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

Katie Corning Spreads Her Creative Wings

by Doug MacRostie

Something about an emerging performer from a small town really appeals to me, and Katie Corning from Bagley is just starting to spread her creative wings and share her talent - which is a very good thing. Originally from East Bethel, MN, Katie moved to the Bemidji area to attend BSU. She has a very powerful and dynamic voice that conveys emotion and feeling at a very deep level. Blending an eclectic mix of indie alternative and acoustic music on both keyboard and guitar, her style is very hard to classify. She'll be joining me in-studio this week on Centerstage MN to talk about, and perform, her music.

A classically trained musician and accomplished vocalist, Katie works with Matt Glenzel for lyrics. He has a blog of his poetry that he has given Katie full access to. It's a very interesting collaboration where he just keeps writing and writing poems, and Katie checks it for words or rhymes that appeal to her.

Some of these collaborated songs are 'simple' love songs, others touch on sensitive topics like God and religion. Katie says her philosophy is, "Stop worrying about the afterlife. Love where you are right now, love life. Just look at what's around you; the skies and everything, and the trees and all that. It's like 'hey embrace that, don't worry about this high power so much, just try to love the life you're in right now'."

We'll also hear from a new release out of the Iron Range from Germaine Gemberling. Just when I was thinking, "the creativity and music coming out of the Range is outstanding," this CD showed up and drove the point home. Recorded at Sparta Sound, and with Rich Mattson on guitar and back-up vocals, it's beautifully simple country music - sort of like John Prine, not flashy or forceful, but smooth, creative and clever.

Plus we'll hear from Eden - a new band out of Eden Prairie working on their debut CD - I've got a copy of their demo to share. Also Duluth's Portrait of a Drowned Man, Bemidji's The Magic Castles, and more.

Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji and can be heard again Sunday mornings at 6. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org. Centerstage MN is also heard on KSRQ in Thief River Falls Saturday nights at 11 & Wednesdays at Noon, and on WTIP in Grand Marais Thursdays afternoons at 4. Sometimes heard on KFAI in Minneapolis & St. Paul. Often featured on MNartists.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.