Perspectives on what makes KBOO great
It seems that there are as many answers to the question as there are listeners and web surfers. The tapestry of culture centered in Portland that propagates the world is rich and vibrant with passion, purpose and peculiarity.
We want to know what keeps you coming back for more. There's so much variety that it's hard to imaging someone not finding something interesting or down right fascinating.
Is it the music, news, public affairs or other? As we approach the dry season, we invite you to share your perspective with us. Thanks for participating!
Comments
Latin music
Why does KBOO play sooo much Latin music especially on Sunday? You only give 1 hour to the Dutch, Jewish, Persians and then 6 1/2 hours of Latin. Seems like it gets played a lot during the week too.
I called in once and the person that answered said the Latins weren't well represented in Portland and KBOO was taking up the slack. There are Latin radio stations, but I don't think there are Jewish, Indian, Russian, Italian, Greek, etc. radio stations. I think the Latin culture is more than sufficently well represented.
I do not listen to much Latin music. I like Brazilian and Cuban, but I HATE Mexican music. It sounds like lame wheezy circus music.
I do like diversity and hearing music that I've never heard before.
Thanks for listening to me snivel.
Re: Latino Music
Hi Lioness,
While I understand your frustration and consternation at what seems like so much Mexican music, KBOO is a volunteer-programmed radio station. What shows there are there are the result of someone's hard work and dedication. That there are Persian hour, Yiddish hour, Dutch hour, etc., is more a measure of someone's hard work bringing unheard music to a small community. The same applies to Mexican and other Latino programming. There is, proportionally speaking, a much larger Mexican and Latino community in Portland than Yiddish-speaking, Dutch, Persian and even Russian speaking people. While the above reasons aren't necessarily the prerequisite for getting a KBOO program, they are sometimes a factor. The biggest reason is that there is a large amount of people willing to take time out of their schedule to create radio from their culture. It's a lot of work and few have the dedication to do it. The fact that there seems to be a lot of Mexican and Latino programs on other stations isn't necessarily a factor that should mean they ought not be on KBOO either, as most of those other stations offering Latino music are commercial, the music usually very pop oriented or is sort of the equivilent to 'Country music' and very much in their relative, respective cultural mainstream.
While it may 'sound the same' to those of us who only speak English or little Spanish, a lot of the music offered by KBOO's Latino volunteers are very much out of the mainstream and are relatively unheard on the radio. There is even a few programs dedicated to Mexican Electronica and avant-garde, which I guarantee you won't find anywhere else.
And, speaking as a volunteer and NOT a KBOO staff member, I can say that if you don't enjoy the programming you hear on KBOO, come down and become a volunteer and work towards creating the show you think ought to be there. It's KBOO's unofficial motto (coined by Jello Biafra): 'Don't hate the media - become the media'. You will undoubtably find like-minded people to collaborate with and hopefully have a helluva fun time in the process.