We the People [the Video]

From loving to brag about cold weather to believing in the power of local, community radio, we the people of Northern Community Radio need you.

From $5 a month to $1 a day, pledge your support at whatever level you can afford and keep independent radio strong in Northern MN. What do you believe?

Pledge online at http://www.kaxe.org
Or call 800-662-5799 / 218-326-1234

Listener support is our single largest source of funding and it's people just like you that make it all possible. Thank you!

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

The Women of Roller Derby

The Women of Roller Derby is an intimate view into the life of derby girls. Produced by Doug MacRostie of Northern Community Radio for Culturology on 91.7 KAXE.
 

The Women of Roller Derby
Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby has exploded across northern MN, with the Babe City Rollers in Bemidji, and the Iron Range Maidens. Derby is a very physical sport, known for hard hits and short skirts. Producer Doug MacRostie wondered, ‘who are these derby girls, and what draws them to this sport?’, and it isn’t who he expected. Doug set out to find a dominatrix derby girl, and instead discovered The Women of Roller Derby.

I Hulk said, "That was awesome and dare I say I got a bit teary. Which says a lot since I hate crying and being emotional!". Sarah Whalin' said, "I. M. Hulk, Olive Mayhem, Piece MakeHer, Vroom Vroom and the others give such an accurate portrayal of what it means to be a derby girl, it will give you goosebumps! Totally amazing. Go Maidens!!" and Butterscotch Bitch told us, "I was just sitting in my car the last 20 minutes listening. I wish I had my skates with to wear at work...".

Preflash Gordon, online manager of the North Star Roller Girls, said, "KAXE in Northern Minnesota does a documentary on derby women ... and by golly, it's like listening to This American Life! Absolutely fantastic! Give it a listen, or download the MP3 and podcast it later. Brilliant stuff. Congrats to Douglas MacRostie and everyone who made this wonderful show."

Read more about The Women of Roller Derby:
"Roller Derby Rockin' Northern MN" on 91.7 KAXE Notes
"Talk Derby to Me" on Doug MacRostie's Macedelic Studios

Photo donated by Jimmy Digital of the Sioux City Roller Dames.

WoRD was made possible with support from the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Culturology: Talking Circle Promotes Understanding

A family-services worker with Ojibwe ancestry uses the circle technique to encourage open sharing and real listening. KAXE's Travis Ryder joins a Grand Rapids-area spiritual growth group in the circle, listen: Talking Circles Promote Understanding

Hear that feature and more on the Culturology page. Discover and get involved with the broad and deep world of arts and culture in Northern Minnesota. Each edition features profiles of artists from a wide spectrum of creativity, from painters, potters and sculptors to fine-arts and heritage musicians, authors and poets.Presented by Northern Community Radio and 91.7 KAXE.

Mary LaPlant, Welcome Back to Centerstage MN

by Doug MacRostie

I could sit and talk with Mary LaPlant all day; she's one of those positive people that is just fun to be around. Classically trained on the violin, Mary is a 3 Time MN State Fiddle Champion with 2 albums out, Serenity & Out of Nowhere. Her style is lyrical and sure.  While Mary clearly loves music, her concern for the environment was stronger and she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry and Minor in Music. With the sounds of the woods and birds recorded and mixed into her albums, you can close your eyes and picture her sitting high in a tree playing music with the wilderness. Mary says, "When I'm playing violin and when I'm in the forest, time stands still and I am fully alive". She'll perform in-studio for us and we'll talk about her music this week on Centerstage MN.

And Mary will be joining The Itasca Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Keith Swanson to open the season with an overture, concerto and a symphony on Saturday, November 20, 7:30 pm at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Part of the program will feature soloists Kristine Arntson and Mary LaPlant.

We'll have a set of Hip-Hop style MN music too with Brother Ali, Dalia and Mayda. And a set representing Northern MN including a song from the forthcoming release from the high energy Iron Range string band Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses, called "Then & Now".

Next week I welcome back Big Walter Smith, and we'll hear another song from his new CD "Royal Blue Cadillac."

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. Often featured on MNartists.org.

VIDEO: There's Nothing to be Scared Of Montage

Kitura Main from the Headwaters Science Center in Bemidji came to the KAXE Studios to help us face our fears during the There's Nothing to be Scared of fundraiser. She brought along turtles, birds, and lizards, which didn't have quite the impact as the tarantula spider and corn snake (not to mention the boa).

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.

More info: http://www.kaxe.org
Headwaters Science Center: http://www.hscbemidji.org/