COURAGE, TRUTH & BOOTY:

Almost forgot to write about the most interesting development! It seems there's a LARGE portion of the population that's getting very uneasy with the consolidation and control of media, so much so that it would appear there are subsets of people from the left, middle and right, looking to pick a fight with the FCC. I've been approached by some groups of lawyers who are offering to take our case 'all the way to the supreme court' on a pro bono (no cost to us) basis if we get the dreaded 'notice of apparent liability' (the FCC's phrase for 'we say you're guilty and we're fining you and threatening you with jail')notice. It would seem the legal eagles have looked at a bunch of potential battlegrounds and have concluded KBFR is one of the better places to start. These are local AND out of town folks from the coasts. So, it'll be interesting to see what happens. There are so many holes in how the FCC is enforcing it's

anoteherfrst for KBFR. We, at the last minute, found we could do a live broadcast from the Fox Theater of the sold out Leftover Salmon show tonight. Other than the power going out for the entire place, it worked like a charm. Remote computer streaming over wireless over the internet. Beautiful. An a different note, I talked to Vman, one of the two founders of Free Radio Santa Cruz. Seems he's quite the station and is unhappy with the direction it's taking. He and skidmark bob had a disagreement of some sort and, for now at least, he's not involved. It's a shame to, cause this guys been doing this for TEN years. Longer, continuously, than anyone else in the underground radio world. I offered him a show on KBFR (he can stream it from CA to CO via the internet)... I'd hate to lose his voice and his rockin the boat show. We'll see if he's interested. We're also getting our first 'remote' DJ from NYC. B9 Punk, an artist who used to liv

Another yearly benefit show coming up on Jan. 20th. Biggest yet with name bands and actual expenditures of money to get it all together. This will be the first time we act like an actual promotor. Should be interesting. It'll either do great, or break us. We'll know in a few weeks.

Well, it's verified. Denver Free Radio gave up the ghost. Notice the refernce to 'interested parties'.. I wonder who's got that gear? And what they'll do with it? Something useful, I hope. http://www.diymedia.net/archive/1204.htm#120804 -------- News of the Moment 12/20/04 - Making Waves Update; FCC in MN [link to this story] Michael Lahey's been getting around: his killer microradio documentary will get more screenings around the country next year, one of which will be in April at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Also, a professor from the UK recently contacted Michael about using Making Waves as part of an exercise/discussion in a new textbook on alternative media. Earlier this month Michael also was a special guest on The Power Hour, a talk show carried on the Genesis Communications Network. Not only did Michael get two hours to plug the film and talk about the issues behind it, but they also opened the phone lines. That's

Great show at the Trilogy Wine Bar last night. 4 bands and a good turnout. We even made some money. We did learn a lesson though about timing and bars. If a venue is willing to let you use their space for a benefit show, you need to keep that bar open as late as possible with as many people as possible. That last 1-2 hours is when they make the most money (and that's where THEY get the payoff for hosting our benefit shows). We ended around 12:15.. just ran out of music. We started early (8:30pm) and ended early. The venue's owners wheren't very happy. It's likely that we'll offer to give them the profit they would have made that last hour from our door take. It'll kill the benefit of HAVING a benefit, but it'll keep the venue owner (who has been a great friend of KBFR) happy and the door open to doing future shows. I think the thing to do is to always end your benefit shows with a DJ who spins dance tunes. We have a couple in the KBFR D

Complexity. The gobhoblin of this particular radio station. Sometimes I wonder if the complexity we use to keep KBFR on the air is really worth it. I suppose it is, but using the internet so extensively does make for a difficult time staying on the air. The internet audio world is still far from 'dial tone' in nature. Right now, KBFR is down because the damned router in the van decided to reset itself to default, making it useless. Of course, the notes we've got to re-set it up wouldn't work on it and the guy who knows how to do it isn't available. So, we're off the air until we can find the guy who knows how to do it. BUT, hell, that's part of pirate radio I suppose. Sometimes it's just gonna screw up. Part of running a station with overhead in the hundreds of dollars a month instead of millions like some stations. A little downtime is the price we pay by not being part of (or being able to afford) 'the infrastructure' of radio

I've been thinking a bit more about how so much of the media world has been forced underground in so many ways. Pirate radio isn't so much an underground media as a simple distribution mechanism for media that just happens to be unlicensed. But it makes me think more about the other media's out there that really have been religated to the underground world. Adult material of all types. Political thought. non mainstream Religious beliefs. Unpopular with the mainstream general viewpoints. Alternative lifestyles. Art. On and on it goes. For a society that's built on free speech, there seems to be one hell of alot of supressed folks out there. And, it seems, it's getting worse, not better. When the FCC's policies force dozens of ABC affiliates to not air a WWII movie that utters the word fuck (something that, oh my god, actually was said during the heat of battle), well, ya gotta wonder. I think we owe it to our listeners to spend more time and

We had our regular monthly meeting today. All but one DJ showed, best yet. We require these meetings and, if you don't make it, your show is suspended for a month (and you forfiet your time slot, making it available for new DJ's or existing DJ's if they want the slot). You can come back the next month, but you can only take whatever slots are available at that time. We did try something new last month that allowed one group of DJ's (3 of them who do a show together) to do their show even though they didn't show up for the meeting. We instituted a 'fine' that had each DJ pay $15 for missing the meeting. The 2nd time it happens, the fine is $30. The third time it's $60. After that, they're no longer welcome back. It seems like a good compromise. We'll see over time how it works. Monk@kbfr.org