Sabrina RoachGuest blogger Sabrina Roach, Development & Outreach Director at KBCS 91.3 Community Radio, co-director of Reclaim the Media, 2008-2009 Arts Leadership Lab Core Team member. Most of her family has lived and worked in King County since 1903.

What if we had a mix of public and privately owned neighborhood media centers where people could build skills across platforms – like recording studio engineering, video making, and writing for the stage, print, broadcast, and online?

I’ve been thinking about what might happen if we further resourced community based media in our county and at the city level. It could be incorporated into Parks and Rec departments and into the work of existing arts, culture, and heritage organizations.

Would it further amplify art, cultural expression, and stories about our heritage? Would it be a useful way to facilitate connection and cultural inquiry in our digital age? I think so.

Fast and light versions could start now, as portable digital equipment is inexpensive and many of our libraries and community centers have available meeting rooms for workshops. Video and sound files could be posted to linked Web sites serving as community media hubs. DVDs and CDs could be produced and presented at community listening parties with food. This could help us break out of our silos where parallel work often evolves separately…theory aside, who doesn’t love a good party?

Many businesses and community based organizations are already doing work similar to this in our county. I have some favorites like KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio (where I work), Jack Straw Productions, Youth Media Institute at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, Northwest Film Forum, OseaO, Hidmo Eritrean Cuisine, and the Museum of History and Industry.

One collaborative project I was involved with recently went some of the distance, but could have had even more broad-based community involvement using some of these ideas.

On November 17th, 206 Zulu, KBCS 91.3 FM, and Youngstown produced “Zulu Radio Live” as Zulu Nation celebrates November as Hip Hop history month. Prior to the event, producers Hollis Wong-Wear and Danny Kogita interviewed folks representing local Hip Hop’s past, present, and future at the KBCS studios in Bellevue.

Cham Ba, Janice Kang, and Huyen Nguyen of Youth Media Institute then used equipment at Youngstown to edit the interviews into a short audio feature which aired on KBCS in advance of the event. 206 Zulu used the same content to produce segments which aired during the live broadcast.

Next time, I’d like us to hold a few workshops where local Hip Hop artists (who likely already know how to record and edit themselves) interviewed each other about what happened “back in the day”, now, or where they hope to see the local scene go.

It was a good time as it was. Let’s make community based media happen more often. Email me at sro...@kbcs.fm. Let’s talk.