The Big Day of Giving is coming up May 3, 2016. Please support Davis Media Access. We need to raise $25K by June 1 in order to help fund KDRT. By donating during BigDOG your donation goes further matching funds and also gives us a chance to win prizes which in turn leads us further toward our goal.
This week, “LIVE DiRT: features Lance Canales and the Flood live in the KDRT studio on Friday, March 25 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Lance Canales & The Flood are a roots/blues-influenced Americana trio from Fresno, California, where Canales lived the life that so many songs have been written about since the birth of roots music: hard labor, one-room shacks and taunting ghosts whispering of a better life. DJ Dug Deep hosts.
Other upcoming 'LIVE DiRT' dates: catch KDRT's live broadcast from Armadillo Music during 2nd Fridays and the Art About. 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. on April 14, May 12, and June 9.
April 6: All about the Green Wall - 6:30-7:30 in the DMA studio. Learn how to use our green wall and chroma-key effects. Free, but be sure to register at the above link as space is limited.
April 16: UC Davis celebrates its 102nd Picnic Day this year. For the first time KDRT will be participating so keep your eye out.
April 17: Coffee with Amy Goodman: along with local business/DMA supporter The Wardrobe, DMA is proud to host award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Amy Goodman for a rare and intimate visit to Davis. As of this writing there are only 13 tickets left. So act now.April 20: DMA's monthly General Orientation, a first step to getting involved. 6:30-8 p.m. Free but be sure to register at the above link as space is limited.
The life of an executive director is full of report writing, with perhaps none more important than an annual report, a document that tells the story of an organization, why it exists, and how it makes a difference. For the second year, we've taken what used to be a big written annual report and made a short video instead.
I constantly hear from people involved with one of our projects that they had no idea how many other things happen here at the media center. The video aims to give some insight into the whole organization by looking back on what we did in 2015. You can find it here, and I hope you’ll take a few minutes to check it out. Big thanks to Darrick Servis and Jeff Shaw for their production work, and Eunah Cho for the majority of the still images used.
A note from the Director
I’m musing about this town’s fascination with numbered days. We’ve got our First Thursdays, wherein our good friends at the Davis Odd Fellows host free live music at the Hall on Second Street. Then we’ve got 2nd Fridays, with the Art About downtown.
I’ve learned to love numbers, so here are some others I’d like to highlight:
1: Number of Picnic Day parades the KDRT contingent will march in this year. Be sure not to miss us April 16 on the route from the UC Davis campus through downtown.
3: Number of Live in the Loam radio programs recorded in the past month with appearances by Bob Woodruff, the Rev. Shawn Amos, and I See Hawks in LA.
14: Number of local non-profits we helped create short public service announcements during our annual PSA Day.
28: Number of years we’ve been doing local election coverage. DMA is ramping up to cover forums, record “Meet the Candidates,” and produce a live show on election night, June 7.
DMA requires all new participants to attend a free General Orientation. These one-hour sessions happen once per month and include some history and background of DMA and community media, examples of media produced, and a tour of the facilities. Our facilitator will cover specific ways to get involved, depending on your interests, as well as suggested next steps. Anyone is welcome to attend an Orientation, but to use the facility regularly, you must live, work, study or volunteer at an organization in Davis.
DMA is delighted to welcome two new members to its board of directors, the volunteer body that provides governance for our non-profit.
In December, we seated Craig Blomberg for a two-year term. Craig is a longtime volunteer with KDRT, and has chaired the all-volunteer KDRT Management Team for the past several years. He spends hours each week updating the logs for the radio station, and selflessly devotes his time to making KDRT a great community resource. A registered nurse, Craig supervises case management at Sutter Davis Hospital. He lives in Davis with his wife, Darien.
In February, we seated Laura Grindstaff for a two-year term. Laura is a professor of Sociology at UC Davis and a faculty affiliate in Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, and Performance Studies. Her research and teaching focus on American media and popular culture and their role in reproducing gender, race, and class inequality. She publishes and lectures on a wide variety of topics ranging from cheerleading to reality television. From 2008-2015, she served as the faculty director of the Davis Feminist Film Festival, a grassroots festival of short films from around the world linking art to social justice issues. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Grindstaff trained as a journalist at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) in her hometown of London, Ontario.
NEW! Registration Open for Kids’ Camps: Each summer we give over much space and time to helping our younger community members make media. Registration is now open for these always-popular classes.
Lots of Programming: Please see links in the sidebar for the following recent programs: Presentation & Discussion of the Nishi Gateway Project; PSA Day 2016; 2016 Davis 1,000 Mentors for Youth Kickoff Event; Live in the Loam with Reverend Shawn Amos; plus recent volunteer programming, In the Studio, and more.
KDRT’s volunteers have been busy training new volunteer programmers. Look for a new schedule towards the end of the month. In addition, KDRT folks have been busy for months now setting up a live broadcast from Armadillo Music as part of the plethora of offerings during the 2nd Friday Art About downtown. Last week's featured our old friends, The West Nile Ramblers. Tip of the hat to local musician Tim Spangler for helping out with these, and of course to the good folks at Armadillo, and the musicians.
The Davis Live Music Collective Presents Rita Hosking: Local favorite, Rita, who released a new album in late 2015 called “Frankie and the No-Go Road.” Catch her Friday, March 18, 7 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Center in Davis, with special guests Silas Lowe and Andy Lentz.
Fourth Annual Interfaith Climate Conference: “Climate Justice: Rising to the Challenge.” Saturday, March 5, 9:30am–3:30 pm at St. James Catholic Church in Davis. Hear Keynote Speaker Joan Brown on Caring for Our Common Home followed by a Panel on Reflecting on Successes and Challenges in Climate Change Work with Congressman John Garamendi, Chief Caleen Sisk, and Humberto Camacho. Choose from practical, advocacy, or reflective workshops.
