New radio station brings more jazz, blues to town
A labor of love will bring more exposure to jazz and blues for some Juneau residents when KBJZ-FM, 94.1, goes on the air at midnight tonight.
The station will be operated by Gastineau Broadcasting, a nonprofit organization incorporated in May 2000. It is one of 255 stations granted licenses by the Federal Communications Commission in December 2000 under a program aimed at creating more diversity in local radio programming.
"A group of us about three years ago decided we'd like to see another radio station in Juneau," said Tom Willis, president and CEO of Gastineau Broadcasting. "Something a little different ... More of a community-based station."
Willis, Steve Tada, Dan Dawson and Greg Morgan combined their experience, enthusiasm and dollars to start the station, which was the brainchild of the late Dave Reimer. The group has raised nearly $50,000 in individual and business donations to get the station on the air, and estimates an additional $60,000 to $70,000 will be needed annually to keep the station running.
"The station will have no full-time employees - we're strictly volunteer-based," said Willis, who has 20 years of experience in public broadcasting and works for the state in information technology.
Steve Tada, vice-president of the board of directors for Gastineau Broadcasting, said the station does not currently plan to hold fund drives.
"Right now we're just focusing on some very basic business underwriting," he said. "We're a very small, compact station, so we operate on very little money."
KTOO, Juneau's longtime public radio station, also relies on business underwriting and individual donations. Bill Legere, general manager of KTOO, said he does not believe KBJZ will interfere with KTOO's fund-raising efforts.
"I think Juneau is big enough and generous enough to support two radio stations," Legere said. "Any new station is welcome, because it doesn't put KTOO in the role of being everything to everybody."
KTOO, which broadcasts at 104.3 downtown and 103.4 in the Mendenhall Valley, includes jazz and blues in its format, but does not plan on changing its programming with the emergence of KBJZ.
Several nationwide broadcasters, including NPR, expressed concern about radio wave interference when the FCC began offering the low-power licenses. KTOO, which runs on 1,400 watts as opposed to KBJZ's 100, is not concerned about frequency interference.
"We looked pretty carefully at the technical aspects of this and we don't foresee complications," Legere said.
KBJZ will broadcast from its 6th Street studio. While not all Juneau residents, especially those in the Mendenhall Valley, will be able to pick up the station, Tada said test broadcasts have been heard on Sandy Beach, Thane Road, North Douglas to False Outer Point, and at the University of Alaska Southeast and parts of Back Loop Road.
"The geography of Juneau really works to our advantage," said Tada. "Because we're just going north and south and not east and west, our 100 watts will take us pretty far."
The station will air its jazz and blues format, which will include big band, soul, hip-hop and acid jazz, a new genre, 24 hours a day.
"We'll play slower music around dinner time, and we'll pick up the tempo during the day," Willis said. "There will be a big band show on weekend mornings, and the acid jazz will probably be late at night."
Most of the music has been donated by Gastineau Broadcasting's board members and other community members. The station also will subscribe to several music services, which will allow them to play music it doesn't have on discs.
"We'd like to have news, but whether or not we do depends on the amount of community support we receive," Willis said.
Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.