autumn's blog

Diane Evans writes "Last year the Human Relation Commission asked the Davis City Council to issue a Juneteenth Declaration that declared its inclusion in the 4th of July celebration. It was so declared. We want the Davis Community to know that it is taking a big step toward deepening our Nation's wholeness, perhaps the first city in the Nation to do so."

Supported by the City of Davis, the Davis Human Relation Commission, the Uniting for Racial Justice Team of the Universalist Unitarian Church plus 3 great performers - Sandy Holman (Culture Co-op), James Williams and Nathalie Minya. Join Davis residents in celebrating the 2 greatest freedom events in America History: the Declaration of Independence and 89 years thereafter the Emancipation Proclamation making our nation whole in our freedom. Our hand in your hand. Your hand in ours. See you on the 4th.

The Davis Odd Fellows and Davis Media Access present a special evening of local music to fundraise for live music field recording equipment for grassroots community radio station KDRT 95.7 FM.

The all-star local line-up features Bill Scholer and Waiting for Bruce, with special guest Barry “The Fish” Melton. The popular Winters-based country-swing band Bonanza King opens the show.

The show takes place at the Davis Odd Fellows Hall in downtown Davis, 415 Second Street,  Friday, July 11, 2014. Doors open 7 pm, music from 7:30 -10:00pm.

No, folks, I’m not talking about anything related to the World Cup. And I’m happy dancing here, and no, that’s not a delayed reaction from the Davis Music Festival.

Rather, I am very pleased to announce that Davis Media Access (DMA) has successfully wrapped its fundraising campaign Celebrating 25 Years of Community Media in Davis. Our must-meet goal was $20k in support of our programs and services, and as of June 27, we exceeded our stretch goal of $25k. That money keeps KDRT on the air for another year, and also helps offset some of the cost of producing intensive local election coverage and supporting youth media projects (yes, we do an astonishing amount with relatively little money).

View our list of donors.

Davis Media Access records five local high-school graduation ceremonies each year: Davis High Schhol; Da Vinci Charter Academy; Davis School for Independent Study; King High School; and Davis Adult School. Commemorative Graduation DVD SPECIAL: $25 each (includes shipping) if ordered before June 30; after that, price returns to $30 (includes shipping). Fine the order form and information here.

Our Kid Video Production Camps are already full.  But, we still have limited space in both our Animation Camps.  Animation Camp presents a unique summer learning opportunity for younger kids, aged 11-15.

The course is team taught by DMA staffer Alex Silva-Sadder with assistance from college and high school interns. DMA will offer two sessions of Animation Camp, July 7-11 and July 14-18. Participants will learn how to plan and storyboard an animation, record dialogue and effects, and light and create stop-motion animations. Each class is limited to six participants. Camps conclude with a screening of the students' work.

Curious about KDRT, DCTV or DJUSD Channel 17, and want to learn how Davis Media Access can help you? Plan to attend our next General Orientation on June 25 from 6:30-7:45pm!

Any potential volunteers should plan to attend as it's the first step to getting involved.  The orientation includes the history of Davis Media Access, a tour of the facilities, and information on the many aspects and opportunties provided by DMA.

We acknowledge business contributions to the radio station with brief on-air messages called "underwriting." Underwriting is to community radio what advertising is to commercial radio. The difference, however, is clear: commercial stations may air as much as 18 minutes of advertising time per hour. KDRT airs less than one minute of underwriting per hour. KDRT listeners make a deliberate choice to tune in because our unique programming is local and fun. Our listeners appreciate businesses that support the kind of radio they like to listen to.

For details on our underwriting plans--including scheduling availability, messaging, and reasonable rates--please reach out to underwriting@kdrt.org

Yolo County Supervisor District 2, Don Saylor, is partnering with Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA)  and the Yolo Workforce Investment Board to present a Job Fair and Youth College Link Success Camp. The event will take place on June 16th from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. at the Yolo County One Stop Career Center at 25 N. Cottonwood Street in Woodland. At the job fair attendees will have the chance to meet over 30 local employers, as well as learn more about several apprenticeship programs and training opportunities.  All employers present will be currently hiring.

Tyler Shaffo hosts Lynn Kimsey, Ph.D., Director, and Steven Heydon, Collection Manager, both of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. The museum has the seventh largest collection of insects in North America with over seven million specimens.  This episode of In the Studio presents quite a few insects.  Some still alive and crawling.

In late May The City of Davis hosted two workshops for the local community to discuss planning and share ideas for the Davis Nishi Gateway. Each workshop provided an overview of the planning effort, schedule and goals.  The May 28th workshop was recorded by Davis Media Access and the focus was on mobility, open space and community character opportunities for the Davis Nishi Gateway.  You may view the video online here.

Bill Buchanan calls last week’s "Davisville" one of the best he’s ever done. As he tells the story, he answered a poster at Armadillo from someone looking to form a punk-rock grunge band, and scored an interesting interview with the person behind the poster -- Sonja Martin, 22. She has strong opinions, clear answers, and a goal that a lot of people (especially artists and anyone working in an un/underpaid field) will recognize -- the drive to do something meaningful and difficult, because you really have no other choice.

Nik Joshi (aka DJ CharSoVees) lets us know about the move of his Bollywood radio show, Duniya Dar Dashan, to Mondays from 6-7 p.m.

As part of its partnership with the City of Davis and the Davis Joint Unified School District, DMA records the local high school graduations (there are five) each year, and makes available commemorative DVDs.

Thanks to Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (D-4th), who presented us with an Assembly Proclamation honoring our 25 years of service, live on the air election night. Mariko was long ago a board member for this organization (in its DCTV days), and has remained a stalwart friend of community media.

To all the candidates and campaigns that participated in the June 2014 election. The candidate statements, debates and forums all become part of DMA’s permanent archive, as does the wonderful election-night show hosted by Andrea Jones and Lea Rosenberg. Thank you also to the wonderful volunteer crew (Tyler Shaffo, Cliff Gamble, Bryce Parker, Eunah Cho, Daniel Choi, Bill Lorfing) and our exceptional staff (Diane Dedoshka, Jeff Shaw, Alex Silva-Sadder and Darrick Servis) for a job well done. We’ll be back with programming for the Nov. general election, and local races and ballot measures.

Davis Bike Collective has donated a limited number of vouchers for KDRT listeners who donate $10 or more to Davis Media Access before June 30. The vouchers are good for an hour’s use of tools and consultation with a bike mechanic at the Collective shop.

Such a deal! Select the voucher when you donate online at kdrt.org. And many thanks to our friends at Davis Bike Collective.

In my work, I am often the encourager and cajoler in the mix: please show up, participate, make your voice heard, support this work, contribute. I thank you all for taking the time to read and respond to so much of what I write. I’m about to do just a tad more wheedling, but not before sharing some good news.

I am very pleased to announce that Davis Media Access (DMA) has successfully wrapped its fundraising campaign Celebrating 25 Years of Community Media in Davis. Our must-meet goal was $20k in support of our programs and services, and as of today, we have reached: $24,100. That money keeps KDRT on the air for another year, and also helps offset some of the cost of producing intensive local election coverage and supporting youth media projects (yes, we do an astonishing amount with relatively little money).

Each year DMA conducts an annual appeal campaign to raise funds for our hallmark programs & services. We've been raising money all month, and we are getting close to our goal, but still have about $2,000 to raise by June 1. If you have not made a donation yet, we need your help!

Here’s 10 GREAT reasons to support DMA’s community-building work:

• PSA Day for local non-profits
• Extensive voter education programming for June 3 election, including community partnerships recording forums and debates
• Support for youth efforts, from local television & radio series, to recording youth projects such as Mariachi Puente
• 120 hours of locally produced radio programming every week, via KDRT 95.7 FM
• Coverage of community forums on topics ranging from water to racism. Aired on DCTV and archived at dctv.davismedia.org
• Partnerships and support for Davis Music Festival, Davis Live Music Collective, Davis Parent University, Davis Odd Fellows, Saving CA Communities, DSOMA, and many more community & school groups
• Archive & replays of weekly Davis Joint Unified School District board meetings
• Commemorative recordings of all 5 local high-school graduations
• Kids’ media production and animation camps
• Hands-on skills building in digital & broadcast media, available to all in our community

Chances are good that you’ve played a role in DMA’s growth. If you’ve appeared on a program, watched or listened to something locally created, had an event covered or promoted, attended a workshop, or had a family member benefit from our training or internships, then you’ve been part of community media in Davis.

Community media works with community support - we thank you for yours! To find out more or to contribute, please visit kdrt.org or davismedia.org, or bring a check by to 1623 Fifth Street in Davis.

To see a list of our donors to date, please click here.


Yours in community,

Autumn Labbe-Renault

Executive Director