TPA to RSW

It's important to admit first that there is no radio on the west coast of Florida. It's so bad, the Enterprise rent-a-car map for the region lists only formats and frequencies —no call letters. The map identifies the mighty 88.5 WMNF as "variety." WMNF is audible loud and proud in the Tampa metro but also to the south, through Bradenton, Sarasota and into Port Charlotte where it starts to crap out. University of South Florida owns 89.7 WUSF and runs 100% syndicate NPR programming —nothing local at all. they also own 89.1 WSMR and there air 24/7 classical out of Sarasota.

Most of the rest of the radio band is crap. I had high hopes for 89.3 WKFA being owned by Florida Public Radio but unbeknownst to me they're part of another network of religious stations: WPIO, WEJF, WEGS, KREJ, KSNS, KSKB, KLOX, and WKTO. The religious network was first established in the early 1970s and presently carries programming from Family Life, Moody Bible Broadcasting and The Cavalry Chapel. On Sundays they have a bluegrass show and a polka show but that hardly makes up for sucking the rest of the week.

On 1320 WDDV-AM simulcasts really bland nostalgia with 1450 WSDV-AM. It is so mild, and forgettable it could almost be beautiful music, there was no beat whatsoever. 1230 WONN-AM and 720 WRZN-AM are hardly better. To me with the aging population this metro seems like a candidate for an adult standards station that can swing, something like KCEA-FM out in Atherton. The most lively thing on the AM dial in Tampa was an ethnic Greek station, 1520 WXYB-AM, which does not simulcast on their sister station 1500 WPSO-AM north of Tampa in Port Ritchie. Yes, Tampa has two different ethnic Greek music stations, and that is pretty awesome. On the way out of town I realized that gospel station 1590 WRXB-AM is also on 96.5 FM in Bradenton, via translator W243AK.

In Sarasota I found a real gem. 96.5 WSLR-LP. Sadly it gets interference on the north side from the highly dubious W243AK (see above.)  WSLR operates at a modest 23 watts and is only clear intermittently along I-75. But wow, what a station. When I tuned in Friday, they were airing Democracy now, then on Sunday,  all-Dixieland which had to be the Louisiana Gumbo Show with John Osgood. Had I passed through at other times I'd have been equally likely to find Hawaiian music as the Blues. That is the kind of station that every town needs.*Also just learned that they also carry two Native American radio programs, a rarity!

It was the last decent station I heard. In Punta Gorda WCVU's easy listening format is a novelty but not really listenable. in Ft. Meyers christian propaganda airs on every frequency from the bottom to the top of the educational band. 88.1 to 91.9 with the sole exception of 90.9 WGCU which just airs all NPR like WUSF. They have a single local program on Sunday's, a call-in program called Gulf Coast Live. But really, that brief window of WSLR around exit 210 on I-75 was the highlight of the drive.

Native America Calling

Native America Calling is a live radio program heard on 60 stations in the United States and in Canada. It's produced by the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, a Native American run media corporation based in Anchorage, AK. In June of 1995 they began providing live daily feeds to their affiliates.All that makes them sound like a niche Public Radio service. Well try this number: They are heard by about 500,000 listeners. It's a call-in type program focusing on politicized topics relevant to Native American communities. They bring in experts and guests to keep the discussion as civil as is possible with such contentious topics. The program is based at KUNM and has become the AIROS flagship program

Things got a little too exciting behind the mic on the program in 2003 though. Only months after he was voted the “Best Radio Personality in New Mexico ” by Crosswinds Weekly magazine Host Harlan Mack McKosato was arrested at a DWI stop. His his BAC registered a .08, twice the legal limit. Only two weeks prior to that he'd been arrested and charged with two counts of battery against a household member.

After doing a few days in jail and paying a fine he went into alcohol counseling. But 3 years later he returned to the program. McKosato turned it around into another program topic. He continues to host the program today and is still a columnist for the Santa Fe New Mexican Newspaper.

Christians attacking indians again...

It's only been a thousand years... but the Christians won't layoff.

I am very sympathetic to the native Americans. They want to build casinos... let 'em. They are more deserving of reparations than any other minority group. So when a satcaster christian outlet tries to take a native American owned radio station to court, I don't care if they're Canadian or American. I know whose side I'm on.

This is a battle between a Vancouver, Canada based Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc., and KWPZ-FM Lynden, Washington owned by Crista Ministries. [KWPZ recently changed called from KLYN]

Crista argues that they are losing listeners they should reach rightfully within their protected contour. Their contour crosses the U.S./Canada border. They of course have no rights north of that border. None. They also argue that it will cause interference within the US portion of their coverage area. This may have some truth, BUT they Also own KCMS 105.3 which blankets the entire Seattle market with one 63,000 watt signal and three repeaters. This signal is in no danger of any kind. None-the-less KWPZ mustered more than 7,000 listeners enough to file interventions opposing the the application.

Aboriginal Voices argues that the 50,000 native Americans in the Vancouver market (not the U.S.) deserve a broadcast media voice. That and KWPZ is not entitled to receive the same technical protection in Canada as Canadian services get. The Aboriginal Voices radio website is here.  The CRTC found in favor of AVR of course.

But there is a magic detail here. In 2001 AVR filed not for 106.3, but for 90.9. In the CRTC's own language "in the Commission’s view, the use of 90.9 MHz by AVR did not constitute the best possible use of that frequency. " You can read it here. And what's adjacent to 90.9 near Vancouver? nothing. nothing at all. So four years ago the CRTC made a chess move to pick this fight pretty knowingly. 106.3 isn't' even that great a signal. It's second adjacent to Canadian public radio outlet CBU 105.7. More here. I don't know why, but I can say that Canada has a totally different approach to defending their RF border than Mexico does.

American Indian Radio

As you all well know, once this entire continent belonged to The American Indians. They of course did not call them selves Indians, Native Americans or American anythings actually. My best understanding of the word they used was "human beings"

So, these human beings got a raw deal from the incoming Europeans. These days, the descendants of the survivors, those that have not moved into western culture [note irony of wording] live on reservations. I am sure some of you compulsive gamblers think of all Indians as casino owners and well... that's not exactly accurate. To be blunt, thousands of them live in abject poverty. Needless to say, they do not own many radio stations.

Here I list a few I find exceptional

KIDE 91.3 FM Hoopa, CA. They run at a mere 19 watts but are organized enough to report to trade magazines. Their Music director used to be a man named Jay who was a helluva nice guy.You can check them out here:
http://www.hoopa-nsn.gov/departments/kide.htm

KSHI 90.9 Zuni, ND
You can actually hear a show from 1978 here:
http://kennedy.aps.edu/kshi678.mp3

KEYA 88.5 FM Belcourt, ND
A 20,000 watt station almost flush against the Canadian border. They run some NPR programming but primarily focus on the local Turtle Mountain Chippewa culture in their native programming.
http://keya.utma.com/main.html

Below are links to sites that give more complete lists:

http://www.afn.org/~native/radstats.htm
http://www.nativeamericans.com/RadioStations.htm
http://www.hanksville.org/sand/contacts/NAPR.html