How do you start a new community
radio station on a nonprofit budget? You call together a hundred social
grassroots activists & their organizations, then inspire them with a vision
of creating a community media outlet ‘by, of and for the people’. You explain that media consolidation has limited
the public’s access to the vital news and culture that makes a democracy
thrive. You promise to be a voice of the voiceless. You muster thousands of
volunteer hours, an equal amount of small donations and a strong component of
local talent. Presto, got radio!
Actually it took Activist San
Diego (ASD) six long years and a couple hundred meetings ultimately to assemble
San Diego’s newest radio station from the ground up — entirely with volunteer
labor. It took several years of legal and technical work for ASD to submit the
application and secure the construction permit from the FCC. During the last
three years $45,000 was raised to buy a custom antenna, a sophisticated
transmitter, an emergency broadcast system and a healthy dose of studio
equipment. The station will launch with only a 10th of the resources normally
required for such a venture: a testimonial to what is dubbed “people-powered
radio.”
The new listener-supported radio
station is officially known as KNSJ 89.1 Descanso. Descanso is the FCC’s “city
of record.” KNSJ’s call letters reflect its mission: Networking for Social Justice. With the
transmitter and tower at over 6200 feet in the Laguna Mountains, KNSJ’s signal
can be heard in car radios from the US-Mexico border to Highway 52, from the
East County mountains to the bay and KNSJ covers all of central San Diego. The
estimated potential listenership is over 1 million people plus a rapidly
growing set of younger listeners who will connect over the Internet or their
cell phones.
KNSJ’s main studios will be in El
Cajon, with thousands of listeners in East County having their first access to
noncommercial, educational radio. Listeners, donors and volunteers will come
from across San Diego County and the border region. KNSJ has pledged to train
scores of “citizen journalists” to report on the untold stories of those who
have been ignored by the commercial media. While the bulk of KNSJ’s programming
will be news and education, KNSJ is looking to make a special connection with
local bands, writers and performance artists. KNSJ has a stated objective of
having a quarter of its music come from local musicians, 10 times more local
music content than any other San Diego station is offering.
KNSJ will be “Born on the
4th of July,”
initiating a full day of live broadcast plus audio and video streaming on
KNSJ.org. The public is invited to come down to the World Beat Center at 2100
Park Boulevard in Balboa Park to participate in the live broadcast and in many
cases get on the air with their opinions about how to shape this community
radio station to meet the needs of San Diego’s increasingly multiethnic and
diverse population. From 7-8 a.m. the broadcast will emanate out of Descanso
with the voices of local mountain residents. In the late morning host Miriam
Raftery, editor of the award-winning East County Magazine, will preview her
regular show of news, information and cultural offerings. Former City
Councilmember Floyd Morrow, has invited Mayor Bob Filner, San Diego City
Council members and other community icons to celebrate the launching of the new
listener-supported radio station. Efforts will be made throughout the day to
raise the $35,000 (in pledges and on-line donations at KNSJ.org) to keep the
station on the air and hire its first station manager.
Mark Gabrish Conlan,
editor/publisher of Zenger’s Newsmagazine
from 1994 to 2012, will host “The Queer Hour,” a pilot episode for his KNSJ-FM
program “Zenger’s on the Air,”
from 3 to 4 p.m. during the July 4 launch day. He will introduce Charles, his
legally wedded husband of five years, and present compelling interviewees on
aspects of the struggle of Queer (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender)
people for liberation and equal rights. Leo Laurence, co-founder of the
Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF) in early 1969 and co-leader of the first
demonstrations against a private employer for anti-Queer discrimination, will
speak about the history of the Queer rights struggle before the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in
June 1969. Howard Menzer, founder of Scouting for All, will discuss his
decades-long struggle to end the Boy Scouts of America’s discrimination against
Queers and what he calls the “baby step” the Boy Scouts have just taken. Cecile
Veillard, Sean Bohac and José Medina of SAME Alliance will talk about the
struggle for marriage equality in San Diego and the prosecution of nine SAME
Alliance members, including Veillard and Bohac, for civil disobedience at the
County Clerk’s office in 2010. Members of Canvass for a Cause and Guerrilla
Pride San Diego will close out the hour talking about the upcoming Pride events
in San Diego July 12-14 and how they intend to bring a radical, anti-corporate
presence to them.
KNSJ has reached out to former
broadcasters and listeners of KLSD, a station pulled off the air by its parent
company. KNSJ draws on hosts who have had previous radio experience, including
Enrique Morones, Makeda Dread & Douglas Holbrook. Local musicians will
offer firework-music until mid-night. KNSJ will mix local producers with
national programming from Pacifica, the BBC, Thom Hartmann & Amy Goodman.
KNSJ Contact: info@KNSJ.org, (619) 283-1100, www.KNSJ.org
