I am immensely pleased to announce (to those who have not yet heard) that KCBX is now airing Democracy Now! on Tuesdays at noon. We appreciate that KCBX has taken this first step and hope they will agree to carry the entire program, Monday through Friday.

The struggle to get KCBX to carry Democracy Now! officially began on May 16th when Hopedance Media and the Peopleís Video Project first showed a video of portions of 3 talks given by Amy Goodman (in Berkeley, Cal Tech and L.A.) at the SLO library. At that time we launched a petition drive to garner support from the community to carry Democracy Now! The Amy Goodman video was later shown in Paso Robles and Grover Beach in a continuing effort to make the community aware of who this courageous woman is and what she is up against in the form of mainstream media.

To date we have 350 signatures and $4000 in pledges. In addition, Jim Dee (of the Palm Theater) has agreed to help underwrite the show. Thus, KCBX could carry the show (for free) for an entire year and through 2 entire pledge drives before having to spend a dime. By that time Iím quite certain they will have the entire $8000 in hand, in advance, for the subsequent year. In addition, Hopedance and the Peopleís Video Project are willing to hold annual fundraisers and Bob is willing to publish free publicity ads to promote the program. Weíll even help out during pledge drives at KCBX if they would like.

Whether we can get KCBX management to see the need to carry the program 5 days a week is not yet clear. For my part, I hope to have this issue placed on the agenda of the next KCBX advisory committee meeting so I can give my pitch to them. Others can help out by listening to Democracy Now! on Tuesdays at noon and contacting the station with your comments (encourage your friends to do likewise). Their phone number is 549-8855. Frank Lanzoneís e-mail address is frank@kcbx.org and Guyís is guy@kcbx.org. Ask them how the show has been received. When I did so, I was told that all of the comments had been positive! Visit the web page (hopedance.org) for updates and sign the on-line petition.

Finally, if you live in the north county you might be able to hear Democracy Now! on Santa Cruzís KUSP (91.7 at 9:00 AM). If you live further south you can hear it on KUSB at UC Santa Barbara (91.9 at 4:00 PM) or on Pacificaís own KPFK (90.7 in L.A. or 98.7 in Santa Barbara at 6:00 AM and again at 9:00 AM). Finally, Fresnoís KFCF keeps archives of their programs (including Democracy Now!) for 24 hours at www.kfcf.org/archives where you can use your computer to listen at your convenience. Listen in and do what you can to spread the word.

Go to www.hopedance.org and click the campaign to learn what you can do.