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November 22, 2024
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American Indian musicians: Send your CDs to KBGA radio, asap!

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
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jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave
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JT Shining Oneside shared stories about her Ojibwe and Anishinaabe inheritance during the Native American Heritage Month Celebration on Nov. 15. She spoke about the coming-of-age and traditional birth ceremonies. (Photo credit/ Adrianna Adame)
KBGA Radio, 89.9, University of Montana
KBGA Radio, 89.9, University of Montana

The University of Montana here in Missoula — where about 600 Native students attend college — doesn’t have an American Indian radio program. I talked to the KBGA general manager and program director. They both said no one has ever tried before.  So, I’m going to try, along with a few student colleagues, to get a Native radio program on the air. Oh, yes, we are thanking Gary Farmer, a founder of Aboriginal Voices Radio in Canada, for the inspiration after he visited our campus a few weeks ago.
Thanks to Gary, I have submitted an application for a two-hour show on KBGA.  As part of this process, I asked the managers if I could see the station’s American Indian music collection. I saw it. And it consisted of about one dozen CDs. They also showed me the music director’s latest mandatory playlist selection of Native music. One was a CD of what appeared to be a white man and a white woman playing what looked like South American-style flutes.  The second CD on the KBGA playlist included “shaman” and “kundalini” music, a good sign that the music on this CD wasn’t created by American Indians, either.

My point: If you know a Native musician, or if you are a Native musician, please, please, please, send your CD to this address so we can listen to you on the Montana radio airwaves! Here is the address for the KBGA music director:

June West, Music Director

University of Montana, U.C. Room 208

Missoula, MT  59812

Thanks for reading. And, please, share this blog information with your Native musician friends. Send the station American Indian music. We want to hear it!

Jodi Rave

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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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3 Comments

  • Lynda Beaudry
    October 30, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    Does this include Gospel music??? I am a Native Recording Artist, enrolled with the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, MT. I have recorded mostly tapes, however, I do have a couple CD’s. I can send them if it’s okay to send “Gospel Music”…..thx.

  • Fredricka Hunter
    October 31, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    Thanks Jodi…

    I heard from Gary Farmer and told him of our endeavor to get Native Programming off the ground and running at the University of Montana radio station. In addition, I believe he will pass the word that we are looking for Native musicians and soliciting their music. I will forward Gary the information so that we can pass the word. We have a great start!

Comments are closed.