Will You Pledge to the KBXE Capital Campaign?

Please be patient if you receive a phone call from KAXE this week--The KBXE capital campaign is under way! 

The goal of the campaign is to match a federal equipment grant for KBXE. If we can raise $150,000 locally, this will trigger an additional $450,000 in federal funds!

Last week, we sent letters to all of KAXE’s members requesting a donation to this important project. This week, Northern Community Radio’s staff and board of directors are following up the letters with phone calls. To date, members have pledged or sent checks totaling $16,369! There is $133,631 left to reach the match!

KBXE friends and community members previously pledged $50,000 to match a $150,000 grant from the George W. Neilson Foundation.

Matching the federal grant will complete our fundraising requests to individuals. We still hope to secure additional business donations and foundation grants for the project.

 

If you have any questions (or a hidden pile of dollars you’d like to invest in a great cause), please call us! 218/326-1234.

Thank you!

-Maggie Montgomery

P.S.: Board members Julie Crabb and Sandy Roggenkamp (Vice-president and President of Northern Community Radio respectively) are pictured making. Every nonprofit organization DREAMS of having board members who are willing to do this! (Thanks)

How To Understate Excitement

Here is Steve Downing's thoughts on 90.5 KBXE, the new radio station we’re building to secure and enhance the service of KAXE and Northern Community Radio in Bagley, Bemidji, Puposki, Erskine, Clearbrook, Buzzle Lake and beyond.

You can listen here:
Guido on KBXE

I’ve been involved for just over a year now with the 90.5 KBXE project. I have to admit: the learning curve from the start was steep, and not strictly because I didn’t know Thing One about building a new radio station, although that certainly complicated the issue. My real problem was that I knew virtually nothing about Bemidji, or Bagley, or any of the many other communities KBXE will be serving. Growing up, roadtrips for my family always meant Duluth, which had been my parents’ orientation when they were kids, or the Twin Cities, where they’d both gone to college. I’d just never spent any time in Bemidji. I was deprived. I was. I say that without a whiff of facetiousness.

I’m a huge new fan of Bemidji. It took about five minutes. And everyone who knows me well, the folks I see day after day, have all heard me raving about Bemidji and Bagley and Shevlin and Debs and Clearbrook and so on. As I make connections over there now, with people, with businesses, organizations, causes, I’m reminded at every point what a terrific community, community of communities, we are dealing with here, and this is a very, very good feeling.

One of my first KBXE projects was Bemidji’s 2009 Night We Light Parade, and I was honestly surprised at the reception we got as we walked along the parade route beside our float. The friendliness, the vibe, was practically palpable, something in the air, and I don’t think it had anything to do with the candy we were handing out. This was the case, too, a few miles farther west, as we planned our involvement in the 2010 Clearwater County Fair in Bagley. The people at City Hall, the courthouse, the fair board: everyone, everyone, was nothing but welcoming and helpful and fun to work with. I talked at length about this on my January Arts Round-up.

Saturday afternoon, August 7th, at the Clearwater County Fair, The Brothers Burn Mountain performed at the KBXE booth, and that’s one of my signature memories of the whole year. It was late afternoon. There was a lull over at the racetrack. Fairgoers were between things, milling around on the concourse, and when The Brothers Burn Mountain finished their set and moved into an improv percussion jam, the KBXE booth was in every way center stage. We had everyone’s attention, and no one was having a bad time. I still grin involuntarily every time I conjure up that scene, that physical ground-thumping sound.

That is a perfect indicator-predictor of what KBXE and our circle, our circles and circles, of friends, old and new friends, will be doing in the neighborhood, from Red Lake to Naytawaush, Cass Lake to Fosston---Bemidji, Bagley and beyond: bringing people together, in grass-roots common-ground settings, often to listen to music but sometimes for other community-building reasons, too. As we say, KBXE will be a community gathering-place, in the air, on the ground, on the web. Northern Community Radio has been doing this for almost 35 years: connecting people to each other, to the northland, to the universe. This is what we do.

KBXE will be an all-purpose partner, so in addition to improving what we call quality-of-life we’ll also be impacting commerce, impacting local economies. Here’s a for-instance: last July, at the 6th Annual 91.7 KAXE Mississippi River Music Festival, somewhere between three and four hundred people showed up, many of them from out-of-town, and we know that altogether those folks dropped well over $12,000 into local cash registers (festival ticket-revenue not included). This was for gas, lodging, shopping, dinner and drinks, you get the picture. One time, one day. There are obvious multiplier effects, of course, depending on what other events get onto the calendar. KBXE will be doing this sort of business.

So, understatement of the day: this is exciting. It’s exciting for our new coverage area; it’s exciting for our entire coverage area. Northern Community Radio, good as it is and has been, is about to enhance its sound, its member and volunteer and underwriting bases, its product, its service to mission, its human and natural resources. Everything. We’ll need lots of help, your help, to make this happen. Your time. Your talents. Your treasure. Come see us at the Blue Ox in Bemidji, Saturday, February 5th, 6 pm. Come for the fun. There’ll be plenty of that, guaranteed. But come and make a pledge, too. You can spread it out over three or more years, while you and we all spread the love about 90.5 KBXE.

By Steve Downing, aka Guido
Northern Community Radio

How KAXE and KBXE Will Coexist

Thank you for your interest in 90.5 KBXE! We hope this will answer some of your questions about KBXE.

KBXE is a new, noncommercial community radio station that will serve people in Bagley, Bemidji and surrounding areas.

Northern Community Radio will own and operate KBXE, using the same structure that it uses to operate 91.7 KAXE in Grand Rapids (105.3 in Bemidji). This shared structure will help KBXE operate frugally. When you make a membership pledge to Northern Community Radio, you will automatically be a member of both KAXE and KBXE.

KBXE and KAXE will broadcast together. Each studio will create outstanding programming and each station will broadcast a regional signal. KAXE and KBXE will serve most of northeastern and north central Minnesota. Sometimes the programming will originate at KBXE and sometimes at KAXE, but everyone who listens to either station will hear all of it! We are looking forward to a great influx of volunteer energy from KBXE that will be heard from Fosston in the west to the hill overlooking Duluth in the east!

KBXE will operate from studios at 305 America Ave. NW in Bemidji, in space leased from Harmony Food Co-op, adjacent to their new grocery. KBXE’s tower will be located between Bemidji and Bagley, to cover both communities with a strong signal.

The best way you can help build KBXE is to give generously to the building fund. Your capital pledge can be paid over a 3 to 5-year period. KBXE has to be ON THE AIR by MARCH 2012, or we will lose the license. Time is of the essence!

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about this project.  We always want to hear your questions and comments. 800/662-5799 or comments@kbxe.org.

Sincerely, Maggie Montgomery, General Manager, Northern Community Radio

Let's Change the World

By Doug MacRostie

I'm not exactly sure what Jumo is, or why - but Northern Community Radio is there. And I have less of an idea what to do with it.

I know a little bit: Jumo was built by a co-creator of Facebook, and Jumo is to Non-Profits what Facebook is to gossiping. By that, I mean that standard social networking sites are about person to person communication, and Jumo is about connecting local Non-Profits to people. Or, how Jumo puts it, "We connect individuals and organizations working to change the world." Sounds like KAXE, KBXE, Northern Community Radio and our listeners to me :)

I'm our Online producer, and as an organization Northern Community Radio tries to be aware of new online tools and resources and  maintain the cutting edge of how technology can benefit our mission to build community in Northern MN. So, when I saw this interview with Jumo founder Chris Hughes, I created a page for Northern Community Radio. Creating an account is easy, especially if you're already on Facebook. There are all kinds of local, national and international Non-Profits listed there. Let's get social!

Here's the interview on The Colbert Report:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Chris Hughes
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

Peruse Pictures from Northern MN

We've added another round of pictures to our Online Photo Album, including the KBXE Float in the Night We Light parade in Bemidji, musicians in-studio like Katie Corning from Bagley, and parties at the KAXE Studios in Grand Rapids.

Got pictures to share? Email them to photo@kaxe.org, please include your name and where the picture was taken.

What is Northern Community Radio?

by Doug MacRostie

Instead of being tightly focused on one community, or genre of music, or time period; we throw a wider net, and at the same time get more specific. Northern Community Radio has worked for nearly 35 years to build community in Northern Minnesota through 91.7 KAXE with studios in Grand Rapids, serving Hibbing, Hill City, Virginia, Aitkin, Nashwauk, Bovey, Ball Club, Orr, Effie, Deer River and beyond. And in Bemidji at 105.3 and at 89.9 in Brainerd with low powered translators. As producers, we strive to present the stories and voices that make each area unique and share them through radio broadcasts, cultural events and interactive media. This is done through community support and volunteer programming; individuals from all over come together to create what we know as Northern Community Radio.

The idea of 90.5 KBXE was born of two factors. Wanting to preserve, enhance and expand the service of Northern Community Radio to Bagley, Bemidji, Gonvick, Debs, Clearbrook, Shevlin, and beyond.The other factor was a final window to apply from the FCC. It was a long shot, but we took it. And we got it.

With a very active and productive volunteer Publicity Committee, KBXE is already doing the cultural events and interactive media, and we are working to build the station and get the radio broadcasting going by March of 2012.

The process of building a new community radio station isn't easy, and we're making it more difficult by striving to have studios located in Bemidji. We are making it harder. But it's worth it. Having a second studio location for Northern Community Radio will give easier and better access for that region. There are numerous volunteers who make a 70+ mile drive to produce radio programs for KAXE, but a shorter commute for existing volunteers is just the beginning. New volunteers, new voices, new ideas all with easier and more direct access to local, independent, community media broadcasting clearly from a tower between Bagley and Bemidji

Closer than any 'sister station' relationship, the stations will be like the two sides of a brain - able to broadcast as Northern Community Radio for both 90.5 KBXE and 91.7 KAXE. Both will create programs and content. Both will work to discover, define and build the communities through local support, local volunteers and local content.

It's what we do.

Rock on,
Doug

Doug MacRostie
Northern Community Radio
260 NE 2nd St
Grand Rapids MN 55744
218/326-1234
800/662-5799

91.7 KAXE www.kaxe.org
90.5 KBXE www.kbxe.org
www.northerncommunityinternet.org

Compelling Radio Coming to a Speaker Near You

by Doug MacRostie

When my wife saw this picture she said, "I can see the fear in your eyes..". And yeah, I'm facing off with Butterscotch Bitch, one of the Iron Range Maidens; also known as KAXE Producer Heidi Holtan. I walked into work today proudly wearing my Babe City Rollers t-shirt and as soon as I saw her Maidens shirt I knew there would be trouble... but things settled down. That's one of the amazing things about derby, such a sense of friendly community.

I have been working on a radio documentary, "The Women of Roller Derby," for months now; driving to homes, sitting on the floor, and chatting with people about Derby. I'm doing it as part of Documentary Production Training class for Northern Community Radio by Milt & Jamie Lee along with a few other staff members. It has been an amazing experience. We all have been doing interviews for years, but to make a documentary is an entirely higher level of production and commitment - and we are making some very compelling pieces to share.

Other topics include a hand bell choir, finding good food, and young golfers.

We plan to have a listening session on The KAXE Morning Show on Friday, Dec. 3rd and we are all racing to have our pieces ready for their debut. Milt and Jamie will join us in-studio to present the documentaries. This will be a morning of radio you won't want to miss as we bring local voices and stories onto the airwaves.

The Great MN Give Together - Record Breaker?

by Doug MacRostie

Last year was the first Give to the Max day, when Minnesotans truly gave to the max: as a State we had the most successful one-day online fundraising drive in history totally over $14 million for 3,434 different Non-Profits (smashing previous record of $3.8 million in Dallas).

And until 11:59 pm tonight we're trying to do it again, and every donation you make gives your favorite organization the chance to win even more money. Time to GIVE!

On the search page at givemn.org, you can find local organizations to support. Let's say you want to find a Non-Profit in Deer River, or Bena, or Bagley, or Aitkin... done. It's great how well they have all of this put together in such a user friendly way. And you can also use the local site, northerncommunityinternet.org which has been working with givemn.org.

While you're at it, don't forget to throw a little in for 91.7 KAXE, the 90.5 KBXE building fund and Northern Community Internet, all services of Northern Community Radio :) Our mission is to build community in Northern Minnesota through radio programming, cultural events and interactive media.

We bring local stories and events from the airwaves and internet into communities and homes. We have local volunteers from all over Northern MN who come in to play music, or talk about the nature in their lives, or share a story about what they saw in the woods while deer hunting. Northern Community Radio is local, independent, community oriented and vital. Click here.

Thanks!

Goal Reached and Fears Overcome

During the "There's Nothing to be Scared of" fall fundraiser at KAXE we heard from 364 new/renewing members for $45,120, reaching our goal in the last hour of the pledge drive on Friday night. Going into the last day we had almost $12,000 to go. Northern Community Radio General Manager Maggie Montgomery said, "It was a squeaker for sure. I don't think we've ever had that big of a last day before, ever. People in the community came through again and I hope that means we're doing a good job for them."

Breaking the mold of a typical public radio fundraiser, KAXE uses themes and radio theater to give the pledge drive an edge of entertainment, and this year included DJs getting pulled out of windows by zombies and a horde hidden underneath the studio. As the final pledges came in, all was resolved when the zombies were hauled by truck over to Bemidji for the Lazarus film shoot and KBXE Zombie Crawl. After that the zombie horde was, "not our problem" :)

Listener's once again made our fundraiser successful - and people just like you have been our largest source of funding for almost 35 years of independent community radio in Northern MN. If you missed the pledge drive, you can still show your support by becoming a member now by calling 218-326-1234, 800-662-5799 or pledge online.

Gaea Returns to the Bemidji Sculpture Walk

Last night, the Bemidji City Council voted to return the statue “Gaea” to its place on the Bemidji Art Walk at the corner of 4th Street and Beltrami Avenue. [Click here to see pictures]. The fiberglass beaver had been removed last week by order of City Manager John Chattin, who felt the painted front of the beaver looked like female genitalia. Gaea was one of 11 beavers to adorn the art walk this year. The beaver is the Bemidji State University mascot.

Gaea had lots of supporters in Bemidji, many of whom turned out for the city council meeting, filling the council chambers and spilling into the hall. Gaea herself was also present for the meeting, placed at the back of the room. 15 people spoke during the comment period, including artists, city residents, students, a representative of the ACLU, and a member of the Sculpture Walk Committee.

The civil discussion that ensued covered censorship, the extent of the city manager’s authority, dismay over his single-handedness and lack of artistic input in removing the sculpture, and the lack of clear guidance or agreed-upon criteria for public art. One commentator asked those who found the piece objectionable to “get your minds out of the gutter.” Another equated the piece with “woman-ness, womanhood, feminine strength and beauty.” Others expressed dismay that Bemidji, which calls itself the First City of the Arts, had become the center of national media attention for its attempt to censor the piece: “If you Google ‘pornographic beaver’ your first search result will be ‘Bemidji’,” said one BSU student.

Just one elderly gentleman spoke in opposition to the majority: “It is not obscene to me, no,” he said. “But yes, it is offensive…I would not want my daughters and granddaughters to see it and have to explain what they’re looking at…It belongs in an art gallery where people can intentionally view it.”

Gaea’s creator, Deborah Davis, said she had recently spoken with supporters, journalists and celebrities from as far away as Japan and New York. “Gaea has touched people,” she said. “Gaea makes people feel peaceful, happy, positive and empowered.”

Council member Barb Meuers moved to “Put the statue back,” with a second from council member Ron Johnson. The vote was unanimous.

After the motion, the statue was picked up by a group of enthusiastic supporters and marched back to its pedestal, occasioning both applause and tears. “Communication is so important,” said Meuers after the vote. “Obviously, it wasn’t what it should be.”

~Maggie Montgomery

More info:
Sculpture Walk: http://thisismytownbemidji.com/?p=318
KAXE: http://www.kaxe.or

Help Save PTFP!

PTFP is an acronym for a federal program: the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. PTFP is in trouble.

PTFP is the place public radio and television stations go to apply for federal funds to help build new stations. It also keeps existing stations on the air when the equipment wears out, and helps public radio stations prepare for or recover from hurricanes, floods or other natural disasters.

It is a good program. It has just 3 employees and low overhead. PTFP helped KAXE replace an ailing transmitter in the past, and we hope it will help us build KBXE in the future. It is a small federal program; a drop in the proverbial budgetary bucket. PTFP received a total $44 million in 2011, most of which will be distributed to public radio and television stations.

Yet, for some reason, PTFP has been targeted as one of only 4 programs in the whole government as examples of what the President wants to line item veto this year. Efforts to cancel the program have come from both Democrats and Republicans in congress. They have linked cancellation of PTFP with lowering the deficit.

At the root of this, there seems to be general misunderstanding about PTFP. Some people think it is redundant, because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds many aspects of public broadcasting, and has recently provided funding for digital conversion.

Unlike the CPB, the PTFP doesn’t only fund equipment if you're converting a station to HD radio or digital TV. PTFP exists to build stations. PTFP is the only place organizations like Northern Community Radio can go for federal funds to buy actual, basic broadcast equipment. The PTFP’s highest priority is to make sure public broadcasting is available to people everywhere in the United States. It won’t pay for everything—the program requires every applicant to leverage public money with matching private funds.

In 2007, the FCC opened what is probably the last window for applications for new noncommercial broadcast licenses ever (because the FM spectrum is pretty much completely full now). They granted hundreds of new construction permits, many to grassroots organizations—community licensees, colleges, nonprofits and American Indian groups, to name a few. Most of these new stations are not built yet. A loss of the PTFP right now will mean an irreplaceable loss in new community radio stations because the stations in the pipeline—that had counted on PTFP for help—may not be able to find enough money to build. If they can’t build in time, their licenses will go to wealthier organizations that can, and it is likely that no new licensing opportunity will ever come again.

This is a critical issue for all small and community-based radio stations in the public radio system. You can help! Here is a link to a letter you can send to your congressional representatives (by email or printable letter) about PTFP. It is on an NPR website, the Public Radio Action Center (when you fill in the identifying information, most of you will be a “non-station advocate.”)

Here is a link to write to your local congressperson: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

And another link to write to your senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Or, call KAXE if you want more information, and ask to talk to me! 218/326-1234.

-Maggie Montgomery, General Manager
Northern Community Radio

How To Make a Willow Whistle

At the end of the KBXE Phenology Walk and Birding Expedition in Clearbrook with John Latimer, John displayed to the group how to make a willow whistle. The secret? A sharp knife and pocket full of band aids. Follow along step by step as as John shows the cuts and twists involved:



John Latimer hosts The Phenology Show, which has been on 91.7 KAXE for over 25 Years. Northern Community Radio, which has been operating KAXE for over 34 years, is building a new community radio station to serve Bagley, Bemidji, Blackduck, Birch, Buzzle, and beyond. Read more about KBXE here: http://kbxe.blogspot.com/ or http://www.kbxe.org.

90.5 KBXE Finds Studio Space!

4.23.10

TO: Current & Future Friends of 90.5 KBXE
FROM: Steve Downing (sdowning@kaxe.org)

On 91.7 KAXE’s 34^th birthday we’re officially announcing what some of you already know. The story was in the Bemidji Pioneer two days ago, meaning it must be true, and it is: 90.5 KBXE will join Harmony Natural Foods Cooperative in its prospective new home, the former TruStar Federal Credit Union building at 413 3^rd Street Northwest. To say that Northern Community Radio is excited about the news understates it by a lot. This arrangement was our first, best hope; it seemed to have run aground awhile back; seeing it come around again has improved everyone’s spirits.

Harmony’s new space---a 7,500 square-foot structure on a half-block of property--will have three times the retail capacity the co-op has now, plus a true loading dock, plus loads of parking, plus a genuine restaurant, plus a perfect partner in 90.5 KBXE. KBXE will be moving into the east-facing side of the building, next door to Dave’s Satellite, a 2,600 square-foot suite of rooms that we first walked through in November and have been thinking about ever since. Lease? Buy? Both? We haven’t spelled out the details yet, but this relationship feels very symbiotic. Our two membership rosters share quite a number of names. Whatever the eventual legal agreement comes to look like, the organizing principle will be win-win.

We’re still looking for a tower site. No news to report on that front. Ideas? We’re all ears.

The Publicity/PR Committee continues to meet the first Thursday of every month, at 5:30, in the meeting room at the MN Energy Resources building (corner of 2^nd & Minnesota, Bemidji) and everyone’s welcome to attend.

Next big events: “Upper Shores”: Saturday, May 1, 3:00 PM, at Beltrami History Center (130 Minnesota Avenue Southwest, Bemidji). Singer-songwriter Miriam Tell has written and gathered songs for a unique and entertaining approach to musical storytelling. A free will donation at the door will benefit both the Beltrami County Historical Society and KBXE. Be there! That same day, KBXE volunteers will be at the Council of Indian Students Pow Wow at John Glass Field House, BSU from Noon-10pm – bumper stickers and buttons for all!

Committee 1 (major donors) has been meeting regularly and has just begun approaching prospective large-gift contributors.

If anyone asks you, “What is KBXE?,” remember the short form summary we used in the first newsletter. 90.5 KBXE is a soon-to-be-built nonprofit, community/public radio station that will serve Bagley, Bemidji, Blackduck, Birch, Buzzle, and beyond. KBXE will be operated by Northern Community Radio, which has 34 years of experience doing this sort of thing (91.7 KAXE). The two stations will feed and inspire one other; the sound of Northern Community Radio will be even more creative, more diverse than ever. That’s saying something! The tower will be built near Bagley. The studios---it’s official now---will be in Bemidji. KBXE will begin broadcasting no later than March, 2012.

Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested and tell them how easy it is to get onto our list: send an email to kbxe@kbxe.org

90.5 KBXE www.kbxe.org kbxe@kbxe.org 218.326.1234 800.662.5799

Join John Latimer for a Phenology Walk/Birding Expedition

by Doug MacRostie

"I need an angle to write a blog about the Phenology walk coming up," I said to Heidi Holtan while sipping my soda and spinning around in my chair. "How about your love of donuts?" she asked. I paused..., she said, "Oh wait, that's MY love of donuts." And such was my dilemma.

It is true there will be donuts and even tea and coffee and sugar and cream (powder) at 8:30am this Saturday at the Gathering Place in Clearbrook (the old school gym), and I really enjoy donuts - but that's not why I'm excited. I don't have any idea what to expect on the Phenology Walk/Birding Expedition starting at 9, especially not in rice paddies. But, I guess that's what's fun about nature walks, you never know what you'll find! And when someone as passionate and knowledgeable as John Latimer is leading the way (don't tell him I said that!) tiny little plants or critters that I normally don't notice suddenly become specimens of some exotic creature. A butterfly floating by isn't a fleeting moment, it's an opportunity to observe, identify and appreciate.

With the crazy weather we've been having this Spring (and the last year) it's hard to predict what we may find. There could be thousands of migrating birds... or not. But there definitely will be coffee and tea, there will be good company, and it's looking like great weather to get outside and explore around Clearbrook and see what we find. And just like the fun of not-knowing-what-comes next of a nature walk, we've got the mixed-tastiness of a potluck at Noon back at the Gathering Place! Booya!

All are welcome at the Phenology Walk/Birding Expedition with John Latimer this Sat., the 24th at the Gathering Place in Clearbrook (221 3rd Ave SW - here's a Google Map), meeting at 8:30am for coffee and rolls, walks starting at 9 and a potluck at Noon. If you're on Facebook, the event is listed here. As you can see in the picture to the right, John is so good at this, students from all over MN send him hand-drawn portraits! BE THERE!

This event was orchestrated by the KBXE Publicity Committee, a group of local volunteers working to raise awareness of 90.5 KBXE, a new, local station being built by Northern Community Radio, who have been operating 91.7 KAXE for 34 years in Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Virginia and the Iron Range, also heard at 89.9 in Brainerd and 105.3 in Bemidji. Get more information at KBXE.org

Why Is KBXE?

by Scott Hall & Maggie Montgomery
[originally posted on 90.5 KBXE Notes]

There's much excitement and energy for KBXE, the new station Northern Community Radio is building to better serve the Bemidji and Bagley areas. Many people have come forward in Beltrami and Clearwater counties to help us with the planning, building and fundraising. Some listeners from other parts of the KAXE listening area have asked, "Why are you building KBXE?"

The answer is to preserve community radio in that region. Many new radio stations have been built in north central MN since KAXE first went on the air in 1976. It is getting harder to get KAXE’s 91.7 signal to Bemidji due to HD Interference and summer fades, and the signal will get worse because the FCC just gave radio stations permission to increase the power of their HD transmissions. In the case of 105.3, it's possible we could lose that signal altogether because it's in the commercial spectrum - which means a commercial entity could take the signal and we would have no recourse.

Northern Community Radio intends to preserve a signal for community radio in our region and has the financial resources to expand its service. Failure to act will mean loss of audience, and that will erode our financial support. KBXE will add energy, creativity and substance to Northern Community Radio’s programming, on both KAXE and KBXE, and on our websites and social media networks.

This is an opportunity to expand our mission to over 40,000 new people and several communities to the west, including people who don’t currently have access to a public radio signal, giving more people the opportunity to directly participate—the opportunity to create radio programs and other media using Northern Community Radio’s facilities. KBXE will be a regional broadcaster and an asset in its communities of service.

KBXE will broadcast at 90.5 and is the best solution to guaranteeing a reliable signal for those many loyal KAXE listeners. It will also enable us to reach people who may have never heard KAXE. This is an exciting opportunity and we hope you'll be involved.

We have a very active Publicity Committee that is planning monthly (or more) events - whether you'd like to share ideas, answer questions at an info table, want to help with construction, or just have a lot of energy to focus - please let us know, email kbxe@kbxe.org, or call 800-662-5799.

KBXE Music Sprawl

[Originally posted on 90.5 KBXE Notes]

Do you have your KBXE bumper sticker yet? Have you enjoyed a KBXE event? Or are you still wondering, "What IS KBXE?" Find the answer, and a bumper sticker, at the KBXE Music Sprawl this Sat. March 13th - we'll be hanging out at a series of concerts around the Bemidji area that night so stop in and say HI! We'll have an info table at Brigid's Cross Irish Pub for a Jim Miller gig, the Headwaters Unitarian Fellowship for a Peter Mayer performance, and at Jammers Nightclub for Michael Walters and the Sky Blues band concert - all of which have music starting at 8pm. Show up a little early to chat with our volunteers and find out how can help build KBXE. More info at www.kbxe.org.

"I play Between You and Me"

by Heidi Holtan

Last weekend at the KBXE Spread the Love event in Bemidji I got to meet the coolest girl EVER.

Meet Iris the sparkly-eyed future of radio. From what her mom told me (and she agreed to in head nods) she pretends to be me and hosts Between You and Me from her bedroom at home. Sometimes she uses a curling iron as her microphone.

I can't tell you how cool this is. When I was a little girl, I too played radio. And library. But enough about my exciting lifestyle choices. Back to Iris.

When I asked Iris about what topics she talked about on her pretend Between You and Me she said "teeth".

I happen to think it's an excellent topic. But I also knew I was in trouble. Iris has her sparkly eyes on my job, I can just feel it.

And now, The Buzz around KAXE

by Doug MacRostie

As usual, things are flying at about twenty million mph around the KAXE Studios; we’ve got the exciting return of Ojibwemowin on the Morning Show, a fundraiser coming up next month and an ever advancing online-media presence. The other big news is the ground work for KBXE, the new radio station being built by Northern Community Radio to serve Bagley, Bemidji, Fosston, Gonvick, Clearbrook and beyond (check out this video of our float in the Night We Light parade). This is a huge and exciting project and here’s a little info from my perspective on the Publicity Committee. Physically, KBXE doesn’t exist yet – we don’t have a tower, we don’t have a studio and just over two years to get on the air. But we do have people, and community radio is people. KBXE already has dozens of dedicated volunteers working on finding locations for the studio and tower, fundraising and spreading the word.

What is KBXE?
KBXE is being welcomed with a high level of enthusiasm and energy, and we plan to continue raising public awareness with monthly events – the next is Sat. Feb 6^th at the Backyard BBQ in downtown Bemidji. KBXE will “Spread the Love” with fun, info, love-themed trivia hosted by Brandon Chase and some rockin’ blues with The Beerds which includes KAXE Volunteer Steve Ross on bass along with local legend Rob York on guitar, Chris Carter on drums and Shane Corning on guitar and vocals. We’ll have a chocolate fountain with dip-ables, and trivia prizes like chocolates, roses and honey (for your honey) [Thanks to KD Floral and Gardens, Chocolates Plus, Bar Bell Bee Ranch, Harmony Food Co-op and Lueken’s Village Foods]. But mainly, we’ll have the answer to, “What is KBXE?”

If you’re interested in helping spread the word about KBXE, let us know! There are committees you can join and there is plenty of work to be done. Get more KBXE info at http://www.kbxe.org, or check out the KBXE Facebook page.

What the hell is the internet?
KAXE was a wonderful reputation of being on the cutting edge of technology and there are a lot of ways to keep up with us. Other than streaming live online and archiving many of our programs, did you know we’re on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Flickr and Blogger? Yup, we are. From videos of live music at the KAXE studios to blogs about John Bauer’s bad hair day – you can find it all at http://www.kaxe.org.

What is Ojibwemowin?
Ojibwemowin is the language of the Ojibwe people. In the Nigaane Language Program at the Bug-O-Nay- Ge-Shig School near Bena, elementary students learn to speak the language of their ancestors. They are immersed in speaking and reading Ojibwe. From time to time we’ll hear a variety of programs featuring Ojibwe speakers, and what it means to the Anishinaabe people.

What's So Exciting About KBXE?

If you look carefully at those distinctive green KAXE bumper stickers, you might notice something different…on some of those stickers the “A” in KAXE has been replaced with a “B.” You are seeing the very first bumper stickers for Northern Community Radio’s new station that will serve Bagley, the Bemidji area, and points west: KBXE!

90.5 KBXE has to be on the air by March 23, 2012! Building a new radio station is a whirlwind of problems to solve and opportunities to seize, but collaborating with folks from Bemidji and Bagley has been a lot of fun. KAXE members from the “western fringe” are sharing their creativity, knowledge of the area, and professional expertise. Committees are hard at work, progress is being made in the search for studio and tower space, and we’re figuring out how we might raise a pile of money in tough economic times. Fashionable folks across northern Minnesota are sporting enigmatic green buttons on their shirts and coats that ask, “What is KBXE?”

There are lots of reasons for excitement! One of those reasons is that KBXE will be founded in 2011 or 2012, and it will have the benefit of everything we’ve managed to learn at KAXE over the past 33 years—all those mistakes and triumphs that have taught us important lessons about being an authentic local radio station for northern Minnesota.

KAXE was founded in 1976, and there will always be a lot of 1976 in KAXE. As much as we pride ourselves on KAXE’s good reputation and its contributions to the wider world of community and public radio, the inertia of the past sometimes makes it hard for us to adopt new ideas and methods. With KBXE we can create an innovative and thoroughly modern version of our medium. KBXE will reach out to new people. KBXE will develop its own quirks, its own attitude, new programs and sensibilities.

Here’s another exciting thing: At the first KBXE community meeting in August, people clearly said they hoped we would build in the ability to pass a signal back and forth between KAXE and KBXE. Sometimes KBXE’s program would be on both stations and sometimes KAXE’s program would be on both stations, and sometimes each station would operate independently, broadcasting separate programs.

A relationship like this between stations is fairly unusual in broadcasting. A more normal model is for a lead station to broadcast to one or more repeaters without give and take, except maybe for the occasional remote studio interview.

This way of passing the signal back and forth has the potential to bring about some positive consequences. In northeastern and north central MN, KAXE has helped create a sense of neighborliness and belonging. That’s our mission. We call it “building community.” The relationship between KAXE and KBXE may help create an even larger sense of neighborliness—a sense of “northern Minnesota-ness”—that stretches across the whole top part of the state!

In the overall world of radio, community stations are fairly rare. There are only a handful of community-licensed stations in Minnesota. KBXE and KAXE together will help us bring out the best of the culture of our region and show it off as few other media organizations can. What we are building here is going to take a lot of work, but it will be a wonderful asset!

I hope you are all as jazzed about this as I am! Call us if you’d like to help with this project, or if you want one of those new KBXE bumper stickers or a fashionable “What is KBXE?” button: 800/662-5799 or 218/326-1234.

Stay tuned. There will be more reports as things develop…

-Maggie Montgomery

91.7 KAXE and 90.5 KBXE, Northern Community Radio

In early August, the FCC awarded Northern Community Radio a construction permit to build a new radio station that would serve the Bagley/Bemidji area.

We hope you will call KAXE at 218/326-1234 if you have any questions or want to help build KBXE! You can join a committee for construction, fundraising, events, technical crew or publicity OR you can come to the next general meeting.

KBXE will be a noncommercial station licensed in the city of Bagley. Depending on the final location and power of the KBXE transmitter, the station could serve Bemidji, Fosston, Gonvick, Clearbrook, Debs, Erskine and Zerkel.

KBXE can broadcast at as much as 100,000 watts, or it may be more cost effective to use less power. In some respects, the location of the transmitter will determine the ERP (effective radiated power) of KBXE. A high power station cannot be located near some other stations due to interference issues, while a lower power station would have more location options.

KBXE’s construction permit was originally awarded to the Headwaters Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (HUUF) in Bemidji. Northern Community Radio signed a purchase agreement with HUUF to obtain the construction permit, at cost. HUUF was interested in bringing a community radio station to Bemidji. The HUUF agreement stipulates that Northern Community Radio cannot transfer KBXE’s license to any other organization for at least 10 years. This is so Northern Community Radio cannot just build and then sell KBXE to make money. HUUF definitely wants a community radio station to serve the Bemidji area, but did not think this was something they could do themselves.

Now Northern Community Radio is the sole owner of the KBXE construction permit. Northern Community Radio’s board of directors will “own” KBXE on behalf of the community. Our organization’s mission, which is to “build community in northern MN through radio broadcasting, cultural events and interactive media,” will guide KBXE just as it does KAXE. KBXE will serve a wide broadcast area just as KAXE does.

Northern Community Radio was interested in a new station because KAXE’s signal to the west is experiencing more and more interference. Translators are low priority for the FCC and do not have the protections that full-power stations do. KAXE’s Bemidji translator is in the commercial band, making it especially vulnerable. A commercial broadcaster could take its 105.3 frequency for a full-power commercial station if the FCC opens another filing window. The radio spectrum is a limited natural resource. KBXE’s 90.5 frequency is the last remaining noncommercial frequency that can serve the Bemidji area.

In all, 5 entities applied for this broadcast license. A settlement agreement allowed both the Unitarians and Leech Lake Reservation to squeeze in their proposed stations before Northern Community Radio purchased the construction permit. Leech Lake Reservation is building a tribal station that will broadcast at 90.1 FM. Its call sign is KOJB.

Northern Community Radio plans to build studios in Bemidji, although the location hasn’t been determined yet. At an initial gathering in Bemidji with about 80 KAXE members, those attending said locating downtown, building green, and including a performance space were important considerations. They also thought KBXE should be a mix of KAXE and locally originated content, that KBXE should air NPR programs, and that KBXE should have its own version of the Morning Show. Everyone wants to meet again in a month or two. New people are welcome to join the process at any time!

A committee is working now on a tower location. They are trying to determine if we can build a tower of if we should rent one, and where.

Another group is looking at studio location options. They are looking at land and buildings and talking about the pros and cons of locating with other organizations and building new versus renovating.

Yet another group will help raise the money to get the project done. The project will have to show significant community support before it will be able to get matching money from foundations or government agencies.

There is a lot more to do, including reaching out to more people in the Bagley area, but this is a start!

There is a deadline. KBXE has to be built and operational by March 23, 2012 or Northern Community Radio will lose its construction permit. The tower and transmission plant are high priority in getting the station on the air by the deadline. There are a lot of unknowns, but we think it will cost at least $1 million to build the tower, transmitter and studios, and possibly closer to $1.5 million.

Call or email KAXE/Northern Community Radio if you have ideas, want to sign up for a committee or would like more information: 218/326-1234 or kaxe@kaxe.org.