Radioland
Inside the waning medium’s mad Humboldt hustle
Cover Story
Radioland
Give your radio dial a spin or push the digital tuning button and take note of all the radio stations available locally: talk shows, country stations, Christian stations, hits and oldies stations targeted at various demographic slices, all vying for a piece of the listening pie. You might think broadcast radio in a rural area…
Trish Regan on KSLG
Marijuana, Inc. , the CNBC documentary about the weed economy in and around the North Coast, got a lot of attention when it first aired a couple of weeks back. Reviews were generally positive. Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., John Matthews of KSLG radio (94.1 FM) will interview Trish Regan, the CNBC correspondent who reported…
Polling Has Closed
Larry Trask’s “Creamgate” ends with a narrow plurality over second-place “Buttergate.” The latter may have had an extra touch of alliterative zazz, but voters seem to have seen through its technical shortcomings: The Creamery does not make its own butter. Congratulations, Larry, and God help us all.
Media Alert
I’ll be David Cobb’s guest on KHSU’s Thursday Night Talk tonight. According to David, we’ll be talking about “big picture stuff” Humboldt County stuff — culture, politics and economy — as well as the rapidly changing newspaper and media landscape, both nationally and locally. Callers are welcome to throw whatever else they’ve got into the…
More Pot Than You Got
(fancy graphic by Ryan Burns) Drug cops! Big busts! These events took place in just 24 hours! For shame, you other California counties: A team of Humboldt County drug cops yesterday busted out more live pot in one day than you all could ever hope to find in a year. Well, maybe Sheriff Gary Philp…
Name The Scandal
There seems to be some disagreement about what to call the Rich Ghilarducci scandal that has so roiled the local business community. Let’s settle this, please. Online Surveys & Market Research
RIP Grandpa the Kinetic Flyer
Word comes from the Kinetic world that longtime Kinetic Racer Dale “Grandpa” Olsen has passed away. Kinetic Mother Christine writes saying: Our Most Infamous Kinetic Family Member is in his Flying Machine… Joining Hobart in Finishing The Race Before Us… he will Live On In Infamy… as One Of The Most Colorful Characters In Life.…
Chronicling the decline
More troubling news in newspaper-land: The San Francisco Chronicle may be at death’s door , judging from a memo sent to employees this morning, which reads in part, Despite all of our best efforts as an organization, The Chronicle continues to show staggering losses each week. The organization’s new plan of attack? Better efforts, including…
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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Another broadband update
project. Ask anyone who’s tried to bring redundant and last-mile broadband service to Humboldt County — the major stumbling block has not been shortcomings in technology or consumer demand; it’s been financing. How do you develop a feasible funding model? That is, how can the project be made profitable? With help from the gub’ment, that’s…
Scandal in Cream City
progress. “What do we got?” said Len Mayer, interim CEO of the Humboldt Creamery a few moments ago. “We have a 22-year-employee, the CEO, resigning immediately. We can’t get hold of him, we can’t contact him. And he says there’s something wrong with the finances.” Today has been a busy day for Mayer and for…
The Water Cure
friends.The Water Cure: We’re well used to miracle liquids of all sorts here in Humboldt County, but the LA TImes today gives us one that actually works for non-hippies, too. Tease: “Electrolyzed water cleans, degreases — and treats athlete’s foot. The solution is replacing toxic chemicals.” This inspiring little story reminds one that there is…
CPUC Approves $8 Million to Help Bring Broadband to Unserved Areas
CPUC Approves $8 Million to Help Bring Broadband to Unserved Areas: Looks like Broadband Associates’ plan to bring redundant and last-mile broadband to the North Coast along Highway 299 may be a go. Over the weekend, the California Public Utilities Commission approved $7.8 million in matching funds for the
Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption)
Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption): If you read last week’s “Town Dandy” or the most recent Sims-Heraldo sparring match, then do yourself a favor and read this long, sad, frightening essay by Paul Starr from this week’s New Republic. Same nut graf, but this is a far…
Late Night With KRFH Benefit Show
Having had a day or so to decompress, I can now say that Wednesday night’s KRFH student radio benefit at Big Pete’s Pizza was a mixed success, with over 100 people in attendance for the four-group electronic/hip hop show featuring thelittlestillnotbigenough , (n1nth)cloud , DJ Egadz , and Restiform Bodies of premier Bay Area hip…
A Little Down Time
effects! Many apologies for this Web site’s temporary dirt nap early this morning. As of about half an hour ago, all is well again. Turns out the problem was not one of robot HUMBO’s excesses of zeal, as I had feared. Rather, a disk drive had filled up beyond the brim, which triggered a whirling,…
Witness Recounts Stabbing
If Barbara Groom hadn’t been craving a pint of Häagen Dazs after a movie, she wouldn’t have driven into the parking lot of Ray’s Food Place in Eureka; she wouldn’t have seen two men fighting there; she wouldn’t have tried to stop them by yelling and inching her car into the fracas; and she wouldn’t…
Pick O’ The Oscars!
Preview With the Academy Awards ceremony coming on Sunday, there is only one new local opening on Friday, Feb. 20 — although Defiance is returning, in case you missed it. Last Chance Harvey opened nationally on Jan. 16 and seems to have gotten lost in the Oscar shuffle. Set in London, the film stars Dustin…
Traditional to Contemporary
One of the best concerts I ever attended was a show at the Van Duzer about 10 years ago with a stellar collection of Cuban masters on tour under the Buena Vista Social Club banner. When I mentioned how much I liked the band in a recent conversation with bandleader Juan de Marcos González, he…
De-pressed
I have a to-do list on my desktop right now, and it is troubling me. On the list are six large investigative stories that need doing — that really, really need doing — and except in two cases, tips on those stories have arrived in the last couple of days, long after we planned out…
Eat Your Medicine
Editor: As regards "Mending Broken Hearts" (Feb. 12) — don’t get me started! While I am glad St. Joseph Hospital is looking into improving patient care, these statistics are a great example of why we need not-for-profit health care. Leave it to the nurses to tell the truth about staffing overloads, medication error and patients…
Meet My Moka
Italians abruptly awaken to the fundamental otherness of the rest of the world the first time they drink coffee abroad. All right, that was a big generalization, so I will narrow my scope: That’s what happened to me the first time I left Italy on my own, taking a trip to London some 20 years…
Not a Pretty Picture
Editor: I’d like to respond to the advertisement for the state adoption office’s photo display of foster children ("Arts! Arcata," Feb. 12). Adoption isn’t always a beautiful experience, especially for the adoptee. When the children become adults, they will be discriminated against. I am an adult adoptee, born in the State of California in 1969.…
Hard Times
Crash. Freefall. Nosedive. The terms used to describe what’s happening to the American economy abuse us daily. One can picture the economy cartwheeling through the air, grasping for a parachute cord, whipped by the wind. But "the economy" is abstract — what’s really dropping are people. Into bed, where sleepless nights of worry await. Into…
Gold Star
Editor: I am writing this letter to commend your publication in general, and Ryan Burns in particular, for the outstanding article "Crossing Schools" (Feb. 5). I recently retired from the McKinleyville Union School District where I worked as a third-grade teacher and an assistant principal at Dow’s Prairie School for 21 years. I was one…
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
So the Academy Awards are on Sunday, and — here’s a rare doff of the cap to Coming Attractions Theatres — we’ve had the opportunity to see nearly all the films nominated in major categories (not counting Foreign Language Film, which has the most lamebrained nominating system imaginable). Unfortunately, short films get short shrift in…
Giant boo-boo
Planning Commissioner Scott Kelley was misidentified as the commission chair and was said to have a daughter, Sarah, at Zane Middle School in last week’s story, "Giant Circus Tent." In fact, both the chairmanship and the daughter belong to Commissioner Jeff Smith. The Journal’s Ryan Burns feels like a dipshit about the errors.
The Crying Light
New York-based singer/songwriter Antony Hegarty is an artistic tightrope walker. Musically, he has confidently balanced the fine line between baroque and pop, feminine and masculine, earthly and ethereal. Hegarty, by sheer force of his original style, transcends such categories. As Hegarty explored transgender and identity issues for the inspiration of his previous 2005 release, I…
The Largest Structure in the World
“Try to bring in ‘Humboldt’,” said the editor of this fine weekly paper when I signed on for this column. ‘No problem,” I replied, hoping I’d be able to find some link, somehow, somewhere … …which is why my heart leapt last week as I stood at the base of the world’s largest structure –…
Third Friday McKinleyville Arts Night
Presented by members of the McKinleyville business community. Receptions for artists, exhibits and/or performances are from 6-8 p.m. on the third Friday of each month. Phone 268-1800 for more information. 1. The Front Gallery and Gifts 1181 Central Ave. Glass, sculpture and jewelry; rocking bluegrass and old time country by Rickey B and Friends. 2.…
Birth Day
We exited 101 at Janes Road where the…
Baby Jocks
"You’re listening to KRFH.net 610 AM, Radio Free Humboldt. I’m your host, Kate, and this is Mixtape Masterpiece. The time is currently 8:15 a.m. …" From 1982 to 1990 college radio had the prestige of setting the standard for American pop culture, bringing rise to a whole genre of pre-alternative "college rock" with bands like…
Immaculate Reception
Like virtually every component of Catholicism — from a humble Rosary bead to St. Peter’s Basilica — Eureka’s new Catholic radio station, KIHH Immaculate Heart Radio (1400 on the AM dial), can be traced rung by rung up the ecclesiastical ladder straight to the pope — Pope Pious XI, in this case. See, Pious was…
Dance of the Dial
“There’s a lot of radio here, which I guess is good for the consumer. It’s maybe not so good for the companies trying to make a living at radio,” says Patrick Cleary, who straddles the fence in the local broadcast world. He’s interim general manager of campus-based public radio station KHSU and he is CEO…
DIY Rush Limbaugh
You’re sitting at your computer staring at something called Old Glory Radio. Near the top of the page is a podcast of a "promotion" for a reality TV show in Arcata, with the announcement that "Residents of Arcata are not eligible." You hit the play button: Sinister music attends an eyes-cast-down view of a litter-strewn…
