NEWS

KOWS Archives

                                                     

A handful of our volunteer programmers have made their shows available for streaming and download. You can listen to the archives of these shows by clicking on their image above.

Don’t see your favorite show listed? Contact the host at their Show Contact email (located on their Show’s page) and tell them you’d like to see their show archived!

 

A Call For Hosts

That’s right. You can become a DJ or show host on KOWS Community Radio! No experience needed, all training given, and it only takes a few hours.

Diversity encouraged, no age limits, alter-abled friendly.

Our studio is conveniently located in downtown Santa Rosa and we broadcast 24/7, with convenient parking.

Weekly, biweekly or monthly shows, either one or two hours long are available. Night-owl? Early bird? Show slots open on all days and all hours.

What would you like to do? A morning drive-time show? Under-represented music genres? Public and civic issues? Live music, poetry, storytelling? Alternative lifestyles and viewpoints?

Apply now!  Just follow these simple steps:
1.  Click on this link
2.  Print out the form
3.  Fill it out
4.  Send via email or snailmail (instructions on the form)

Join the Herd!

New Station FM Location

Move to 92.5

Move to 92.5

After an exciting and exhilarating ten years serving West Sonoma County at 107.3 on the FM dial, we moved. Our new home is 92.5 FM. The purpose of this move was to ensure that our signal was not drowned out by a mega-station that has grown such that its signal was stepping all over us at 107.3. Our new location is much quieter, allowing us to bring you a signal that is improved. The next goal is to find a permanent spot for our tiny 5-10w antenna that will allow our signal to be shared with as many West County locations possible. Stay tuned for more detail.

Antenna Move – Sebastopol City Application Withdrawn

Press Release
KOWS Community Radio Withdraws City Application for Antenna Move

February 22, 2017

To: Amie Windsor, amie@sonomawest.com
From: Laura Goldman, livingroomlaura@gmail.com, and 707 481-4843

KOWS Community Radio has withdrawn its application to relocate the station’s broadcast antenna to the City of Sebastopol’s Pleasant Hill Road reservoir site.

Although the project was fully approved by the City of Sebastopol, KOWS decided it is best for the economic health of our community to seek another FCC-allowable location for the station’s low-power FM antenna.

KOWS believes the City of Sebastopol was willing to fully defend the lawsuit filed in opposition to the project. However, KOWS has withdrawn its application to prevent the City from incurring the burden of expensive and non-recoverable legal defense costs.

We appreciate the continued support of the Sebastopol City Council and City Staff throughout this long process, and we remain committed to serving our entire community with quality broadcasting as the public radio Voice of West Sonoma County.

5th District Candidate Discussion

On Friday, October 21, Living Room Laura and Arnoldo hosted a discussion with 5th District Supervisor candidates Lynda Hopkins and Noreen Evans. The two hour discussion took place in an intimate setting with a small crowd of observers at the KOWS studio.  It’s was recorded for your pleasure and can be found here:

Antenna NIER Report

KOWS has commissioned to the completion of a “Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Radiation” (NIER) report for our proposed antenna site in Sebastopol.

You can view this report by clicking here:
http://www.kows.fm/NIER.pdf

Broadcast Schedule During Move

With our studio move beginning in the late evening of Tuesday, November 24th and concluding in the wee hours of Wednesday, November 25th, KOWS will be off the air while the equipment is shutdown, moved, and restarted in the new facility in Sebastopol. This means that our schedule is going to be slowly ramped back up. Here’s what to expect:

Tuesday, November 24th 10pm thru Wednesday morning
KOWS will be off-air.

Wednesday, November 25th thru the morning of Friday, November 27th
KOWS will be in ‘automation’ mode. Loop and syndicated shows will air. No live broadcasts.

Friday, November 27th
Welcome to KOWS broadcasting from Sebastopol!

 

Studio Relocation Finalized

by Arnold Levine

(Also…check out this week’s North Bay Bohemian article! Click here)
With the commercial rental market so tight in West County, KOWS’ search for a new studio space by December 1st was looking bleak to dire. But the KOWS community came through! One of our herd members, Richard Ruge, took the challenge and found our future home. With the Steering Committee’s authority given them by the Herd we are signing a lease with the Methodist Church at 500 N. Main Street, Sebastopol, opposite Safeway on Highway 116.

The church has some classrooms that they no longer use and we will be able to rent one as our studio with an option to take an additional room if needed should we want to expand at a later date.  The space provides a unique opportunity for KOWS to best serve our expanding West County audience as it is central to Sebastopol. There is plenty of off-street parking (except during their Sunday morning service), with two ADA (Americans with Disabilities) parking spaces, ADA bathrooms, and lighting along the entryway. We will also have our KOWS sign prominently displayed on Highway 116.

Historical note: The Methodist church property is the longest deeded, continuously-owned property since Sebastopol’s incorporation in 1902.

The real work will begin once the lease is signed. The classroom needs fixing up for our purposes especially the main console and partition. Some minor electrical work needs to be done to provide reliable supply for our vital equipment. We’ll also need some minor sound-proofing which will include carpeting.

With all of our brawn, brains and fundraising skills pitching in, we can make our move smooth and rise to a much higher profile in the West County community, hopefully just a few months ahead of our antenna relocation.

Once our Sebastopol move has worked out, we also have an opportunity in Occidental to establish a second smaller (satellite) studio at the YMCA Community Center. There is still a lot of detail to work out and we’re going to be reaching out to our Occidental and River community to help at making this a reality. Robert Feuer has offered to help set up a subcommittee to move this forward.

Antenna Relocation Matching Funds Grant

Radio Tower

There is very good news to report. KOWS has been awarded $5,000 from The Fessenden Fund ( a charitable group in San Diego) for antenna relocation. In addition, they have also offered to fund an additional $5,000 if we can come up with another $5,000 in matching funds ourselves. Needless to say, this will bring us much closer to our hopes of getting the new equipment and other needs for relocation. Suffice it to say, this money can only be used for Antenna Relocation drive, not for general use.

To that end, we will be asking all of you to help raise the additional $5,000 by stepping up and help out by going the extra mile. We’ll be announcing our plans and ideas on how to get this done at our next KOWS General Meeting (scheduled for Monday, September 21). Mark your calendars now and come to the meeting. We have a goal of 100 percent participation from all KOWS Volunteers. If you value your program and the sustainability of KOWS then participation and commitment is essential. There are a lot of moving parts to this and it is very complicated. However, with these grants and your hard efforts raising money through events, dues,grants, underwriters and possible other avenues we can get there ( plus pay our monthly bills ).

The consensus from a previous General Meeting was to move our antenna closer to Sebastopol and expand our audience dramatically. Our Antenna Relocation Committee is working very hard right now to coordinate the proper new location and arrange the necessary details. I know we have been talking about this for a long time and you may be getting weary because it hasn’t happened yet. We are committed to a clear cut solution and action on this within two months from now. We will have a definite site and proposal within 60 days. A couple or properties have already been identified and final research is being done to select the final new home for our antenna. The specific new location will determine the cost of what we will need because each property will offer separate challenges including the actual costs. We simply don’t know just yet. But we will soon. Hang in there please for this final push.