The only political candidate in which this all-jazz-and-blues public radio station has ever taken any interest is Dizzy Gillespie. And, even then, we waited 60 years before issuing an official endorsement — you know, just to be safe. Pictured here: Charles McPherson (center) at KSDS studios with Ron Dhanifu (left) and Matt Silver (right) ahead of Oct. 2024’s “Dizzy for President” concert, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Gillespie’s tongue-in-cheek run for POTUS.
Lots of consternation this week. Both bodies of congress have voted to rescind previously approved funding packages to public radio and television broadcasters. To be sure, the rescission package is politically motivated, a response to government funded news coverage and reporting that those behind this legislation would argue has been politically motivated for quite some time. Reasonable people can differ over how much merit, if any, that kind of critique contains when directed towards the newsgathering and reporting practices of NPR and PBS, the two public broadcasters with the broadest national reach.
The unfortunate part is that that critique — and the subsequent legislative manifestation of that critique — has nothing to do with the dozens of independent public broadcasters that, like KSDS, don’t provide any political coverage of any kind.
We don’t report on politics. If we comment on politics at all, it’s obliquely. I can’t imagine there’s anything we do here that would or could be classified as intentional advocacy or activism for any political platform or agenda. We really only qualify as part of the news media industry if you interpret the entire media, broadcasting, and entertainment ecosystem — and its infinite tributary economies — in the broadest possible way. And that’s why the truly sorry shame of this whole thing is that stations like ours will be hurt the most from a piece of legislation that probably doesn’t really intend to have victims like us in its crosshairs, but, ultimately, doesn’t care either…and, maybe even most offensive of all, can’t even comprehend that we exist and definitely would never understand why.
You want to go after perceived bias and make allegations indicting ideologically driven journalism in publicly funded news media? Go ahead. What do WE have to do with THAT?
NPR and PBS, due to their visibility and mass appeal and popularity, will have their corporate and large-net-worth supporters and underwriters circling the wagons for them. Because, from a PR standpoint, that’s where the big money donors will get the most for their marketing dollar, which is effectively what corporate philanthropy is.
And that’s all fine. But here’s the hard truth for smaller, local, non NPR member public music stations like ours: By comparison, we’re not the cool kids. We think what we do is cool…and, to us, we are cool…precisely because we’re not the cool kid table in the high school cafeteria. Our tastes are too quirky, too acquired, too obscure. Our digital presence and marketing materials aren’t nearly slick enough for certain segments of our society’s supposedly sophisticated audiences. And when you donate to us, you can get a tote bag, sure…but it’s not one that necessarily becomes a shorthand for how well read and educated you are when you’re casually browsing the nearest independent bookseller. The good-person credit you receive in consideration for your largesse to our cause and our station doesn’t have nearly the reputational return. You listen and give to us because you appreciate music, appreciate its power, and, maybe, at one point or several points in your life it’s profoundly helped you out of or through a dark stretch. News coverage and op-eds don’t offer you a hand out of the abyss. Only music does that.
Our people support us not because they’re looking to cloak themselves in a worldview as a substitute for having a personality or because their Subaru won’t be complete without our sticker on the back bumper. Hell, I’d love it if our KSDS swag carried some of that cultural gravitas…but, actually, would I? I don’t know…maybe not. I like existing like we do, on our own terms. We’re weird. We’re not fashionable. We like the anachronistic AND we like the contemporary but we don’t let other people or forces wield those labels for us…because, too often, when it comes to the artform we champion, they only screw it up. We don’t do fashions and we don’t do trends and we’re not prisoners of whatever present moment we happen to find ourselves in. And the last thing we want is to be prisoners in a political war where we’re, by any measure, disinterested non-combatants.
So as you think about this issue and consider where you’d like to direct your generosity, think about those other national brands, by all means…but also think about that public radio jazz station that didn’t ask to live a neighborhood dominated by gang warfare and would simply like very much for all the shooting to stop so we can go about our business of Breaking the Jazz.
Here's a much more succinct message to our community from KSDS General Manager Ken Poston. For those interested, a secure donation form is accessible at the bottom of the page.
