You

Well we haven’t received many entries at this page, yet. But we have been receiving calls and comments around the community. Here is what some people are saying.

Rhoby emailed this as a user of our Online Community Calendar. "I found out what time the climate change meeting was with just two clicks!! (the newspaper didn't list the time...)"

Allie emailed this in response to our website Community Calendar being an online archive for posted events. Should you need a copy of a flyer, poster or what you uploaded in an announcement on the KIDE Calendar, it is there for you. "You're awesome! I LOVE KIDE!"

At the Hoopa Tribal Forestry Office someone made this comment. "KIDE is my favorite station. It is better than the other stations in Humboldt County. You play the best selection of music and you have the best line up of national programs. And of course your local productions are wonderful." We were at their office to record a guest presentation about Climate Change.

At a New Year's Eve gathering a woman mentioned that she thought KIDE is the best radio station in Humboldt County. She says she likes KMUD, too. But KIDE has far more Native programming than KMUD or any other radio station in Humboldt County. She says she also likes the environmental shows we do like The Bioneers. Another woman overhearing these comments agreed, but didn’t add her reasons for liking KIDE. I would add that KIDE is the only station in Humboldt County to carry Native America Calling live at 10am weekdays.

"Hello, I like your Athabasca music. I live here in Hoopa. I am of Scottish heritage. I would like to suggest you have a dedicated full hour of ethnic music. Maybe music from Africa, Australia, Scotland of course, and more Indigenous music. I like the afternoon shows that have ethnic music, but they jump around so much. If you had an hour at a time from one place, one people I would like that. Thank you." I think this is a good point. As mentioned in an earlier You response, there are today many ways people can get the music they like. Music has a way of carrying a message. Songs can tell stories, songs can empathize with life situations. Some messages don't reach the mainstream stations. The only place such music finds an audience is more often local community radio. We will try to be better.

Paraphrasing another person's comment, this person hinted at having more local news. This person likes to read the news in the Two Rivers Tribune, "but it only comes out once a week. It would be nice to hear local news on radio." This is a statement we have heard many times over the years. We have attended workshops at radio conferences, we have heard other radio people say, just do it. OK, this year we will start small. We will get more local voices talking on the radio about new local developments. It may not be investigative journalism, but it will be more than we have now. Thank you for all the encouragement.

During our November, National American Indian Heritage Month programming, Sonny said:

"I was listening to the radio the other day. I thought I heard someone talking about the Klamath and Trinity River. I listened closer and I heard local songs and local people talking about how the Salmon died in the Klamath river. That was a good show. It talked about us and our rivers and the fish. It was important to hear."

He was responding to the KIDE/NC3 production Dying for Water, Indians, Politics, and Dead Fish in the Klamath River Basin, 2005. While this program played and received accolades from around the world it was the first time he heard it. He asked for a copy, which we made for him. He then donated a cash sum for our efforts, saying, “Well I'm going home to listen to my culture." Thank you Sonny.

Ethel stopped by the station saying she was just hired at the Day Care program. She thought it would be a good thing if the children could hear the Hupa Language piece we have been airing. Hoopa Tribal Museum Curator, Salish Jackson has been recording his knowledge of the Hupa Language. We air several segments throughout the broadcast day. Ethel asked for a copy on CD. It took us awhile to reformat a set for her, but we do have a 3 CD set done. This gave us an idea to make a professional package set for an upcoming On-Air Fundraising event. Stay tuned for that.

Relating to this idea, Clarence also commented on the Hupa Language saying, "I listen to Salish's Hupa Language in the car while I drive home, but sometimes I'm out of your broadcast range before the language program comes on. Can you put the language on your website?" Yes, we can and it is another feature we want to add to our service. In fact we are making it possible for other area Native Languages to be posted on our website.

At a local Willow Creek event we heard from Debbie who said, "I really like your programming. I wish the station would come in better in Willow Creek. Is there someway this can happen? I would be willing to donate to the costs to make it happen." Debbie followed through with a phone call this December. Again she asked what could be done and what she could do to help.

Getting KIDE into Willow Creek can happen three ways. One, we could install a translator on Horse Mountain. In fact, we have a translator in need of minor repair to use on Horse Mtn. But we have to wait for the FCC to open the application window for new translator placements. Two, we could stream our signal on the internet. This is probably the simplest technically speaking, but streaming a radio station creates more on going documentation on the station's part. The music industry has succeeded to have federal regulations enacted that require all stations on the internet to provide listings of all songs played during every hour streamed. Plus music hosts are limited to the number of song selections played from any album within the same hour. Hopefully the laws will change. The third option is to place a second broadcast tower on Captain John Mountain in the south end of the valley. This would provide coverage between Hoopa and Willow Creek, plus better service to Willow Creek in times of emergencies. People would not need anything more than a inexpensive portal radio to hear river level reports, emergency notices and all the great programming. We estimate the cost to be around $46,000.

Debbie opted for number two. She raised the money and made contact with the Mountain Computer service to find a used Macintosh computer with the needed specifications to link to our broadband Internet Service Provider, Velocity Technology to stream KIDE on the internet. On December 22nd David Jones owner of Mountain Computers installed the unit at KIDE. Travis Finch, owner of Velocity Technology will be making the internet service adjustments to stream KIDE within the next two weeks. We at KIDE are now tasked to create broadcast stream programming. Not an impossible task, but something that will take some forethought. Stay tuned.

At the Maggie Dickson/Kiwanis’s Christmas Bizarre two people spoke to us about what they liked on KIDE. They both said they like the national programming. Asking them what shows those might be, they spoke of shows heard on Native America Calling. This is the most listened to program we air. Over the years we have heard people say they tune in to this show everyday. Once when our transmitter was down for repairs I was stopped in the store. Eugene said, "When are you going to back on the air, I'm missing my Native America Calling. I listen to that show everyday." KIDE is the only radio station in Humboldt County and perhaps in Northern California to air Native America Calling.

Tina has said she likes Democracy Now!, but she would like it if we changed it to a 7pm spot. She can't always hear it at 11am. She also likes This American Life. We are considering switching time slots.

Leo said, "I don’t hear as much music on KIDE as I used to. Is KIDE doing more talk radio?" The answer is yes. What with all the technology available, iPhones, MP3 players, internet sites, YouTube, satellite TV and Radio, and other FM or AM radio stations there are more sources of music formats than anyone can listen to in any given day. On most of those options there are very few that can provide information that can help local people make better local decisions. And there are fewer that can bring us local news, information, language lessons, local candidates' campaign messages and local sports. I think that is the niche KIDE needs to make better efforts to fill. We still welcome volunteers to do music shows. We could even expand our live broadcast hours per day if we had a reliable team of volunteers to maintain and care for our community asset. There are mid-day hour blocks we are willing to be filled by a local announcer/host. Right now we use what we can find from other satellite sources.

Maria wrote to us on the internet: "Thank you for picking up ONG, (On Native Grounds) to air on your show. The ONG program provides a lot of positive information on Natives with the interviews that Patricia provides, that otherwise wouldn’t be publicized, even in Sacramento. I particularly enjoy the Nikki Report, and ONG Playerz, (I can't wait to hear what happens with Ophelia and Dru next). Not only that I was not even aware that there was such a thing as tribal radio (with the exception of a couple of Native movies I have seen), and have come to visit your website, and enjoy it. Hopefully all this talent sharing and information sharing will continue to help our Native people (kids and adults) continue to advance in mainstream America, and keep our culture alive and kicking!"

Thank you for reading this. And please feel free to add your comments online or on the phone or in person.

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