Option one has potential to serve the need for information, storytelling and music and arts enrichment, so long as it contains volunteers. I think that along with a format change needs to be a change in organizational culture and attitude towards the community that is more of a dynamic relationship. To shift KUSP to an exciting,experimental hotbed of creativity will take a sea change in thinking. To get new, locally produced shows up and running will take focus and time. Here is a suggestion for a process/project that could lead to some new ideas and shows:

If KUSP opens up new airtime and needs new programs that are of high quality and community-focused, it will need to look in new places for ideas and talent, as well as welcome experienced folks back into the fold. How to do that in a short time?

Idea: KUSP Program-a-thon:

Hold a one-day community radio program craeate-athon (in the tradition of hackathons) Participants will be guided step-by-step through how to formulate and pitch an idea for radio – from developing the germ of idea and writing a standout pitch, to negotiating slots and budgets. They’ll also learn how to work with editors and producers, and what makes audiences tune in or tune out. Then, they write up the idea, and pitch it.

Individuals or groups meet to learn how to do program creation and design, how to pitch an idea, and then actually get to pitch their idea.

The idea is to generate winning ideas for local programs the best of which might be brought into production and on air.

The prize is a commitment on KUSP’s part to help develop their idea into a show and if the pilot is good, put it on the air for a trial run and possibly regular airtime slot.

The goal is to create award-winning, engaging, and new idea radio that is community-focused, ie, has some connection to the area.

The judges would be community radio professionals and listeners.

Who to invite: Local writers, authors, film makers, radio programmers/producers, personalities, journalists, bloggers, podcasters, etc.

The follow-up deliverable will be a more detailed program design (potential guests, theme music style, host demo, and clock) and then a pilot show.

Just a thought…

In light of all the foregoing (my apologies), I favor Option 1. While I, and many others, remember with great fondness, the “glory days” of the eclectic music offerings of KUSP, those days are behind us and any attempt to recreate them is akin to returning to the typewriter and onion skin paper. There are and will continue to be ever more venues for all of us to easily and ubiquitously access exciting, thoughtfully curated music produced by an actual human, not to mention all the computerized personal taste analysis-by-algorithm providers that now and will continue to arise and morph. KUSP does not need that kind of competition. For us to jump back with both feet into that arena would be merely attempting to outdo KZSC and as redundant as the satellite programming that KAZU now presents (let’s not forget who was there first). The reason KUSP dropped all the daytime music programming was the fact that our number of listeners also precipitously dropped, like a stone, landing at KAZU, as soon as Morning Edition was over. One listener’s fervent passion for Jazz or Celtic or African music is another’s reason to leap up and change the dial. And change they did. Musical preference can be almost religious. We like and want what we like and want. But what we personally want to hear doesn’t necessarily and did not, in fact, pay the bills. That programming change was not popular with much of the KUSP Foundation and I still get the cold shoulder in public from some programmers of that time for supporting that change. But the fiscal reasons for it were sound and KUSP will not sustain itself, let alone thrive, into the future by returning to the past. Great music curated by knowledgeable and talented local programmers should continue to live at KUSP but only occupy the approximate percentage and location it does in our current 24-hour broadcast schedule. But the rest of the day cannot be filled only with what the listener is used to and think they want (that can be found elsewhere) but, rather, with what the listener doesn’t even realize they want and can’t currently get anywhere else on the radio dial. Only a radical and exciting change in the “feel” of KUSP will build on the outpouring of enthusiasm and goodwill recently evinced and result in enough donated dollars to make it a reality. We can’t tweak around the edges. KUSP will only thrive if we continue to be creative. Retreating to what we or anyone else is currently doing or has done before in order to supposedly be safe and financially secure in today’s media environment is a fool’s errand. The technological revolution of the last 15 years will doom such a course. Yet it suggests another.

Radio is the only medium that can enthrall and compel simply through the unadorned human voice. Granted, “driveway moments” are skillfully produced, but they are still the result of a story well told by a fellow human, living a life we can empathize or sympathize with, whose desires, fears, and longings resonate with our own. I believe KUSP should retain the “tent poles” of Morning Edition and All Things Considered, semi-regular “headlines” and one or two thought-provoking stalwarts (maybe with an international perspective?) To generate excitement over the revival of KUSP, with both increased volunteer enthusiasm and fundraising dollars, I advocate for the rest of the weekday programming to be filled with the human voice telling human stories, not authors reading from a book, not interviews with the rich, famous, or dubiously newsworthy, not bloviating political or economic pundits and predictors of all stripes. As interesting as all those might be they can all be found on other radio stations. The internet has spawned a legion of independent radio broadcasters (podcasters) who are changing the face of radio with unique and (mostly) compelling stories, many incorporating musical content, that are, with a few well-known exceptions, available only online, not on the radio. But they really only enter general public consciousness after being picked up by radio. NPR has recognized and embraced that ethos to a certain degree and is the better for it. KUSP could distinguish itself by doing more of it. KUSP could provide an expanded platform that would not only benefit these artists, local and not, but also create an audience experience that could change daily, resulting in not-to-be-missed listening experiences absent from any other radio station anywhere. KUSP has already nurtured and fostered several local individuals who are recognized nationally and internationally for their podcasting and/or broadcasting. There are many, many other independent podcasters, some local, who no doubt would relish the opportunity to have their offerings aired on the radio, thereby driving more listeners to their internet site, possibly affording them the financial security to expand and improve their art. (In our current fiscal situation, the content would have to be provided free to the station). These would be human stories of local or universal interest, hopefully both. Some programs should appeal to the Monterey Bay only, informing us of what our neighbors or our government agencies are up to. That, not an Aptos resident playing recordings of French accordion or reggae, is the definition of “local.” Volunteers, not staff (too busy), need to carry this visible presence into the community, recording and producing interesting content from it. I’m told there are community members interested in spearheading and supporting and participating in such localism. Is that true? If so, step up.

Online sites like Radiotopia and others make this treasure trove of podcasts available to those who do their listening through the web, but that is a very small core group of enthusiasts. I daresay most of these enthusiasts (listeners and producers alike) are under 45 years old, a demographic we seek and need, and the future taste and format makers of all media. There are at least two obvious problems with this idea: 1) one or two or a committee of individuals would have to be responsible for listening to and selecting this pre-produced content and segueing it into a coherent and compelling sequence, including brief musical interludes, a very time-intensive enterprise, but not superhuman. Who could and would do that–volunteers or paid archivists or a combination? 2) the length of podcasts vary and doesn’t necessarily fit into the radio clock, ending on the 15, 20, 30 or 60 minute mark. Could KUSP break that mold also and let one hour bleed into the next? Who says we can’t? KUSP has survived by continually fashioning a mold, then breaking it, forever adapting to circumstances of money and manpower/fatigue, always moving forward. I am confident the Foundation and the community would support this unique approach with enthusiasm and monetary support. It is certainly ‘pataphysical.

What is needed is a recognition that we are living in different times which require new thinking.

Technology is ever-changing and as long as KUSP is distributing content it doesn’t create, it will be vulnerable to those changes. Radio is ONE of the ways content can be delivered, but radio is not the goal. The goal is to connect the Monterey Bay Region with the kind of compelling content which will reflect the community back to itself, it’s culture, news, music, arts, and issues.

KUSP has an opportunity to secure it’s existence for the next 20 years by taking a bold stance on the creation of that content. I believe that partnering with local colleges and universities, historical societies, news media and community organizations and talented individuals, content can be created in Santa Cruz, Monterey, in Salinas, Big Sur, and in San Benito County, which will enrich the lives of all of those who live in the Monterey Bay Area Region.

Some of the current programming fulfills the purpose, some may not. It is important to consider what kind of content is missing from local media, what voices are not being heard.

Having been involved on-air and on the board in the 80′s, I have not desire to return to the past, nor do I believe that KUSP has fulfilled the role of being a community radio station, in any but a minimal way.

It has been clear from my attendance at every one of the meetings KUSP has held, working with the community is a foreign activity for those who are leading this process. KUSP has been hobbled by a Santa Cruz-centric way of viewing the rest of the Region.

As someone who has lived in most parts of the Monterey Bay Area for the past 40 years, from Big Sur to Boulder Creek and currently in San Juan Bautista, I have experienced the provincialism which many who have not gotten outside of the bubble seem to be unaware of.

This is an opportunity for a creative, bold choice to be made to fulfill the promise of community radio. I have been hopeful, but I am aware that the current team running the process is more suited for the NPR model, than a community radio model. let alone the kind of creative thinking I believe is required.

This is a time for building bridges with our fellow communities and sharing our resources to create programming of interest to not only the people in our area, but to the rest of the world.

To create that partnership, the entire community needs to be invited to participate and be heard.