's grant, if you'd like to pursue this subject. Otherwise, I could use assistance with securing the funds necessary so that I could produce it, as I'm too low income to produce huge radio documentaries for free. With a KUNM IndyProd grant, I figure my actual wages for each production at between $3-10/hour. Last I heard, KUNM only gives out 2 IndyProd grants per producer, per year. I have another project in mind this year.

"Brainstorm" feedback

2008-05-05T08:42:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Rogi's radio documentary, "Brainstorm," aired on KUNMfm yesterday. To read some email feedback, please go to Rogi's Radio blog http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/.

from Ralph Shields

2008-05-05T07:16:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Dear All,

I don't usually "toot my own horn" but I and several others will be part of a Public Radio program about Brain Injury that was produced by Rogi Riverstone (also a person living with BI) locally at KUNM fm (see below). For those of you who do not have access to the Albuquerque channel you may access it via Internet on their web site.

The program has already been accepted other stations so that it will most likely be aired nationally.

If anyone in the Albuquerque Metro area is interested in joining Rogi in a disability network program - advocacy group, please contact her directly... it sounds like a great way to get our words out to the public and participate with others.

Glenn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- "Rogi Riverstone"

"Brainstorm" is an experience of brain injury, produced by Rogi

Riverstone of People with Disabilities Powered Radio

It will be airing on KUNMfm http://kunm.org on Sunday, May 4 at 11am.

Tune in! Different frequencies in different parts of New Mexico, and

you can listen on line.

Dear Glenn and Rogi,

I thank you and wish you both great success with your broadcast --- and thank you for the "heads up!"
Have been trying to enlarge your listener base, but ran into a snag with AOL.
You might want to be aware that the link for Rogi's blog (the domain --- not your particular blog) is apparently on an AOL block list.
I sent this notice to a number of contacts around the country last night, and could not get it to go through to any AOL or Compuserve address --- thought they might be blocking my (hotmail) address, but had same result trying to send via gmail --- so called the AOL postmaster this morning and they had me forward the message to them so they could check the included URLS.
The link to your blog killed it --- thought you should know.
Best regards ~ RWS
Ralph William Shields

The info re: the blog is very discouraging. However, if any of you &
your friends would like to be added to the People With Disabilities
Radio email list, just let me know. Our next meeting will be Tues, May
6 at 4 pm in the Conerence Room at KUNM.

Call 277-4516 for more info.

http://pwdradio.blogspot.com/

Wow !!!
Rogi, thank you so very much. Glenn, thank you so much --- for your intimate and intelligent sharing on the broadcast, for your commitment to our community, and for alerting me about the broadcast. Thanks to Ken, for introducing me to Glenn.
To each individual who spoke and shared their stories, and to everyone involved in producing the show, thank you.
I just left a rambling message at KUNM to thank you and tell you that your program today was perhaps the best presentation about what it is like to be a person learning to live with a brain injury that this one has heard in his twenty-plus years as a member of the "club" --- and I've seen, heard, facilitated and/or participated in many --- from local support groups to national conferences --- through nearly twenty years involved with BIANYS, a six-year stint awhile back as a member of the BIA of America board of directors, and through considerable connections with major academic researchers and other BI professionals, and so much more.
Again, wow.
Now, I thank you, Rogi, for your invitation and I'd love to join you to discuss this at your May 6 meeting --- but am afraid the trip from here (Albany, NY) might be a bit much.
I do, as suggested in my rambling message, hope we might discuss possibilities for sharing your broadcast with a larger audience.
Do you have any plans in regard to this? Hope we can connect to consider possibilities, and how I might help you with this.
All for now. Thank you again. Wow!

Best regards ~ RWS
Ralph William Shields

PS --- I did forward the notice about the show to a couple hundred people across the country last night (and the AOL folks this a.m.) --- hope some of them got it in time to tune in --- will let you know about any feedback I might receive.

Paul Ingles, to KUNM volunteers' "Ideas List"

2008-05-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I'd like to chime in on this too. I think Rogi's program this morning was a stellar example of what public radio is supposed to do, which is to give voice to those whose voices are ignored.

Giving someone access to the microphone is worthy in itself, but to shape such an engaging, artful and emotional hour of radio listening is another thing. Rogi really took it to that level.

And having done this myself for a longggg time now, I know how much work went into the montage that led off her program. It's not easy to pull off so well. It was a tremendous achievement.

If you missed it, go out of your way to hear it online whenever KUNM posts it. Congrats Rogi! Extremely well done!

Paul

Paul Ingles
Independent Producer

from Glen Ford, peer advocate for people with brain injuries

2008-05-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Rogi,

YOU ROCK!!!

Your program was superb.

How can I ever thank you enough!!!

I spent all evening E-mailing out your announcement to over 300 people. I am now getting compliments to the show. I will forward as appropriate!

Bless you

Glenn

P.S. I am still wiping away the tears... and thank you for sharing your story too!

"Brain Storm"

2008-05-05T07:01:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Hi, Sarah.

I'm copying this to Rogi Riverstone, Brainstorm's producer. She should be able to forward this to the guest.

Thanks!

Rachel Kaub
KUNM Operations Manager

Dear KUNM,

My husband and I heard a small portion of today's Brain Storm program, and I
wonder if it is possible to get in touch with the woman who had suffered a
brain injury and was interviewed today -- I did not hear her name. She said
she was hoping to learn to play a song on the guitar and be able to play it
within a year.

My husband is Vince Bell http://www.vincebell.com

He has five of his own CDs and his songs have been performed and recorded by
Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Little Feat among others. He has also been on
KUNM in the past! More important, he is also a TBI survivor, as a result of
a car accident in 1982. He spent a month in a coma and had to relearn how
to walk, talk and play music again. The first song he was able to do was
not his own, but Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released.

I mention all this only to assure you our reasons for getting in touch are
that he was very touched by her story, and wondered if he might help in any
way.

We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for the help.

Sincerely,

Sarah Wrightson & Vince Bell
Santa Fe, NM

Sarah,

Thank you for your interest. I'm sending this on to Corey Perea, the
woman who wants guitar lessons.

Keep on her; Corey can remember EVERYTHING from her past, but had
difficulty remembering what she'd ordered for lunch yesterday -- ten
minutes after she'd ordered it (yesterday was, coincidentally, Corey's
birthday, and I took her to lunch.)

Corey's smarter than hell; she just needs gentle reminding.

And please remember: follow up is necessary, even if your husband
decides he can't follow through on the idea. It really hurts to get
one's hopes up and never hear back from the person who made the offer.
I think Corey will feel pretty jazzed to know someone really heard
her, and cared enough to make contact. Just remember, though, "the
road to hell is paved in good intentions." Nothing personal, and I'm
not saying y'all WOULD "flake out" on her, but Corey's had a lot of
disappointments since her brain injury, and I won't reign in my
maternal instincts to protect.

I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear from y'all! Thank you SO MUCH!

Dear Rogi,

Thanks for this. We will call her tomorrow, Tuesday, and see what she'd
like to do. An easy drive from Santa Fe, as she is on the north end.

Thanks too, for your concern, but I think rather preaching to the choir as
my husband is brain injured. Remembering for ten minutes can be quite a
success in fact. And the decade of betrayals he endured in his first 10
years cannot be recounted. That he understands the world's fears and
inabilities to help in the face of helplessness is as much a part of his
recovery as anything else. It is as much a part of his heroism. His book,
One Man's Music, which deals in great part with that part of his life, will
be published by University of North Texas Press in Spring 09.

He has spoken at various TBI state conferences around the US, as the keynote
speaker, but it is always the break-out sessions with the survivors, which I
help with also, that are the most wonderful and difficult.

Anyway, we'll call on Tuesday and many thanks for all your help with this,
and your concern and care for Corey.

Sarah

"Excellent"

2008-05-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

What a wonderful program. The opening montage was stunning. Great interviews followed. Thanks so much for bringing voices that are virtually never heard onto the radio.

I hope you'll want to re-shape this slightly for national broadcast. I'd be willing to offer you some guidence on that so when you/KUNM put it up on Public Radio Exchange, it will have its best chance to be picked up by other stations. Briefly - if you're interested - that would mean inserting national brain injury hotline numbers in place of NM's. Some stations - that play NPR newscasts hourly - require a 53 minute version. Although I'm sure editing out 6 more minutes would be excrutiating, it could be worth it to get a station like KUOW in Seattle to pick it up. They only use 53 minute shows. Anyway, we can talk later this week if you have questions/energy for that.

But in any case, again, just a triumph for you on this one! I insist that you/KUNM enter it for an AP Documentary Award next year.

Congrats!

Paul

Paul Ingles
Independent Producer
www.paulingles.com

"Brainstorm" podcasts on KUNM

2008-05-05T06:56:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

The pieces I've produced: Kicked Out Queers, Native American Vets with PTSD, What's a Disability to Brenda's Girls and Brainstorm ALL involve populations of our community who have little or no discretionary income.

People are telling me they can't afford to buy the podcasts.

Disabled people have to lose everything, before they qualify for Medicaid and, therefore, necessary therapies, technologies, housing, rehabilitation, transportation and even FOOD. Just listen to "Brainstorm" for several examples of relatively-affluent people who were reduced to poverty, in order to receive medical attention.

IF my programs about financially-vulnerable populations are to be posted on KUNM's website, is there a way to waive the fees?

"Brainstorm" documentary about brain injury

2008-04-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

"Brainstorm" is an experience of brain injury, produced by Rogi Riverstone of People with Disabilities Powered Radio http://pwdradio.blogspot.com/

It will be airing on KUNMfm http://kunm.org on Sunday, May 4 at 11am. Tune in! Different frequencies in different parts of New Mexico, and you can listen online.

focus

2008-03-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

This is another comment to J's "random musings" blog:

I'm really sorry about your dad. Here's what you need to know about that: If Dad's in foster care, it's healthier for Mom. I know, from personal experience, how draining and physically disabling it is to care for someone's every need. I did it for a living, as a personal care attendant. And I did it for my father. The day he died, although I felt -- temporarily -- guilty for it, I was relieved. I was young, back then, and physically stronger (though not psychologically). If I had to do it today, in my 50's, it would destroy me. Your Mom needs care, too.

You're learning something very important about focus & discipline, in this experience.

I'm going through something TERRIFYING in my personal life. I don't get to even feel safe & respected in my own home. I never know when the situation will again turn hostile and dangerous. There's no peace; there's no economic stability; there's no privacy; there's no dignity. I have been completely betrayed by someone I chose to love, with whom I'd chosen to live my life.

I have to wait until I earn more money, before I can change the circumstances in which I live.

So, I'm working on radio. And I'm working on print journalism.

Things here are SO chaotic, it's difficult for me to sleep through the night. I wake up, startled and paniced, and worry about what will happen next.

I've been very concerned that this will destroy my attempts to improve my situation through my creative work.

I'm brain damaged; I can't hold a regular job. And a few months ago, this person I loved punched me in the head, repeatedly. This person is much larger & stronger than I and has several martial arts blackbelts.

The only way I can work my way out of economic dependence on this person is to work, here, at home, on my computer, to produce radio and writing.

And I WOULDN't be able to produce these, just to earn money. I need to be motivated by more than economic instability. I have to WANT to produce.

I can't let the distractions of: a drunken, hostile landlady; drunken, DANGEROUS neighbors; a narccissistic & volotile house mate keep me from working.

I have to concentrate. And I'm brain damaged & have PTSD. My memory's bad, esp. under stress. I can't control my adrenal glands; my brain chemistry is out-of-balance, so I don't experience well-being like "normal" people. I have to work REALLY HARD for that one.

Creative work is how I feel well-being.

If I let all the crap going on around me sabbotage me, I'm dead.

My work isn't about me. It's about the communities and people on whom I report. I keep myself OUT of these productions and writings, as far as I can.

So, my work is HEALING to other people, and THAT is the biggest blessing in the world to me: I'm useful; I'm helping.

If I allow the toxins around me to poison me, I can't BE helpful in the world.

I'm one of the few and the VERY lucky: I get to do something I REALLY LOVE doing. Being low-income, with no formal degree, I KNOW how scarce THAT is.

It's rare, even among the financially privileged.

I've learned SO MUCH about: discipline (which I'd mistaken for "abuse," given my childhood), commitment, emotional control, impulse control....

It's turned into a Zen thing. It's like self-hypnosis or trance: I'm completely focused on my work. I don't feel pain, panic, fear, anger, self-pity. You could probably smack me on the head with a frying pan & I wouldn't feel it.

I'm very protective of my work, and everything required to do it. INCLUDING my body, my mind and my balance. I've never cared SO MUCH about my own health as I do right now, because it facilitates the WORK!

So, let everybody around me be crazy and dangerous, selfish and abusive. I've got a deadline; I don't have time for that crap.

comment on Random Musings

2008-03-01T07:45:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Random Musings blog

It's not disinterest, in my opinion. It's dispassion. I've heard Tom Trowbridge cover stories about which he'd just done a very passionate monologue, in the newsroom, off the air, to anybody who'd listen. On the air, he knew what you've discovered: the listeners aren't as engaged as is a reporter who has a history of talking with the sources, covering the event in GREAT detail, often on multiple occassions.

Tom would have burned to a crisp very early on, if he'd let his perceptions influence his news persona. He's a very passionate, opinionated, caring and thoughtful man. But you'd have to know him, off mic, to know that about him.

I'm from the Cronkite school of delivery: let the STORY inspire passion in the listener. Now, BELIEVE me, I don't share a lot of Cronkite's perspectives; he was, after all, a success in a very commercialized, straight, white, male industry. That says, to me, something about his FAILURES, actually.

The ONLY time ANY of us can EVER remember seeing him "lose it" was during his coverage of the Kennedy assination. It was personal; they knew each other. It was patriotic; our President had been shot. It may even have been political; he may have shared a national sentiment that this new, young, frisky President was going to bring back hope, grandeur and integrity to the White House. Who knows, on that last, because Cronkite didn't communicate that. Nor should he.

Journalism must be dispassionate. It MUST be. We have to let the CONTENT of the news inspire people to take action, to feel whatever needs to be felt, to live consciousl lives.

Too much of media today is about emotional manipulation: a well-studied SCIENCE of Madison Ave. My god, characters on SOAP operas are now peddling Cambell's Soup and Ragu sauces. The actors actually look SHEEPISH, delivering lame dialogue about PRODUCT PLACEMENT!

Pharmaceutical companies DELIBERATELY peddle antidepressants during news & bloody dramas/thrillers. AND their products are placed during DOCTOR SHOWS!!!

Look, you are the captain, during your airtime at the station, of one of the LAST bastions of freedom of information. This is a sacred trust. I've SEEN egotistical characters, at the station where you're working, nearly DESTROY that trust!

What R was telling you was, more succinctly, what I'm telling you, here.

I consider that newsroom sacred ground. Literally. It is a tremendous responsibility and HONOR to be allowed to broadcast FACTS to THOUSANDS of people around the state who have NO other media outlet, besides the Moyers stuff on Friday nights (which NEVER is about our state!).

Local, commercial coverage, beyond police blotter garbage, is nearly nonexistant here. The consumers of that drivel are uninformed, ignorant and the people in power want it to STAY this way!

When your mouth is in front of that microphone, you are influencing the ballot box. You are influencing the legislature. You influence nonprofits. You influence public policy.

You DON't do it by telling everybody what YOU think and feel. You do it by letting the FACTS, that people SELDOM get to hear in this state, do the work.

You get to be emotional in your blog, among your friends, in your late night bed when you can't think for the thoughts whirling in your head.

Be very careful of revealing your emotional self to ANYBODY at the station, especially R.

He has his own trials and difficulties, yet he never discusses them, unless asked. And MY experience is that, when asked, he gets rather embarrassed and clumsy at the attention to his personal life. Although, he doesn't mind it when I call him "Shorty," as long as I don't do it in front of ANYbody!

People at the station are struggling, daily, with the challenges of just keeping good radio on the air. Period. It's frustrating; that univesity wants seventeen thousand forms, signed in triplicate, filled out just so, before it'll shake loose any resources, money or anything else the staff and volunteers there thing it needs.

If they want personal frinedships with you, they'll ask.

I'm speaking from personal experience here, buddy. I arrived in pain & crisis. I told them WAY too much about me. I scared some, alienated others and taught quite too many of them to distrust me, for fear I'd be a "loose cannon."

They can't afford distractions.

You are VERY GOOD as an on air voice. Your reading, writing, cueing of material, etc. sound quite polished. I'm comparing you to a certain freeform host who, after -- what? -- a DECADE on the air still sounds like a bumbling, complaining, rank ameteur. Listeners I meet outside the station COMPLAIN to me about her crappy broadcasts, and wish she were off the air.

What you need now is that sacred shell, in the center of your chest, that protects you from revealing too much.

It protects the station; it protects freedom of information; it protects YOU.

I'm very sorry about the loss at El Ray. I have a LOT of opinions about it. The fire was caused by negligence, for one thing. For another, it wasn't well insured!!!

But I won't broadcast my opinions. I'll let the FACTS do it.

Opinions, my friend are like assholes: everybody's got one! And they usually stink.
Random Musings blog

from a certain Music Director at a certain station I know

2008-02-14T13:08:00.002-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

new adventures in radio ...

A guy buys a new Lexus 330. He returns to the dealer the next day, angry because he can’t get the radio to work.

The salesman explains that the radio’s a new voice-activated model. “Watch and listen!” he says, and shouts “Nelson” to the radio.

A voice from speakers asks “Ricky or Willie?”

“Willie!” answers the salesman, and On The Road Again begins playing.

The car’s owner shouts “Ray Charles!”, and in an instant Georgia On My Mind replaces Willie Nelson.

The customer drives away happy. “The Beatles!” he shouts as he hits the highway, and Across the Universe comes on.

Seconds later an SUV cuts him off, nearly forcing him and his new Lexus off the road.

“Asshole!” he shouts after the speeding driver.

The radio begins playing Hail to the Chief.”

to Cris Williamson

2008-01-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

http://criswilliamson.com

Subject:
permission for radio documentary
To:
publishing@criswilliamson.com

Hi,
I'm producing a documentary for http://kunm.org in
Albuquerque, NM. It's about a single mom of two,
severely disabled kids, living in Ft. Sumner, NM (a
VERY small town.) She's a cowgirl, a spitfire. The
agencies & institutions which are supposed to protect
& nurture her family are splitting hairs and
endangering her children. She's smart, self-educated,
and fighting them, every inch.

While listening to my interview with her, phrases from
the album, "Country Blessed," kept popping in my head.
I don't plan to use entire songs. I'd like to use
portions of the following: "Calamity Jane," "Country
Blessed," "Move On" and "Fertanga."

I'll happily list these, and any contact info you
like, in the closing credits.

Just let me know how you'd like them listed.

I'll also be using a bit of instrumental, probably
from "Move On," in the on-air promo.

And I can list you on the KUNMfm website, as well.

I realize, as this is a collaborative album with Ms.
Trull, there might be complications.

Anticipated air date is mid Feb. to mid March.

Please reply as soon as possible.
Thanks!

Rogi Riverstone

about A. L.

2007-08-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I've worked, for many years, as a psychiatric nurse's assistant as an assistant/attendant for the disabled. I'm very comfortable, dealing with people with alternative mental states, disabilities, brain disorders, etc.

I approached you, several months ago, about this project. This was a conversation in your office, and I don't expect you to remember it. So, this is a reminder.

Ali and I had discussed the possibility of a nindependent producer's grant, in order for him, primarily, to produce a program on TBI, with my assistance. He had energy for content, but had no idea how to deal with the technicalities of such a production. He also made it very clear he had no interest in involving himself with UNM HR. He's concerned about the impact a grant would have on his eligibility for human services, disability insurance,etc. I told him I would be willing to executive produce the project, deal with the financial aspects,editing, recording/engineering, etc., if he would actually conduct interviews and establish the contacts. HE has with the TBI community in Albuquerque. We agreed that I would pay him half the IP grant, in exchange for his work. He has never been interested in the money; his primary motivation was the production and its potential educational value.

That part, you knew.

Here's what you didn't know.

I suggested that Ali and I meet, for about two months, every Monday evening at 6pm, at the station, for preproduction meetings. My purpose was to familiarize him with the application process, production requirements, interview skills (we invited Paul Inglesto that particular meeting), and all aspects of how such a program might work.

I had another purpose, as well. I was honest with Ali about this. I wanted an opportunity to assess Ali's capabilities, interests, levels of ability. I wanted to know if he would or could follow through on any aspect of the production, if there might be roadblocks we could overcome to make it happen, and if or whether he really had interest in following through on the project, or was just "pipe dreaming." I did not want to get involved in a cooperative project if it meant my partner could or would not meet his obligations and responsibilities.

Much has changed in Ali's personal life, since we began meeting. He's now involved in Vocational Rehabilitation, where his skills were assessed as he temporarily worked for Goodwill Industries. He will now be given training and employment options, based on their assessment of his skills and limitations. His life is in more serious flux than even he can appreciate, as a result.

In our most recent meeting, he suggested that he cannot be as involved in such a project as he'd previously believed. I found this a relief. Based on my experiences with him over the prior months, I'd concluded that some of his expectations of the project-- and of himself -- might not be realistic. I was planning to have a very uncomfortable (for me, anyway) conversation with him, during that meeting, about what I'd observed from him in the past, two months. Fortunately, he beat me to it, and bowed out of co-producing the project.

We have renegotiated the roles we'll be playing in the production, as a result. He still wants to conduct interviews, when he can. He still wants to provide me with contacts. And he's interested in editing some sound, in order to lay music beds in parts of the piece. But he is no longer interested in producing or directing it. This is totally fine, by me. I can edit interviews into cohesive segments, easily. I can schedule studio time, call interview subjects, investigate the piece, etc. I was pretty much planning on doing all of that,anyway.

Ali's life experience, as a TBI survivor, is important to the production, in my opinion. I'm hoping to contact another KUNM volunteer who survives TBI, as well.

I don't expect anything from Ali. I will use what I can of what he brings to the project, if anything. He can interview; whether he will or not remains to beseen.

As with most of the projects I've produced (with the possible exceptions of radio plays), not much about them looks, in the final production, like the application I put forward to you. Things change, as I contact people who may or may not follow through. I can afford to be flexible. In fact, I find it interesting, to watch a piece I produce begin to evolve over time. It makes for much better radio, than expecting everyone and everything to follow my directions in lock-step. And it's very satisfying, creatively.

Even one of my radio plays evolved in such a way: I had to edit down the original script from nearly 2 hours to 58 min. At first, the play write, who's pretty famous, was miffed and threatened by my editorial decisions. But he came to believe -- and still does -- that my edits actually improved the script. That piece, "Epilogue," is now in the Museum of Radio and Television. I'm pretty damn proud of that.

So, Ali is no danger or threat to the completion of this project. He's an asset to it. Don't worry about how or whether he'll screw it up. He's only interested in producing an educational, evocative, informative piece of radio. He's absolutely not interested in getting in the way of the production, just to salve his own ego.

I picked a good guy to work with. I just need to let him be Ali, and not someone he can't or won't be.

I can do this, with or without his help, support or input. And it'll be good radio.

record from SF radio station, or drive there?

2007-08-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I forgot about Santa Fe: My truck gets 10 mpg. I rarely drive it out of town. I have a scooter that gets 90mpg, but is not suitable, as it would take all day to drive the round trip. And New Mexico drivers are ultra-lethal, esp. on I 25.

I'm not sure HOW I'll be interviewing people yet, WHERE I'll be interviewing, etc. I'm suggesting this as a possible option for my production. Nothing is written in stone, yet. I'm just factoring in variables to satisfy the application process, right now.

paying talent from an IP grant

2007-08-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I just paid Beaver cash, out of my funding. Actually, I had to take out a payday loan to pay her, at 25%interest/mo., because HR took so long to process my paperwork

Ali doesn't need to be on the payroll. I've paid engineers, actors, voice talent, etc. out of my IP funds, before. It's up to THEM to declare it on taxes,etc., so it's not a UNM HR issue.

office politics

2007-08-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I need to say the following to you, because my anxietyl evel about KUNM is way, too high, and my experiences with you are a serious part of that.

I never know where I stand with you. I'm not talking about this application business, although you'll see that the tension and apprehension I feel when I interact with you is reflected by my fears of double standards. I don't feel I can trust you, and I don't feel you trust me

.I strongly suspect that you don't respect or like me. I don't need to be liked, but respect is very important to me. People have wiped their posteriors with my dignity, whenever they could. It's just about the only resource I have left, and it's sorely damaged. For survival purposes, I've been REQUIRED to pretend my dignity wasn't a priority, and have allowed people to use me to gratify their own, neurotic purposes.

It continues, to this day. I'll have to risk assault by homeless, single, male drunks -- who hang out near the dental clinic, because there's a package liquor store across the street -- at 5am, for first-come-first-served dental care. I have no option. The clinic isn't open at that hour; the community center it's in is closed; there's no security. But my body is riddled with infections from my teeth. And I wake every morning with the smell of death in my mouth. The clinic is my ONLY option in New Mexico. I'm weak, dizzy and light headed from the infections. And teeth are VERY close to the brain

.I've approached you as a necessary evil. This is my fault, not yours. I hope you won't take offense.

When I first arrived at KUNM, I was very happy to have a chance to work with you as my temporary news director. I have a lot of respect for you as an editor. I knew you, primarily, as station voice talent, and was impressed when you subbed on NAC, etc.

Things have disintigrated, over the years. I've felt, whether it's true or not, that you were short-tempered with me and that you believed me to be either: irresponsible, mentally defective, contemptibly "street," or otherwise not acceptible for KUNM.

It's gotten to the point where I feel my chest tighten, when I see an email from you, or hear your voice in the halls. I'm always worried that I'll have offended you.

And, no matter how much I've "proven" myself, I never feel that you respect me or my work.

Now, I have a temper. You've seen that.

I need you to know I'm not coming from a place of trying to hurt YOU when I'm trying to defend myself, my position, my work.

I'm really all I have. I have no family. I have no close friends -- in Albuquerque, anyway -- for moral support or to have my back. I've lived under circumstances that would drive a LOT of people to drugs, mental illness, suicide or seriously antisocial behavior. I survived it all by being quick on my feet, constantly vigilant and VERY assertive about my needs. That's the UPSIDE of PTSD.

The down side of PTSD includes: I have a terrible memory when I'm under stress. I can't stop adrenal "rushes" when I feel threatened. I have lousy impulse control when I'm angry or afraid.

Given all that, I'd say I've done a pretty good job,when it comes to KUNM. I've never screamed at people, hit anybody, destroyed property, showed up chemically impaired, stolen, threatened, intimidated or otherwise exhibited the antisocial and unacceptable behaviors I'we personally witnessed or heard about from so-called "normal" people at that station.

Now, I'll NEVER be what's so smugly called, "normal." But I've been a devoted and hard-working member of the KUNM community under some pretty unacceptable circumstances. I guess I'm saying I'd like that acknowledged by you, as management.

I just don't want to feel afraid when I interact with you,. Whether either you or I like it or not, you are, by default, a role model and authority figure for many of us at KUNM. I don't want to fear you.

I try really hard not to bother you, annoy you, cause you extra effort, distract you, etc. Have you noticed how rarely you even see me, anymore?

If there's something I can do to improve communications and interactions between the two of us please let me know. I'll consider any feedback you have as PERSONAL correspondence, and will NOT hold against you anything you honestly care to express. I do NOT want to cause trouble for you at KUNM. I want to make things better. I want to work well with you. That's my motivation.

app rejection

2007-08-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I did try to call within the last hour, but got voicemail, so I figured you were gone for the day.

I don't like "ratting out" people at the station, as the office politics are very toxic there. But it is a fact that R told me today was the deadline. I was covering for her, but I really need not to have my app. rejected over an otherwise minor miscommunication. But I ALSO don't want R to suffer any fallout over such a minor thing!

reply to my app.

2007-08-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Well, if you have to reject my application on atechnicality, I can't do anything about it. You knowthis is important to me, so I don't need to campaignfor it.Marcos isn't in his office, so I can't contact himand, apparantly, wouldn't have been able to do so forabout a week prior, anyway.Please forgive the tardiness. I've always beenmore-than-punctual, in the past. Does it help that theattachment is dated for July?

IndyProd application

2007-08-03T11:07:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Application for KUNM Independent Producer Position

NAME: Rogi Riverstone

TITLE OF PROJECT: “Brainstorm: Traumatic Brain Injury”

NUMBER OF PROGRAMS: 2
LENGTH OF PROGRAM(S): 28 min

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

1. Concept/Synopsis:

Exploration of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) through interviews with survivors, caretakers, family members, friends and loved ones. What diagnostic facilities, rehabilitation, support systems exist in New Mexico for those who face recovery from TBI? What are the social challenges: stigmatization, economic impact, contact with law enforcement, etc. How can TBI survivors be better assisted in our community? I may need some studio time, production assistance and assistance with PR.

HOW DOES THIS PROGRAM PROPOSAL ADDRESS THE PRIORITIES FOR PROGRAMS AS PRESENTED IN THE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS?

This is an educational program, involving University and other hospitals’ personnel, clients and others who deal with TBI. It addresses the scientific, sociological and personal impact of TBI in the New Mexico community.

Mission

What specific benefit or service does this program provide?

Educates the larger population about the special needs and challenges of TBI survivors and those who care for and love them. Reduces the stigmatization and prejudice TBI survivors and families face. Begins a dialogue on care taking in our community.

2. What audience segments do you intend to serve with this program, and how do you intend to reach that audience?

This is designed for the general community, as most of us have little experience, information and recognition of the challenges of TBI. It will offer some insights into the decision-making processes of medical professionals, social services providers, law enforcement personnel and local governments with regards to TBI. It will address the effects on the community.

Is this a service/benefit readily available on KUNM or elsewhere? If so, how would this program complement existing service?

I've never heard anything on KUNMfm or any other station, for that matter, which covers this subject in any detail. Local, commercial media outlets haven’t covered the story, at all. As thousands of military personnel begin returning from overseas wars, TBI will be an issue of intimate and immediate importance to the communities to which they will be returning. Are we prepared? In addition, this story is of national significance. As populations swell the infrastructures of cities across the country, communities will be making serious decisions about the handling of TBI survivors. Albuquerque is a microcosm of the national discussion.

Please check below the interests that the proposed
program addresses. (Taken from the Regents' Policy on KUNM)

CHECK 1. HIGH QUALITY, DIVERSE PROGRAMMING SERVING
DIVERSE INTERESTS PRIMARILY NOT AVAILABLE ON COMMERCIAL RADIO STATIONS.

Does the proposed program:

___YES!__ A. Present information and informed commentary including the arts, the sciences and culture generally?

___YES!__ B. Present information and discussion of significant issues facing society, thereby contributing to the development of an informed citizenry?

___YES!__ C. Convey diverse cultural richness of our society, and by presenting it, making it known to the present generation and also preserving it for future generations?

__YES!___ D. Develop diverse local programming?

___YES!__ E. Encourage listeners to enrich their lives through music and the arts and encourage new insights concerning life's experiences and the relationships between individuals, society and our cultural milieu?

CHECK 2. PROGRAMMING WILL COMPRISE AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF THE UNIVERSITY'S ACADEMIC MISSION.

Does this program:

___YES!__ A. Encourage creative initiatives from all sectors of the university?

__YES!___ B. Present scholarly and cultural activities such as broadcasting of lectures, recitals and other appropriate forms of faculty, staff and student expression?

__YES!___ C. Provide opportunity for experience in public radio station programming and operations?

PRELIMINARY PRODUCTION ELEMENTS (detail proposed interview sources, natural sound, music and other production sources you plan to use):
Person on the street interviews, ambient sound, interviews with professionals and officials who are associated with the project, TBI survivors and their loved ones, etc.

PROPOSED TIMETABLE (suggest the amount of time you expect to need for gathering source material; b) pre-production; c) final production): I’m giving myself 2 months for this project. It will take at least that long to get sources to speak with me, to locate interview subjects, to do necessary back story research, etc.

ESTIMATE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS TO COMPLETE: 150-200 apx.

YOUR DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION: October 1, 2007
PROPOSED AIR DATE: same or later

BUDGET:

PAYMENT AMOUNT REQUESTED (max- $900): $900

The following expenses are not extracted from the
payment amount approved by the committee.

1) ESTIMATED SUPPLY NEEDS:

DAT TAPES (max- 10-120 min DATS) ___________ 0
CASSETTES (max 15-90 min CASS) _______________ 0
REEL TO REEL (max 4 full reels) _________________ 0
OTHER (not guaranteed) CDs $5.00

Describe how tape will be used:
Air checks, copies for guests, copies for later broadcast

(NOTE: Your estimate may exceed the limit on the following but the total on 2-7 must be < $277)

2) ESTIMATED LONG DISTANCE PHONE USE: (max-$100 per program)
$100

Explain Long Distance needs: I’ll need to interview specialists in the field of TBI. Some of these won’t be local.

3) ESTIMATED TRAVEL MILES (.25/mi)/PER DIEM (max- $60
per program) $60

Explain your travel needs: I’ll be all over the city, interviewing people. In addition, I hope to go to Santa Fe, Belen, Bernalillo, Los Lunas and other, local communities, which have significant TBI populations, services, hospitals, etc. Hopefully, I’ll also make contact with some Native American community clinics.

ESTIMATED POSTAGE (max- $10 per program) $10
Explain postage needs: mailed out fliers, business cards, letters and other information to community organizations involved with TBI.

ESTIMATED PRINTING (max- $7 per program):______ $ 0 estimated
Explain printing: done at station

6) ESTIMATED UPLINK (max- $100 per program) $100, if necessary. I might need to interview people at the Santa Fe community radio station from KUNM studios.

7) OTHER EXPENSES (please explain in detail-reimbursement for these items is not guaranteed) $100 for Ali Liddel, TBI survivor and KUNMfm volunteer as voice actor. I can’t read copy with my bad teeth.

TOTAL OF ITEMS 2-7 (cannot exceed $277) $276

YOUR PRODUCTION HISTORY

(List other programs that you have produced or assisted with. Be specific about the programs and your level of involvement in the production. Your best production work should be included on the required demo tape that you turn in with this application.)

Producer(s) and related experience/background: Rogi Riverstone: reporter, KUNMfm, Albuquerque, NM; reporter, KUSPfm Santa Cruz, CA; Women's Issues broadcaster, KAZUfm Pacific Grove, CA; talk show host & student, KCRWfm Santa Monica, CA; formerly-homeless Queer; independent producer; writer.

EXAMPLES:

Interview: Mike Farrell KCRW. Produced, hosted 15 min. interview with Mr. Farrell on his trip to Nicaragua.

Interview: Coven KCRW. Produced, hosted 15 min. interview with witches for Halloween.

Apx. 15 pieces, 3-6 mins. in length, for KUNM Evening News

Apx. 5 pieces, 1.5 min. in length, for National Native News.

2 pieces, 1 min. in length, for Free Speech Radio News.

1 piece, 2 mins. length for Women's International News Gathering. 50 hours live interviews, music programming, etc. for My Sister's House, KAZUfm Pacific Grove, Ca.

50 hours news reporting, editing, production for KUSPfm, Santa Cruz, Ca.

KUNM VOLUNTEER HISTORY

(Number of years, general activities) Three years: news, fundraising, radio theatre, substitute hosting, editing, clerical, webmastering, production assistant, etc. Apx. 2,000 hours, to date.

Independent Producer Grant projects: Homelessness Marathon, Epilogue, Wounded Warriors: Native American Veterans with PTSD

attempted data theft

2007-07-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Earlier today KAZU in Monterey, Calif. received a suspicious e-mail with anattached invoice from a firm claiming to be a vendor. In fact, we have no record of dealing with this firm--Beckman Instruments which is a legitimate company located in Fullerton, CA.

According to a blog entry I found at PC World magazine(http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004662.html) the attachment KAZU Development Director Doug McKnight wisely chose to leave unopened is a sophisticated piece of malware that's quite effective at creating an ongoing HTTP path for harvesting data. We share this with the list because, unlike the usual clumsy and obvious phising attempts we all receive every day, this message was carefully directed and may be consistent with an attempt to ply data from pubcasters.

The subject line on the suspect message was: Subject: FW: Proforma Invoice (Attn: Douglas McKnight - Director ofDevelopment) [30e034fb3cf2230048e84aed041b6106] FWIW.

Duncan Lively General Manager 90.3 KAZU, NPR for the Monterey Bay Area

Explaining St. Crispain to the Program Director

2007-05-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to offer a tribute to those who didn't survive the newsroom battles. Rather than create a stink, I didn't dedicate it to: Tom, Leslie (I realize there were extenuating factors there, but she deserved the option of a leave of absence to attend rehab), Stuart, Jeramiah, Angela, Elaine, Beaver, Linda and anybody else I can't remember now. It was a lost cause, but not less honorable, just as Henry's cause was lost before the battle had begun. The carnage was intense; the pain very real and indelible. People still cry, when we discuss Renee's effect on us.
We who still darken the doors of KUNM bear our scars and remember the names of the fallen, even though our neighbors have forgotten.
Congratulations to management, if you've had any influence on Renee's decision to finally walk away from the destruction she singlehandedly caused to very good, hard working, decent people.
It's a shame she got sick during her probation period. Otherwise, she'd have shown her true colors soon enough to be let go, years ago.
I'm not blaming you, per se, or even Richard, for the misery that woman caused to many people. She's responsible for her own dysfunction. Unfortunately, as with so many dysfunctional people, she has left the overworked to clean up her messes.
But I can never trust a system that wouldn't or couldn't protect us from her, respect us enough to believe there was a genuine problem, and do something to heal it all.
I will never think of Renee with respect, but only with fear and grief, and neither will quite a few others, including the poor UNM maintanance guy who had to empty her trash.
I don't wish her harm. I just continue to wish her gone, as I have for 3 years now.
So, the reference to St. Crispain is an honorarium to those of us who struggled, and failed, against her totalitarianism, unpredictability and brittle ego.
I meant it to be obsure. Only those directly affected need to understand the tribute.

Peace Talks: Competition

2007-05-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

I just finished transcribing Paul's Peace Talks http://paulingles.com for May. I don't usually post these here, but this one's an exception, IMO. It's not just sports; it's academics, employment, class status..... Things that make me go puke.

This is the BEST analysis of why I have always hated sports that I've ever heard. I've often suspected someting like counter empathy, but had no language for it. It covers domestic abuse, too; people KNOW what hurts, and like to see others suffer.

INGLES: Your book, No Contest: The Case Against Competition, was first published in 1986. It begins with the sentence, “Life, for us, has become an endless succession of contests.” You wrote that over twenty years ago. I was thinking that the competition imperative has only been amplified over the last, twenty years. All you need to do is look at television, to see reality show after reality show, based on being chosen and beating – by hook or by crook – a field of competitors. I was thinking it might have you wishing for the good old days of the competitive environment of the 1980s. What’s been your reaction to this trend?

KOHN: It’s going to be discouraging for an author who hopes that his or her book will make some difference. I had no illusions that any book – mine or someone else’s – would instantly transform a culture that is marinated in the imperative to defeat other people. There are some encouraging signs, in some arenas. But you’re quite right. Competition is dug in, deep. Now, we get to watch, not only things like hockey and football, but poker and spelling bees. There’s no limit to our appetite to watch other people try to defeat one another.

INGLES: A lot of times people will say, “Let’s make it fun. Let’s make it a contest.” You’re suggesting that we be on the alert for that and say, “Do we really have to make a contest out of this?”

KOHN: Right. At the very least, the most moderate position here would be to say, “There are other ways to have fun, without all of the disadvantages attendant on a contest. The stronger argument would be that there is something decidedly un-fun, or twisted, warped, form of enjoyment in which I have to triumph over you. I spend a chapter, in No Contest, trying to dissect the ideas of fun, play and recreation, to show that competition actually gets in the way of enjoyment

INGLES: Let’s spend a few minutes, talking about sports in more detail. Some say, “Competition does prompt superior performance.” Speed records, performance records, all seem to fall as athletes compete to top each other. They would say, “The winners look so happy.” What do you say is missing from this picture that you’d like us to be conscious of?

KOHN: First, even the winners in a sports contest aren’t happy for long, typically. Mark Spitz, in the early ‘70s, who won an unprecedented number of gold medals for swimming in the Olympics, later told interviewers he didn’t know how far, how fast, you could fall. That’s typically true with competition. Even when you win, you feel great – for a while – you’re euphoric; you’re impossible to live with. Then, you come crashing down to Earth. You need more and more victories at more public events, in order to try to reclaim that same feeling. It gets increasingly impossible to do that. It’s like building up a tolerance to a drug. Meanwhile, you’ve got the “losers,” some of whom have spent their entire lives, preparing for this moment, utterly devastated now. From a psychological perspective, it’s completely unnecessary. Moreover, there’s evidence to show that, even with gross motor stuff, competition doesn’t always lead to better performance than other, alternatives. But let’s assume that I’m wrong here. Let’s assume that, if you didn’t compete, you wouldn’t have people reaching higher and higher levels of proficiency. I’m talking about the .001% of the population who are professional, or Olympic, athletes. They’re able to jump higher and run faster than ever. So what? Especially when you compare that, or contrast that, with the manifestly destructive effects of competition. The fact that we’ve got a lot of obese kids here – for many reasons – but, in part, because the only game in town is a competitive game. If you recoil from competitive sports as a child – and I think that’s a sign of health – that’s it. There are very few other, physical activities where you can really enjoy yourself and get all the other advantages, if it’s not about trying to step on someone else’s face. I’d gladly give up some Olympic record, in order to help our society re-conceive physical activity in noncompetitive terms.

INGLES: Even if it’s not about beating someone else, but it’s about beating a record . . .

KOHN: Well, that’s different. Beating a record is not really competition, unless you really stretch the word beyond a point of usefulness. I don’t object to the idea of trying to do better today than you did, last time. If I go swimming, I might try to swim an extra, couple of laps. You can get carried away, even there, where it’s not fun anymore.

INGLES: It depends on how you feel about that effort.

KOHN: That’s right. But let’s say we do it in a way that does provide challenge. Improvement, trying to improve my record since yesterday, I don’t find that objectionable, particularly. It’s a way of rescuing the idea of competition, by defining it so broadly that an innocuous example like that is used to try to justify the whole concept, including the real kind of competition, which is where I’m trying to beat you.

INGLES: But, if you feel like a loser, when you haven’t topped that performance. . .

KOHN: There are some people who will feel like “losers,” I suppose, even when there’s no real competition involved. I’m not suggesting that all psychological problems and deficiencies and self-esteem can be laid at the feet of competition – just a lot of them.

INGLES: Let’s go back to the source of this. There’s a point, in almost everyone’s childhood, when you cross a line, I think, from playing to play and playing to win, from playfulness to competitive sports. It’s when the parents ask the question, “Do you want to join the soccer team? Do you want to play on the football team?” Playfulness and competitive sports, you say, are two, very different things. I’m guessing you see that as a sort of developmental fault line that might be a way to raise parents’ consciousness about this transition, or this opportunity.

KOHN: I think we can raise parents’ consciousness from the time they’re thinking about having children, not just when their kids go from bouncing around on the trampoline to have fun to a point where they’re told, “If you want to stick with this, you’ve got to get serious, and that means being a competitor in tournaments.” What a sad, sad thing that is. There’s no way to be good without being better than others, or trying to do so and, maybe, even failing. Parents need to think about that, well before that age is reached. They need to think about it when they’re starting to have kids. They need to be encouraged to think about their own experiences: the ways, perhaps, their parents drove them into competitive sports, taking a vicarious satisfaction: “My kid is a winner. Therefore, I’m a good parent.”

INGLES: Can we talk about the “us versus them” paradigm that is endemic to sports, even outside of the competitors? It seems pretty common to have kids, absorbing their parents’ ideas about all kinds of preferences, whether it’s Ford over Chevy or the Red Sox over the Yankees. People say, “I’m a Denver fan; I hate the Cowboys. I’m a Red Sox fan; I hate the Yankees.” You go to a pep rally and they’re burning the other team in effigy. Many would look at those kinds of scenes and laud it as great fun. School spirit is good. But it feels like there’s an ugly side, as well. Where’s the rub that relates to some of your research?

KOHN: If we look at participants in sport, there’s research showing that moral judgments have become less sophisticated in a competitive context. It actually retards ethical development, to put people in a situation where they are trying to beat someone else. Other considerations then become secondary. Sometimes, they’re pushed out of the picture, entirely. You learn to hate other people or, at least, talk yourself into that, because the goal is pretty much at the bottom of any sort of hierarchy: it’s just to see other people as a means to your success. When you watch this, there is often a very, as you say, “ugly” kind of dynamic that is created. Social psychologists call it, “B.I.R.G.,” which stands for, “Basking In Reflected Glory:” I have a little bit of spark in my own life – not because of anything I’ve done, but because a bunch of athletes who, probably, aren’t even from my town, are triumphing over their counterparts in another sports franchise. It’s a pretty sad reason to be excited about a school – or a city – when you think about it. And it carries dark, dark echoes of far more violent “us against them” situations. It’s not innocuous and it’s not an alternative to primitive impulses; it’s a replaying and a reviving of those impulses. And it’s not the way I think we ought to be socializing our children.

INGLES: I played high school basketball. I heard the old saw, back then, that “You have to want it more than the other guy. The other guy only wants to make you look bad. The other team is worthy of derision. There’s little or no honor in a loss.” The fans adopt all this, too. When you step back from it a little bit, sometimes, it can look real ugly: whether it’s the cruelty of the wildest, student sections at a high school or college game or stories of individual athletes who keep ramping up the “us versus them” philosophy. Here’s an example. It’s a piece on NFL linebacker, Bill Romanowski, who was on “60 Minutes” a couple of years ago. He played for 16 years and lead defenses to four Super Bowl wins. He also admitted to taking steroids, to extend his career. Here, he’s interviewed by Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes.”

ROMANOWSKI: “I felt I could take myself to a place where other guys weren’t willing to go. ‘cause, come Sunday, after a game, I already started hating the next opponent. I started hating the guy I was going to go against. I hated their coaches. I hated their fans. I hated their families. You name it. By the time I got on to that field, come Sunday, watch out, because there was rage.” [Sounds of players tackling, grunting, growling, as crowds cheer]

PELLEY: “Number 53 rode that rage to become one of the most feared linebackers in the NFL.”

INGLES: Most sports fans would say that Romanowski is sort of an exception, that he’s an extreme example, that most players aren’t so hell-bent on hate. Is there a cautionary tale in a case like Bill Romanowski ?

KOHN: Think of it in concentric circles. In my book I quote another football player, who talks in almost exactly the same way about that drive, that hatred, which fuels the victory. But go a step out. It’s about football, itself, not just about the most extreme players of that game. But it’s not just about football; it’s about sports. And it’s not just about sports. It’s about competition. And I mean all sorts of competition. It doesn’t always manifest itself in these egregious terms, of people saying, “I hate him; I want to kill his family.” There’s been social psychology evidence now, for some time, suggesting that, if you take ordinary people, and you put them in a situation where they’re told they’re going to compete against somebody else – at some kind of game, not even a physical sport – people develop something. Psychologists had to invent a new word for it. They call it, “counter empathy.” Ordinary people, put in a competitive situation, begin to take pleasure in the distress, or failures, of those who have been arbitrarily designated as their adversaries – in some temporary game – and to be saddened, or upset, by the successes of these people. These are people they never knew before. The problem is not with individual psychopathology. It’s not just the guy who rips the leg off someone else, the guy who breaks the rules. It’s not just about the aggressors and cheaters. We love to do that in our culture, to blame the individual, so we can keep the structure intact. It’s about competition, itself, as a system, which plays itself out in different ways on our playing fields and battlefields, but also in our workplaces, our classrooms, and even our families. Whenever you set up an arrangement where I have to try to make somebody else lose, that, necessarily, brings out the worst in people. We start to envy winners, to have contempt for losers, and to lose our natural, human connection to just about anyone who can be defined as a “competitor.”

about free thinking/speaking/acting

2007-03-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Reply to an email by Halima Christy, host of Sage Health Online, member of the Free Speech Movement.

Halima,

Theoretically, I agree with the Free Speech Movement.

Here's my issue: the infrastructure is not in place to support it.

Our culture DOES NOT encourage THINKING freely, for damn sure.

Education is so bad that less than 30% of kids in Detroit graduate with a High School diploma.

Video games, released by Bill Gates' (Mr. Philanthropy) company give bonus points if the player "kills" prostitutes.

We don't have an informed democracy; lobbiests control the GOP, thanks to Rove et al; GOP spin doctors are calling people faggots and "immoral."

Mega churches get federal funding for social "services" which promote homophobia and sexism, not to mention superstition and doomsday prophesies. AND they own TV channels & radio stations for which -- apparantly -- Liberal faiths have nothing to offer by way of equal time or alternative channels. Example: WHY, after all these years, does not the Unitarian Universalist Association produce a Liberal broadcast???

I was just verbally assaulted by a drunk when I walked to the corner restaurant for a hamburger. I expect such things on the streets. But I don't want it in my house!

I know: just turn off the radio. Right. Some solution.

Our culture is SATURATED with visciousness, terror and hate.

I won't question Street Beat, its personnel or its program content . . .

IF

IF I see a genuine, heart-felt commitment to generating even MORE, local programming in which such issues are addressed in a SERIOUS attempt to HEAL some of this venom! Or, at least, invite an attempt at such dialogue.
And I don't mean some ivory-tower, upper-middle-class academician, pontificating the illusion of "objectivity" on NPR news.

And I DON'T mean some sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, I-know-more-than-you-do, Chicken Little commentator for the Party Line of the Left, either.

When I produced KUNM's segment of the live, national call-in show for the Homelessness Marathon, Queer kids from the streets walked into the studios of KUNM for the first time and "spoke truth to power" to an enthusiastic audience. Street hookers, drug dealers, incest survivors... people who are affected intimately by hate speech FINALLY had a venue to express their joys and sorrows. It's one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

What have we contributed to the Homelessness Marathon since?

And I'm NOT saying I'm Saint Rogi, avenger of the downtrodden and that all programming on KUNM should be done the way I do it.

It doesn't MATTER to me WHO produced that program; it matters to me that it WAS PRODUCED.

IF we, as KUNM, have a commitment to address these life-and-death issues, to contribute even more to an informed democracy, to spotlighting aspects of our community infrastructure which are disintigrating from neglect and corruption, to encourage the genius of our fellow New Mexicans -- if that, then I have no problem with occasional, problematic lyrics in music programming (and, yes, Don, especially spoken word programming.)

I still assert that it seems healthier, to me, to attract a thousand people who'd donate a dollar each than to pander to ONE donor of a thousand dollars (because of the potential for undo influence, corruption, etc.)

The way to attract those thousand people is to address their issues: the issues that put their daughters in danger as they walk to school, that endanger their sons with violent behavior and emotional disability, that take money from their wallets and food from their tables.

That's my opinion.

Believe me, I'm accustomed to rough language. I can dish it out, too. No problem.

I want safe harbor for every aspect of our community: respect, dignity, education, inspiration.

I know: I'm living in a fool's paradise. It's not going to happen, right?

Well, it won't happen if I don't try to make it happen.

We've got Ann Coulter to teach us how to call people faggots.

I'm just wondering if we need KUNM to do it, too. At least, do we need KUNM to broadcast such things WITHOUT any discussion, dialogue, examination, conversation?

PS, Don: I was using the term, "gangsta cRap," to describe a SUBGENRE of hiphop, not the entire genre. I'm sorry that wasn't clear in my writing, but that's what I mean.

And, Bob, as to the issue of self defense, I do defend myself. But some people can't. Those people still deserve the right to walk to the store in peace. That's all I'm saying.

"gangsta" cRap on KUNM

2007-03-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

My problem with "gangsta" cRap music (institutionalized exploitation by white, recording executives who only see the bottom line and RESTRICT diversity of opinion/expression in the hiphop genre) is that it CONSCIOUSLY encourages oppression, racism, sexism, Black-on-Black violence, internalized racism & self-hatred (drug use, alcoholism, measuring success by "bling" intead of moral integrity, REFUSAL of fatherhood, unsafe sex, etc.)

Shakespeare utilized violence for artistic effect, for social commentary as WELL as for entertainment. I believe the same could actually be argued for "Mack the Knife," which was one of my favorite, childhood songs, too, by the way. I was a strange child.

The Bible is part historical record, part allegory, part morality apologia and part Entertainment Tonight (in my opinion, informed by several years' study for the ministry.)

Sure, there are lots of socially-unconscious examples of icky subjects in art. Picasso exploited the hell out of women. Most commercial, motion pictures still ARE racist and sexist.

In the "gangsta" cRap industry, people are making CONSCIOUS decisions to promote the WORST forms of oppression, of the very people they've pimped out to record it!

It is institutionalized hate speech. It is designed to produce contempt, anger, hatred (all masquerading for fear, I believe) between people.

My neighbor just pulled up. He blasted his sound system. Racial and gender epithets filled our flower-dotted street. Threats of the most hideous tortures and abuses bounced off our neatly-painted walls.

A fetid, murky fog of hell settled over our street. Neighbors looked at each other in our yards with such helpless grief. We don't want to hear it. We don't want our kids to hear it. It's toxic.

I can't WAIT 'til that pack of yahoos gets evicted!

There's a difference between art and propoganda and hate speech. Yes, they often lop over onto each other.
But this is BRANDED hate speech. It depends on racism, homophobia, mysogyny, violence and internalized versions of the above to prosper.

I can't justify giving it more air time than it already gets.

Subscribing to KUNM is a lot like paying taxes. Oh, it's more voluntary, sure. But I can't earmark that my taxes not pay for nukes and health clinics that won't discuss birth control and "faith-" based Queer bashing in homeless shelters. And I can't tell the Development or Programming Departments, "hey, can my money go to generating original Queer and feminist programming, and not hate speech?"

I know we're in the middle of a pledge drive, and these are dangerous words. I've already alienated KUNM management a lot with my raggedy, off-the-wall self.

But I live on less than seven hundred dollars a month. And I gotta wonder, am I supporting something that supports me if I subscribe? I mean, am I REALLY? 'cuz hundreds of thousands of dollars to NPR and Performance Today could SURE buy a LOT of alternative news (like WINGS, the international women's news broadcast) and could sure fund a LOT of locally-produced programming that's part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I'm just asking.

It's Friday night

2007-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

. . . and people are tired.

Let's not get too cranky about the whole Street Beat thing, ok? We're all trying to do good radio. It's just that we don't agree on what that means. Let's not spill each others' blood, in an attempt to make our points. I guess I'm to blame, too, since mine was the first, very assertive opinion. I'm sticking to it, by the way.

I understand the value of free speech, believe me. I would have been active as a volunteer several years earlier, if not for the General Orientation I experienced under a different Volunteer Coordinator.

When discussing the concepts of obscenity and indecency (our policies have modified since then, btw), I became concerned as to the viability of discussions of human sexuality. Specifically, I was concerned that any programming about safe sex for women -- especially Lesbians -- couldn't be broadcast, except during Safe Harbor hours. How does one discribe the placement of a dental dam on female genitalia, the use of female condoms, etc., without mention specific body parts? How could one broadcast a story -- either during regular news broadcasts or during Women's Focus -- without getting the FCC on our backs?

My concerns were met with silence by the Coordinator and by sniggers by the potential volunteers assembled. I stopped attending Orientations and didn't volunteer at the station until several years later. It was an uncomfortable experience.

We need more, not less, conversations among ourselves as to our motivations, visions, etc. for KUNM and its programming.

Nobody's suggesting micromanaging programmers, or the Program Director, for that matter.

See, for me, this isn't an intellectual exercise in philosophy. I've attended too many memorials, made too many hospital visits, cried over too many news stories of hate crimes to be "objective" on these issues.
Frankly, I question the very concept of "objectivity," as portrayed by the Academy. I have a sneaking suspicion this so-called, "objectivity" IS an opinion, even though it's concidered bad form to admit it.

I don't want my speech curtailed, for sure. I always think I'm right. And I want others to hear my opinions, and those of people I respect.

'course, I'd say that, for the most part, I'm pretty responsible about my speech. I realize it's not just a right; it's a responsibility.

I hate being called epithets. I hate hearing others called epithets. I SERIOUSLY believe it leads to physical violence and discrimination.

I also think a bunch of white business dudes are pimpin' angry Black men who can rhyme to sell CDs to angry white men who can't. I don't wish to encourage that dynamic. Yes, I, too, saw that PBS special on hypermasculinity and latent homoeroticism in cRap music.

I wish we could have this discussion on air. I wish we could have it on Street Beat.

Anyway, this email's too long.

We all have a commitment to KUNM; we just have different approaches. Frankly, I think it's good for the station & its programming that we DON't agree on the approaches, but all approach.

I'm trying my damnedest to appreciate the fact that people with whom I SERIOUSLY disagree are just as committed -- probably more so -- as I am to the station.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Thanks for caring SO MUCH about KUNM.

KUNM Show Promotes Discrimination

2007-03-20T11:03:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

A volunteer at KUNM posted an email to the volunteers' ideas list, with a link to a letter in the UNM "Daily Lobo"

KUNM Show Promotes Discrimination
http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2007/03/19/Opinion/LateNight.Kunm.Show.Promotes.Discrimination-2780196.shtml

The Program Director replied with some limp arguments about how the program in question, "Street Beat," is broadcasting programming that wouldn't be heard anywhere else.

Here's my reply:

I have a great idea!

Let's get some students, volunteers and community members with an interest in art for a project!

Let's send them out with dump trucks and shovels to collect feces from male bovine.

We'll have them bring it up to the 3rd floor lobby in wheelbarrows and smear it all around the lobby, leaving big piles for people to walk through!

It'll be an art installation.

True, people will slip and fall in it. It'll cause diseases. Lots of people will suffer, because the smell will drift all around the community. It'll affect progamming, staff efficiency and the number of people willing to either volunteer at, or contribute to, the station. We'll have a pretty bad reputation, all over the state. It'll be dangerous and counter-productive.

But we'll say it's art and freedom of speech, even though everybody else calls it a steaming pile of bullshit.

If Nazis broadcast that crap, someone would complain to the FCC and we'd lose our license. That's in addition to the protesters outside.

We're just lucky so few people even listen to a program that's produced by people who don't even interface with the KUNM community, staff, listeners or other volunteers.

People are DYING from hate speech. We need the air time for REAL programming.

As to outreach and inclusiveness, we need to look to our own house. When a former Volunteer representative to the radio board can sit in a General Meeting and blithely question the capabilities of a staff member, simply because that person has no bachelors degree, without any interest in that person's life story, AND that person is Black, AND it is said in the presence of another staff member who is struggling to complete said degree, how can we not say we've alienated the hell out of the community we're supposed to be serving? Prejudging people, based on tickets, economic privilege, ranks and credit ratings is just as oppressive as racism, sexism and homophobia. Nobody -- including me -- challenged that person in that General Meeting. It has been a source of constant shame and frustration for me, ever since.

I can't worry about the consequences. The State of New Mexico, PARTICULARLY Gay men in rural areas, NEED a voice, not excuses.

NPR/PBS funding

2007-02-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

George W. Bush is trying--yet again--to slash funding for NPR and PBS.
This week, Bush proposed a new budget with devastating cuts to public
broadcasting [1]. "Sesame Street" and other ad-free kids' shows are under
the knife. So is the independent journalism our country needs.

Enough is enough. We've fought this fight before and won--but we can't
afford the risk anymore. With the new Congress, we can make sure this
never happens again. We need Congress to insulate NPR and PBS from the
political winds.

We can make it happen if enough of us sign this petition: "Congress must
save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent
funding and independence from partisan meddling." Clicking here will add
your name to the petition:

http://civ.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/o.pl?id=9851-3948011-VGljuSqZQ6yWqFJDA.vKvw&t=2

After you sign, please forward this email to your friends, family, and
co-workers to keep this campaign going. We'll deliver the petition to
members of Congress as they consider Bush's budget--offering a public
counterpoint to this dangerous attack.

Congress can protect NPR and PBS from future cuts. The long-term solution
to save public radio and TV is to:

* fully restore this year's funding
* guarantee a permanent funding stream free from political pressure
* reform how the money is spent and keep partisan appointees from
pushing a political bias

Bush's budget would cut federal funds for public broadcasting by nearly
25% [1]. According to PBS, the cuts "could mean the end of our ability to
support some of the most treasured educational children's series" like
"Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and "Arthur." [2]

As telecommunications chair Rep. Ed Markey said, "In a 24-7 television
world with content often inappropriate for young children, the public
broadcasting system represents an oasis of quality, child-oriented
educational programming. We owe America's children and their parents this
free, over-the-air resource." [1]

The cuts could also decimate one of the last remaining sources of watchdog
reporting on TV--continuing the partisan war on journalism led by the
ex-chair of public broadcasting, Ken Tomlinson [3]. More people trust
public broadcasting than any corporate news media [4]. President Bush
would rather undermine our free press than face reporters who are asking
tough questions.

Let's put an end to the constant threats to NPR and PBS. Let's ask
Congress to guarantee funding and stop partisan meddling. Clicking here
will add your name to the petition:

http://civ.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/o.pl?id=9851-3948011-VGljuSqZQ6yWqFJDA.vKvw&t=3

Thank you for all you do.

--Noah, Marika, Eli, Adam G. and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Thursday, February 8th, 2007

P.S. Our friends at Free Press have more on how to save NPR and PBS once
and for all:

http://www.freepress.net/publicbroadcasting/=policy

Sources:
1. "Bush Proposes Steep Cut to PBS Funding," TV Week, February 5, 2007
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11508

2. PBS' Ready to Learn program (funds "Sesame Street" and other children's
shows)
http://www.pbs.org/readytolearn/

3. "Tomlinson Slinks Away," MediaCitizen, November 3, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2347&id=9851-3948011-VGljuSqZQ6yWqFJDA.vKvw&t=4

4. "2005 'Open to the Public' Objectivity and Balance Report," Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, January 31, 2006
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals/objectivity/

Lots of winter projects

2007-02-02T07:11:00.001-07:00

My g/f & I are planning a 10-day trip, traveling the Santa Fe Trail from
here in Albuquerque all the way to Kansas City and back. We're shooting
video for an Independent Study project of hers at college. It'll be a
video documentary, based on a radio play she produced several years ago.

So, the truck needs cleaning out; bedding and cooking utensils need
washing; goats & chickens need extra feed (so do cats). Clothes need
packing; cameras need batteries, film, etc.

It's a lot of work. As usual, she can't help, because she works full
time and has other classes, too.

It's her last semester. She'll graduate, with honors, in May. Maybe then
I can fall apart! I've never known her without tremendous pressure on
her.

Besides all that, Dudette at http://net4tv.com Games has offered me a
job, writing about WebTV stuff for her users. I'll have a blog; it'll
have a forum, so readers can reply, etc. I'm also helping her set up
online greeting cards and email signatures.

So, I've been awful busy!

BTW: I'll be gone from the 9th through the 19th of February. We're
taking the WebTV and a small TV set with us. We'll periodically stay in
hotels. That way, we can post still photos online, check email, etc.
I'll try to post in my newsgroup and blogs then, but who knows?

Mostly, we'll be sleeping in the truck, on an air mattress, in February.
We go through Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and, of course, New
Mexico. Nothing like a camping trip, in the DEAD OF WINTER! brrr.

Help Journalist Fight Army Subpoena

2007-01-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Help Journalist Fight Army Subpoena

Hi all:

As you may know, I've been subpoenaed by the Army totestify about an interview I did with 1st Lt. EhrenWatada, the first officer to publicly refuse to deployto Iraq.

I have taken the position that it's not a journalist'sjob to participate in the government prosecution ofpersonal, political speech, and that the subpoenaserode the barrier between press and government, chillspeech, stifle debate and subvert the notion of apress free of government meddling.

I've gotten really amazing and diverse support: fromthe National Press Club issuing a release last weekdenouncing the subpoenas, to antiflag posting amessage on their blog doing the same! I'm asking thatyou all do two things, if you are willing to spend afew quick minutes lending a hand.

First, go to the web site http://www.defendthepress.org/ to send a letter to theArmy and the Pentagon asking that they drop thesubpoenas of journalists in the Lt. Watadacourt-martial. Also, you can sign onto the journalistopen letter calling on the Army to "back off." :)

Second, please send an announcement/alert to your ownfriends, colleagues, lists and networks. I would loveto be be able to deliver thousands of emails andletters to the Army by the end of the week, and Ireally need help getting that accomplished! I'vedrafted up a sample alert below. Feel free to edit atwill and send out to whomever you'd like!

Also, free free to call or email off list if you haveany thoughts or questions.Thanks so much for your help with this!

Sarah Olson
http://www.freepresswg.org/
http://www.defendthepress.org/

plantation mentality

2007-01-18T09:53:00.001-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Date:Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:55:46 -0800From:"Rogi Riverstone"Subject:Re: [KUNMIDEAS-L] Fwd: plantation MentalityI just lost my free speech to blog. Google boughtBlogger. Now, I can't access it from my WebTV. I mustuse a computer. I'm privileged; most webtv users don'town and can't afford a computer. Their blogging issilenced.See: http://msntv.blogspot.com/Rogi Riverstonehttp://rriverstone.com Date:Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:42:37 -0800From:"megan kamerick"Subject:Re: [KUNMIDEAS-L] transcript of moyers speechit's herehttp://www.commondreams.org/views03/1112-10.htmMegan--- Halima Christy wrote:>> tried to send this earlier-- hope you are tuned> in to this->> --- the forwarded message follows ---> > From: "Halima Christy" > Subject: plantation Mentality> Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:46:44 -0700>> hi-> i just heard a very unusual media speech- on> "Democracy> Now"> (on TV- 10am Ch27 in Abq) by BILL MOYERS at the> Media> Conference in Memphis-->> Moyers passionately spoke- fire in his belly!--> about> --'elite plunder' of the very rich across the boards> in US> --- in everything, including radio, tv , cable,> and they are going after internet more than we> dreamed...> -- conspiracy of the rich> --"The American Dream vs The Gospel of wealth" (a> book)> --Censorship of Knowledge in the Media for last 50> years> -- Oligarchy's 'view from the top' in all media, and> the> effect it has repressing democracy> --Media language concealing reality> -- time to challenge the "Plantation mentality' we> are all> being subjected to by Washington & the corp> media> -- great book called "Digital Destiny"- must read> for> media lovers>> It seems like Moyers really did listen to Jos> Campbell and> to> many of the healers in both of his historic series> in the> 80's> while so many others were opting into the yuppie> dream....> Moyers> talks about salvaging freedom of the press with> digital-> even tho> the corp plundering has started--> R Murdoch bought 'myspace', and Google already> bought> Utube, etc, etc-->> Moyers notes that with digital, 'everyman' has a> pen, is a> Tom> Paine, and corp cannot be the only storywriters...>> Hoping that we all understand the nefarious> ramifications> of> the 'plantation mentality', Moyers said maybe the> civil> rights> movement in media starts when we stand up from our> obsequious> labors and realize " this ain't the product of> intelligent> design">> He spoke of the original goals for radio- "classroom> for> the Air",> and how they were exchanged for commercial> sponsorship> goals in the> 40's and 50's....>> THIS is a GREAT speech, not to be missed by anyone> who> values> Free Speech in any form. As one who worked in the> FSM-> the Free Speech Movement> meetings started in the house next to mine on> Carleton> Street,> and i have never fully recovered from that blast of> intelligence-> listening to Mario Savio, (whom i sometimes think> of as> the> 'last best orator), and the others, being present at>> Sproul Hall Plaza> from the first FSM demonstration on== with all the> police> tear gas> attacks and arrests, etc etc--> i don't get to hear GREAT SPEECHES nearly enough--> most> politicians> and media people seem possessed with serious early> Alzheimer's..> (except for public media, bien sur),> and the ONLY national TV show (are there others?)> worth> attention> seems to be DEMOCRACY NOW-- which helps me> to believe that free speech/democracy is just> temporarily> comatose..>> THIS Bill Moyers speech is GOOD FOR THE INTELLIGENT> HEART....>> TREAT YOURSELF to some sane and brilliant thinking-->> listen today> at 4 pm on www.KUNM.org (Albq time) if you are out> of the> area,> to Bill Moyers on "Will the media foster democracy> or> quench it?">> Health democracy for all,>> Halima

On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change

2006-10-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

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It's nice to know someone besides FAIR and Bill Moyers are keeping an eye on the "historical influences of 'Entertainment Tonight'" (quote from "Broadcast News") and corporate takeover of media.

This is from theAnnenberg Public Policy Center.

Entire documment here: http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/Overholser/20061011_JournStudy.pdf

Excerpt:

Propositions
In June 2005, a group of journalists, scholars and others concerned about the challenges confronting
American journalism gathered at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The nine propositions below served as starting points for their discussion.

• A greater role for nonprofits – organizations such as the Center for Public Integrity, the St. Petersburg Times
and National Public Radio, along with foundation support – could help lift all media.

• Citizens of a democracy have a responsibility to be informed. Media literacy courses, stronger civics
education and other tools can create the environment of vigorous debate in which the press can thrive.
• Our society would be better served if journalists could make their voices heard more effectively –
in response to freedom of information challenges, reporters threatened with jailing, concerted
efforts at misrepresentation of the press, and so forth.

• The media can significantly strengthen their own position by doing a better job of holding themselves
accountable and making their work transparent.

• The essential role of a free and responsible press must be made a primary concern of the public.
Only they can protect and sustain it. The discussion must be brought to public attention.

• More responsible corporate governance among media companies is essential if the costly work of
original journalism is to be sustained.

• In this period of challenge and change, journalists would profit by seeking a clearer common understanding
of ethics and good practices, and a deliberate recommitment to journalism’s public-service role.

• New forms of media, the engagement of a richer array of people in producing media, and new ways of
using media are transforming the landscape. An understanding of these changes, their potential
and the challenges they pose, is essential to addressing the problems and opportunities confronting
journalism.

• The government role in protecting, regulating, and supporting a free and responsible press demands
thoughtful consideration and public discussion.

Wounded Warriors on FSRN

2006-07-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

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"Wounded Warriors: Native American Veterans with PSTD" is being carried now on FSRN.org. They bought it from me for a 4th of July special.

I have to tell you, hearing someone from KPFA in Berkley, CA announcing my humble offering was a thrilling and humbling experience for me.

Listen to it here: http://www.fsrn.org/news/20060704_news.html.

Wounded Warriors: Native American Veterans with PTSD

2006-05-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

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Wounded Warriors: Native American Veterans with PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, affects thousands in the USA. Many of those impacted by PTSD are military Veterans. A disproportionate number of those Veterans are Native American. US Department of Veterans Affairs and US Census figures list approximately one hundred, sixty thousand living Veterans of Native identity. This means a full ten percent of all living Native Americans are Veterans. Comparisons to the general population show that nearly three times as many Natives served in the armed forces as non-Natives, per capita.

In this documentary, producer Rogi Riverstone spoke with three men whose lives are affected by PTSD.

Dave Fero, Ph.D. is the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service Line Manager at the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System, Prescott, Arizona

Michael Villanueva, Ph.D. conducts research on PTSD. His projects have collected data on both Hopi and Zuni veterans.

Bruce King is a Viet Nam veteran, an artist and a member of the Oneida Nation, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In Part One,
we will examine the challenges faced by Native American Veterans with PTSD, and those who care for them. Airs Sunday, May 28 at 12:30pm on Singing Wire, KUNM 89.9fm http://kunm.org

In Part Two,
we will hear the experiences of Native American Veterans who seek healing from PTSD. Airs Sunday, June 4 at 12:30pm on Singing Wire, KUNM 89.9fm http://kunm.org

I'd like to thank the little people

2006-05-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

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... and the trolls, elves, sprites and fairies, too.

Subject: Independent producer award
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 16:52:44 -0600

Congratulations! Your independent producer application has been
approved.

The award amount is $900, plus expenses up to $277 (don't ask me how we
came
up with that figure)

Please write back to me to confirm that you accept the award; and also
confirm what your production deadline is.

Keep in mind that if you have trouble meeting your deadline, you can
apply
for one extension of up to 3 months.

Thanks,

Marcos Martinez
Program Director, KUNM-FM
MSC06 3520
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Peace Talks, Gandhi

2006-04-18T15:40:00.001-07:00

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I should've been posting these every month! Here's this month's Peace Talks transcript. I do them for Paul Ingles. His link is at the bottom of this page.

04-06

DEAR: Gandhi practiced and engaged the theory of peace and justice as the world had never seen before. Dr. King later said shocking things about Gandhi: that Jesus showed the idea, but Gandhi gave us the method. He said that Gandhi unpacked the life of Jesus more than anybody in history.

BOSS: Essentially, what he was doing was seeking the spiritual roots of political struggle.

DEAR: Which King said no one had ever done before. That is why Gandhi broke new ground, in so many ways. That is probably his greatest contribution. Everybody said he was a spiritual person, practicing politics. He said he was just a regular politician, trying to be a saint. In any case, he was combining the two. He was seeking God, the God of peace and justice. He concluded that he could not live in the Himalayas. He had to be with the poorest of the poor. He had to confront evil and injustice and resist war. He had to practice perfect nonviolence and love and what he called pitting his entire soul against evil, in pursuit of the truth.

Wow! We do not have anybody on a scale like that today, working for political change, on behalf of all people, but doing it from an interfaith perspective, doing it as a deep contemplative. He spent two or three hours a day in prayer for fifty years, making the connections that the God of peace is in this movement for justice. That is the way he talked. It was a great, great contribution to the world.

BOSS: He was a big influence on Martin Luther King, who came upon his life and his teachings. Apparently, King, prior to reading Gandhi, understood the ethics of Jesus as being effective only in individual relationships. He did not see it in terms of a much larger picture, in terms of social reform.

DEAR: Right. That is the way most Christians in the United States still understand Jesus, unfortunately. That’s why Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. King are critically important – to everybody, but especially to Christians –because Gandhi is saying, “if you want to follow Jesus, you have to be engaged in the world.” You have to resist war and injustice. Otherwise, you are certainly not following the nonviolent Jesus and you are not seeking God’s reign of peace. It is very political language that is, by and large, still rejected. Gandhi said that Jesus was the most active person of nonviolence in the history of the world. The only people on the planet who do not know that Jesus was nonviolent are Christians. King was very inspired by that. My friends and I are, too to say that, “Well, if you’re going to be a Christian, you’ve got to practice nonviolence.” Gandhi shows us how to do that.

___________________________________________
BOSS: I know you have many memories of your grandfather. Can you start by sharing with us one that is particularly vivid for you?

Gandhi: I think the most vivid memory I have of living, as a young boy, with him was his lesson in anger management. I was a very angry, young man when I was growing up in South Africa. I became a victim of prejudices, was beaten up by whites, and then by Blacks, because both did not like the color of my skin. It filled me with a lot of rage. I wanted, “eye-for-an-eye” justice. That is when my parents took me to him in India. I had the opportunity to live with Grandfather.

The first lesson he taught me was to understand that anger, and being able to channel that anger into positive action. He said that anger is like electricity. It is just as useful and just as powerful, if we use it intelligently. It can be just as deadly and destructive, if we abuse it. Just as we channel electricity, bring it into our lives and use it for the good of Humanity, we must learn to channel anger in the same way. We can use that energy for the good of Humanity, rather than abuse it. He taught me how to channel anger, how to write an anger journal – with the intention of finding a solution. I did this for many years. It helped me considerably in understanding and channeling the energy into positive action.

BOSS: How old were you, when you got to live with him?

GANDHI: I was twelve, when I went to him and I lived there for about eighteen months.

BOSS: I’ve been told the story – I haven’t heard you tell it, and I’m sure you’ve told it many times – about you, doing your lessons and tossing the pencil away. Could you share that with listeners?

GANDHI: Yes! I think that story really brought to me the profundity of his philosophy of nonviolence. Until then, I had a limited understanding of nonviolence – as we all have, today – and that is “nonviolence” being the opposite of “violence.” Our concept of violence is the physical use of violence: fighting, killing, murders, rapes and all that.

This incident happened when I was coming back from school. I had a little pencil in my hand and I threw that pencil away because I thought it was too small for me to use. That evening, when I asked him for a new pencil, instead of giving me one, he subjected me to a lot of questions. He wanted to know how the pencil became small. Where did I throw it away: that sort of thing. I could not understand why he was making such a fuss over a little pencil – until he told me to go out and look for it.

I said, “You must be joking! You don’t expect me to look for a little pencil in the dark!”

He said, “Oh, yes, I do. Here is a flashlight. Take this and go out. Look for the pencil.”

I must have spent about two hours, searching for it.

When I finally found it and brought it to him, he said, “Now, I want you to sit here and learn two, very important lessons. The first lesson is that – even in the making of a simple thing like a pencil – we use a lot of the world’s natural resources. When we throw them away, we are throwing away the world’s natural resources. That is violence against Nature. The second lesson is that, in an affluent society, we can afford to buy all these things in bulk. We over consume the resources of the world. Because we over consume them, we are depriving people elsewhere of these resources and they have to live in poverty. That is violence against Humanity.”

That was the first time I realized that all these little things that we do, every day, consciously and unconsciously, are all acts of violence: either violence against Nature, or violence against other human beings.

Then, to drive home this message, he made me draw a family tree of violence -- on the same principles as a genealogical tree -- with Violence as the grandparent with two off springs: Physical Violence and Passive Violence. Every day, before I went to bed, I had to examine everything that happened during the day, analyze it and put it in its appropriate places on that tree. If it were the kind of violence where physical force was used, it would go under Physical Violence. If it was the kind of violence where no force is used, and yet I have been able to hurt people, then it would go under Passive Violence. When I began to do this, within a few months I filled up a whole wall in my room with acts of passive violence. That is when I realized how much passive violence we commit.

Then, Grandfather explained to me the connection between the two.

He said, “We commit acts of passive violence all the time, every day, consciously and unconsciously. That generates anger in the victim. The victim, then, resorts to physical violence to get justice.”

Passive violence fuels the fires of physical violence. So, logically, if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, we have to cut off the fuel supply. Since the fuel supply comes from each one of us, we have to become the change we wish to see in the world.

BOSS: That is rather profound, for a young boy, isn’t it?

GANDHI: It is! I just regret the fact that I was not old enough to understand, at that time, how profound this lesson was. It took me many years to understand it, as I grew up.

___________________________________________
BOSS: Can you give us a couple of examples of how we can apply Gandhi’s teachings to our everyday lives?

DEAR: If you will look at his life, you will see that he was up at four in the morning, for one hour of silent prayer with his friends, reading from all the different scriptures. He did it again at 5:00pm – every day, for forty or fifty years. He would say we have to be contemplatives of nonviolence: people of prayer, really going deep into the spiritual depths of peace, justice and nonviolence. Gandhi’s main teaching is about nonviolence. To be human, to be a spiritual person, is to be a person of nonviolence. All of us, wherever we are, can step back for a moment and think, “How do I practice nonviolence?” or, “Where am I being violent?” Those are very important, spiritual questions. I think we live in a culture of violence. It is totally the norm now. Gandhi was calling us to nonviolence as a way of life. You look within and you see, “I could be more nonviolent, to myself, in this area of my life,” and try to do that. You can look at your family: “Am I being perfectly nonviolent to my spouse, my children, my parents?” You try to be more and more nonviolent: never to hit another person or hurt another person, ever again – to practice nonviolent love toward those around you. Wind that vision to your local community, to your job, to your faith community, to be nonviolent toward everybody there. Really be conscious that you are on a journey of nonviolence: that means to reflect on your life and your behavior. Then, you come to the conclusion – like Gandhi – that nonviolence is not passivity. It does not mean just sitting back and doing nothing. If the world really is a world of war and total violence, then nonviolence is engaged love and truth. As you reach out with nonviolence to everyone around you, get involved with nonviolent peace and justice groups around you and take a stand – perhaps on one issue. No one can do everything, but everybody has to do something. Get involved in one cause to try to disarm the world in one way.

BOSS: Do you believe that Gandhi’s teachings can be effective in some of the world’s conflicted areas? In other words: the relevance of Gandhi for our world, right now?

DEAR: I believe that nonviolence is the only effective solution. In fact, violence has failed. It does not work. War does not work. Violence, in response to violence, only leads to further violence.

Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Wars cannot bring peace; they only sow the seeds for future wars. Certainly, wars cannot stop terrorism, because war is terrorism. Violence is just a never-ending, downward spiral. Nonviolence breaks it, stops it. The problem is that it is rarely tried, in a public way, as Gandhi or Dr. King or South Africa showed. But it is happening. We need to organize it more, as a methodology.

What I am saying is, I think nonviolence always works.

Peace Talks, Gandhi

2006-04-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

"HOLD THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

2006-04-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

Michael Villanueva has contacted me. He is not Pueblo. By this picture, http://casaa.unm.edu/code/michaelvtxt.html, I think you can understand how I got the impression, though.... At least I'm reasonably sure he's a clown, if only part time...

Memorial Day documentary pitch

2006-04-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

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Wounded Warrior: Native American Veterans Return to “The World”
By Rogi Riverstone
rriverstone at rriverstone.com

Like many soldiers returning from their war experience, Native American Veterans face the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Because many of them come from rural and reservation settings, Native American veterans find few support services. This makes them susceptible to what is known as “Sanctuary trauma,” defined as the worsening of psychological symptoms by a support system that fails a traumatized individual. However, there are a few researchers, healing specialists, and social servants who are working to improve reintegration for Native American Veterans by utilizing traditional, Native spirituality, ceremony and ritual into recovery and healing. Traditional reintegration ceremonies for Native warriors include trance and self-hypnosis, to recover subconscious trauma. These practitioners believe these traditional methods could also be beneficial to non-Native peoples who have suffered the effects of trauma.

I plan to interview Native healers, themselves Veterans, who work with Native Veterans. These include Albert Laughter (Navajo), medicine man and Michael Villanueva (Pueblo), Ph.D., CPT (USAR). Both integrate traditional methods with so-called, “Western” medicine. I hope to interview Steve Silver, Ph.D. from the National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD) Clinic at the Center for Veterans Affairs, who is involved in researching traditional Native healing. I will also interview local Native American Veterans about their experiences. I will incorporate healing songs, from a local, Native drumming group and ambient sounds from on-location field recordings to add color to the piece. Through interviews with Native Vets, service providers, family members and community members, we will also examine Native concepts of the role of the warrior, instruction in warfare, traditional values of battle ritual, and social reintegration ceremonies. These will be contrasted with Natives’ experiences with US military policies and procedures, which, some in this field say, exacerbate psychological damage.

I plan, as much as possible, to allow Native Veterans to tell their own stories, in their own words, with brief comments from Dr. Silver. I may open the piece with a brief passage from the novel, Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko: about a Laguna service member returning from combat to his reservation and facing the traumas of his experiences.

This story is timely, as young men and women, Native and non-Native, return from wars in the Middle East and face the trauma of inadequate services at home. If their treatment incorporated traditional, Native techniques and practices, some say, the impact of their traumas could be used for healing, for themselves and their communities.

Native American Vets radio documentary

2006-04-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

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Seeking Native American Veterans
Plus Families, Friends & supportive others
Willing to be interviewed
For a radio documentary
To be aired Memorial Day Monday, May 29, 2006

We want to hear your experiences, challenges, frustrations, needs. This is a half-hour piece, to be aired nationally, on affiliated, community radio stations. Your words will be heard with the respect, dignity and compassion you deserve. What do you want to say?

Also seeking local, Native American musicians, poets, spoken word artists with compositions about Native Warriors, Veterans, Peacekeepers, etc.

You will get credits and recognition for this national broadcast.

Contact: Rogi Riverstone
PO Box 4609 Albuquerque, NM 87196

Murrow Quotes

2006-04-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

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For Tom Trowbridge

“Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.”
“We cannot make good news out of bad practice.”
“We're going to go with this story. Because the terror is right here in this room.”
“Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.”
“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”
“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”
“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”
“We are in the same tent as the clowns and the freaks-that's show business.”
“Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.”
“If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.”
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.”

Tom,
I hold you in the highest regard.

Rogi A. Riverstone

2006-03-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

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Katrina

2005-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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 News Privacy 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.

auction

2005-04-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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

2005-04-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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

ClearChannel: Liberal?

2005-02-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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

Queer & Homeless

2005-02-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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.

Women's International News Gathering

2005-01-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

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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

where's da broadcast?

2005-01-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

You are reading http://rriverstoneradio.blogspot.com/

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

Homelessness Marathon

2005-01-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

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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!

CURSE on radio

2004-10-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

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Food for thought:

Several speakers described the steady process of de-democratization that has been going on there, the transference of decision-making from volunteers to one autocratic paid staff person, and the gag rules and dismissals placed on volunteers who voiced protest. A speaker from KUNM, New Mexico, described the successful listener fight at her station several years back, in a surprisingly similar situation. This kind of thing has been going on at stations all over the country, where those who want to attract ratings and appeal to a "safe," homogenized audience are using arbitrary power to take choice out of the hands of the community. In some of those situations, management has won, but in others, listeners have been successful in taking back their stations.

Both DJ Riz, who spoke at the forum, and the speaker from New Mexico, discussed the necessity not only to take back community radio but also to expand it to become more truly responsive to the community, including a diversity of cultural groups: Latinos, Asians, women, queers, and disenfranchised white males. Speakers were heavily applauded by the audience for such statements as "you are not the respectable Arbitron listeners," and "you don't want familiarity, you want to be offended and challenged by what you listen to." When management says that they want to tone down the station to make it more "respectable," they claim that there is no audience for what the "maverick" DJs are playing. The CURSE meeting showed that there is an audience for so-called "harsh and abrasive" music (and harsh and abrasive opinions), and it is us.

http://www.bloofga.org/il/il_v1/output/indie-list-9.html