by Minister of Information JR
People complain about all of the commercials on mainstream radio and the same songs being played in rotation over and over again. But we still continue to listen although the corporations that run the radio stations we like continue to program us into liking music that we claim we don’t like. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We have to do something different, if we want something different.
The alternative is for us to support community radio, where it is very rare to hear the same thing day after day. KPFA, 94.1 FM or kpfa.org, is a community station that needs and deserves your support. A community station is one where community people get trained to do radio and do it. Most people who work at these types of stations are not careerists; they are community people who really enjoy the art of doing radio, whether playing music or talking politics.
I am a broadcaster on KPFA with two weekly shows: The Morning Mix on Wednesdays from 8-9 a.m., which deals with community politics, and the Block Report every Friday from midnight to 2 a.m., where we play mostly music and do cultural interviews. What makes me a different kind of broadcaster than the ones that are on KMEL or Wild 94.9 is that, on the Block Report, you could get your music featured, followed up by an interview with you announcing to the world where your music is being sold and how you got into the business.
On the Morning Mix, we cover community politics, local events, local concerts, prisons, progressive artists, immigrant issues, people creating movements and the like. If you value this type of programming and would like to hear more voices from our community, musically or politically speaking, then we need to put our dollars where our mouth is, period.
So donate during Wednesday’s Morning Mix, because your donation is your vote to keep the show on the air. And you all know we need more voices on the radio speaking from our community’s perspective, not just mine.
Minister of Information JR is associate editor of the Bay View, author of “Block Reportin’” and filmmaker of “Operation Small Axe,” both available, along with many more interviews, at www.blockreportradio.com. He can be reached at blockreportradio@gmail.com.
