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Station hiStory Programmer SPotlightS SuPPorter teStimonialS

Your Community Radio Station

Special advertiSing Supplement to the cn&r

SPecial radio Schedule inSert

Supporter teStimony Debra Lucero

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love radio, I love teaching people, I take pride in putting out a good product people will listen to, something that will become a part of their lives,” said Rick Anderson, general manager of Chico’s KZFR Community Radio. “When you achieve that, you’ve done things right.” It’s that passion for broadcasting that has driven Anderson and his colleagues since KZFR first went on air 22 years ago. In those labor-intensive early days, programmers recorded their shows on a reel-to-reel tape machine, drove the tape to the transmitting station in Magalia and waited in real time as the shows were

broadcasted. The timeconsuming process was “a labor of love” for the KZFR staff and volunteers, Anderson said. KZFR has since installed a dish on its roof of their studio in downtown Chico to transfer the station’s signal to Magalia, making hosting a show a more manageable undertaking. But the sense of dedication has never waned at the listener-funded radio station—KZFR programmers are exclusively volunteers from the community who believe strongly in alternative media. “Community radio provides the outlet for discussion and diversity that is just not available anywhere else,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of too bad, but that’s the reality of it.” KZFR now reaches roughly 10,000 people a week with its eclectic mix of programming, including a full spectrum of musical offerings, political discourse, local news and teen and children’s programs. Anderson, a passionate man who lives and breathes community radio, becomes

particularly animated when discussing KZFR’s pride and joy—its immaculate listener-funded studio, completed in 2010. Anderson calls it “the best studio between Sacramento and Salem [Oregon].” In light of the improve improvements, Anderson said it’s important for KZFR to keep an eye on prog progress. The station will continue expanding their Internet presence and will unveil a mobile app in the near future, allowing listeners around the world to stream KZFR live from their mobile devices. “We’re aware the future isn’t in your terrestrial signal; your internet signal is important to developing and keeping an audience,” Anderson said. “When you’re donacommunity radio and you rely on dona tions, that’s where your money comes from.” But even after personally adopting a pro-

gressive approach to radio broadcasting, Anderson fears for the future of community radio in general. The average KZFR listener is 35 or older, a fact he faces each semester as a guest lecturer for Chico State’s KCSC student radio class. “First thing I ask is, ‘Who listened to the radio today?’ Nobody. ‘How about this week?’ Nobody. If no one is teaching them how to use the medium, or that the medium is important, the medium is going away, eventually.” And if stations like KZFR become a thing of the past, Anderson believes communities around the country, including Chico, will suffer in their absence. es“I think we are providing a totally es sential service,” he said. “There would be a giant gap without it; there would be a lack of knowledge to some degree, and it just wouldn’t be as fun without KZFR.”

“it just wouldn’t b e as fun wit hout KZFr.”

So when Lucero says she considers KZFR a vital piece of the community, her opinion carries more weight than most. And as the leader of a non-profit organization, she understands the fragility of their funding system. “The voice might go away—it could literally be silenced,” Lucero said of the importance of supporting KZFR and community radio. “I think that would be a travesty—not just for our region, but for our country—if we start to see community radio go away. “It’s about caring about where you live,” she continued. “Grow where you’re planted. In order to do that, you have to invest in that place. Community radio is one of the places I would encourage people to invest.” Lucero believes the programmers at KZFR, who are all volunteers, bring a passion and knowledge to their

shows that can’t be found on commercial radio. “I love the programmers who have collected music for years, they are concert-goers, they really know the genre of music they are interested in and they bring that perspective to the community,” she said. “KZFR is not a conglomerate, they’re local, the programmers are from the community. None of them are paid; they go on the air because they believe in what they’re doing.” Aside from entertainment value, Lucero also considers KZFR a unique venue for public discourse. “It’s unlike any other medium, even the Internet,” she said. “There’s something about driving down I-5, tuning into a specific place on the dial and hearing unique programming, unique music and alternative views.”

income Breakdown of KZFr 90.1Fm 35

Donate! Fall 2012 Pledge Drive Support KZFR during its Fall 2012 Pledge Drive, beginning oct. 24 at 6 a.m. with “Bohemian Express” with Koz McKev and ending Nov. 2 with “The Dinosaur Hour” with Lars Larson at 10 p.m. you can pledge by: • calling the studio at (530) 895-0131 during your favorite program.

percent of total income

90.1 Fm KZFr Community raDio

Debra Lucero has long believed in investing in her community—as head of Friends of the Arts for the past decade and consultant for the Butte County Economic Development Corporation, she has dedicated much of her own time on Chico’s behalf.

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• visiting the station’s revamped website at www.kzfr.org. • visiting the office.You can be one the first to rock KZFR’s new sticker on your bicycle, vehicle, laptop or fridge!

pledge Drives

underwriting

Supporter teStimony alexa Benson-valavanis

Sanjay Dev’s love of radio began during his days growing up in Katmandu, Nepal, where he would listen to the only FM radio station’s weekly hour of English–language music.

Alexa Valavanis, president and CEO of North Valley Community Foundation, knows a thing or two about deeply-rooted community organizations, and she believes KZFR is as important as any in Chico.

Dev, who has hosted Devastation Sounds—KZFR’s premiere reggae music program—for the last 19 years, was drawn to reggae after a defining moment in the summer of 1976.

“I believe in mathematics and want to educate people about it and show them the beauty of it, and I believe in Reggae music the same way—the message, the power, the unity, the oneness that brings people together. I think it’s a beautiful thing and want to teach people about it.”

“A friend of mine brought a live Bob Marley record from England back to Katmandu,” he said. “The first song was ‘No Woman No Cry.’ It was very slow, very melodic and we understood every word. It was so powerful; that was the moment reggae got buried inside of me.”

To this end, Dev largely avoids Marley and other big names, focusing on artists overlooked by the American mainstream. As one of the most comprehensive Reggae shows anywhere, Devastation Sounds attracts weekly Internet listeners from South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Europe and his native Nepal.

Dev dug deeper, starting a record collection that now includes more than 8,000 LPs, many long since out of print. As a math professor at Chico State University

“The only continent I haven’t been able to reach yet is Antarctica,” Dev said.

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“I’m a long-time supporting fan of community radio—it provides a perspective and entertainment I don’t think you can get anywhere else,” she said. Valavanis helped launch Annie B’s Community Drive in 2007, the annual fundraiser in which non-profit organizations like KZFR are awarded grants based on how much they raise at the end of a two-month donation period. Valavanis maintains KZFR is held in high regard among Chicoans as an essential means to promote local interests and culture. She emphasized that it’s important to contribute to KZFR, either through volunteering time or financial donations, if listeners want the service to continue. A S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S U P P L E M E N T TO C N & R

Donation

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DevaStation SounDS Sanjay Dev and Butte College, Dev approaches his radio show the same way he approaches his job—with an emphasis on education.

Fundraisers

Personally,Valavanis volunteers as a programmer, hosting Some Place in the Middle, which she uses to highlight Chico’s notable donors and non-profit executives. She calls the show “a great way for folks to get to know other community members who are doing good work. Where else could I have a radio show that focused on a topic so near and dear to my heart?” Valavanis is also an avid KZFR listener, regularly tuning into their talk and music shows. “Democracy Now is one of my favorite programs,” she said. “It’s a syndicated program they run through KZFR, but I also enjoy the jazz programs, the talk show programs and the Peace and Social Justice Hour. So, I enjoy everything, really. “I can tune into 90.1 and feel like I’m in a world café setting,” she said. “Life would be pretty gray without it.”

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Supporter teStimony Debra Lucero

“i

love radio, I love teaching people, I take pride in putting out a good product people will listen to, something that will become a part of their lives,” said Rick Anderson, general manager of Chico’s KZFR Community Radio. “When you achieve that, you’ve done things right.” It’s that passion for broadcasting that has driven Anderson and his colleagues since KZFR first went on air 22 years ago. In those labor-intensive early days, programmers recorded their shows on a reel-to-reel tape machine, drove the tape to the transmitting station in Magalia and waited in real time as the shows were

broadcasted. The timeconsuming process was “a labor of love” for the KZFR staff and volunteers, Anderson said. KZFR has since installed a dish on its roof of their studio in downtown Chico to transfer the station’s signal to Magalia, making hosting a show a more manageable undertaking. But the sense of dedication has never waned at the listener-funded radio station—KZFR programmers are exclusively volunteers from the community who believe strongly in alternative media. “Community radio provides the outlet for discussion and diversity that is just not available anywhere else,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of too bad, but that’s the reality of it.” KZFR now reaches roughly 10,000 people a week with its eclectic mix of programming, including a full spectrum of musical offerings, political discourse, local news and teen and children’s programs. Anderson, a passionate man who lives and breathes community radio, becomes

particularly animated when discussing KZFR’s pride and joy—its immaculate listener-funded studio, completed in 2010. Anderson calls it “the best studio between Sacramento and Salem [Oregon].” In light of the improvements, Anderson said it’s important for KZFR to keep an eye on progress. The station will continue expanding their Internet presence and will unveil a mobile app in the near future, allowing listeners around the world to stream KZFR live from their mobile devices. “We’re aware the future isn’t in your terrestrial signal; your internet signal is important to developing and keeping an audience,” Anderson said. “When you’re community radio and you rely on donations, that’s where your money comes from.” But even after personally adopting a pro-

gressive approach to radio broadcasting, Anderson fears for the future of community radio in general. The average KZFR listener is 35 or older, a fact he faces each semester as a guest lecturer for Chico State’s KCSC student radio class. “First thing I ask is, ‘Who listened to the radio today?’ Nobody. ‘How about this week?’ Nobody. If no one is teaching them how to use the medium, or that the medium is important, the medium is going away, eventually.” And if stations like KZFR become a thing of the past, Anderson believes communities around the country, including Chico, will suffer in their absence. “I think we are providing a totally essential service,” he said. “There would be a giant gap without it; there would be a lack of knowledge to some degree, and it just wouldn’t be as fun without KZFR.”