Sisters radio has new burst of energy

Sisters' very own community radio station, KZSO 94.9 LPFM, has gone through several stages of life - and near-death - since its first broadcast from Sisters High School back in August of 2005.

The station is now coming back strong with a new location in the Sisters Art Works building, a committed steering committee, and a focused mission of providing quality community radio service in Sisters Country.

KZSO's origins in Sisters stem from Mike and Jan Gould's vision in 2000. They believed the community could benefit from a community radio station.

"We got involved because of the belief that community radio would be a great asset for our community, and I had a narrow area of expertise that could facilitate the process," said Mike.

Low-power FM (LPFM) radio service was opened up by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in January of 2000. Stations around the country applied for and were authorized for "noncommercial educational broadcasting" only; meaning no traditional commercials like those heard on commercial radio stations.

The FCC authorizes low-power stations to operate with an effective radiated power of 100 watts or less. KZSO's listening radius generally reaches Black Butte, Indian Ford Meadow down to Camp Polk, and north/south past Dry Canyon and Gist Road. Clearer days extend the station's reach.

Back in February of 2000, the Goulds initiated the process of obtaining an LPFM license on behalf of the Sisters School District. With the support of former Superintendent Steve Swisher and large donations from The Roundhouse Foundation, Horizon Broadcasting in Bend (Keith Shipman) and Cannon Beach Radio, an application was filed with the FCC in June of 2001.

Recalling her reasons for supporting a low-power station, Kathy Deggendorfer of The Roundhouse Foundation said, "Community radio serves a lot of purposes. I think, at the outset, I was most concerned with the lack of immediate local news and information during fire season."

The FCC granted the school district's application in February of 2004 and KZSO signed on in August of 2005.

After "going live," the station was primarily student-oriented, playing a mix of country and classic rock music with an occasional live remote high school sports event. The station proved to be a valuable community resource during the August 2006 Black Crater Fire when Erin Borla reported daily, on the scene, with fire updates and interviews with the crews fighting the raging blaze.

In an effort to realize the original community vision of KZSO, in 2008 this correspondent, along with Katie and Jim Williams and Nick Newport, pumped new life into the station by introducing a mix of programming. Jazz shows, an interview-style talk show, and live remotes of Sisters events were broadcast.

However, this momentum could not be sustained and the station fell back to an internal student-run operation offering a mix of programmed music and student newscasts during the school year.

Jim Golden, superintendent of the Sisters School District, remembers those days.

"The district had an asset which was vastly underutilized. Originally when Bob Macauley (former principal at Sisters High) and the district bought the equipment and license, the idea was that the station would be a community asset that was self-sustaining."

Fast-forward to 2012, when the station was notified that their broadcasting license was about to be terminated because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned-off the broadcasting rights for the 106.5 FM signal to a new commercial station to be built in Terrebonne. The auction price was reportedly $60,000.

Superintendent Jim Golden had a dilemma on his hands. Saving the station would not be an easy task. The Sisters School District continued to struggle with budget cuts, and the radio program had not attracted as many students or community volunteers as in past years.

The school district had to decide if the initial investment in radio equipment, the studio space at the high school, current student interest in the program, and the district's need to trim the overall budget still made sense.

And to top it off, if the school district decided to save the station it would have to file an application with the FCC for a new frequency. And to do that correctly a contract with a consulting broadcast engineer would be necessary to ensure the application was researched and filed correctly.

"I recommend that KZSO 106.5 LPFM start right away to find an alternate frequency, and file an application as soon as possible for the change. KZSO-LP may want to hire a broadcasting consulting engineer to help with the search and the preparation of the application," wrote Dale Bickel of the FCC.

One day at a Rotary Club luncheon, Golden fortuitously met Michael Richards, a semi-retired aerospace industry engineer living in Sisters, who was interested in using his skills to help the community.

"I met Jim at a Rotary lunch and he asked me if I'd be interested in helping him revive KZSO's radio project as a non-profit Sisters radio station. I spent most of my career in technology and found that I had bits and pieces of that lifetime that I could directly apply to a community-centric project like public-access radio, so I decided to jump in," said Richards.

And a little encouragement from the station's original founders and Richards' neighbors, Mike and Jan Gould, didn't hurt.

"They said "go do it, buddy - they can use your help.'"

Richards began networking and soon had Jack McGowan, Jim Upshaw, and Brad Tisdel on board to help with the station's rebirth. All four Sisters residents knew the value of Sisters having a community radio station and, fortunately, all four had an area of expertise related to radio, engineering, and music.

Jim Golden began to see a glimmer of hope.

"I was thrilled that we were able to get some volunteer help from these folks to help us revive this important community resource," he said.

Richards also assembled a steering committee to help plan and monitor the station's future as a community asset.

The committee now includes Jim Golden (chair), Jack McGowan (Sisters Folk Festival), Brad Tisdel (Sisters Folk Festival Americana Project), Scott Shelton (sheriff's office), Jim Upshaw (former NBC journalist, recently retiring from staff at University of Oregon School of Journalism), Andrew Gorayeb (city manager), Jim Cornelius (The Nugget Newspaper), Kathy Deggendorfer (The Roundhouse Foundation, Sisters Art Works), Larry Nelson (Black Butte Ranch consultant), and Richards (general manager).

One of the first tasks was to define the mission of KZSO. The mission statement now reads "Honest Community Radio by and for Those Living, Working and Playing in Central Oregon."

It quickly became apparent that additional expertise was going to be required to provide day-to-day operational and programming help. Rick Olson, owner of Cascade Chips and a Bend-based broadcast engineer, joined the team as program coordinator and Nick Newport, who had been involved with the station from its birth, joined as a technical assistant.

And then there was the FCC issue. Without applying for a new frequency there would soon be no station.

"Bob McClanathan, a Sisters/Portland resident and long-time communications engineer, volunteered to help us with the FCC by providing the required analysis. With Bob's support we flew through the FCC process. We were granted a new low-power frequency, 94.9 FM," said Richards.

The existing equipment at the high school studio was outdated and, in many cases, broken. And having the station based at the high school was not conducive to community access 365 days a year.

Enter Kathy Deggendorfer, owner of the Sisters Art Works building on West Adams Avenue and one of the original backers of the station.

"Access to the radio station when it was hosted at the school was a real issue for community members who wanted to support local radio programming. Hopefully locating the station at Sisters Art Works will make that a non-issue," said Deggendorfer.

In 2013 the station moved into SAW, new equipment was purchased to replace outdated or broken equipment, and broadcasting resumed. The station was renamed "Sisters Oregon Community Radio."

Moving into 2014 the station now feels that it has a reliable platform and is ready to provide the community with programming that is educational, entertaining, and will inspire residents of all ages to get involved.

"Our programming recently has been focused on top-40 music - primarily to permit us time to burn-in the system and ensure we have a solid, reliable, commercial-quality product. We've already prototyped and broadcast several event-driven programs to determine our technical and personal capacities. It's "all systems go' at this point," said Richards.

The station will soon be surveying the community for additional programming ideas. Underwriting and sponsorship opportunities will also be available to local businesses and organizations.

Current plans include broadcasts aimed at a wide variety of interests.

"Our approach is to evolve around programming typically associated with quality community-support media - music/entertainment, novelty features, local events, direct school support, athletics, local features, and health, safety and perhaps most importantly during fire season - emergency information," said Richards.

For more information about KZSO 94.9 FM Sisters Oregon Community Radio contact Michael Richards, general manager, 510-301-1351, or [email protected]