Community Radio Hosts Pancake Breakfast
This coming Sunday, September 27, supporters of the nascent radio station, KKRN, will be hosting one of their famous pancake breakfasts at the Community Center in Round Mountain, from 8 AM until noon. The menu includes both whole wheat and cornmeal pancakes, sausage, fruit, coffee, and juice—all you can eat. The flour for the whole wheat pancakes is ground fresh that morning for the breakfast; I don’t believe you can find fresher, more delicious pancakes anywhere! The cost is $10 per person, with family discounts offered.
Not only is the breakfast delicious, the warm, welcoming, and friendly atmosphere that always accompanies these wonderful events is food for the soul.
To give a little background on the station for those who aren’t familiar with its progress, in 2007, the FCC opened up the possibility of licensing a few remaining educational and public radio frequencies. Acorn Community Enterprises*, a family resource organization in Round Mountain, teamed up with radio aficionados in the area to make a bid for the frequency 88.5 FM, and obtained the permit in 2008. Bella Vista is the city of origin for KKRN, and its radio tower is located on Hatchet Mountain west of Burney. Its service area is predicted to range from Burney to Bella Vista and Palo Cedro, possibly into eastern Redding.
Starting from the time it obtained its permit, KKRN has three years to get on the air or forfeit their permit. Supporters are currently raising the money they need to buy the equipment they need to launch, which will include ice shields to protect the tower from the brutal winters on Hatchet Mountain and a small microwave system that will enable KKRN to transmit into Burney. They have obtained a $25,000 matching grant from the California Endowment in addition to an $82,000 matching federal grant. Matching grants mean that the money endowed must be matched by funds that the organization raises from individual donors, so Acorn and its supporters have been working hard to come up with the additional money they need. Pancake breakfasts such as the one on Sunday and other grass roots efforts have raised approximately $10,000. Five thousand dollars have already been spent on hiring an engineer and a lawyer in order to obtain the FCC permit.
Obviously, it’s hard to raise money for a radio station before it gets on the air, so these early fundraising efforts are vitally important.
As far as programming goes, KKRN seeks to be a true community resource and collaboration. KKRN’s programming will not be dictated by any corporate or out-of-town interests. In fact, community radio is even more grassroots than public radio, free from the concerns of sponsors. Some of the services KKRN hopes to provide include news of the Intermountain area; local road conditions, weather advisories, sheriff’s reports, fire information, and school notices; a community calendar; a “swap & sell” show; a local call-in talk show; programs by and for local teens (KCHO recently trained Intermountain teens to learn how to conduct a radio interview; click here to read all about it); music featuring local musicians as well as a variety of nationally and internationally known recording artists; and local, national, and world news. KKRN would love to hear from its potential listeners as to what they would most like to have broadcast.
Anyone is welcome to come on board and learn how to produce a show. Supporters meet the first Wednesday of each month at Hill Country Health and Wellness Center at 7 PM. When the station is up and running, offices will be located at Hill Country.
For more information about the pancake breakfast or the radio station itself, please call 520-1593, e-mail heartoday@gmail.com, or visit the KKRN website. In the words of organizer Bobbi Tryon, community radio “has everything to do with community—not just what’s on the air. The radio station is an extension of the community, and it’s all about local volunteers coming together to make a community connection happen, on and off the air.”
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of experiencing the congenial and supportive community that characterizes this group of energetic, devoted people will find this extension to be a cause for celebration. If you can’t make it to the pancake breakfast, I hope you’ll consider sending a donation to make this heartening dream a reality.
Above: A picture of the Intermountain Area taken by the talented Vicky Everett.
* Please note: Acorn Community Enterprises has no relationship to the national organization, ACORN, that has been in the news as of late. Acorn Community Enterprises, ACE, is an independent, local, family resource organization that has been providing services to the Round Mountain/Montgomery Creek/Big Bend area for years now.
Monday, September 21, 2009