Community-run radio station provides diverse listening experience

STORY BY EMILY STAFFORD | PHOTOS BY JAKE PARRISH

The crunching sounds of metallic guitar chords make their way down Flora Street, emitting from the depths of Make.Shift Art Space, an all-ages Bellingham music venue. Upon entering Make.Shift, the jarring music can be traced down to the basement, where a hodgepodge crowd of Bellingham residents is rocking out to local band Minor Plains. The audience is comprised of all walks of life, from a 7-year-old boy clinging happily to his punk-rock clad mother to an elderly woman head-banging in front of the loudest speaker. They have gathered here tonight for a benefit show hosted by local radio station 94.9 KVWV — FM.

KVWV is a low-power FM radio station established in 2013 that operates out of a studio on the first floor of Make.Shift. Upon walking into the studio, visitors will find an enormous poster on the main wall containing all the names of bands and radio personalities that people have requested over the years. An extensive music library lines the walls, as well as an old couch next to the radio microphones and headsets.

“The idea of this whole station is that we will be able to play essentially whatever we want, and also represent the underrepresented voices in the community,” says Make.Shift tenant and KVWV staff member Chris Headland.

Headland, 23, graduated from Western in fall 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in film studies. One of his biggest regrets of his college experience was not being involved in Western’s radio station, KUGS 89.3 FM, Headland says. While KUGS is obligated to represent Western’s agenda in terms of public announcements and music selection, Headland saw KVWV as the perfect opportunity to do things his own way.

The radio station is 100 watts, meaning it is listenable within a five- to seven-mile radius — making it a Bellingham-exclusive station. The funds received from benefit shows and events hosted by KVWV will go towards building a radio FM transmitter. The station’s current goal is to be on the FM radio dial by 2016. KVWV currently streams online 24/7.

As long as KVWV streams exclusively online, the station does not need to abide by Federal Communications Commission guidelines. This makes it possible for listeners to hear a swearword or two along with an endless flow of diverse radio content.

While KVWV is committed to giving more than half its airtime to local bands, other specialized music and talk shows are available for listening, from the soothing sounds of Celtic music to the provocative, unabashed representatives of the LGBTQ community. The talk shows performed on KVWV discuss a range of hot and controversial topics, and also feature different community members, Headland says.

“KVWV is a platform for the community to strengthen itself,” Headland says. “It gives voices to people who don’t typically get heard.”

Low-power FM (LPFM) radio stations are small, non-commercial stations run by nonprofit organizations such as schools, community groups and churches, according to the Common Frequency (CF) website. CF is a radio advocacy group dedicated to launching new community and college radio stations by providing free and low-cost aid to these grassroots stations. With the help of CF, Make.Shift applied for the KVWV license in 2013. This may have been the last application window ever for LPFM stations, since the FCC has made no indication of opening another application window, according to the KVWV website.

Community radio is community power, Headland says.

Essentially anything is possible with the current state of programming at KVWV, says KVWV staff member Natalie Moore. Different stations give voice to different people in Bellingham, and KVWV provides a listening experience suitable for all ages, Moore says.

Moore, 20, is a junior at Western who plans on studying physics. She has her own radio show on KUGS, and helps Headland coordinate KVWV benefit shows. Being involved in local radio allows her to experience a greater connection to Bellingham as a community and gives her a purpose outside of campus life, Moore says.

“I hope that I’ll still be [involved in KVWV] for as long as I’ll be living in Bellingham, because I know it’s going to grow a lot in the next few years,” Moore says.

KVWV staff members and volunteers will now be present at the Bellingham Farmers Market every Saturday so visitors can chat, record sound bites for radio and make donations, Moore says.

So far, KVWV is well on its way to raising its $30,000 goal. As of April 25, KVWV raised $25,500 courtesy of community contributions as well as private donors, according the KVWV website. At this rate, by early 2016, they may be able to turn their FM dial dreams into reality.