Radio Free Salem offers hope to Oregon’s gray zone

Praise be!

Help is on the way for the oppressed residents of Salem, we who have the misfortune of living in the depressing I-5 gray zone between the bright spots of Eugene and Portland (along with Albany and Woodburn, but Salem is the capital of mid-valley ho-hum ness).

The December Salem Monthly asks "Could 88.5 FM be the new home of a community radio station in Oregon?"

It will, if aspiring community radio station operator Karen Holman succeeds with her FCC application for a non-profit radio license.

Holman is a chemistry professor at Willamette University. I hope she brews up a creative blend of alternative music, talk, and reportage, a la Portland's KBOO.

You can read about the plans for Radio Free Salem on her MySpace page.

I'm excited. I'd love to host a Church of the Churchless program where the heathens, infidels, pagans, godless, and damned of Salem can talk about our faithlessness.

The radio station would be a terrific addition to a community that comes up way short in culture, creativity, energy, and excitement – as documented with depressing regularity on this blog here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Best of luck, Karen. We Salemites await news of our air waves liberation.

Comments

[Bpaul]

There is a stark difference in political organizing and even art even participation when a town has a good community radio station. I really hope this comes through for you, it will make liveability much greater in that area.

[Bpaul]

Gah, that's "art evenT" T

I contribute generously to KBOO here in Portland, even if I only listen to it occasionally. I think it's essential to good local culture.

[Intake Generalist]

Hello,

I am a new Intake Generalist at Goodwill Job Connection in Salem, Oregon. The reason I am contacting your radio station is to let you know of our free job placement assistance service in helping individuals find employment. We have Employment Specialists that have access to information about jobs that people outside our network do not have. The Goodwill JOB CONNECTION Employment Specialists have a high placement rate; in 2007 alone, we assisted 6,014 program participants in finding employment. We also have free Resource Room that assists anyone in the community with their job search by these and other ways: creating or reformatting their resume, giving typing skill assessment tests, assisting with on-line job searches and applications, conducting mock interviews to help job seekers improve their skills for the job market. (These services are available to youth that are of an employable age.) When the unemployment rate is so high we can and do put a serious dent in that problem but we want to do more. We are having a Job Fair and which will be on Sept. 25th from 8:30am to 11:00 am. Could you help with a little coverage for this event?

Best regards,

Intake Generalist
Goodwill Job Connection
3535 Lancaster Drive NE Salem, OR 97305
[email protected]