Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Hibernation

The great Knoxville Music Night has been put on hold. Tim Lee Band hosted the series at the ThInQ Tank, bringing in an eclectic mix of Knoxville musicians to join them for a few songs. It was originally held weekly, but when life got too hectic for Tim and Susan Bauer Lee, they made it monthly. But as of now, it has been cancelled, including the Dec. 3 show. "With winter closing in, it seems like a good time to regroup and figure out if we can figure out a better way to continue the concept in the future," Tim Lee reports. "Also, I've been so busy with various recording projects that it's hard to plan and coordinate the deal.... Stay tuned that the idea may be back at a later date."

They Fought The Law

Last week, Eye ran an update on Knoxville's pirate station. This week we offer a first-hand account of what it's like as renegade broadcaster:

It's 6 a.m. and I wake up automatically. I'm not going to work, and I'm not getting paid. By 7 a.m., I'm at the top-secret location, playing the latest daily news I've just burned onto CDs. I can only hope someone is listening. My name is Cricket the Ferret, and this is a week in my life as a pirate radio deejay at KFAR 90.9 FM.

KFAR (pronounced "Kay-Far") stands for Knoxville First Amendment Radio. We' re unlicensed and commercial-free. Currently we have about 50 deejays, and everyone has a codename. Everyone volunteers and pays dues, and anyone can deejay if they can find an open timeslot on our website at www.kfar.org.

Monday, I stop by the station as I do every weekday to start the news at 7 a.m. and again at noon to play Democracy Now! At 10 p.m., I swing by to set up the new equipment we bought after our Halloween benefit show. We now have seamless music when no one is around. "People hear one song on the radio and think that's the type of music we play. And it's hard to change that perception," says HeyZeus after his show. As if to prove the point, the first five songs in the new 350-disc rotation system are all country, bluegrass and folk.

I oversleep on Tuesday and start the news a little late. No one's really listening, I tell myself. I stop back by at 6 p.m. for Pinky's Lounge—lounge and exotica music. Pinky says, "I like the idea of getting a few people interested in a type of music they wouldn't normally have an opportunity to listen to."

A friend tells me Wednesday morning that when she mentions KFAR to people, they've never heard about us. Aaarrrgh. I swing back around midnight to ask Captain Nemo why he deejays. "The community here, the people you meet, and freedom. Freedom to play your musical choices. There is no price on freedom."

On Thursday, the station's residents are sleeping on the couches by the wood stove for warmth. I stop back by that night to see Gwilo, who's been here from the beginning two years ago. "It's changed a lot since the days when we only had two old CD players, but the heart of it is still the same. I'd listen to KFAR all the time even if I wasn't a deejay, if I knew about it. We have true variety."

Friday morning I oversleep and start the news over an hour late, and hear complaints about it from five deejays. At least the deejays are listening. At 7 p.m., the Uptown Bogarts play on The Ticket, the local music show I host. Wow. Promoting local musicians, playing alternative news, and participating in a democratic, consensus-based, loosely organized community, that's why I do this.

Saturday, I start my three hours of news at 10 a.m. I stop back by to catch Ratchet's Elevation Hip Hop Show that night. He too is one of the original deejays and our big link to the hip-hop community which held the first fundraisers to get KFAR going. "Without KFAR, Knoxville would not have any outlet for a lot of different kinds of music. Without KFAR, we'd have no underground hip hop." Ratchet says that hip-hop and radio have changed his life completely. "If we only have one kid listening out there, we're making a difference."

I stop by on Sunday to see Pardo, the other deejay who focuses on alternative news. "The stuff we play is not heard anywhere else. We make a difference in what people consume." Late at night, Blue Heron and Dirty D return from their weekend adventure of at another pirate radio station in another city. "KFAR is radio by the people, for the people. It is a way for the community to express itself creatively, keep people informed, and to inspire the hearts and minds of the listening public," Blue Heron tells me.

Dirty D adds, "It's a phenomenal experience, seeing deejays creating a wave of expression, sharing real events and spreading the truth about real people's lives. There's a real community here, building great relationships. The only thing I would change would be to make the station permanent, to hand it down to future generations."

Eventually, the FCC may come and shut us down. In my opinion, it's the inevitable future. Until then, for everyone involved, this is truly a labor of love and a wonderful adventure. Now if only more people would listen. Aaaaargh...

—Joe Tarr, Cricket the Ferret