KDPI

Community Voice

September 3, 2020

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” – Aesop

Community Radio

I met Felix Belmont when I was teenager. He was a recent retiree who moved to our town and got involved in starting our community radio station. Over the decades that he devoted himself to the station he raised thousands of dollars, hosted a music show, interviewed the County Commissioners every month, hosted a wildly popular call in show about financial management, and served on the governing board multiple times. In 2011, at 93 years old, he was honored by NFCB with the Volunteer of the Year Award and a whole group of people from my hometown were there to cheer him on as he knocked it out of the park with his moving speech.
 
Felix is 102 now and pretty much sharp as a tack. Last week he loaded up in the car with his daughter Louise to move to her place in Indiana. It was just time and we all knew it. People lined the main street to wave goodbye and smile through their masks. He had a police escort that stopped in front of the radio station building (which is named after him), so that well-wishers could honor him and intrepid reporters could collect the audio. As the caravan moved out toward the highway, our community choir was there to surround the car and sing “Auld Lang Syne,” “America the Beautiful,” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” There was hardly a dry eye, and as a member of the choir, I can tell you that “Auld Lang Syne” nearly did me in. The final salute was the flashing highway sign that proclaimed “We Love You Felix” as he rolled out of town.
 
I could write volumes about my many conversations and adventures with Felix over the 40 years I have known him but there isn’t time for that here. I simply wanted to paint the picture of an ordinary man who was kind and showed up for his community, and in his own way changed the world. He changed my world, he changed the community, he changed the station. I asked him many times what the station meant to him and he gave basically the same answer every time, “KVNF is family to me. They accept me for who I am and help me feel that I belong to something that matters.”
 
As the scope and complexity of the challenges we face unleash fear and trepidation, my hope is that we remember the transformative power of community radio and the friendship it amplifies and uplifts every single day across this country. There is simple beauty in that… even in the most complicated times.

Sally Kane, CEO, National Federation of Community Broadcasters

Community Radio for the Wood River Valley, Sun Valley, Idaho.

KDPI is a local non-profit community radio station. It is a broadcast platform for collective voice operated by volunteers in the community. We also serve as a platform for eclectic music, information, and education, providing a medium for the hundreds of non-profit organizations in our Wood River Valley.

 

Community Radio

October 3, 2019

Community Broadcaster: Community Radio Needs You

Ernesto Aguilar

You can feel that crispness in the air. However, it is not just autumn. This time of year also brings the start of on-air fundraising season for community and noncommercial radio.

If you are a donor to or listener of your local community radio station, there is a good chance you are already aware of your area outlet’s endeavors. Check social media and you are likely to see an appeal to contribute today. When you tune in, you may hear a brief spot seeking phone volunteers or assistance with the pledge drive. Or maybe you even got a letter in the mail, reminding you of all the wonderful programming you enjoy and why your donation matters so much.

If you are not a regular community media consumer, you’ve probably heard of pledge drives at least. From parodiesto tote bag references, noncommercial radio and television fundraising is just part of the media fabric. Even while there may be a disconnect as to why it is done, you just won’t find many people who have never heard of pledge drive, even if they have not given during one.

This season, the-Why-You-Should-Give is very important.

With all the conversation around news deserts, community radio nationwide fulfills a valuable role in the civic life of cities and towns everywhere. Music, arts, news, ideas and culture all find a place on community media in service to the greater mission of education. Your local station can only do this with your financial contributions.

Every state in the next 18 months will see major races for local, state and federal office as well as a list of referenda that may reshape communities for years to come. Community radio is there, providing coverage of, and sometimes hosting, candidate debates. Stations team up with city leaders for voter education and registration. These outlets cover the issues that matter to voters. Yet the coverage struggles to happen without listener support.

And lastly, community media creates opportunity in the local economy. Whether it may be through sharing a local music scene, collaborating with local businesses or making a city a better, more interesting place to live, stations create jobs, spur industry and enhance the quality of life everywhere. Think about it. When you think of Seattle, you probably are reminded of its iconic radio stations. When a fledging music scene is taking off, community radio may be the first place local bands and live event dates get heard. And surely no discerning music fan would ever deny that taste-making radio raises a town’s hip factor. Tis word of mouth means visitors, good word-of-mouth, and ultimately dollars locally.

Every community radio station needs financial support. A recent National Federation of Community Broadcasters survey indicates many community radio stations work with thin margins. This includes many having a small staff and few reserves. Given how far these mighty stations stretch dollars, the fact so many stations provide communities such unique programming and bold coverage is a minor miracle, frankly. However, the deep regard many community stations have for audience donations should hint at how much appreciate your help.

On-air fundraising is a time when listeners like you can ensure the voices you value and media you hope for in our vibrant democracy can have greater resonance. There is no better time than this lovely fall to be a first-time or repeat donor to a community radio station.

 https://kdpifm.org

Just click on the ‘donate’ button!


 

 

Community Radio’s Town Square

September 27, 2019

“I knew I wanted to be in radio when I was 6 years old,” said Dayle Ohlau, now 59 and soon to take over as general manager of KDPI, the local nonprofit community radio station based in Ketchum.

Ohlau, who had previously earned a master’s degree in human behavior, decided to return to academia. She enrolled at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco to pursue a Ph.D. in the School of Transformative Studies.

Two and half years later, she has completed her coursework and is preparing an 80-page thesis proposal titled “Homo-Spiritus: Radical Compassion, a New Paradigm for Spirit-Based Journalism.”

“My work is theoretical rather than quantitative,” Ohlau said. “It traces our history from the end of World War I to today, and studies media biases that led us to where we are now, with a distrust of the media and a weakening of the Fourth Estate [journalism]. We have become so tribal. Due to our confirmation biases we only listen to or read what we already believe.”

A recent $11,000 donation from 100 Men Who Care, a local philanthropic group, drew Ohlau back to the nonprofit station that she had helped General Manager Mike Scullion get started in 2013. She will be able to draw a small salary putting together new ideas for the station.

“For me this will be a synergy between my studies and my radio career,” she said. ‘It’s an opportunity to generate compassionate and ethical communication in our community. I think of it as harkening back to the days of the town square.”

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/valley_people/valley-people/article_10631b36-e07e-11e9-ba8a-0bcdeb96644b.html

Megan Griswold: “The Book of Help: A Memoir in Remedies”

September 25, 2019

Community Library in Ketchum:

The Book of Help traces one woman’s life-long quest for love, connection and peace of mind. A heartbreakingly vulnerable and tragically funny memoir-in-remedies, Megan Griswold’s narrative spans four decades and six continents — from the glaciers of Patagonia and the psycho-tropics of Brazil, to academia, the Ivy league, & the study of Eastern medicine.

Join us for a reading and discussion around Megan’s story.

Books will be available for sale and signing, courtesy of Chapter One Bookstore.

Megan Griswold holds a Bachelor’s from Columbia University, a Masters in International Relations from Yale and a licentiate from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. She has worked as a mountain instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School, an NPR ‘All Things Considered’ commentator and a classical acupuncturist in private practice. She’s a trained doula, Zero Balancer, NIA instructor, NCCAOM acupuncturist, Wilderness First Responder, shiatsu practitioner, NASM personal trainer and has completed advanced yoga teacher trainings with Richard Freeman. She resides in a yurt in Wyoming.

Megan’s Yurt!

As a most personal and private ghostwriter, Megan helps others tackle life’s challenges through the written word. She helps you write the letter to break up with your boyfriend that final time or win him back forever.

She also assists individuals in navigating and selecting their own therapeutic and global adventures. She’s kissed a lot of therapeutic frogs (metaphorically only) so you don’t have to. Megan can help you edit your Choose Your Own Adventure in hopes you find the most efficient way to experience the world you want.

This Jackson, Wyoming, Yurt Brings a Dose of Whimsy to the Wilderness

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/jackson-wyoming-yurt-a-dose-of-whimsy-in-the-wilderness

Jackson Hole News & Guide

https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/valley/people/closeup/article_b747d246-7a0d-5320-a3c2-cdb14edd9d06.html

 

Interview with Dayle Ohlau as heard on KDPI 88.5 FM in Ketchum, Idaho


 

KDPI 88.5 FM

March 11, 2016

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