Nashville radio comes to Sisters

David Allen and Leslie Satcher are in love with Sisters and its school system. In response to their affair with the community, they are volunteering to help the schools, which is not an unusual act. What makes their contribution exceptional is that they live in Nashville, Tennessee and pay their own way to come here to help in the school system.

Not only have they come personally to help, they have enlisted friends and brought with them volunteers from Washington, D.C. to join in helping the schools in Sisters.

Allen said in his soft east Texas drawl, "Last time we came here, we brought some friends, Joe Lessen and his wife Ramona, from Washington, D.C."

Allen and Satcher came to Sisters initially to play in the Starry Night Concert Series and visited the schools. Allen explained that they had brought their friends along on a return trip, thinking that they would enjoy the break from the pace of life in Washington.

Allen reported that once he had them captive in Oregon, "I introduced Joe to Mr. (Jon) Renner (who teaches social studies), and Mr. Renner said that if you wouldn't mind speaking to our class about government and the workings of government, we would love to have you" (see related story, page 17).

Lessen was hooked and called Allen a few a weeks ago to tell him that he was returning to Sisters and suggested that Allen could come at the same time to work with the radio and Satcher with the Americana class.

"So that is exactly what we did," Allen said. "We cleared a couple of things off our calendar and bought a couple of plane tickets, and here we are."

Allen and Satcher are a part of the Nashville music scene, but Allen is also an actor and has had a career in radio.

"My radio experience began in 1988 down in Texas," he said. "I was in radio for 12 years there, and that is where I gained all my experience in the radio business."

Allen is willing to share his expertise.

"I realized that (the high school) had a radio station that had been donated to them and that was set up. The gear was there, but no one knew how to operate it. There was nobody who knew how to run a radio station."

Stephen Hodges, the high school's radio communications teacher explained, "He (Allen) has a wealth of experience in communications, engineering and radio programming." Hodges paraphrased how Allen is helping and said, "We are currently trying to change the programming so there is more consistency there."

"The last time I was here," Allen said, "I looked at it (the radio equipment) to see what they had and what they needed. I said I would be happy to help with it. I realized that what they needed was not someone to come in and spend a couple of hours with them or a couple of days. What they needed was someone to come in and spend a full week, sitting down from the beginning and trying to go on through to create a product - the product that a radio station should be."

And so Allen is back in Sisters helping the school do just that.

Allen said that he and his wife both feel that the schools in Sisters are worth whatever time they invest.

"We felt that what the Sisters schools have here is an incredible example of what schools ought to be," he said. "And they're doing it on their own! I mean they are not getting any help really from the outside. They are standing on their own two feet.

"So for us to be able to help in any way we can, we feel like this is a great thing to be able to do. We have just fallen in love with the community and fallen in love with the kids, and some of the parents have become friends of ours. So we are excited to be able to come out and do that."

Hodges is enthusiastic about what Allen is bringing to Sisters High School's radio station.

He said, "His (Allen's) niche is really to help us with programming and to get us to a more professional level. We need to gain a target audience. Right now there is a mix, and you never know what you might hear when you listen in. We are trying to upgrade so we sound more like a commercial radio station."

The station broadcasts on 106.5 FM.