Seattle really sends you for a spin sometimes. KMIH (X104) FM recently cancelled the early drive time program "Marraire's In the Morning."
One source tells us of a plot led by a well-known newspaper and radio station owner who phoned in a complaint to the Bellevue school district superintendent about a comment made about the police on the air. Another source told us that the general manager of the station pulled the plug based upon "numerous complaints," which the station has yet to produce.
Seattle now has one less black hip-hop radio show. Sigh.
However, there is one newly emerging glimmer of light: the internet radio program "Frequency Latte" on www.oseao.com. A show started by a New York native named Lurn.
Different from most talk shows, Lurn takes the time to research what he speaks on. He plays almost all local music and has a local music collection that would make most think he was from Seattle.
In addition to the show, Lurn hosts several local events. For example, the all-ages local showcase at On The House (1205 E. Pike St.) during the Capitol Hill Block Party, which featured a broad spectrum of local talent such as H-BOMB, Silent Lambs Project, Hailstorm, J.U.I., Mind Movers, dRED.i, and A-Sun. If you have a clue of who's who in the 2006 Seattle hip-hop scene, you know that show was off tha chain!
Off the airwaves?
Comcast, the biggest cable provider in the United States with 26.1 million subscribers (170,000 of them in Seattle), no longer wants to provide and pay for public access programming. The city council seems indifferent to the free speech, civil rights, and ethnic and religious diversity implications of this stance. Comcast's current 10-year public access agreement expires in January 2006.
Many of the shows we all watch started on public access. In Seattle, we have five shows (that we know of) that focus on hip-hop locally and nationally: "Music Inner City," "Coolout TV," "Hip-Hop 101," "Roc TV," and "The Ghetto Sports Report."
This is in addition to all the political shows that take on tough issues that the mainstream media won't take on, the religious programs representing all faiths, the foreign language programs (it doesn't get more "diverse" than that), and the "mature" entertainment for the grown folks.
Any one of these shows has the potential for national syndication (many already appear on other public access networks) depending on how the producers handle their business and how they handle this current business of securing SCAN-TV for use by (and for) the public.
Public access TV is a grassroots alternative to Fox News, CNN, BET, and MTV: even NPR and PBS. It's also a potentially powerful tool for helping to create an environment for actually solving problems in the community; if we really want it, are willing to work for it, and willing to come together to really use it in the public interest.
Maybe that's why Comcast (and the city?) wants to see it die.We wonder what Comcast's subscriber base has to say about all of this.
If you're a Comcast customer, feel free to write us at editor@sdistrictjournal.com or the brick-and-mortar address below.
To go an important step further and make Comcast hear your voice, click on www.scantv.org/phpformmail/Petition.htm and sign the online petition. Then go let the city council and mayor know how you feel sending them a letter at www.scantv.org/CityOfSeattleContacts.htm.[[In-content Ad]]
