Features

Pilots of the airwaves

Local jocks keep community radio alive at WPFW

BY LISA MACKIE

There seems to be some affinity between Takoma Park and radio station WPFW, known as "The Messenger." It is probably not accidental that a number of program hosts from the station reside in the Takoma area. They all came to radio by different paths, but they share a commitment to the complementary mission of the station and spirit of the community in which they live.

In 1983, Bobby Hill was a recent college graduate who had just moved to Takoma Park from his parents' house. Confident in the skills he had learned as a DJ on his college station, WSMC, Hill approached the manager at WPFW and said he had experience and asked what he could do at the station.

"She gave me a broom and told me I could sweep the lobby," laughing as he remembers. "I like thatÑthere's no star syndrome."

Soon, he did a stint as a substitute and eventually got his own program which he has been doing for the past 20 years. You can hear The Other Side, his avant-garde jazz show, on Saturday night/Sunday morning starting at midnight.

Steve Hoffman was a host on WDCU, also known as Jazz 90, for 15 years until it was bought by C-SPAN. In 2003, he "found a new home at WPFW."

The station has a long tradition of blues programming and a good following. For the past year he has been hosting The Blues Plate Special on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m.

Joni Eisenberg had no radio experience when she proposed doing a health program about twelve years ago.

She says, "During the first Gulf War in the 1990's, when our former mayor [Sammy Abbott] had just died, I began to feel very depressed and overwhelmed by that war and the loss of Sammy. Listening to WPFW, I was very moved by the coverage of the war. The program manager was committed to peace and justice. Listening made me feel more hopeful."

War is a public health issue, she says, so it's one of the topics she discusses on her show, Heal DC, on Mondays at 11:30 a.m.

Although he comes from a journalism background, Mike Tidwell had not considered hosting a radio program until one day, after he had been a guest on Heal DC, the station manager suggested he do a regular environmental show.

"I'd be a fool to turn this down," he thought. His show, Earth Beat, which has been on the air about two months, covers local, regional, and international issues.

Each of these radio hosts volunteers his or her time to the station. As Hill says, "it fits in with the things that I care about."

WPFW started in 1977 as the fifth station in the Pacifica network. Its mission is to "contribute to a lasting understanding between individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors, and to promote the full distribution of public information," including a commitment to "Jazz, a major American art form."

Eisenberg says of the station, "we're a real community and a real family."

For her, using the station as a platform for her work as a health care advocate and her decision to live in Takoma Park are based on similar principles. Both Takoma Park and the station have a history of peace activism, epitomized by the spirit of Sammy Abbott.

"So many trends are stifling the Democratic process; stifling free speech WPFW keeps on slugging," says Tidwell, who founded the Chesapeake Climate Action Network because of his concerns about the environment and who has turned his Takoma Park home into a model of energy efficiency.

Tidwell thinks of the station as a resource akin to Rock Creek Park.

"It makes living in an urban area livable," he says.

For Hoffman, both the radio station and Takoma Park are unique resources. He thinks, "it's a shame there aren't more stations like [WPFW]," where there's space for creative and alternative programming.

Likewise, in the ten years or so that he has lived in Takoma Park, he has grown to know people on the street and appreciate the small town feel and the proximity to urban life. It's the supportive community aspect of each that is appealing.

The station has a 50,000-watt transmitter which can reach to Baltimore. Eisenberg says that with tens of thousands of people listening, "you're really getting the word out to a lot of people."

That's one of the reasons she thinks that Takoma residents should support WPFW; it can be a powerful tool for the community. "The possibility for a mutually beneficial relationship is great."