KMUN Current: Spring 2023

KMUN celebrates 40 years on the air

MUN HAD AROUND $50 in its bank account when Harriet Baskas stepped aboard to help raise funds to match two grants, build the station and launch it.

Now, 40 years later, KMUN is one of the few stations where she has worked that is still on the air.

Fear fueled those early days, but also love and a strong belief that non-commercial, community radio was essential for the North Oregon and Southwest Washington coast.

“KMUN was and is certainly an alternative to commercial radio,” Baskas says.

“But it is also built very much on the true idea of ‘community’ radio in that the goal was — and hopefully still is — to be a local resource for a very wide and inclusive cross-section of the community.”

KMUN, or Coast Community Radio, which includes KMUN 91.9 FM (Astoria), KTCB 89.5 FM (Tillamook) and 90.9 FM (Warrenton), is the only non-commercial community station serving coastal communities in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington — and on April 22 we’re marking 40 years on the air!

We plan to celebrate all spring and summer-long!

Birthday events kick o in April with the launch of a book celebrating the work of local artist Barbara Grant on April 8. Grant created numerous line drawings with the theme of KMUN in the station’s early days.

KMUN’s Spring Fling Membership Drive will

run April 10-21 with a goal of raising $70,000. Donations keep the station humming and support KMUN’s varied content – from bedtime stories to rocking music shows to local news.

On April 14, KMUN is hosting a concert at the Larsen Center with eclectic singer-songwriter Nellie McKay.

On April 17, Astoria Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick will be at the Tillicum House in Astoria to o cially proclaim KMUN Day. ere will be cake!

And then, on April 22, we’re throwing a birthday bash featuring live music, delicious food and plenty of memories. Come dressed in ’80s garb (if you want!) and/or wear your favorite KMUN shirt or hat.

is summer, look for KMUN at art walks, farmers markets and parades throughout the listening area. ere will also be a block party in July in Astoria and a family concert in August in Seaside.

“For KMUN to be on the air for 40 years means a lot of people care about this radio station that is powered by volunteers and supported by listeners,” says Station Manager Susan Peterson.

More than 1,000 volunteers have served the station since its start — and generous contributions and donations continue to support KMUN as the station seeks to expand what it o ers and how it serves the community.

“No one can tell the story of a place better than the people who live there,” Peterson says. “KMUN does not create the sound of the Lower Columbia Paci c Region, we marinate in it!”

ASTORIA SCANDINAVIAN MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL!

Heritage Tradition Family Food Fun

THE COATS

Pacific Northwest's premiere a cappella group perform Saturday, June 17th at the fairgrounds!

Music and comedy hilarious and interactive!

Advance tickets on sale at the Liberty Theater Box Office

Clatsop County Fairgrounds, Astoria, OR

Meet the Tillicum Foundation Board of Directors

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KMUN!

By Alyssa Evans

S KMUN ENTERS ITS 40th year, the Tillicum Foundation Board of Directors is delighted to celebrate the station’s history and future. ank you to all of the volunteers, sta , donors and sustainers who have helped KMUN reach 40 years on the radio. KMUN is truly a community radio station. Each contributor makes a profound impact on the station.

KMUN’s future is bright. e station is in a good nancial status, has a diverse variety of programs and is a trusted news source for the region. e Board is thrilled to continue supporting KMUN as we look forward.

We hope you join us at the many KMUN birthday celebrations that will happen this year. Please check kmun.org to view an updated list of events. In the meantime, here are some birthday messages from the Board:

A Tillicum Foundation member since 2021, and now on the Board of Directors for nearly four years — WOW! e enchantment continues, the 40th birthday celebration awaits!

– Larry Scott

Happy birthday, KMUN! You have been a huge part of my life for over 25 years between being a listener and volunteer programmer. Now as a Board Member, I feel privileged to help out in so many other ways to keep this great station on the air for another 40!

– Bonnie Lively

Here’s a toast on your 40th birthday to KMUN, its sta and volunteers for creating one of the great radio stations in the Paci c Northwest. And another toast to at least 40 years more.

– Sturges Dorrance

Happy birthday, KMUN! I’ve loved volunteering with you since I joined the station in 2019 as a programmer. May 2023 and the next 40 years be even better than your rst 40!

– Alyssa Evans

I joined the KMUN community as front desk support just before the pandemic. I met wonderful and dedicated volunteers and sta before we closed the building. A year ago I was elected to the board and I feel honored to be here for our 40th Anniversary party. Please join the fun on April 22.

–

Mick Mortlock

Cheers to 40 years!

Coast Community Radio Staff

STATION MANAGER

Susan Peterson, susan@kmun.org

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Emma Geddes, emma@kmun.org

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Troy Hill, troy@kmun.org

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

Janet Fryberger, membership@kmun.org

NEWS DEPARTMENT

Katie Frankowicz, news1@kmun.org

Skyler Butenshon skyler@kmun.org

OPERATIONS

Nevada Sowle

Nyk Stephens operations@kmun.org

BOOKKEEPING

Jennifer Rasmussen

PUBLICATION DESIGN

Alex Appel

COVER ART

Emma Geddes

ENGINEERING SUPPORT

Sunset Empire Ham Radio Club

Gray Haertig

Michael Johnson

David Klann

Bryan Huber

Michael D. Brown

NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR

Dave Neys

e CURRENT program guide is a quarterly publication of Coast Community Radio.

KMUN-FM, KTCB-FM and KCPB-FM are noncommercial community radio stations owned and operated by the TILLICUM FOUNDATION PO Box 269, Astoria, Oregon 97103 (503) 325-0010

TILLICUM FOUNDATION BOARD

Larry Scott, President

Todd Lippold, Vice President

Alyssa Evans, Secretary

Sturges Dorrance, Treasurer

Bonnie Lively

Mick Mortlock

John Stevenson

is to serve the Lower Columbia

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Every 4th Wednesday at 5:00 pm on Zoom. Meeting links are listed at kmun.org/tillicumfoundation

Region through commercial-free community radio programs and services that enrich life by illuminating the role of the arts, promoting cultural and educational growth, and bringing focus to current issues of local and regional public interest while providing a forum for diverse and under-served groups.

COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD

KMUN’s Community Advisory Board has been restructured, and is currently recruiting members. For more information on the CAB’s purpose and quali cations visit: kmun.org/about/coastcommunity-radio-community-advisory-board or contact Susan (susan@kmun.org).

Bi-annual CAB meetings are open to the public, and announced on KMUN.

Meeting and Event Notices

Please submit event and meeting information at kmun.org, then click the Community Calendar.

Studios are located in Tillicum House at 1445 Exchange Street, Astoria, Ore.

www.kmun.org

feedback@kmun.org

Like us at KMUN 91.9

Coast Community Radio

Follow us at @kmun91.9

e

91.3 from a translator serving Astoira’s south slope. KTCB broadcasts 400 watts of power at 89.5 MHz from Cape Meares, serving Tillamook County. Tillicum Foundation also operates a second program service. KCPB broadcasts at 400 watts from Megler Mountain at 90.9 MHz.

Tillicum Foundation is tax-exempt and all gifts, grants, and contributions to it are tax deductible to the extent of the law. KMUN broadcasts 5000 watts of power at 91.9MHz from its main transmitter on Megler Mountain, 250 watts at 89.3 from a translator located in Cannon Beach, and 10 watts at 104.3 from a translator in Wheeler and

The Tillicum Foundation mission

Pacific

A Chat with the Food Talk Team

Food Talk, 1st & 3rd Mondays, 9:30-10am

ERIANNE MYERS AND LINDA Perkins talk about where they were when KMUN began.

m2: Where were you in 1983?

LP: I was graduating from college. I had a big group of friends. Whenever we had a meal I was the one who did the baking. It was the year after I graduated that I made the famous birthday cake. Instead of putting vanilla in it, I accidentally put liquid smoke. I didn’t gure it out until the baking was done. Everybody called it my Arson Cake.

m2: I was thinking about when I came to KMUN in 1993. e station was 10 years old. Doug Sweet was Station Manager. Joe Vincenza was Program Director. We learned how to cut and splice reel to reel tape!

LP: I am so thankful for KMUN. When I moved here from Portland about 15 years ago, listening to KMUN made me feel like I was already part of this community. It made me understand what it was like here and made me love it. It was a big

change moving from a city to a small town and KMUN made it a really welcoming experience. I love the variety of music and everything else. It makes my house feel like a home.

m2: I had the same experience when I moved back to the north coast in 1993. I listened all the time. I got familiar with the voices I heard and felt like I knew the people behind them.

Speaking of birthdays, what’s your favorite birthday present ever?

LP: My parents gave me a stu ed gira e when I was nine. It was four feet tall. Later, my friend, Dudley, who was from a circus family, got a real gira e for his birthday. It was kind of a bond that we had. I really loved that gira e.

Another year my mom gave me a guitar for my birthday. She let me pick it out. I was 14. I took a bus to a guitar store in Minneapolis and wound up with a used Martin D28.

inking about KMUN’s music programming, I really love that it’s so eclectic. Back when record stores were so much fun, I would go into a store

and blindly stick my hand into a stack, pick something and buy it. I discovered things like NRBQ and the Lounge Lizards and Us3. Now I have KMUN! I never know what I’m going to hear. It’s like sticking my hand into the bin and pulling something out.

I’ve started to do that with recipes. I open a cookbook and whatever it is, I make it. I want to recreate the excitement of discovery that I found in record stores.

m2: I love having somebody read bedtime stories. I don’t have kids and I’m not going to bed at 8:00 but, I’m not averse to putting on pajamas at 8:00.

LP: KMUN is what you want from a community. You want to be lifted up, you want to be better.

m2: I have always thought music is medicine. In broader terms, community radio is medicine for what ails us at any given moment.

“...listening to KMUN made me feel like I was already part of this community”

KMUN’s BIG KICK OFF!

Special article from past Station Manager Doug Sweet

ORTY YEARS! APRIL 23, 1983…… and, no, it does NOT seem “just like yesterday!”

It has been forty years since KMUN went live for….not the rst time…. but when we kicked o the stream of regular broadcasting which has continued to this day! We had been “on-air” a few times before that grand day from the tiny o ces and the air room with a window that looked east over the next building’s roof-top. We had been testing the transmitter on and o for a few days before….checking the connection between the station in downtown Astoria and the transmitter building on Megler Mountain, across the river in Washington.

But this was the BIG day….the kick-o of a new public broadcast station for northwest Oregon and southwest Washington- a place and an organization where people could come together

and talk about the things that were important to their communities and to get some direct feed back from people out in the population that could hear the conversations. So, there we were, “high atop the Gunderson Building” as we used to joke both on and o -air…. beginning the rst of thousands and thousands of hours of broadcasting to the people of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington…..

I will not try to name all the people who were in the room at the time. Someone had brought food, we had things to drink, and it was a party going on in the o ces. But a great cry went up when the rst words were spoken on-air….the culmination of a lot of hard work by Becky and Paxton and Harriet and a whole line-up of others who pitched in to turn a drab, unused downtown Astoria second- oor o ce into both a meeting place for ideas and a source for a community mutual conversation.

Continued on page 26

Walk-thru the Museum’s most bizarre-looking aircraft, its Mini-Guppy. This cargo aircraft from the 1960’s carried spacecraft for NASA, wrecked airplanes, and even starred in a Hollywood lm!

Walk-thru the Museum’s most bizarre-looking aircraft, its Mini-Guppy. This cargo aircraft from the 1960’s carried spacecraft for NASA, wrecked airplanes, and even starred in a Hollywood lm!

KMUN’s rst Station Manager Harriet Baskas and Natasha Freeman with local musician Dave Quinton looking on.

Doug Sweet and Mike Sroufe at the board. Musicians XX ddle, Dave Quinton electric guitar and Polly Norris acoustic guitar.

Photo by George Vetter

Join the Radio Repeaters Club!

RADIO TRANSLATOR OR REPEATER

which repeats the signal of a radio station and expands the broadcast range. KMUN has translators in Wheeler (104.3 fm), Cannon Beach (89.3 fm) and South Astoria (91.3 fm).

KMUN Radio Repeaters (formerly known as Sustainers) are listeners who have committed to a monthly or yearly gift . Choose any amount – give $11 a month, give $110, one guy gives $500 every dang month! Your Radio Repeater membership will automatically renew every year. Use debit/ credit card, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal or Bill Pay or direct withdrawal.

BENEFITS TO YOU

• It’s convenient - set it and forget it! No more renewal notices

• Receive The Current every quarter - email, snail mail or both

• Discounts at the online KMUN store

• Uninterrupted membership. Your monthly gift continues until you choose to make a change.

• Your support is split up into automatic, a ordable monthly gifts

• Invitations to special Radio Repeaters events coming soon!

• Your listening pleasure increases dramatically, knowing YOU help sustain this station

Preparing for the Unexpected

By Teresa Retzla , host of In Season

PRING IS A TRICKY season in the Lower Columbia Paci c region, and the extreme weather e ects of climate change are making gardeners throw up their hands and say

“Who knows what will happen this year?!” Could be a drought, could be snow in April, could be torrential rain in June, could be a heat dome. How do you prepare your garden when you don’t know what to prepare for?

e act of growing plants always involves a bit of guesswork. As a farmer, I’ve learned to anticipate surprises with the tools found under ‘season extension’ in most garden supply catalogs. Row cover fabric is something that can make a big di erence in helping an early spring garden survive a sudden hailstorm, snow or freezing

temperatures. It’s a eecy white fabric laid across hoops made of wire or bent PVC pipes and held down with weights, creating a warming tunnel over tender plants while still allowing light and rain to penetrate. Having some row cover fabric on hand and ready to deploy if needed can make all the di erence in whether your carefully planted garden makes it through spring successfully.

Another spring challenge we face, especially in very wet years, is the army of slugs that are waiting to devour the bu et of tender plants you are putting out for them to enjoy, or eat the new growth of herbaceous perennials and tubers. When friends tell me that their dahlias aren’t coming back this year, I advise them to sprinkle some iron-phosphate granule slug bait around the crown of where the plant was and in a week or two the dahlia leaves have usually emerged. Always have some slug bait on hand, but make sure it is bird, pet and child friendly! Some slug baits are dangerously poisonous to curious creatures we love.

continued on page 24

We Give Where We Live.

We’re proud to support our local communities. No one knows a community better than the people who live and work there. That’s why we empower employees at our local of ces to determine the best ways to use resources and funds to meet the unique needs of their communities. It’s all about making a difference where it counts most.

GregCross,Branch Manager

JeanyBirdeno LOA/MLO

continued from page 14

Deep mulching around plants and a deep watering before a heat event strikes can help some plants survive a sudden spike in temperature, but sometimes intense heat will cause annual plants to stress so much that they bolt–meaning they start to ower and set seed because they think they’re about to die. Once a plant has bolted, it’s best to just accept it, pull the plant out and if there is time left in the season, and replant. Container plants can be temporarily moved to a shady area, and you can create temporary shade over plants in the garden with shade cloth, a woven black fabric that blocks light while allowing for air ow. Bed sheets can be used for this as well, but make sure to allow for hot air to move out

from under them – you don’t want to cook your plants!

Cold, wet, heat or pests – growers who learn to expect the unexpected can get through most of the challenges that nature throws at us. And, whatever happens, we have our gardening and farming community to commiserate or celebrate with, and that is one of the best tools any of us can have in our lives.

Hear more about caring for the plants, animals, and wild spaces of our region on In Season, every 1st and 3rd Tues, 9:30-10:30am on KMUN, and nd past episodes at kmun. org/podcasts

The KMUN Family Has One Fewer

We recently lost a member of the KMUN family. Mike Stanley was an enthusiastic programmer in the early days of the station, specializing in Celtic music and hosting jazz as well. He played ute and concertina with the Green Country Dance Band for community dances at the Netel Grange in the Lewis and Clark area of Astoria, and was the long time owner of Mike’s Bike Shop in Cannon Beach. After selling the shop he moved with his wife Christina to the Willamette valley near Corvallis. Mike was an avid bird enthusiast and explored nature by foot, boat and bike. Always a cheerful, positive person, Mike Stanley is missed. He was 75.

10 Pier 1, Suite 308

503-974-0914

The Big Kick-off!

Continued from page 10

We know, of course, what happened next…. e idea of a public resource in which almost anyone could come to be trained and then be “on air” and have ideas and thoughts and musical tastes broadcast to the far- ung communities of the North Coast and to have a place where people of vastly di erent backgrounds and social and political views could discuss their di erences, was an eyeopening experience for the people of the surrounding towns and villages. And, the people tuned in! And they supported the station as well…. And here we are, forty years on and the station is thriving and has a major place in the personality of the NW Oregon

and SW Washington community. All those disparate towns, places and people, almost one, now…because of the in uence of public access, community radio! KMUN!

Congrats on forty years of fantastic radio! Long live KMUN!

Doug Sweet, ex-station mgr.

Astoria Regatta Parade with Melanie Densmore and Char Richardson carrying the banner.

Launching a Radio Station – Doug Sweet at the Board, Pierce Christie on the microphone and Pam Trenary writing out a playlist and Stuck in the 60’s DJ Bernie Berger in the back corner! e woman sitting down is a mystery! Let us know if you recognize her. Photo by George

“...ideas and thoughts and musical tastes broadcast to the far-flung communities of the North Coast”

Vetter

Thank you for supporting the businesses that support your radio stations!

ACTIVISM

Columbia Riverkeeper

Friends of the Willapa National

Wildlife Refuge

Paci c County Immigrant Support

Wash Away No More

ANIMAL CARE & SERVICES

Animal Haven by the Sea Rescue

Jack Russell Rescue Oregon

Washington Idaho, Inc.

AUTOMOTIVE

Lum’s Auto Center

COMPUTER & NETWORK

Bridgesense.com LLC

Roland Schorr & Tower

CONSTRUCTION

B Ru Construction

Beerman Creek Construction

Chinook Custom Concrete

FARM & COUNTRY

46 North Farm

Blackberry Bog Farm

Brim’s Farm and Garden

Fred’s Homegrown Produce

King sher Farms

LaNa’s Conscious Farm

West-Davies Farm

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Bank of the Paci c

Northwest Lending Group

Wauna Credit Union

FOOD & BEVERAGE

42nd Street Cafe & Bistro

Astoria Co ee Company

Bill’s Tavern/ e Warren House Pub

Blue Scorcher Bakery Cafe

Bowpicker Fish & Chips

Buoy Beer Company

Columbia River Candies

Columbia River Co ee Roaster

Fort George Brewery and Public House

Gaetano’s Market and Deli

Labor Temple Diner & Bar

McMenamins Gearhart Hotel and Sand Trap Pub

Merry Time Bar & Grill

Oregon Wild Berries Inc. dba e

Berry Patch

Osprey Cafe

Peaceful Ferments Brewing Co

WineKraft Wine Bar

HEALTH CARE & SERVICES

Astoria Chiropractic

Clatsop Care Health District

Isa Haverlan, LMT - Allow Your Body to Heal

Kathleen Moore, Full Circle

Counseling

Lower Columbia Clinic

Rinehart Clinic & Pharmacy

Tracy Er ing, ND

Watershed Wellness

HOME & GARDEN

A ordable Tree Care

Arbor Care Tree Specialists

Arcadia Organic Landscaping

Brim’s Farm & Garden

Hauer’s Lawn Care & Equipment

Jack Russell Home Services Inc

McEvoy Tile & Marble

Willapa Bay Tile & Design

LODGING

Beach Property Management Inc.

Capt Johnson House

Land’s End at Cannon Beach

McMenamins Gearhart Hotel

Sou’wester Lodge

Twin Gables Inn

PERFORMING ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Brownsmead Flats

Coaster eatre Playhouse

KALA Performance Space

Kim Angelis Music

Liberty eatre

NCRD Performing Art Center

North Coast Chorale

Rhythm Method

Water Music Society

PERSONAL CARE

Simply Human Art

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Beveridge Geo-Services

Environmental Consulting

Blair Henningsgaard, Attorney at Law

Bruce A. Norman Plumbing

Excalibur & Associates-WA, Inc

Haglund Kelley LLP

Old World Renovation

Oregon Natural Forestry LLC

Seaside Attorneys

REAL ESTATE

Andrea Mace, Realty One Group

Prestige

Andrea Mazzarella with Vesta Realty Group

Astoria Real Estate

Covert Properties

Kim Cooper - Cascade Sotheby’s

International Realty

RECREATION

Northwest Women’s Surf Camp

RETAIL

Astoria Cooperative Grocery

Bearing Goods

Cannon Beach Book Company

Dots ‘N Doodles II

Finn Ware of Oregon

Four Winds Canvas Works

Garbo’s Vintage Wear

Gimre’s Shoes Astoria

Godfather’s Books

Harmony Soapworks LLC

Judith Altruda Jewelry

Lucy’s Books

Old Town Framing Company

Phog Bounders Antique Mall

Reclamation Marketplace

Short Wave

e Kite Factory

Walnut Studiolo Handcrafted

Leather Goods

VISUAL ARTS & EDUCATION

Astoria Art Loft

Astoria Downtown Historic District Association

Astoria Studio Collective

Columbia River Maritime Museum

Don Frank Photography

Dragon re Gallery

Fernhill Glass

gregnavratilart.com

Imogen Gallery

Patrick Barker Woodworking

Sally Lacka Graphical Arts

Sou’wester Arts & Ecology Center

OTHER

CoHort Agronomy

Lewis and Clark Timberlands

managed by Nuveen Natural Capital.

Sea Kayak Baja Mexico

Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club

e Ship Report

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In this issue

Birthday Details p 2

Food Talkers p 6

KMUN Crossword p 9

Doug Sweet p 10

Radio Repeaters p 12

In Season p 14

The People of KMUN 16-17

Program Schedules p 20-22

We are a full-service Italian deli offering fine meats and cheeses, ready to eat sandwiches, housemade pastas and sauces to cook at home, housemade sausages, desserts, European market items, and Italian wines. Stop in for a sandwich and a glass of wine, beer, or craft soda, and take something home for an easy dinner! Open Monday-Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-4 Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest products and specials @gaetanosmarketanddeli

YOUR COMMUNITY VOICE IN THE COLUMBIA-PACIFIC REGION

FROM OUR KITCHEN TO YOURS