Seattle’s CID and their reason to fight the homeless shelter expansion
Last week, King County scrapped their plans for a homeless shelter expansion on the edge of Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID). Listen to why elders from the CID came out in numbers to protest another homeless shelter in this neighborhood and what they demand now.
Taking the Racism Out of Teaching English Writing
KBCS highlights a progressive approach to teaching college writing classes. A method of teaching college level writing titled Anti-racist Writing Assessment Ecology was adopted by 62 faculty at 30 out of the 34 Washington community college and technical colleges (at the time we were working on this story). The methodology is meant to address and minimize what some educators are considering a culturally colonized education environment.
Dr. Asao Inoue is a Professor of Rhetoric and Composition in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University. He developed the Anti-racist Writing Assessment Ecology and wrote the book, Writing Assessment, Social Justice, and The Advancement of Opportunity. Dr. Inoue talked about the approach and what inspired him to create it.
General Manager Update – October 2022
Dear Friends of KBCS,
Despite the warmer than normal weather and the disheartening lack of rain we are experiencing here in the Pacific Northwest; the cool nights, the changing foliage, and of course, the calendar on the wall still remind us that fall has arrived.
This beautiful time of the year heralds our annual fall fundraising campaign at KBCS. Our fall campaign is traditionally our largest fund drive of the year and this year the need for your financial support of KBCS and our mission is more important than ever. Please take a moment to make your donation for our fall campaign now, and thank you in advance.
My friends, these are very troubling times in the life of our nation. Our sacred tradition of democracy and democratic institutions like community radio KBCS are under sustained attack by hard right extremists looking for the perfect opportunity to advance their authoritarian and racist agenda by preying on the most vulnerable among us.
The painfully slow recovery from the worldwide pandemic shutdown and the lingering disruption of the world’s supply chain, a high demand for consumer goods, increased production costs, and stimulus relief spending, have all led to high inflation which always impacts the poor and middle classes the hardest. This makes it more difficult for many of our friends to contribute at the same level of financial support for KBCS than they have made in the past.
This is a strong reason for those who can, to increase our level of support this fall to keep true progressive community radio KBCS on the air.
Our long tradition at KBCS of providing opportunities for citizens from all walks of life and not just professional broadcasters to have their voice heard on the radio is true democracy in action.
Support KBCS and our nearly fifty-year democratic mission of providing true non-profit educational community radio across the greater Puget Sound region with your generous donation to KBCS today. Your support has never been more critical, or more appreciated. Donate online now at kbcs.fm and help us meet our goal for this drive.
Democracy matters, Truth matters and KBCS matters, now more than ever before.
Again, thank you for your support of KBCS and promoting democracy in action on the radio in our beautiful corner of the world.
Dana Lee Buckingham
General Manager KBCS and Proud Sustaining Contributor to Community Radio KBCS
Bellevue protest to support Iranian Women
Hundreds gathered in Bellevue over the weekend to protest in solidarity with women in Iran. KBCS was there and gathered voices and sounds from the event.
Repatriation of Mexican Americans in the 1930’s
Imagine being a US Citizen and being deported to a country where you don’t know anyone. This happened in the 1930’s here in America.
Insurrection: A Photo Compilation from Jan 6, 2021
The House Select January 6th committee completed their eighth hearing this month. More hearings and an initial report is in the works for September, as the group continues to investigate the event.
Nate Gowdy is a local documentary photographer whose work has graced the cover of Time magazine. He’s been photographing the Trump campaigns and rallies for years, and was at the nation’s capitol on January 6th 2021. Gowdy has a book coming out soon titled Insurrection, featuring over 120 photos from that day. It’s edited by Lisa van Dam-Bates.
KBCS interviewed Nate Gowdy and Lisa van Dam-Bates in July.
Producer: Yuko Kodama
Photos: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
photo credit: Nate Gowdy
Feminist Women’s Health
Juneteenth: Important Historical Details
After much discussion, Congress passed legislation to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday. President Joe Biden signed the bill on June 17, 2021.
This KBCS audio excerpt explores important details about Juneteenth and what happened on June 19, 1865.
KBCS’s Kevin Henry speaks with Kwami Abdul-Bey a Co-convener of the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement and a Trustee of the Arkansas Historical Association.
Print illustration of Colored Regiment
Behind the Lens at the Nation’s Capitol: January 6 2021
Since 2015, local photographer, Nate Gowdy has been working on a personal project to document the Trump era’s political campaigns and culture. On January 6, 2021, he was in Washington DC to document the atmosphere around the Congressional confirmation of electoral votes for Rolling Stone. The day was interrupted by a mob attack on the country’s capitol building. Gowdy shared his experiences with KBCS’s Yuko Kodama within a week after the event.
A Message From Our GM – Dana Buckingham
With just a little over a month remaining in this fiscal year we are spending a lot of time these days on budgeting priorities for the next fiscal year while balancing the books on this fiscal year. This marks the second consecutive year of ending the fiscal year with a balanced budget without the need for additional college support.
Fiscal solvency is critical to our survival as an independent nonprofit community radio station. Even during the years with a robust national economy, raising all the funding that we need to operate KBCS in the black takes a lot of coordinated effort, dogged determination, and sacrifices. Our fundraising efforts become even more difficult when faced with economic uncertainties brought on by rising inflation, a volatile stock market, and national midterm election in a heavily polarized and volatile political environment.
I don’t have crystal ball to predict how these unsettling economic and political uncertainties will impact our fundraising over the next fiscal year, but it is my job to plan for the worst-case scenario and hope for the best. What I do know is that there is a great deal of community support for our long democratic tradition of providing community-based programing that extends across all social, political, and economic demographics. I also know that our listeners and supporters across the Puget Sound region and online around the world, understand how nonprofit radio works.
During the uncertain economic times that lie ahead we need those who can afford to give a little more to step forward to help offset those who may not be able to donate at the same giving level as they normally do.
For our part, you can count on us to trim our expenses to live within our means and find new ways to run a leaner and more efficient operation without sacrificing the unique character and quality of our community-based programming. Our goal is to do more with less through the implementation of advanced broadcast technologies that we invested in last year thanks to a generous infrastructure grant through the American Recovery Act plan.
We will also focus our efforts in the new fiscal year on adding even more diversity to our community-based programming by actively recruiting new community volunteers to produce and host original and creative programming that informs, educates, and entertains as we celebrate our Golden Anniversary in 2023 of fifty years of broadcasting here in our beautiful corner of the world.
Thank you for your continued support of Community Radio KBCS.
Dana Lee Buckingham
General Manager and Proud Sustaining Contributor to Community Radio KBCS