KPFT Notes

Prometheus is excited to announce the creation of a new staff position: Station Support Organizer! Applications are now being accepted. Please send a resume, cover letter, 1-2 writing samples, and references to jobs (at) prometheusradio.org. Application deadline is April 11th!

Prometheus is a grassroots organization that works to expand and protect community radio and promote a more democratic media in the United States and around the world. From Black Panther-led community centers in Tanzania to farmworker groups in Oregon, we help community groups build their own radio stations as tools for social justice organizing. Our day to day work consists of advocacy, grassroots organizing, and direct services. We help civil society groups navigate the radio licensing process and provide technical assistance in building radio stations. We also advocate in Congress and at the FCC to protect community radio, and actively participate in the broader campaign for a better media. We are tireless in our fight to make community radio stations and appropriate technologies available to every neighborhood, every town that needs them.

Prometheus Radio Project is now taking applications for a new position: Station Support Organizer.

This new position at Prometheus Radio Project will be responsible for maintaining the relationships among the thousands of people that contact Prometheus in their quest to build a radio station, and the hundreds of groups that rely on Prometheus for advice and connection to the community radio movement.

This position will also be responsible for outreach that will help build awareness and capacity for community radio in social justice movements. Prometheus seeks to demystifying technology and the political system so that community’s can take back their airwaves! As the primary point of contact for people who seek support from Prometheus, the Director of Community Radio Support is charged with maintaining reliable information usable by Community Radio stations to address their basic legal, engineering, governance and related challenges.

Responsibilities include:

* Managing incoming requests by integrating them into Prometheus’ operation. This involves providing information in response to basic requests, connecting people with appropriate legislative and regulatory campaign leaders, and directing people to appropriate support among the Prometheus staff;

* Helping to strengthen the community radio movement by designing and managing outreach campaigns and organizing and promoting events that raise awareness and spread knowledge across the US on the power of participatory radio;

* Spearheading the creation of collaborative tools which low power and other participatory stations can use to share their knowledge and experience;

* Implementing methods to assess the needs of our constituents and make recommendations to Prometheus on we can better serve these communities;

* Helping Prometheus’ sustainability by identifying potential candidates for our more in-depth engineering services and integrating stations and station hopefuls into our fundraising efforts.

A candidate for this position needs:

* In-depth knowledge of radio station administrative operations – an excellent job for a former station manager or community radio participant

* Excellent written and verbal communications skills

* Familiarity with computers, various software applications and the internet

* Strong organizational skills and methods

* Comfort with and willingness to engage in fundraising work

* Community organizing experience

Other skills that would be very helpful:

* Fluency in multiple languages

* Web development skills

* Radio engineering knowledge, or comfort with taking on and communicating technical matters

* Experience in consensus decision-making and mediation

* A drivers license

* International experience

* Audio Production (importantly, this is not a part of the job; we are not a radio station or a radio network, and we do not shape the content of the stations that ask our support. But you might on occasion have cause to teach some audio production)

Prometheus is an egalitarian office, where all take part in decision-making and all full-time staff earn equal hourly pay. We can pay you eleven dollars per hour, up to 40 hours per week; and we offer full medical and dental coverage. Everyone takes a turn mopping the floor and taking out the trash, etc. Hours are flexible; there are no clocks to punch, and there is no one breathing down your neck to manage your time. However, you are responsible for getting results and serving our goal of empowering social movements through ownership and control of community media outlets. This means we all work very hard and occasionally work long hours; especially during events and barnraisings, we engage in intense commitments for weeks at a time.

Our office is located in West Philadelphia, in the community center basement of the Calvary Methodist Church. Be ready to smell delicious cooking, hear the shouts of children learning martial arts, people singing gospel, or holding a self help meeting.

As far as we’re concerned, discrimination sucks. Everyone is invited to apply. Don’t be shy!

Send a resume, cover letter, and two writing samples to: jobs@promemetheusradio.org.

This announcement on a fantastic training opportunity comes from the Grassroots Radio Conference list:

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, in partnership with the Association of Independents in Radio, announces its Summer 2008 Audio Institutes

AIR/CDS offers discounts to 10 AIR member-participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Apply early!

The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) presents two, weeklong, morning-till-night immersions for audio producers. If you’re a producer just getting started, “Hearing is Believing I” is for you. You’ll learn hands-on skills in recording and digital audio mixing; discuss issues such as the ethics of documentary work; explore varied uses for audio documentaries (it’s not just radio anymore); and hear accomplished producers play and talk about their work in evening presentations. During the week you’ll work with a fellow student to produce and edit a short audio documentary, from the first interview and sound gathering to the final mix.

“Hearing is Believing II: Making it Sing” is for producers who’ve recorded interviews and gathered sound and are ready to construct a four- to ten-minute audio documentary. This course is designed for those who are ready to begin editing their project and have a basic grasp of audio editing software, or for individuals who have completed Make That Audio Doc and/or the one-week “Hearing Is Believing I” and are ready to try a more ambitious project. This time you’ll bring your own recordings to the institute. You’ll get lessons and personal guidance from seasoned radio documentary producers as you structure and script your piece, record your narration tracks (if any), and mix your documentary on ProTools.

Hearing is Believing I: Sun-Sat, July 13–19 Course fee: $775

Hearing Is Believing II:

Making It Sing: Mon-Sat, August 11–16 Course fee: $775

The stellar faculty is led by AIR member John Biewen, who is the audio programs director at the Center for Documentary Studies. He’ll be joined by visiting artists and other staff members of the Center for Documentary Studies. Past instructors have included Chris Brookes, and AIR members Neenah Ellis, Deb George, Karen Michel, Dmae Roberts, and Judith Sloan.

To register for these institutes, contact Duke Continuing Studies by calling Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit their Web site.

I will be adding a new video on the training page by Dick Brooks on interview techniques, which I recorded here in Atlanta. Conference wraps today. I may get to post later, but I wanted to forward the following from OSI:

The Open Society Fellowship enables outstanding individuals from around the world, including journalists, activists, academics, practitioners, to work on projects that inspire meaningful public debate, shape policy, and inform the thinking and activities of the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations.

Fellows’ projects may include books, articles, documentary films, online media, and efforts to seed new campaigns and organizations.

The Fellowship, directed by Leonard Benardo, focuses on four areas: National Security and the Open Society; Citizenship, Membership and Marginalization; Strategies and Tools for Advocacy and Citizen Engagement; and Understanding Authoritarianism. OSI may also support a limited number of projects that fall outside these areas but are within the scope of OSI’s mission.

Fellows will receive competitive stipends, communications assistance, and access to OSI’s networks of partners and grantees. Most Fellowships will be awarded for one year but longer or shorter durations may be considered. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

For more information, please visit here.

About to head to another NFCB session, but just an update. John Crigler and company did a great political broadcasting session this morning. I’ll be posting the Q&A on the training page shortly, as many of the usual questions about elections and programming are there. Keep an eye out for that.

Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingue was just presented the Michael Bader Award for outstanding community radio service.

Pacifica affiliates meet tonight. More soon!

I am in Atlanta now, and it is great to see so many folks. The Pacifica Radio Archives and the Pacifica Foundation sponsored the Wednesday evening reception. Video for such is below.

[google -2833418178748119288]

Apologies for the audio quality — even close, the acoustics (the event was held in a garden/pool area) were poor — but I hope the video is worth it.

I will be blogging from Atlanta, starting today, for the annual National Association of Community Broadcasters’ conference. I’ll be facilitating the Program Directors’ Solution Center, which gives PDs from around the country a chance to discuss issues we face and creatively come up with solutions. Many good sessions are happening in Atlanta, and I hope to share more.

As a followup to my Rovics comments this week, Current forwards a link to this piece, which seems to only lend credence to Rovics’ remarks about the importance of non-com radio. It essentially says that most of the music discovery sites and Internet radio, by and large, are doing what you’d find on mainstream commercial radio. Great for Flo Rida and Buckcherry, bad for anything other than mainstream music. This acknowledgment eems to rachet up the need for a niche music focus on the air.

Speaking of the value of radio, Greg Guma continues to churn out solid stuff on his blog. Now, if I could get him to link to me. Hmmm…

On the media justice front, RaceWire speaks on “extending the teaching moment” provided by Barack Obama’s speech on race. Maya Wiley also shares some thoughts on the speech. As for Obama’s rival, Media Matters covers how bad the coverage was following the release of Hillary Clinton’s schedules during the White House years.

And finally, a big congrats out to KPFT News’ fabulous Ann Raber. Starting April 4 through November, Ann will be co-curating BallotVox, a project aimed at bringing together the best from the blogosphere, online audio/video and more, focusing on Campaign 2008. BallotVox was launched by Public Radio Exchange as part of a Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded collaboration. And, if you’ve caught Ann’s weekly segment on KPFT News with the Texas Observer, you know she does first-rate work, so check it out. If you haven’t caught Ann’s incisive Observer interviews, tune in Wednesdays to KPFT News at 5 p.m.

Longtime KPFT volunteer and producer of the Hep C Show, Dean Moore, has died. KPFT GM Duane Bradley writes:

Dean, and his loving partner Shelly Baker, were the co-producers of the ‘Hep C’ health program that aired monthly during the Open Journal slot. In addition, Dean and Shelly helped on many, many KPFT events from the Watermelon Dance to iFest to the live remote Roadhouse shows, backyard parties and more. Dean was a regular phone volunteer, especially during the Morning Mix, and was well-known for his lengthy conversations with callers to the pledge lines…

Dean has long struggled with his health problems and was forced into the hospital last week. His heart apparently could no longer take the strain, and he passed yesterday, Monday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m.

His heart was always strong and his love for KPFT and the Pacifica family profound and deep. His smile and laugh were contagious, as were his belief in the work we all came here to do through KPFT.

We will sorely miss him and his loving energy.

Services are pending and will likely take place at Forest Park in Webster on Saturday.

Condolences out to Dean’s family and friends.

My hope is that David Rovics’ critique of public/community radio, and Pacifica in particular, sparks some conversations about the role of culture in what we do.

I’ve long considered David Rovics a kindred spirit and am pleased to see him speaking on a topic that is seldom given the play that it should.

Non-commercial radio is a fantastic venue for artists whose content likely means their music would not ever be touched by Clear Channel, Cumulus, Univision, etc. Obviously, non-com radio is a great venue for any artist offering an alternative sound to the mainstream stations. For socially aware artists, though, these kinds of venues are probably the only ones they’ll have. Such makes our responsibility as stations that much greater.

Among some quarters, the contention that people mainly get their music online holds water. ITunes and other services are a testament to online music’s explosion. Nevertheless, the potential for non-commercial radio to raise the profile of political music represents a growth opportunity that Pacifica could tap into more.

Credit to Nalini for the link.

The Allied Media Conference has extended its deadline for proposals. Visit alliedmediaconference.org for more info.

Radio Ephemera and the Prelinger Library (San Francisco, CA) and aims to inspire short audio stories based on printed ephemera from the early 1900s. Submissions for this contest will be accepted until August 3rd; four will be chosen as the 2008 TCF ShortDocs, and those producers will be invited to Chicago to present their work at our annual Conference. You can read all about it, and hear a short piece explaining more, at thirdcoastfestival.org.

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night’s Jim Hightower event at the River Oaks Theater. A great time was had by all. Intriguing questions and answers that went from mainstream media issues to the Trans Texas Corridor. Jim also mentioned his support of Barack Obama. Great event.