Excitement is building for vaccine availability and the prospect of life beginning to return to normal. I’m starting to field many questions about when Davis Media Access will “reopen,” and would like to take this opportunity to address a number of them in one place. Some things to know:
A celebration of Bob Dunning's unprecedented career at The Davis Enterprise on Friday April 9 at 4pm. The presentation includes his early years in Davis, covering community and UC Davis sports, writing a widely-read newspaper column, supporting community activities and raising a family. Special appearances by friends, elected officials and community members. Hosted by Bob Bowen, set a reminder and watch the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8JQBnfTOAc
As the name implies, Davis Media Access (DMA) is a community media center, but it’s generally classified under the larger umbrella of arts and culture organizations. This is one of those things that has bearing as we apply for grants, but it also plays out in our day-to-day work, as we teach both media technology and media arts.
One of the hats I wear in our community is as chair of Arts Alliance Davis. We're a coalition of arts-minded folks from all around Yolo County: we're artists, we staff diverse arts organizations, and we promote arts opportunities. In normal times, we meet approximately six times per year to network and strengthen the arts in Davis and beyond. I love this role, as I’ve learned much about many hidden gems (people and places) across Yolo County.
It’s been an excruciatingly hard year for many of our participating organizations and artists. As Julie Baker of CA Arts Advocates recently noted on Facebook, “From the CA $227 billion budget, CA is in good shape financially with a $15 billion projected surplus. Preliminary read for creative industries, looks like state arts agency stays around the same with $25 million for Cultural Institutions in grants in the next round of $575 million for small businesses.
“It is a start but considering the devastation to the creative industries as compared to our economic impact pre-COVID (larger than that of both construction and transportation) it is simply not enough,” Baker said.
This month marks 23 years that I’ve written this column in The Davis Enterprise, which has allowed me and many others to write about nonprofits, businesses, lifestyle, arts, climate, culture, and more, for decades.
The City of Davis will honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a virtual celebration including highlights of speakers and entertainment from past years recorded and archived by Davis Media Access. It also contains current messages from local youth, as well as an introduction from Mayor Gloria Partida. It first airs at 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, via the City of Davis website at www.cityofdavis.org where it will be available through the end of the month.
Tuesday, December 22, we rebuilt our computer automation system. And, due to the pandemic, we are currently limiting studio access. Which meant we turned off our transmitter while we did the work. If you heard intermittant periods of no broadcast, that was why- things are back to normal at this time!
Please consider a year end donation to your locally owned, locally operated, all volunteer programmed, low power radio station- go to https://kdrt.org/donate - any donation goes to keep the station on the air!
A beloved local tradition - the "Home for the Holidays" concert - continues this year streaming online. The event will be simulcast Thursday December 17 at 7 PM on KDRT 95.7 FM and DCTV Channel 15, and will be available for video and audio streaming at kdrt.org ( a link will be provided there the day of the show). Concert producer Bill Fairfield has brought together many returning favorite local musicians, as well as adding some new special guests to this year's video program.
During this time of COVID-19, DMA is proud to say we grew community during a time of separation. This is work we share with you, and we want you to know your support matters. Donations—whether by individuals, events, local businesses, or donor-advised foundations—keep KDRT on the air, and help support DMA's work on local elections and youth media services. This list includes donors from July 1, 2020 to now. We thank you!
$1,000 & Above
Craig & Darien Blomberg
Jessica Kelly Includes a volunteer match by Cisco
Alison Kent & Allan Hollander Via Car Donation
Richard Krogsrud and Rebecca Ryland Via Car Donation
Anthony Roy Via Car Donation
Sunny Shine
$500-$999
Clyde Bowman
Shelley Bronzan In Honor of Matthew Bronzan (includes car donation)
Nancy Flagg
Marie Graham In Honor of "Praise Time with Preacher"
Don and Julie Saylor
Sharmila Shinde Via a Car Donation
Davis Media Access (DMA) produced a live, election-night program on Nov. 3, 2020, highlighting local races and local ballot measures. The show aired live, and streamed on KDRT and YouTube. Providing free, non-partisan local election coverage to local candidates has been part of our mission for more than 30 years.
Earlier in the season, DMA produced “Meet the Candidates,” a series of short interviews highlighting candidates for races from school board through Congress, as well as local ballot measures—in all, 26 interviews. The media center has also aired forums from the League of Women Voters Davis Area and the Yolo Committee for Diverse and Inclusive Elections. All content is available at https://davismedia.org/election.
Co-hosts are for the evening were DMA's Executive Director Autumn Labbe-Renault, with Davis City Councilmember Dan Carson from 8-9; Davis City Councilmember and former mayor Brett Lee from 9-10, and Davis Mayor Gloria Partida from 10-11.
Free Speech Week has been celebrated in the U.S. since 2005. To kick off this special week, we're joining with non-commercial media centers across the country for Community Media Day on October 20th, and will debut a short video highlighting our wide array of grassroots activities and local projects. Throughout the week, we will continue to post special videos and photos on our social media pages - Davis Media FB and KDRT FB .
