by John Pipkin
Photography by Barton Wilder Custom Images

In mock used-car-salesman voice, KOOP's Lonny Stern launches into a public service announcement for Project Transitions (a nonprofit agency that provides hospice, housing and support to people with AIDS) when the recording session is suddenly interrupted by the ear-piercing squelch of interference from a shortwave radio antenna mounted nearby. At least for the moment the studio is not reverberating from the heavy beat of rock bands rehearsing in the warehouse space below. Temperamental microphones, sluggish turntables, cranky CD-players: these are the challenges that volunteers at noncommercial radio stations like KOOP-FM 91.7, KVRX-FM 91.7, and KAZI-FM 88.7 have learned to accept as part of their mission to provide Austin with programming that pushes the limits of the word "eclectic."

Austin listeners also enjoy the eclectic programming of local National Public Radio affiliate KUT-FM 90.5, which broadcasts at 100,000 watts and covers a ninety-mile radius. Like Austin's smaller community stations, KUT is dedicated to alternative broadcasting and relies heavily upon listener support; the main difference is that community radio stations are run almost entirely by volunteers, whereas KUT announcers and DJs are paid professional broadcasters. (Usually the only paid workers at a community station, if any, are part-time office staffers or engineers.) In addition to local features and recently added local news articles, KUT also broadcasts a variety of syndicated programs, which means that much of its programming is consistent with that of NPR affiliates around the country. By contrast, the programming of community radio stations is largely homegrown. Aside from syndicated news broadcasts like Pacifica Radio, most of what you hear on KOOP, KVRX, and KAZI was conceived and developed by local individuals or organizations.

In an age when corporate media mergers are homogenizing information and entertainment across the country, these local community radio stations are more important than ever. Independent stations like KOOP, KRVX and KAZI not only provide listeners with a source of alternative news and programming, but also offer Austinites numerous opportunities to get involved in broadcasting. In addition, local musicians and independent record labels depend on these nonprofit stations to get their music on the air, since the play-lists of larger commercial stations often amount to little more than marketing devices for big record companies. As the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World," and as a city that likes to hear about diverse interests that don't get aired elsewhere, Austin needs to support community radio so that it can continue to foster a healthy local culture.

KOOP from downtown
For almost ten years, KOOP has brought a unique mix to the Austin airwaves. You can hear bluegrass, Czech polkas, reggae, blues, gospel, hip-hop, urban music, experimental electronic noise, and news programs about Latin America, Chiapas, and Iran, all in a single day without ever touching the dial. And then there are the perennial KOOP favorites: Stronger than Dirt, spotlighting underground rock and punk, and The Graveside Service, which pays "musical tributes" to people who have died the previous week.

"People who cannot find a voice anywhere else can find a voice here," says Taylor Cage, president of KOOP's Board of Directors and host of Queer Waves, a program featuring music and news from and for the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. "All programming hours are open to any nonprofit group in Austin…Basically anyone with something to say has an opportunity to get airtime."

Compared to the 100,000 watts commanded by Austin's commercial stations and KUT, KOOP operates at a meager 3,000 watts, and Cage estimates that the station has about 20,000 listeners in the Austin area, based on membership rolls. "I couldn't imagine not having KOOP," says Scott Gardiner, who hosts Stronger than Dirt and has been with the station since nearly the beginning. He identifies the KOOP audience as "Central Austin sort of people, the cool people...We're the anti-Starbucks of radio."

Even community radio has experienced the effects of the slowing economy. KOOP relies on underwriters, listener donations, and the City of Austin (through the Austin Arts Commission) for financial support, and recently the station as begun feel the squeeze. KOOP had to abandon its pledge drive last fall because it coincided with the tragic events surrounding September 11. To make matters worse, for 2002, the City of Austin awarded KOOP only $17,000, thirty percent less than the previous year. But KOOP Treasurer Bob White remains grateful. "We're very fortunate (because) the city had a lot less to give." Office Manager Angela Keaton estimates KOOP's expenses at upwards of $2,000 per month, and the station spends about $9,000 annually to rent broadcast tower time from the University of Texas at Austin. But Keaton points out that despite the hardships of the past year, loyal listeners have continued to send in donations.

The fall pledge drive will be crucial to the station's plans to relocate in October. The station rents its current space at 501 E. Fifth Street for only $600 per month, but the building's elevator recently failed a city inspection-a serious problem since several of KOOP's programmers are mobility impaired.

There is also some concern that the mysterious "Boycott KOOP" crusade could interfere with fund-raising efforts. For at least the past eighteen months, someone has been sending anonymous letters to KOOP underwriters, accusing the station of financial mismanagement. The financial allegations stem from a dispute with the city in January 2001 over improper documentation regarding KOOP's use of city grant money to pay Centro de Arte y Cultura Nahualli as part of a program featuring in-studio performances by Latin American musicians. Although the City of Austin's Cultural Services Office threatened to cut off KOOP's funding, the matter was eventually resolved and KOOP was cleared of any wrongdoing. The station continues to receive financial support from the city. White also points out that KOOP passed its last audit "with flying colors."

More disturbingly, however, the "Boycott KOOP" mailings also allege that one of KOOP's volunteers was involved in a sexual assault in 1995. Although the anonymous letter provides the alleged victim's name and phone number, repeated attempts by KOOP management to contact this person have failed. No criminal charges have ever been filed by the alleged victim.

According to Cage, the disparaging letters contain "junk taken out of context about past conflicts that have long since been resolved...It should be obvious to anyone receiving these letters that nothing is wrong."

Some station staffers suspect that a disgruntled ex-programmer may be the anonymous culprit behind the letters. Cage explains that "KOOP attracts passionate people...and sometimes they get carried away." Station representatives have contacted the Austin Police Department, but so far the APD does not have enough evidence of criminal behavior to launch an investigation. At this point, says Cage, the only legal action that KOOP can take to combat the smear campaign is to encourage recipients of the letter who are offended by its contents to file a harassment complaint with the APD.

While Cage and other board members are eager for the controversy to go away, Lonny Stern takes a more tongue-in-cheek approach. "I think we should embrace the idea of KOOP as a station good enough to be boycott-able...We could promote ourselves as the bad-boys of community radio."

Controversy is nothing new to KOOP. The station was born out of a conflict to obtain the FM 91.7 frequency, which was the last nonprofit frequency in Austin's crowded airwaves. In the early nineteen-nineties, KTSB (a UT student-run cable station, later to become KVRX) already had its eyes on the frequency that KOOP's founders wanted, and the fledgling stations fought over it before eventually agreeing to share the frequency. The University built the transmitter tower on a patch of East Austin land donated by the city and on December 4, 1994, KOOP began broadcasting Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and weekends 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. KVRX takes over the frequency during the remaining hours.

KVRX from the campus
At around the same time that lawn timers throughout Austin click on to begin the nightly ritual of watering area gardens, a modified lawn timer automatically switches the broadcast feed from KOOP to the basement of the UT Student Health Center, home to KVRX. The timing contraption is the creation of Robert Nagy, the tower engineer who is first on the scene after lightning strikes, air conditioner melt-downs, and other transmitter woes.

Although KUT has served as the UT radio station since the nineteen-fifties, over time the opportunity for student involvement in the NPR affiliate eroded. In 1986, the Student Radio Task Force set out to establish a student run station, and on April 11, 1988, KTSB began its cable-only broadcast on channel space donated by Austin CableVision (now Time Warner Cable). KLBJ-FM 93.7 donated the first sound board that KTSB used for its cable-only broadcast. The station was only available to students on campus and to subscribers of Austin CableVision. After arriving at the time-share agreement with KOOP, KTSB changed its name to KVRX and began its FM broadcasting October 24, 1994. KVRX continued to broadcast simultaneously on cable until 1998, when Time Warner decided to use the cable channel to run test-tones instead.

Station Manager Ryan Hengst emphasizes KVRX's motto: "None of the hits, all the time," and he describes the purpose of the station as "trying to shake people out of their entrenched patterns...We're eclectic, diverse, experimental." The main emphasis of the station is music: everything from alternative rock to electronica to metal to obscure imports. One of KVRX's best-known shows is the award-winning Local Live, a Sunday night showcase for local bands that are often featured on the station's popular-selling compilation CDs. KVRX is also home to Austin's only comedy radio show, The News Rants, Thursdays at 7 p.m.

Hengst says that it is difficult to determine the size of its audience, but KVRX listenership seems to be weighted toward the nonstudent population, people interested in alternative music, and "lots of cab drivers, for some reason." Most listeners seem to be drawn to KVRX by the antics of the DJs themselves. In a classic KVRX moment, Hengst and a fellow DJ once destroyed a broken VCR on the air as a promotional stunt for their spring pledge drive. "People really liked that," Hengst says, grinning.

Although "music is the station's forte," Hengst would like to see more informational programming designed to serve the community, and he hopes to get KVRX more involved in the annual South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival. Along with rest of the station's staff, he has high expectations for KVRX's Fifteenth Anniversary Party and Fund-raiser, which is still in the planning stages.

All of the DJs at KVRX are volunteers, and to keep their shows they also are required to log additional volunteer hours at the station, beyond their on-air time; students in administrative positions, however, receive a modest salary for their work. As station manager, Hengst works thirty hours or more a week at KVRX, while still maintaining his full academic course load, and in return he receives a salary of $300 a month plus an in-state, tuition-and-fees scholarship. The business manager and the three programming managers at the station make between $75 and $125 per month, and the fifteen station directors beneath them receive a stipend of less than $75 per month. The total cost for salaries and benefits, including Steve Metze's salary as faculty advisor, amounts to $43,000.

Because KVRX is overseen by Texas Student Publications, a large part of the station's budget, $22,700, goes to the TSP "General Overhead Fee," to reimburse administrative services such as billing and payroll. KVRX spends $6,000 a year on supplies and equipment, and the electricity required by the transmitter alone costs $2,700 annually. Then there are also the $1,300 to cover copyright and royalty fees for the music played on the air. When you begin adding up all the other incidentals like telephone bills, conference fees, and unexpected repairs, it's easy to see how even a nonprofit station needs a considerable amount of cash to survive. KVRX does not receive city funding.

Like KOOP, KVRX is experiencing a tighter budget. UT's Texas Student Publications oversees the operation of KVRX, and when UT's newspaper, The Daily Texan, lost advertising revenue this year, smaller organizations like KVRX also took a hit. "Finances are a constant problem," says Faculty Advisor Metze. It costs about $110,000 a year to operate the station. The biggest chunk of this, $71,500 in 2002, comes from the student service fee, which is one reason why only current UT students are allowed to work at the station. The Educational Media Group, a nationwide organization that produces and distributes Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on topics ranging from consumer safety to public health awareness, also gives KVRX about $20,000 a year (or $15 per announcement) to broadcast a variety of PSAs on a regular schedule. The rest comes from community underwriting and the annual pledge drive. But unexpected expenses are always cropping up. Recently, the broadcast tower had to be repaired after being struck by lightning, and the cooling system, which keeps the transmitter from overheating, also had to be replaced. Metze also points out that transmitters usually have a life of ten to twenty years, and the KVRX-KOOP transmitter is nearly ten years old.

According to Metze, the FCC is expected to require radio stations to begin digital broadcasting sometime in the next couple of years. The FCC has already mandated that all television stations begin broadcasting in digital format by May 2003, but no date has been established for radio stations to make the changeover to digital just yet. "Digital broadcasting will require us to build a whole new transmitter and tower," says Metze. He estimates that could cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000. Over the past few years, KVRX has been squirreling away money to save up for the inevitable changeover. Digital broadcasting will permit radio stations to transmit far more information and data than is currently possible, resulting in a clearer, sharper sound; the advance in technology is analogous to the difference between the analog recording found on a vinyl LP and the digital recording on a compact disk.

KVRX only broadcasts over the 91.7FM frequency at night, but station has been "on-air" twenty-four hours a day thanks to the unlimited potential of live audio-streaming over the Internet. But this will soon change, as a result of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) passed by Congress in 1998. In June 2002, the DMCA finally established its complicated fee schedule requiring nonprofit stations broadcasting over the Internet to pay $0.0002 per song, per listener, per hour, plus an additional 8.8 percent ephemeral fee (commercial Internet broadcast rates are much higher). Two-hundredths of a penny might not sound like much money, but the charges quickly add up. Calculating the fee works something like this: say, for example, that a station broadcasts twelve songs per hour over the Internet, and say that the station has a meager thirty Internet streams (so that only thirty Internet users can be listening at any given time). At $0.0002 each, twelve songs cost $0.0024 each hour per listener, or $0.072 an hour for thirty listeners. If the station broadcasts twenty-four hours a day (as many Internet stations do) the daily fee is $1.73, or $630.72 annually. Once you add in the 8.8 percent ephemeral fee of $55.50 ($630.72 times 8.8 percent), the final annual bill for broadcasting with thirty Internet streams is $686.22. What makes this legislation so insidious is that the fees are retroactive to October 1998 (when the bill was passed), so by this October a station with thirty streams will suddenly face a bill of $2,744, a fee high enough to put plenty of nonprofit community stations out of business. So much for the unlimited freedom of the Internet. The DMCA has set the minimum annual fee for nonprofit stations at $500; this means that those stations that can afford only the minimum fee will be limited to twenty Internet listeners at any given time. KVRX is anticipating a retroactive fee of more than $2,000.

The law provides for free Internet broadcasts within a 150 mile radius, so all UT students will have access on campus, but the dream of worldwide accessibility via the Internet is over. The DMCA has spelled the end for many independent community and college radio stations that relied on the Internet, and it means that many other stations will be prevented from reaching a wider audience. KOOP had been considering Internet broadcasting for several years, but it has abandoned the idea for now because of the added expense.

KVRX has joined a protest movement called Save Our Streams (S-O-S-not to be confused with Austin's own Save Our Springs movement). Members of S-O-S want special provisions for nonprofit stations, including streamlined recordkeeping requirements, since the current regulations make Internet broadcasting impractical for nonprofit stations.

KAZI from East Austin
Move a fraction of an inch down the dial, and a few miles north of the KVRX studio located on the UT campus, and you'll find KAZI-FM 88.7, the oldest community station in Austin. On the morning of July 9, 2002, everything seemed business as usual in the KAZI offices at 8609 Wall Street in northeast Austin. At the soundboard, DJ Bobby Roberts put on a CD and checked the levels. In the production studio a group of Austin high-school students prepared to record an interview. But even though the sound of Miles Davis filled the studio, listeners tuned to FM 88.7 heard only static. During storms the previous night, KAZI's tower in West Lake Hills had been struck by lightning. "We'll keep the music going so once the tower comes on, we'll be ready," said Roberts, smiling and shaking his head. The station broadcasts at a modest 1,620 watts, but "we broadcast twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week," says Roberts, "we never close."

And KAZI hasn't closed for nearly two decades; the station will celebrate twenty years on the air at their annual Summerfest Concert and Fund-raiser, which was scheduled to be held August 31. KAZI was the dream of Dr. John Warfield, professor of African-American Studies at UT, who began laying plans for a noncommercial station to serve the needs of the African-American community as early as 1975. With generous funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which at the time was focused on increasing the number of minority radio stations around the country, KAZI began transmitting August 29, 1982. In getting started, KAZI also received assistance from LBJ-S Broadcasting, which loaned KAZI tower space and provided funding for the news department.

Like Austin's other noncommercial stations, KAZI defies traditional labels. "Most people think of us as an all African-American station," says Avis Thomas, an eleven-year veteran at KAZI and the station's gospel music director, "but we are a very racially diverse organization. All aspects of the community are represented. Our reggae DJs are both white, but they're still brothers...We're all brothers and sisters here." Thomas keeps up with other gospel music directors around the country, and over the years KAZI has developed a national reputation. Thomas says that many listeners identify KAZI with gospel music, but she stresses that the station has a wide variety of programming to appeal to a broad audience. Although the DJs at KAZI can never know how many people are tuned in, they feel the station has something for everyone. "We like to think the whole city is listening," Station Manager Steve Savage says with a grin. The station is certainly popular with volunteers. In fact, with more than eighty DJs at present, interest in KAZI is so strong that there are too many volunteers to fit into the building during station meetings.

Although KAZI was launched with the aid of public funding, it currently survives entirely on donations from listeners and support from underwriters, and it is no surprise that these donations have slowed over the past few months. KAZI also receives $260 from the City of Austin for each City Council meeting that it broadcasts, but this arrangement is mostly a community service performed by the station, since these meetings can last almost all day, as many as two or three times each month. "We could make a lot more money from underwriters on those days," says Savage. When asked what KAZI's biggest problem is, Savage echoed the sentiments of KOOP and KVRX staffers. "Money is our biggest obstacle-it's the one thing that volunteering can't take care of." Savage points out that KAZI does not currently receive grant money because the station does not have anyone on staff with grant-writing expertise. Monthly expenses including tower maintenance, broadcast fees, insurance, repairs, and utilities often strains the limited funds. According to Savage, KAZI does not operate from an annual projected budget, but tries to meet expenses as they arise; he estimates that yearly costs run in the neighborhood of $100,000. It takes about $1,500 a month to operate the transmitting tower (not including repairs needed after lightning strikes) and rent for the studio runs another $1,200 monthly. Savage receives a salary as the full-time station manager, but the rest of KAZI's staff consists entirely of volunteers. Savage would like to see the station modernize, which would include increasing the wattage and broadcasting in stereo instead of mono. Most of the studio equipment is actually home stereo equipment that needs updating, and Savage adds, almost whispering, "Our transmitter is almost thirty years old…It still uses vacuum tubes."

Despite financial concerns, it is clear that KAZI staffers love what they do. "People think I'm crazy for getting up at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning to do my show," says Thomas, "but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It picks me up." And to dispel any doubt as to whether KAZI makes a difference in peoples' lives, Thomas recalls one listener who called in during the show to say that a song just aired helped rescue her from thoughts of suicide. "We all go through the same emotions," Thomas says, "…the music brings us all together."

KAZI covers the full spectrum of broadcasts, from music and live performances to news, talk shows, and informational programs. Listeners who tune in on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights find out why many Austinites consider KAZI one of the best local stations for jazz. And those who just want to sound off can call in and air their opinions on the popular Talk Time with Richard Smith, who begins each midnight show, Sunday through Tuesday, with a reading of the First Amendment.

Like other nonprofit stations in Austin, KAZI also takes pride in supporting and promoting local artists, as well as national artists on small, independent labels. "We are still serving the underserved," says Programming Director Marion Nickerson. "If KAZI did not exist, a lot of local music would get no support at all...and we would be lacking news and information that affects the entire community."

Austin's community radio stations are confident that listeners will continue to support noncommercial programming financially, and there appears to be no shortage of volunteers to keep the programs on the air. "Sometimes things seem pretty chaotic around here and you wonder how anything gets done," says KOOP's Keaton, "but the shows still go on." Given the new challenges facing nonprofit radio, it will be up to Austin listeners to help keep these frequencies alive.

Monetary donations are always welcome, but listeners can also help by donating equipment, supplies, or their own time as volunteers. Nonprofit stations are not permitted to sell advertising, but businesses can underwrite a specific program by contributing money, products, or services in exchange for an on-air acknowledgement. Austinites have grown used to hearing complaints from longtime residents about the disappearance of "old Austin," but one way to preserve the diversity and unique flavor of old-Austin culture is to support your local community radio stations.

John Pipkin is an Austin-based freelance writer and editor who works out of his home office and, subsequently, listens to the radio a lot.

Austin's Community Radio Stations

KAZI-FM 88.7 "The Voice of Austin"
8906 Wall Street, Suite 203, Austin TX 78754
Office Phone: (512) 836-9544
Request Line: (512) 836-2887
Fax: (512) 836-1146
Web: www.kazi.citysearch.com
E-mail: kazinews887@aol.com
Power: 1,620 watts
Established: 1982

Main Programming: Blues, gospel, jazz, R&B, soul, reggae, rap, local artists, news, talk, Pacifica Radio, community information.

Profile: Serving the specific needs of Austin's African-American community, KAZI is an ethnically diverse station that welcomes participation from all segments of the Austin population.

KOOP-FM 91.7 "Community Radio for Austin"
PO Box 2116, Austin TX 78768-2116
Office Phone: (512) 472-1369
Request line: (512) 472-5667
Fax: (512) 472-6149
Web: www.koop.org
E-mail: koopradio@yahoo.com
Established: 1994

Power: 3,000 watts (Shared with KVRX at night. KOOP broadcasts until 7 p.m. weekdays, and until 10 p.m. weekends.)

Main Programming: Alternative music, bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, rock, polka, Latin, Tejano, local artists, news, talk, community information.

Profile: Programming is developed by local "collectives" to meet specific needs and interests in the Austin community. Any resident of the Austin area can apply to be a station programmer; KOOP provides training and certification.

KVRX-FM 91.7 "None of the Hits, All of the Time"
PO Box D; Austin, TX 78713-7209
Office Phone: (512) 471-5106
Request Line: (512) 495-5879
Fax (512) 471-8177
Web: www.kvrx.org
E-mail: kvrx@kvrx.org
Established: 1988 (cable-only broadcast), 1994 (radio broadcast)

Power: 3,000 watts (Shared with KOOP during the day. KVRX broadcasts after 7 p.m. weekdays, and after 10 p.m. weekends.)

Main Programming: Alternative rock and rock imports, experimental music, local artists, news, talk.

Profile: A student-run radio station at The University of Texas, KVRX broadcasts twenty-four hours a day over the Internet using Real Audio. "Underground music" is the station's specialty.

-John Pipkin