Commentary: “¿Qué tal?” [What's up?] That casual greeting inspired the official call-letters “KTAL” for our Las Cruces community radio station.
Despite limited funds, KTAL-LP is a pretty neat radio station – due solely to volunteers. July 2019 marked two full years on the air. Before that, a small but dedicated group worked more than two years to get the station on the air.
Las Cruces needed a community radio station, even though KRWG is an excellent public radio station of which I’m a member. I love the classical and jazz music and the NPR national news, and KRWG's dedication to covering local news despite limited budget, staff and available air time.
KTAL plays an important role supplementing public and commercial radio. As newspapers shrink and local commercial stations abandon local talk, KTAL helps this community talk to itself. That’ll be even more true in the future, as newspapers disappear and right-wing national corporations buy up local radio stations.
Kari Bachman’s Thursday morning show, “Just Community,” is a great example of what only community radio can do. She interviews folks who have little say in our local politics: low-income folks, folks without homes, former convicts, people with disabilities, and other interesting fellow citizens. Her guests, often invisible to our leaders, have voices – and some have much to say.
Wednesday mornings, Walt Rubel and I talk with mostly local guests about politics, climate-change, books, films, water, education, Alzheimer’s, ideas, international problems, economics, the arts, life-coaching, and alternative therapies. We try to arrange for folks who disagree to talk face-to-face on air. Walt’s new “Eye on Government” show (Friday mornings) covers local news and government in detail. Tuesday mornings, Nan Rubin discusses our outer space and Las Cruces, then Ambassador Delano Lewis talks with noteworthy national figures such as Madeleine Albright. Monday mornings Randy Harris and Keith Whelply also host thought-provoking conversations about how we think; Fridays at 10, Lisa Lucca talks with callers about living the lives they want to live; and every other Friday at 12:30, Lynn Moorer interviews local authors.
KTAL has local music/variety shows too numerous to name here. They’re diverse and well-done – and wonderfully home-grown.
KTAL has achieved all this on an absurdly small budget, without even a paid manager or sponsorship/underwriting salesperson. Volunteers host, produce, and archive all the shows – and download and organize the shows the station acquires from other sources.
Shows air on 101.5 FM, can be streamed at www.lccommunityradio.org/ and are stored on the Archives page on that same website. Check it out – and while there, please consider donating and/or becoming a member. At that website folks can also review the on-air schedule, volunteer, and propose shows – and buy tickets for the Roadrunner Revue.
The Roadrunner Revue, Sunday, 17 November, 5-9 p.m., at the Rio Grande Theater, will be a fundraiser, AND just plain fun. Musical artists performing will including KTAL's own Doug Adamz and Teresa Tudury, plus C.W. Ayon, and Gene Keller. We're fortunate that Doug, who grew up in El Paso, recently returned to Las Cruces with his wife, and lured Teresa here too. Their performances are a treat. Let's celebrate what KTAL has accomplished.
As we watch what's happening around the nation (and globe), we need more of us, community coming together, to make good. We need the Mesilla Valley Co+Op and KTAL, because they are OURS. Join in the fun November 17th and support our future.