As readers of HopeDance may know, Democracy Now! (DN!) is being aired on KCBX FM on Tuesdays from noon till 1pm. During KCBX‘s recent September pledge drive, supporters of DN! pledged $6500.00. This occurred after only 6 one-hour programs of DN! had been aired!

Our ongoing petition has garnered 361 signatures and pledges of just over $5000.00 (specifically for DN! if and when it goes on the air for the full week). At least one business has offered to underwrite a portion of the show, if it becomes available. All this for a program that will only cost $8,000 per year, after an initial year at no charge (during which time KCBX will have two additional pledge drives). For a station that could use some influx of cash, one would think that KCBX would pay more attention to these details instead of concentrating on the one listener who cut back on his pledge this year as a result of DN! (a story I have heard no fewer than three times). They say it’s not about the money because if it were, they would be irresponsible to continue their refusal to air the program all five days per week. Even the possibility that the show is available five times a week is never mentioned to the listeners of KCBX.

On October 31st I met with members of the KCBX Community Advisory Board, to discuss DN! I was pleasantly surprised to find that no one had any opposition to the program. One gentleman even brought in his own letter urging KCBX to carry the program. Everyone seemed to agree that NPR was "lacking" at times, and that DN! offered a new and fresh approach to what was universally acknowledged as dire times. While I was given an hour to make my case, the presence of KCBX management at the meeting made me suspicious that the council had any real independence. Nonetheless, they have said they will continue to discuss this issue among themselves prior to their next meeting in late January.

At that time I will formally request they adopt a resolution urging KCBX to carry the entire DN! program. But in the end, there is no procedure that allows ordinary citizens to affect station policy. By listening to their ever-changing reasons for refusing our request (i.e., money, space, format), it becomes clear that the common denominator is their commitment to keep DN! largely off the air.

We are living in critical times: We have a presidency occupied by a man appointed by a partisan Supreme Court after a fraudulent election, preemptive wars based on lies and distortions, a Patriot Act that is the most serious assault on our rights since the Alien and Sedition Acts, an administration that is the most secretive in history, all manner of obstacles used to subvert any meaningful investigation into 9-11, the callous disregard for international and domestic opinion, the collapse of support from our traditional allies, the further disparity between the rich and the poor (both domestically and internationally) and the astounding reversal of a budget surplus into a record deficit.

These are just some of the issues that DN! addresses in-depth every day. And it is apparent that people are needing information and analyses that genuinely reflect this crisis.

Of the California cities with populations roughly greater than 10,000, only Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo citizens are denied this daily program that questions our increasingly lawless rulers. Shouldn’t we, the listeners, have a voice as to what we can hear on an alleged community public radio station? The fact that listeners pledged $6,500.00 only after six weeks of hearing the program demonstrates a very strong voice indeed.

The management of KCBX really ought to listen more carefully.

Mark Phillips is a rabble rouser who lists Mario Savio, Nelson Mandela and Amy Goodman as some of the people he respects and is inspired by. He lives and works in Atascadero. He also is involved in putting on radical films and forums in SLO County as well as being one of the main organizers of the Sustainable Building Council.

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