"Hello everyone, and welcome to Holler to the Hood, the show where friends and family call in and send messages to their loved ones incarcerated in central Appalachia. Unfortunately, we're having some technical difficulties in the studio tonight, and we're not going to be able to broadcast any of your calls."
These words will, in future generations, be remembered as the first words Cameron Zohoori ever uttered on live radio. Lovely. Apologies and disappointment.
I went in to Appalshop well ahead of time tonight, paranoid about forgetting something and wanting to leave plenty of time for preparation. Turns out this was a good thing, as I got there and discovered that the radio board in the WMMT On-air room downstairs had been broken. When this happens, they move on-air broadcasting to the upstairs studio. For most shows this is merely an inconvenience; they simply take their music, interviews, etc. upstairs and plug them in. Our show is a bit different. We can't take calls live on the air, because of the risk that we'll accidentally air obscenities from a few callers (few and far between, but something we can't risk - the FCC would be all up on me). So we play music on the air and take calls upstairs, recording them for playback during the last hour of the show. But when the on-air operation has moved upstairs, we can't take calls at all, because the equipment is broadcasting live.
So I'm sitting here for three hours, playing (really good) hip hop music, and answering the phone off the air, telling disappointed mothers, wives, husbands, fathers, children, and friends that they can't talk to their loved ones tonight. My first night, and all I am is a bearer of bad news. Ah well, this is the world of community radio, I suppose. Hopefully we'll have the equipment up and running next week. In the meantime, I'll be sitting here, reading books about being a prison guard, listening to music, and occasionally getting up to do the robot around the radio studio.
Monday, July 6, 2009
4 down, 4 to go
I can't believe I'm halfway done here. And I've only posted once. How unacceptable.
A few quick things, some pictures, and I promise more posts from here on out.
Since we last spoke, I've been quite busy here in Whitesburg:
My 'real' boss, Nick Szuberla, arrived a couple weeks ago, and Julia, my less real (?) boss, left on Friday to go to a program in California for a month or so. So things are a little different around the office. We're working on a couple really cool projects. We ordered a bunch of Flipcams which we're going to send out to Thousand Kites contacts around the country to make a sort of collective criminal justice documentary network. I'm doing a bit of video work, a bit of graphic and web design, a bit of database management, and a lot of conceptual and logistical work to figure everything out.
We're also going to do a short, guerilla-style documentary about a town nearby that's been severely impacted by coal mining and trucking in the area. Nick and I are planning an overnight trip sometime this week to shoot, edit, and distribute a video piece for a group working on the issue. I'm really excited and will be sure to update.
Since Julia's gone, starting tonight I'll be doing the weekly Holler to the Hood radio show all by my lonesome. That's right, I'm going to be on the air, spinning tunes and taking calls, with little-to-no radio experience. In all seriousness, it should be a lot of fun, though I am a little nervous. Remember to tune in, music from 7-9, calls from 9-10 (ET), WMMTfm.org.
The Cowan Creek music school didn't work out for me, but it was a lot of fun hearing Stella practicing the banjo throughout the week and performing at the end. She's actually pretty good, and is continuing to take lessons till she leaves. I'm working on getting hold of a fiddle, because I've arranged for a few lessons from a former Appalshop intern (a Wesleyan University student) who's also spending the summer here, and is an incredible fiddler.
We've gone on a few trips in the past couple weeks. We did Lexington one weekend - walking around, talking to the locals, perusing antique and thrift stores, cool coffee shop, gorgeous movie theater (but terrible movie - Easy Virtue), and fancy Indian dinner - and just yesterday went to Asheville, NC, which was a lot of fun, similar laidback walking around and eating/window-shopping itinerary. We had planned to go to Cumberland Gap, one of the few places in the world you can see a moonbow, for a camping/paddling trip, but Scattered Thunderstorms suggested Asheville as an alternative adventure, and we accepted.
We also recently climbed nearby Pine Mountain, first to a waterfall and a couple days later the full hike to the top. As with a lot of our activities around here, a few other Appalshop interns/employees came along as well.
Check out the pics, and I'll be sure to post more frequently in the weeks to come, and get some more pictures up soon. Adios!
Bad Branch Falls
Hiking to High Rock
High Rock, the highest point of Pine Mountain, the second highest mountain in the state.
A few quick things, some pictures, and I promise more posts from here on out.
Since we last spoke, I've been quite busy here in Whitesburg:
My 'real' boss, Nick Szuberla, arrived a couple weeks ago, and Julia, my less real (?) boss, left on Friday to go to a program in California for a month or so. So things are a little different around the office. We're working on a couple really cool projects. We ordered a bunch of Flipcams which we're going to send out to Thousand Kites contacts around the country to make a sort of collective criminal justice documentary network. I'm doing a bit of video work, a bit of graphic and web design, a bit of database management, and a lot of conceptual and logistical work to figure everything out.
We're also going to do a short, guerilla-style documentary about a town nearby that's been severely impacted by coal mining and trucking in the area. Nick and I are planning an overnight trip sometime this week to shoot, edit, and distribute a video piece for a group working on the issue. I'm really excited and will be sure to update.
Since Julia's gone, starting tonight I'll be doing the weekly Holler to the Hood radio show all by my lonesome. That's right, I'm going to be on the air, spinning tunes and taking calls, with little-to-no radio experience. In all seriousness, it should be a lot of fun, though I am a little nervous. Remember to tune in, music from 7-9, calls from 9-10 (ET), WMMTfm.org.
The Cowan Creek music school didn't work out for me, but it was a lot of fun hearing Stella practicing the banjo throughout the week and performing at the end. She's actually pretty good, and is continuing to take lessons till she leaves. I'm working on getting hold of a fiddle, because I've arranged for a few lessons from a former Appalshop intern (a Wesleyan University student) who's also spending the summer here, and is an incredible fiddler.
We've gone on a few trips in the past couple weeks. We did Lexington one weekend - walking around, talking to the locals, perusing antique and thrift stores, cool coffee shop, gorgeous movie theater (but terrible movie - Easy Virtue), and fancy Indian dinner - and just yesterday went to Asheville, NC, which was a lot of fun, similar laidback walking around and eating/window-shopping itinerary. We had planned to go to Cumberland Gap, one of the few places in the world you can see a moonbow, for a camping/paddling trip, but Scattered Thunderstorms suggested Asheville as an alternative adventure, and we accepted.
We also recently climbed nearby Pine Mountain, first to a waterfall and a couple days later the full hike to the top. As with a lot of our activities around here, a few other Appalshop interns/employees came along as well.
Check out the pics, and I'll be sure to post more frequently in the weeks to come, and get some more pictures up soon. Adios!
Bad Branch Falls
Hiking to High Rock
High Rock, the highest point of Pine Mountain, the second highest mountain in the state.
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