Downtown Tucsonan - December 2008 - (Page 14)

Downtown Live celebrating 25 years of kxci by Jim Lipson [Editor’s note: Jim Lipson has been associated with KXCI since before it went on the air in 1983. In addition to being one of its original programmer/deejays, he produced two benefit concerts, a live studio concert series and sold underwriting. He continues to help with on-air pledge drives and remains an occasional substitute programmer. From 2002-06 he served as a member of KXCI’s Board of Directors. The Editor, David Olsen, served as a member of KXCI’s Board of Directors from 2003-08.] ome say there must have been something in the water 25 years ago that made tucson such fertile ground for so many alternative and creative endeavors. More likely it was collateral damage from the early Reagan years that gave rise to such lasting institutions as the tucson weekly, access tucson, the tucson Blues Festival and KXcI community Radio, all of which are at or on the cusp of celebrating their silver anniversaries. KXcI, or the notion of a commercial free radio station, actually began sometime in the mid to late 1970s, a collective gleam in the eyes of Frank Milan, Roger Greer and Paul Barrington, aka Paul Bear. these three founding fathers took this idea and raised just enough money and gumption to jump through all of the Fcc’s regulatory hoops while navigating their maze of bureaucratic hurdles. when all was said and done, the Foundation for creative Broadcasting, doing business as KXcI was born, and in late november of 1983, KXcI was on the air. the following is an abridged historical window into 25 years of community radio. S a memorable afternoon of wild percussion recorded live as it happened in KXcI’s original storefront digs on the corner of sixth ave. and congress st. what followed was a musical orgy – days of programming beginning with the earliest in new orleans jazz, then moving to swing and the big band era, to straight ahead and bee-bop jazz, to delta and urban blues, and finally rock, with a full weekend of 12-hour marathons focusing on the 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. on Monday, december 6 all this culminated with several local bands playing live in the storefront. the next day, KXcI, would officially begin. The Music Mix. Much of the broadcast day would be occupied by the Music Mix. Back then, this was seen as radical approach to programming. with the exception of college radio, programming at most listener sponsored stations (Pacifica and nPR) were dominated by single interest specialty shows catering to devoted but relatively small audiences. the idea behind the Mix with its combination of blues, rock, reggae, folk, bluegrass, jazz, instrumental, local music, new releases and old hippie rock, was that if the tunes were good, a large and diverse listenership would follow. Bruce cockburn, Lucinda williams, Michael Franti and nancy Griffith are all examples of artists who were featured on the Mix long before they found a national audience. despite having undergone many subtle (and not so subtle) changes in format, the Music Mix remains a staple of KXcI’s daytime programming. Specialty Shows. this was the domain of evenings and weekends where programmer/producers were free to create their own audio product, often bringing in their own material. In the beginning there was much experimentation including shows that featured live performance art (dennis williams), political and topical news and music (ted warm- brand), children’s programming (Roger Greer), literature (dale Hopper) avant-garde jazz (steve Hahn), free form (Bill Lutz), and German (andy Babich.) Many of these were short lived and while some passed on from natural causes others suffered deaths that were…less than natural. shows that have prospered from the earliest days include the saturday morning Bluegrass Show, the Blues Revue and the Gospel Truth where shirley Moore stands alone as KXcI’s only remaining original programmer. dave “Kid squidd” squires was on a show called Mystery dJ in KXcI’s first month. His Roots Rock show, later renamed Kid Squidd’s Mystery Juke Box, remains one of the stations most popular shows. other shows with more than 15 years on the air are KXcI monuments such as carol anderson’s Ruby’s Roadhouse, Matt ”Moon” nelson’s Global Rhythm Radio and Jeff Rogers’ Halftime at the Apocalypse. over the years there are some who have argued that no one program or programmer should have an indefinite lifetime pass, but it’s been hard to argue with the success many of these shows have attained. Democracy Now. More than a simple specialty show, this syndicated Pacifica Radio hour embodies so much of what people love about this station or want it to be— controversial, edgy and unabashedly political in its leaning towards the far left. Its expanded coverage during 9/11 and beyond was riveting. unfortunately it’s been moved around the schedule like a struggling tV sitcom. still, its ratings are consistently strong. It airs weekdays from noon-1 p.m. The Big Broadcast. this was conceived to satisfy the Fcc’s three week testing period.. It began with nothing but static before evolving into a recorded history of sound. It was billed as The Big Broadcast of 1983 and included electronically generated nature sounds, whales, Gregorian chants, some of tom Edison’s earliest recordings and “KXCI” continued on page 24 14 downtown tucsonan.december.08

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Downtown Tucsonan - December 2008

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