[grc] GRC 2015 - Days of Sunshine

Wed Sep 30 18:50:00 PDT 2015

Donna did a fantastic job with this year's GRC especially being under the pressure..  she definitely deserves a rest..  

I've got some great memories of the GRC and meeting folks this year, especially those who I have never met before.  

Plus, it was good seeing Pete and Paul again.  (Where was Mary??  j/k) 

I never thought I was going to be banging a drum in a drum circle in Woodstock out of all places.

Got to visit WIOF-LP in Woodstock and during the entire GRC, people were saying that Randi and I must be sisters because we look a lot alike.  It turns out that her and I share an immense love for radio station ID jingles.   For awhile, we were singing old WNBC jingles from long ago.  Randi and myself along with two others went on the air live on WIOF.  We were discussing the GRC but conversation veered into other topics including everything from press freedom in Singapore, why a cable network originally funded by NASA used to air "Honey Boo Boo" as well as WIOF's dispute with WDST over the use of the moniker "Woodstock".  It was definitely a fun time.  I rarely get on the radio these days so it was even more fun for me than some may think.  Also shows I still have it in me!

While not related to the GRC, I did make a side trip to the Media Preservation Foundation.  MPF has a warehouse in Springfield, MA which contains many old master tapes of radio station ID jingles and commercial jingles from the major production houses in Dallas.  This important part of radio history was bound for the dumpster but was saved by MPF.   This is a cause that is very near and dear to me as I believe in the preservation of these little 6 second songs. 

I hope we can start putting our feelers out now for the 2016 GRC.  Hopefully by this GRC, we will know what is going on with AM revitalization which has an impact on whether we will have a translator window.  Myself, I would like to see another LPFM window in 2018 or 2019 but at the same time, full power NCE is overdue a window.    I am secretly hoping to see it at Cambridge, MD at WHCP-LP.  But that's just me... as that is my closest LPFM station.   Whatever, let's not wait until the last minute.  And if you see Donna.. GIVE HER A HUG.. SHE DESERVES IT! :) 

Again, thank you Donna.. thank you Cathryn and everyone at the Maetreum/WLPP-LP.  Eva and I are already taking a vacation next spring in the Catskills.  

WE'LL SEE YOU AT GRC 2016!!

Michelle Bradley

REC Networks

844-REC-LPFM

http://recnet.com

=m

 ---- On Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:07:33 -0400 Ursula Ruedenberg &lt;ursula at pacifica.org&gt; wrote ----

Two years ago there seemed to be a questions about whether GRC conferences 

were winding down. 

In 2014 we brought the conference back, after a hiatus, with some 

questions. Were GRC conferences still relevant &amp; necessary &amp; feasible? 

Would in-coming LPFM - builders connect with the GRC traditional? Or was 

GRC 2014 just a fond revival for old times sake? 

The first two questions were answered resoundingly in 2014: YES the LPFMers 

showed up and ignited the rest of us with energy and optimism we did not 

know was possible. YES, peer - to - peer teaching/learning/ support/fun was 

relevant as ever, a real living, breathing, nourishing CULTURE. We all made 

it so. 

The last question - was there a future and continuity? - had a longer 

trajectory. WOuld there be a GRC 2015 or were the lovely embers dying? 

Then one Al Davis found all of this fatalism unacceptable. Hearing the call 

of the construction permits and he answered by climbing out on at limb the 

Matreum of Cybele and asked Donna Dibianco and the Cybeline Priestesses to 

join him. 

Remarkably, they did, despite the audacity of a conference planned in 2 

months by a station that was only two months on the air. This is the kind 

of people we are in community radio. 

The conference was wrestled into existence; all seemed iffy...possibly a 

misstep? Perhaps more symbolic than real...perhaps no one would come except 

a few folks who feel really awkward? 

And then folks started to arrive and no one missed a beat. Frieda arrived 

early, coming from India. For me, the rubber hit the road when I saw Mike 

Murphy all the way from Kansas City loping up the walk and right behind him 

- holy moley - Dave Ashton strolls up from Denver and says to me "We can't 

have a GRC without KGNU representing, can we?" 

I think it can be said about GRC 2015: YES, they came, YES, everyone was 

wonderful as they always are, GRC totally totally rocks on, vibrant and 

relevant as ever, the irreplaceable value of continuity, tradition, and the 

community of extended time for peer-to-peer help and camaraderie. 

Community radio willcontinue to face huge challenges for many years in this 

world, this country. We need this time together. 

Thank you Al Davis and Donna DiBianco for having the guts to go out on the 

limb with your vision and trust and for doing the hard work. Thank you to 

everyone who came, you totally inspired me again. It felt NECESSARY to see 

you. 

Thank you to the new LPFM - builders - it is so wonderful to be infused by 

your energy and vision and new ideas. 

Thank you and hats off to the Matreum of Cybele for their mind-boggling 

leap of faith in hosting this conference, proving that willingness and 

hospitality, not perfect conditions, are what's needed to host a GRC 

conference. 

My favorite moments: 

Watching the movie "Pirate Radio" at night, and afterwards Randy from WIOF 

giving a jaw-dropping impromptu more-than-an-hour-long blow-by-blow account 

of what happened with the British (and also New York) off-shore rock n roll 

pirate stations. I am hoping the recording of that is good. 

After the conference, in the temple in the woods with the priestesses and 

then watching the red eclipse of the Harvest Moon. 

Every single talk I had - thank you everyone who happened to specifically 

talk to me.... 

The weather was warm, the days were golden, and then two days later it 

poured, turned cold, there is talk of a hurricane... apparently God(dess) 

loves the GRC too. 

Some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32943726@N07/with/21654989658/ 

-- 

Ursula Ruedenberg 

Pacifica Affiliate Network Manager 

510-812-7989 

&lt;http://www.facebook.com/PacificaRadioNetwork&gt; 

&lt;https://twitter.com/RadioPacifica&gt; 

pacificanetwork.org &lt;http://pacificanetwrok.org&gt; 

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