By Lacey Nadeau
The Capistrano Dispatch

Saddleback College’s radio station stays on top of the issues and provides a training ground

When Mayor Joe Soto gives San Juan Capistrano updates a couple of times each month on KSBR-FM, he doesn’t use his restaurant voice.

“I always kid him when I see him—he doesn’t sound like himself,” says Mike Fox, bartender at Cedar Creek Inn in San Juan. Fox, who has known Soto as a restaurant customer in a relaxed atmosphere for more than 10 years, hears a different tune from the mayor when he’s sharing local news. “He sounds all serious.”

But that’s part of why Fox listens to the station—to keep on top of South County issues, critical or otherwise—and it’s why Dawn Kamber, news director for the Saddleback College radio station, checks in with Soto and other South County city leaders. The information she gathers then gets passed on to listeners during her weekday morning program on 88.5-FM. For a community radio station, Kamber’s work is invaluable, Soto says. “She asks the questions that the guy or the gal on the street would ask,” he says. “And if she’s not familiar with the item, she really goes out of her way to get details and make it informative to the listener.”

KSBR is broadcast out of the Mission Viejo campus, on the second floor of the Student Services center. Inside KSBR headquarters, the studio rooms’ “on air” signs compete for space with autographed photos of celebrities—mostly musicians. Kamber starts each workday at 5 a.m. behind the soundboard full of flashing lights, calling sources and queuing recorded interviews. She has a muted TV turned to FOX News, and she reads two newspapers every day. “I wish everybody read the newspaper,” she says. “I can’t cover everything.”

But she tries. She enjoys being one of the first to know what’s going on and being able to pass it along. “There’s no greater satisfaction than knowing I’m giving to the community information they can use, impacting their lives,” she says. “That’s the beauty of radio—the immediacy.”

When power outages, fires or other emergencies strike, Kamber will be on the air to tell about it. KSBR is a local station residents can count on, she says—a station that knows the specifics of the area better than the Los Angeles and San Diego stations that also cover the county. “I don’t mean to demean anyone,” she says. “But I don’t know if they really understand.”

Kamber has worked for KSBR for 19 years. She and Operations Director Terry Wedel are the only full-time staff. Wedel has been with the station since it converted to full-power and began broadcasting countywide in 1979. He estimates 35,000 people listen to the station—the vast majority of whom live between Lake Forest and San Clemente.

Started in 1975 with only 10 watts, KSBR’s reach was originally limited to just a few miles around the campus. A couple of years later it became an National Public Radio affiliate, which meant student involvement was restricted. In 1984, during serious budget cuts, the college decided it wasn’t worth the operating costs unless it served students more. So KSBR pulled its NPR partnership.

“KSBR is unique in that it’s a full-time radio station that, basically, students can receive credit to help run,” Wedel says. Even though the station transitioned from relying heavily on professionals to being largely student run, the commitment to serving the community remained, he says. “We take our responsibility very seriously.”

This is why Kamber’s position as full-time, paid news director was retained when the station abandoned its NPR status, Wedel says.

“I think we’re vital,” says Kamber, who is also one of the announcers for the annual Swallows Day Parade. She says she has enjoyed watching San Juan Capistrano throughout the years. It’s obvious that residents care about preserving their culture, she says, and she likes the part KSBR plays in following those efforts. “I feel very good about what’s going on here.”

In addition to the salaries of Wedel and Kamber, the college provides the facilities for KSBR and funds building costs such as electricity. But the equipment, ongoing expenses and most things in the station are purchased through donations. The rest of the voices and producers behind the voices are students and community volunteers.

Students interested in becoming air talents—or anybody in the community who’s willing to take the required class and show up for an audition—can get radio experience with KSBR. Besides news, the station provides traffic, weather and entertainment. Contemporary jazz music is its primary format, but weekend specialty shows feature other genres of music, including new age or world music, which can be heard Saturday and Sunday on Morning Breeze.

“Because this music is so hard to find, we have a devoted listenership,” says Donna Thornton, who hosts the program each weekend. Thornton, a San Juan Capistrano resident, listened to the program for years and then decided to be a DJ. She enrolled in Saddleback’s classes and has been on air for the past 10 years.

In hosting Morning Breeze, Thornton seeks to create an experience for her listeners. She wants people to be inspired and involved, so she takes requests and is always on the lookout for new music. She says her program—and KSBR as a whole—is a connector, bringing people together and keeping them plugged in. “It’s a public service,” she says. “There’s a community interactivity that I don’t think many stations enjoy.”

Launched just this year was OCRockRadio.com, an online-only branch of the station that Wedel hopes will grow. “The venture was started to try to give students an opportunity to play music they’re more familiar with and to reach out to high schools,” he says. KSBR is headed toward a more Web-focused future, he says, and the station will keep playing a pivotal role. “We want to be able to continue to serve the South Orange County community.”

This full-time commitment to covering local issues is part of what makes the future of community radio stations strong, says Jon Bekken, associate professor of communications at Albright College in Reading, Pa., and author of “Community Radio at the Crossroads,” a chapter in Seizing the Airwaves (AK Press, 1998). “I think there’s a lot of demand for it,” says Bekken, who points to the unique role of community radio to be at the same time a public service and a learning tool. He also says it’s an accessible medium and it’s relatively inexpensive to run community radio. “As long as the college is supportive, it could last forever.”

The Birthday Bash, KSBR’s main fund-raiser, is one way that will be possible, says Wedel. This year’s bash, the 19th annual, will be held Sunday, May 25 at The Village Green of Oso Viejo Community Park in Mission Viejo. Wedel says the event has raised about $50,000 in the past, but he doesn’t know how changing the venue will affect this year’s amount. For the past 10 years, the event has been held at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The jazz concert features some of the artists whose music can be heard on the station.

The station is otherwise non-commercial and avoids a constant demand for money—which is something listeners appreciate. “It’s a good place to go where there are no commercial interruptions,” Cedar Creek’s Fox says. “You get so sick of commercials.”

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