First, congratulations to the winners of the Second Annual KZSM San Marcos Music Awards. I don’t yet know who they are as I write this but watch this space in the coming weeks for more about the winners and a review of the nomination process.
From time to time, our radio show hosts have shared their personal journeys in this column, so maybe it’s time to share mine. Towards the end of my 27 years teaching in the English Department at Texas State, I found myself fantasizing about being part of a community radio station. Maybe the thought was born when I read a poem on a colleague’s KTSW show, and the microphone looked like an old friend. Then, after the Halloween flood of 1998, I was inspired by a story in this newspaper describing how KIND, an unlicensed low-frequency station, had fielded frantic phone calls and broadcast continual reports to warn people and direct them to safety. Voices from a flooded garage saved lives that night, and I began thinking about using my own voice to serve the community that I had come to love.
In 2018, my third year of retirement, I heard that a community radio station, KZSM, had begun broadcasting in San Marcos. Resolved to follow up on my fantasy, I emailed the Station Manager and offered to host a book show. Almost four hundred shows, four hundred books and four hundred lively conversations later, I’ve met famous and aspiring authors, discovered Texas history and much more as well as learning to operate a mixer board. And I’m still reading, talking, listening and learning!
My dedication to community radio soon took me beyond my weekly show. I recorded Public Service Announcements, edited our few syndicated shows for broadcast and eventually began serving on the board of the San Marcos Texas Community Radio Association, the parent corporation of KZSM. In 2021 and 2022, I served as president, working towards our goal of broadcasting over the airwaves as well as on the internet. We finally met that goal late in 2023, as 104.1 FM. Along with the city’s broadcast license, we took over the responsibility of providing information in emergencies.
For almost eight years now, I’ve been living out my retirement fantasy, grateful that I didn’t have to retire my voice along with my grading pencil, but instead could use it to serve the community I love.
