Blogs

Each year, I write an annual report for the preceding fiscal year. I'm pleased to share with you Davis Media Access's Annual Report & Financials for 2011-12 , available here. Like this newsletter, we make this report available online only in order to conserve resources.

The report helps us tell the big-picture story of where DMA fits in, both locally and in the larger community media movement. It illustrates how we leverage limited resources in support of a really big mission - to provide digital media and technology equipment and training that builds skills, furthers job readiness, and connects our community in myriad ways. I hope you'll take a few minutes to page through it, and let me know what you think about the year that was.

“Canada’s Tar Sands are perhaps the most visually compelling example of all that is wrong with our addiction to fossil fuels and why we must change or face dire consequences for all life on Earth,”Garth Lenz states in his award-winning slideshow talk, The True Cost of Oil: Images of Beauty and Devastation. 

Over the holiday break, DMA's staff and volunteers began the large task of relocating our large media library--a collection of nearly 10,000 titles dating back to the early 1980s--from its physical space upstairs.

The days are ticking away, but if you're still making decisions about your year-end charitable giving, please consider making a gift to Davis Media Access.

As the year closes, I'm sifting through some favorite memories from 2012. At the start of the year, we relaunched the new television studio and began training community programmers again.

Do you know how to tune in KDRT on mobile devices? According to some of the volunteers at KDRT, the best app by far for all platforms right now is Tunein. You can download TuneIn to your smartphone or tablet and listen to KDRT from wherever you are, and getting an account is free. You can also easily get podcasts of your favorite shows. All of our programs are listed on our website at: http://www.kdrt.org/station/programs. Simply scroll down until you find the show you want to subscribe and select "subscribe to podcast." Another way to find the show if you know when you last heard it on the radio is to go to the KDRT schedule page.  Once you click on the name of the show you will be able to view playlists for the show, make comments, listen to previous shows or subscribe to podcasts.

DMA staff will take the following days in November: Nov. 12 (for Veteran’s Day), Nov. 22 & 23 for Thanksgiving. DMA will be closed to the public from Sat., Dec. 22 through Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2012.

As you consider making year-end donations to charitable organizations, please also consider how DMA builds community and supports so many other organizations in Yolo County. From teaching media literacy and technical skills to kids who, by and large, aren’t getting that information in school; to a full range of voter education programming; to highlighting important community events, non-profits and local musicians; to providing free access to quality equipment; and so much more, DMA builds community. You in turn, help build and sustain DMA with your donation. We can’t do it without you! Thank you for your support.

One of DMA’s projects is to manage the day-to-day operations for the Davis Joint Unified School District’s educational access channel. Programming airs on Comcast Channel 17 in Davis, and on Menu 99 on AT&T’s U-verse service. With the exception of school board meetings, the District does not currently have a policy that allows us to replay locally produced programs online.

Producer & Host Bill Buchanan just wrapped the 100th episode of his popular public affairs show, Davisville. Bill recalls, “the first one was a show on the Davis economy, with Sarah Worley, Terence Lott, Mark Rutheiser, and Anthony Costello. Terence advanced the idea of having a town tomato fight as a kind of festival, although the show was also a serious look at economic issues in Davis. “Jim (Bill’s brother and KDRT sound guru Jim Bucahanan) recorded it in the TV studio, because of the number of people involved, and it ran something like 65 minutes,” Bill said. We asked Bill what he’s learned. “Having done 100 ... the experience confirms my hunch that Davis has an unending well of interesting stories, with interesting people, and a lot of engaging information emerges if you just ask,” he said. “I love it when we get beyond the conventional and surface-level observations. What's it like to be a Republican in Davis? Cold Shot has played for Davis audiences for decades -- what have they learned from the experience? Why did a former inmate of Alcatraz visit Davis to talk to the UC Davis Entomology Club? Or, to get to hear actors in Acme read from a play ... or to learn (maybe some people don't want to know!) that you're never more than a few feet from a spider ... or to get a rundown from some of the key decision-makers on the city's water issue, or school measures, or parking, or ... well, I could go on. The show is a lot of work, and it's fun beyond measure to record them with my brother, who knows how to run the equipment so it all sounds good,” Bill summed up. Find Davisville on the air Monday 5:30-6pm; replayed Wednesday from 8:30-9 a.m. and Saturday from 7:30-8 a.m.  Congratulations to the brothers Buchanan on a true community effort.