INTRODUCTION
Throughout its over 50 year history KCSB-FM has been a community resource and source of programming not found on commercial radio, including music, public affairs, news, sports and more. It’s the product of the dedication of over 100 student and community programmers. Funded primarily by students and an annual fund drive the station can be heard over a 70 mile radius from Camarillo to Santa Maria and offshore past the Channel Islands. Students run the station with support from a small career staff. Here’s what they had to say about this year’s accomplishments. Add to this countless hours of diverse programming. Yeah, pretty amazing!
A YEAR AT KCSB
During the past 2014-2015 school year, KCSB-FM redoubled its commitment to Isla Vista and the greater local community by:
• Co-presenting our first-ever Hello World! Free Isla Vista Concert with the MultiCultural Center.
Headlining act Chicano Batman went on to a big year of touring (and two later stints at the Santa Barbara Bowl). The world-music bill also featured Mexico68 Afrobeat Orchestra (also from Los Angeles) and the moody electronic-music trio Los Macuanos (from San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico).
• Hosting two popular open mics and an I.V. First Friday alternative cultural night to close out the year.
We took our music programs out into the public, by airing one show live from Pardall Road during that First Friday event, and another during the Spring Warm Up (outside the UCSB Thunderdome Events Center).
• Adding significantly to the year’s slate of “Come Together” Isla Vista memorial events.
We broadcast AS Program Board’s Jack Johnson’s live Storke Plaza concert; a KCSB led town-hall presentation on gun violence with Richard Martinez and Bob Weiss, parents of 2014’s I.V. shooting victims; news and public-affairs coverage of the anniversary week; and announcements supporting student-community partnerships and activities.
We demonstrated our commitment to innovation by introducing a two-week streaming archive of our programs to the KCSB website.
We saw some significant improvements to our studio for live performances and panel discussions, “Studio A,” including a long-overdue rewiring of all our studios. We also stabilized the power situation up at KCSB’s Broadcast Peak transmitter site (at 4000 feat in the Santa Ynez Mountain range) and addressed temperature control issues there that threatened our precious equipment.
• We co-presented Brazilian indie artist Rodrigo Amarante’s acclaimed poolside concert from Goleta’s new hotel The Goodland, and broadcast his performance live — along with UCSB flute sensation Azeem Ward and local reggae supergroup The Cameo Band.
• With the assistance of UCSB Arts & Lectures, we organized a memorable master class with scientist and media hero Dr. Michio Kaku.
• We sponsored and aired other concerts and public lectures such as Gardens & Villa, The Coup, and Dr. Helen Caldicott.
• We hosted numerous live in-studio performances, including such major groups as Dengue Fever and Stone Foxes.
• KCSB also produced its first-ever “Live in Studio A” compilation CD which featured 19 acts performing a range of genres.
• Our film subcommittee helped document many of these accomplishments and boosted our web and social media presence.
We’re excited to report that there is concurrently a growing interest in programming on KCSB, especially for our news and sports departments (in fact, our news staff has grown several times over and have been producing nightly newscasts with renewed vigor), and in volunteering behind the scenes on these aforementioned projects. The turnouts for our quarterly recruitments have been record-setting and are very encouraging for our future.
Finally, KCSB received prominent — and even unexpected — print and online acknowledgment during recent months, including notice in the glossy monthly magazine covering our region’s good life, Santa Barbara Magazine, in the daily newspaper, the Santa Barbara News-Press, and on BestColleges.com’s list of “50 Best College Radio Stations.”