Why KUSF?!?!?!?!

Note: This is a very long post, but read on if you like!  You have been warned!  :)

Hi everyone,

This is Noella checking in with you all!  If you've been following ISSUES on our website, facebook, or twitter, you may have noticed that we've been talking a lot over the past six months about KUSF and the fight to save the radio station.  As you may or may not know, earlier this year the station was sold behind closed doors by the University of San Francisco in a very deceptive manner with no notice to the staff, volunteers, or community that the station served.  Father Privett, President of USF, explicitly states that the station was sold because it is not the purpose of USF to serve the community, but instead its purpose is solely to serve its students.  In my opinion, this is completely counter-intuitive, as one of the main purposes of getting a college education is to learn and grow so one can eventually become an active member of a particular community and society as a whole.

There is an active campaign to stop the sale of KUSF, which still has not been approved by the FCC.  Detailed information can be found at http://savekusf.org/.  While many of you may be familiar with KUSF, there are probably a lot of you that aren't.  Because of this, I just wanted to take some time to write about why we at ISSUES, and I in particular, care so much about saving KUSF.

The story of KUSF is simple.  Founded in 1977, KUSF 90.3 FM was a college radio station that served the city of San Francisco and its surrounding communities for 34 years by providing cutting edge experimental, freeform musical programming, as well as a large variety of cultural shows that provided a voice for the unique population of the San Francisco bay area.  KUSF was also one of the first radio stations anywhere to feature punk rock programming, and gave many prominent bands their first radio airplay in a time when there was no space on the airwaves for music with any unique or obscure qualities.  KUSF also prided itself in its support of local bands and was truly a place where the music being recorded and played by the residents of our community could be heard.  

In addition to its musical and cultural programming, KUSF also provided a place for local music venues, arts groups, and community organizations to get the word out about their activities and invite the people of the community to take part in their actions and events.  KUSF had a community affairs department, which coordinated the on-air exposure of local non-profits, as well as a promotions department, which coordinated the on-air promotion of the art and cultural events of the city.  The station also had a production department that produced and recorded on air spots for these departments, a music department that actually listened to every single submission sent in, as well as several departments that kept the station's activities organized and coordinated.  And most importantly, all of this work at KUSF was done by volunteers.  Yes, volunteers--dedicated, hard working people who collectively spent thousands of hours every year keeping the station alive so it, in turn, could in some sense, keep our community alive.  And that is where my story with KUSF begins.

In the year of 2002, everything in my life changed.  I finished my general education at City College of San Francisco and started working towards my BA at Mills College.  At the same time, I stopped working for the record store company in SF that had employed me for the past 7 years, and began working at a new job in my educational field.  I also experienced the end of a relationship in the city and began to live full time at my house in Oakland.  It was a time when every single aspect of my life was different, and in all honesty, it was a very scary and uncomfortable time for me.  Even though I had tons of positive things going on, I really just felt alone and hungry for community.  And that is when I found KUSF.

I went to a couple of meetings at KUSF and immediately felt welcome.  It was a place where I felt at home and where I was given the freedom to do whatever I wanted as long as I was working in the interest of the station and its goals.  I got involved in their promotions department and started writing up forms for on-air ticket give-aways to shows, because at the time I loved going out to shows and this job was a way for me to get a heads up on things going on in the city.  At first, I would spend just a couple hours a week at the station doing my volunteer work, but soon became more involved and kept picking up more and more work.  After about a year of continuous volunteer work, the station's Promotions Director moved away and somehow I became the KUSF Promotions Director.  It was crazy & nuts.  I was going to Mills and doing studies in two wildly different departments, but was also coming to KUSF several times a week to manage the department and its slew of volunteers.  

KUSF Promo organized all of the station's on-air ticket give-aways, band promotional give-aways, on-air interviews, station events, and a select few shows every month which the station would sponsor and co-present.  These activities involved working with members from every aspect of the community, including local bands, record labels, venues, and promoters of all kinds, as well as working within the station's departments to get everything coordinated and produced.  Looking back, I really can't believe how all of this work got done.  We always had a revolving group of volunteers who came and went, but there was also always a large group of people at the station who literally busted ass to make things happen and keep the station going.

Meanwhile, I became a DJ at KUSF and was exposed to a seemingly never-ending world of amazing music from every genre imaginable.  At first I really didn't even want a show, but as I started working more at the station, they actually made me take an on-air shift so I could be a part of the music at KUSF!  It's kind of hilarious looking back now, because being an on-air DJ was really the last thing I was thinking about when I started at the station.  I just wanted something to do, somewhere to put my energy, something to be a part of.  But as I said, I was forced to take on a graveyard shift and as anyone who has done one knows, it's pretty intense and crazy to be on the air from 3-6 am once a week (especially when living in Oakland without a car!).  Again, I'm not even sure how I made it through that, but looking back, it's pretty rad to remember all those times playing music in the middle of the night alone in the studio.  It was a time of growth and self-discovery for me, where I was just there by myself (with the occasional caller), and I got to experience new and amazing things, all while waiting for the sun to rise.  

After my graveyard shifts I did a bunch of different time slots, mainly in the mornings, but eventually ended up at the 3-6 pm shift of KUSF every Thursday afternoon.  I had this shift for years and it was truly a part of my life in a very emotional way.  If I was going through a hard time, I could play sad music reflecting that.  If I was pumped and excited, I could play punk and rock and roll and really live it out.  Whether it was a sunny or dreary day, I could look out the window and play stuff that I felt resonated with the mood of the city.  And even though I tried not to think about it while on the air, I knew that there were thousands of people out there that were listening and getting a chance to connect with the mood that KUSF was putting out there, the mood that we were all in some way feeling as a result of living and breathing as a collective community.  And so, I guess I'm trying to say that KUSF was so much more than just a college radio station, playing music that people may or may not have cared about.  Really, to me, it was a place where the community could connect and thrive, dare I say, cosmically and universally.  

On an even more personal level, I can't talk about KUSF without talking about the actual people there that have influenced and changed my life in so many ways.  I met some of my best friends while volunteering at KUSF--people who have been there for me through thick and thin over the years--people that I know will be a part of my life forever.  KUSF was truly a family organization--we didn't always get along!!--but we always got things done and worked things out in the end for the betterment of the station and the community as a whole.  I will even go on record and say that everything we do here at ISSUES in the interest of the Oakland community is in some way influenced by KUSF, because that is where I learned how to be in some sense, selfless, and be a part of something bigger than just myself.  So thank you, KUSF, for all that you have done over the past 34 years to touch the lives of people like me and make us all a stronger, better community.  May you be saved, may you live on.

With endless love and respect, 

Noella M. Teele, Co-Owner, ISSUES, Oakland, CA