Visiting and guests of Rotarians: Rosario from the San Carlos club, who, Liz said, wanted to come see how we ran our meetings. Guests of Rotarians: Susan Kealey introduced her partner Dennis Fisher, and Stacy Trevenon introduced her husband Doug Mallon. Guest Gail Evenari is on her way. There was some brief discussion as to the beginning time of the meetings: Dianne Bobko noted that on our Web site page the starting time of our Thursday meetings is noon. Kevin started the Polio Plus and small donations jars around, and emphasized what we are raising money for: to respond to requests from the community.
Ginger was introduced; she said she missed everyone when she was away over the last couple of months; in the tradition of the Rotary club Foundation, she presented a check for her birthday: when asked, she said it was for $74. (Applause!)
No more news, so Kevin started to introduce the speaker, but it had to hold for a moment; Irwin Cohen spoke about radio station KCSM and its diverse jazz program he’d long been a fan of (“a big spectrum of music,”) Latin, salsa, jazz and more -- which he feels he can’t live without. Focus shifted to the station manager Dr. Robert Franklin, who has a three-page biography of which Nancy summarized the highlights: Dr. Franklin is a broadcast educator and award-winning producer and ground-breaking journalist. He is the former general manager of WCSU-FM, San Diego State University. He has spread compelling programming including a focus on polio and interviews and documentaries “designed to enlighten, educate and inform the community.” His many awards and recognitions include the Congressional Journalism Fellowship that involved a one-year stint in the halls of Congress. He put that experience into a national radio documentary that featured women in Congress. For more than 26 years he has strived to make the world a better place. He is a PhD graduate of Arkansas State University, and a master of arts and bachelor of science graduate of Jackson State University. His journey has, she said, allowed him to educate, empower and give back to the community and impact the world. Great applause followed his remarks.
Magic of the Coasatside Libster Fest 2025 - Fund-A -Need Checks Presentation
Kevin noted that since a couple of people in the audience had to leave early, so he asked us to remember what was said and switched to important business: He invited the Lobsterfest committee to step forward to acknowledge them, and mentioned the funds raised at Lobsterfest this year. He recalled that initially several local nonprofits were asked to submit grant requests, and from those, the Big Wave Project and the film “Maiden Voyage” were chosen. The goal was to get $4,000 grant to fund the Big Wave celebration and the film; and any funds raised in addition to that would go to the club foundation for other uses. It turned out that the Lobsterfest “did significantly better” than the Rotarians thought it would; we had some “extremely generous people there that night,” and so the club presented these amounts to Jeff Peck from the Big Wave Project and Gail Evenari from the film.
Invited to tell about Big Wave, Jeff noted that it is a project that took some 25 years to start, and is a community for adults with special needs. There are residential units there, and common areas, a farm (which he just left and has to go right back because this was Hops Picking Day). Gail spoke about Maiden Voyage: it is a nonprofit film production company which is making a film about learning differences and the implications of the things that happen to people who are marginalized with learning differences. So, they have a mental health journaling app that they are introducing to the Boys and Girls Club, which helps kids address and become familiar with, and get tools to help with, mental health issues.
Liz called for a drum roll, and made an announcement: we are dividing three ways: giving each organization not $4,000, not $5,000 … but $9,536 (great applause!) Jeff pointed out how much it means for the community to come together and donate to help these projects. He added that there will be a site visit to the building (which will be done in March), and we are invited to see where the money is going; the visit will be on Oct. 12. He hopes to see us there; he’ll be there with Julie Shenkman (he was the founder of Big Wave but thinks that Julie will “speak and look much better than I do.”) (applause)
Gail spoke about the whole process, crediting the Rotary club with its generosity, and acknowledging that the money will be put to to use (“I can use every penny,”) and she said she would introduce this not just to the Boys and Girls Club but to the middle school and high school as well (“and, Kevin said, come back and show the film as well”.)
Gail mentioned the Big Wave festival on the past Saturday, and how much the residents and club members and their families who were there, enjoyed this “amazing” event.
“We’re very proud to be partners,” said Kevin.
Kevin mentioned that perhaps Nancy did not know this, but Dr. Franklin was a Rotarian. “He can be again!” shouted Liz.
“And he’s tall,” added Kevin, before introducing Dr. Robert Franklin.
Presenetation by Dr. Robert Franklin of KCSM
Dr. Franklin began by recalling how the Rotarians from Arkansas (where he was in a club) helped him understand the power of giving to the community. One thing that he’d done that he was proud of was participating in the Big Brothers mentoring work, helping kids go to school and meeting and being mentors for them. The other thing he liked about Rotary was its several community initiatives, one of which dealt with literacy; another looked at reducing obesity in Arkansas.
He said he was happy to be here” with fellow Rotarians; he felt “always a Rotarian.” He had a slide presentation about him and his journey, from Arkansas to Texas and now California. He said this (KCSM) was his 13th station; 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number, but “the luckiest for me” in terms of what it’s meant to him, and in terms of the inspiration he’d found here that he hadn’t experienced as a manager. He spoke of what drew him to this station – he’d worked at classical, contemporary, blues and jazz stations -- but what drew him to KCSM was when he looked at the station’s Web page and saw that they did community events, as what he called “jazz curators,” or the most influential deejays he had worked with – their knowledge base, passion for what they are doing.
Coupling his presentation with slides, he clarified that this was not just a public trust but a public sacred trust, meaning that the relationship that public radio has with its listeners is a personal one – you feel you hold ownership of what’s going on at the station. You become one with the curator – or the deejay – he or she becomes part of your family; you feel like you know them since they have been there a long time in terms of music. What they have given you – in terms of music and in terms of escapism from what’s going on in the world – is like a secret place you can go. You can be sure you’re being taken to a place of peace and tranquility, where you and your better selves can exist – what you get when you come to KCSM.. Public trust – “and we take that very seriously.” And everyone who has been at the station, even for a long time, has that “sacred commitment.”
They have autonomy, and inside the studio, they create – curate what you hear, and it is powerful, and it moves you; as a public service or trust and they want to strengthen, not abridge, that trust, even more so now. We don’t do advertising, we do underwriting. Our sponsorship is pretty basic.
“Sixty years – that’s a long time.” This station is for the community, and dedicated to preserving jazz, which he described as a uniquely American art form. The station asks the community to support us, to continue that tradition. Sometimes individuals can make the presentation better than the manager, so he presented a promo: a 60-second trailer, an aural snapshot of KCSM.
The 60-second trailer is a maze of voices, not all of which I got in order: “best radio station ever” … what the community deserves … testing one-two-three … we have the largest jazz radio library in the world … This music deserves being played in a form that people can hear it all over the world whenever they want … I think that jazz is kept alive by the people who work here and care so much about the music and the station … radio is the people … it feels like family … I can get my sports, my weather, everything else, online, but you can’t get what you get here at KCSM … I think it’s a godsend that they have this station …
Dr. Robert Franklin continues: One of our signature community offerings is Jazz on the Hill,” which this year had one of the biggest attendance on record. One of the things they do is the free community festival, which offers an opportunity for the community to come together culturally and enjoy the moment. They do it every first Saturday in June. One of the things they’re doing now is making it more family-friendly, encouraging families to bring their children. The theme for a recent past festival is “It’s a family affair.” He emphasized that they want to make sure that the music they’re representing doesn’t die, so he’s talking about “passing the torch.” That means “solidifying our jazz now,” and bring forth the the next generation of jazz presenters, curators and educators and so forth.
So “Jazz on the Hill” is a tradition that’s been going on long before he got there, that he wants to put a bigger footprint on it. So if there’s any way he can partner with the Coastside in celebration, they want to do that. What he wants to do is to grow, to grow their musical relationship with the entire Bay. And what they’re starting to do now is to work in that direction. His being at Rotary today, and he hopes for an invitation to come back, is to start that collaboration and work strongly and more cooperatively with Rotary and other community organizations to have an even greater presence in the Coastside community.
Next slide, and he continued: One of the funds they’re set up is the Sonny Buxton Jazz Legacy Fund. Sonny had been with the station for about 30 years – “he’s a legend” – and one of the things he’s stressed is the importance of jazz education, as a curator, as a presenter, as a performer and more. But one of the things he loves is passing the torch back to one of these younger announcers following in his footsteps, and to some of his students.
Speaking for himself as an educator who has taught at the university level, Dr. Franklin said one of the things he tries never to do is to miss a teachable moment. He likes to engage students, and they have students working at the station, to digitize content. They really, really want to make sure that that generation we’re passing the torch to, we’re giving the opportunity to learn new experiences. “They’re the next generation of leaders in the jazz community, curatrors, educators, entrepreneurs and so forth.”
They also have student working on several initiatives: One of those is Studio 91. Musicians come to record, and they put that on their HD2 channel. That gives musicians an opportunity to present their content to listeners on either the HD2 or HD1 channel. He spoke of Sonny’s retirement, how “heartfelt it was,” in talking about this humble man and the devotion he is giving to his audience, to be a part of this program. He leaves a big hole they’re trying to fill.
One of their challenges is that their signal isn’t as clear as they’d like. They have a 6,000-watt transmitter, that, after they added their HD-2 channel, takes a lot of power. So what they hope to do is, get an engineering study that will allow them to put translators where needed, say on the Coastside. But they are frustrated that their 6,000-watt transmitter will transmit only so far. And when it degrades, you can’t comment. What they want to do is find ways to collaborate, generate, underwrite, fundraise, know strategically where we can place those translators in the coastal areas and other areas that are currently not receiving 100 percent power.
Next slide: this is something that, I’m not at a loss for words, but when I’m putting my budget together for this year, and it included funds we were saving for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (90 percent of my budget) so my budget was set. As a result of the economy descending, CPD funding, which translates to $100 plus thousand dollars, as come out of our present budget. So we are grappling with, how do we replace $100,000.
So you see, the majority of our budget comes from membership, on-air supporters. So that 90 percent decrease is really impacting how we continue our internship opportunities, Jazz on the Hill, activities where we really have impact. So we’re trying to come up with a way to make up for that $100,000 that we didn’t know – Now we’re fundraising on the air, trying to secure those particular funds. We’re about $100,000 behind.
As I said, Service Above Self, as a former Rotarian, that’s when I became a program. And one of the things that I learned, was those words, Service Above Self. And I put that into practice, everything that I’ve done. As a broadcaster, as an educator, as a person who resides in the community. Whatever small thing I or we can do to empower, individuals and the community, to be their better selves, I want to associate my station with. And one of the things I think builds community, makes community stronger --- I have been so inspired by some of the stories in Rotary, one of the things I heard in meetings like this, one was, the International Rotary President came and spoke to our club, and he talked about. I have this irrigation system in a country in Africa, and he had pictures of and you just see how it changes lives, how a little can go a long way, in terms of how when we all band together, pushing in the same direction. So I am hoping that, if the opportunity presents itself, in the not-too-distant future, there will be a way to work with the Rotary here, I’d love for us to be able to do that, in a way that helps us strengthen communities on the Coastside as well as communities around the Bay.
So I’m really interested in and more excited about Operation Outreach, something that really inspired me. I love meeting people, I love understanding different cultures, and I know that’s something that Rotary has done and continues to do.
Some possibilities here: I know we have a satellite campus here, and one of the things that I want to be able to do is really provide an opportunity for students who are here working with internship opportunities at the station, strengthen our local partnerships, and our cultural treasures. Sixty Years of Jazz is going strong, and I want to continue to have that, and the big issue right now among many other issues is closing the national gap, and the loss of support.
So that’s one of the things that, while it doesn’t keep me up at night, is a challenge – I love a challenge, and I always see the glass as half full, as opposed to half empty, and I consider myself as always, always always the eternal optimist.
I want to thank you for the opportunity that I have spoken with you. He invites questions:
(Ralph) Are you online, your programming?
(answer) Yes and yes.
(Ralph) Does that help the problem with the translators you’re talking about installing?
(answer) It does. One thing I’ve found is that the service, that is old-school. A lot of the visitors, they listen to radio, not necessarily on the computer. They listen to traditional radio, somewhere in the home. And so, our demographic is skewed more toward the older population, so it’s not as convenient for them to have the computer, ‘cause they can go onoline and get the HD printer signal.
At the same time, some newer model cars have the HD-two device that will allow you to get the stream as well as the other (?) channel. Somehow some have the technology in their cars, but mostly in their homes.
(Irwin) What I think personally is, all you gotta do is download KCSM on your iPhones. Free. Hook that up to Bluetooth; it’s easy. 91.1 is the station. Most of the time – I live on Highway 1 and it comes in nice and clear on Highway 1.
(I think Gail; maybe Dianne) I do KQED. I’m a sustaining member. And I get it on Alexa, I get it on iPhone, I get it on all my internal Apple devices; all I have to do is say to Alexa, turn it on … So if you’re streaming at all, we ought to be able to do that.
(Dr. Franklin) Yes, with the app you can certainly get it, and of course on your computer.
(Gail/Dianne?) But these are – not just computers. I can just say, Alexa, turn on KQED and immediately it plays it. I would assume, we can do it for yours as well.
Dr. Franklin) Yes, yes.
(a relatively new Rotarian) When you talk about introducing a new generation, my grandkids -- 12 and 8 – they go, We got new music, Mom. They come, and they listen to me every weekend.
(Dr. Franklin) That’s so beautiful. One of the things we’re doing in April, called passing the torch; April is appreciation month. So what we have been doing for the last two years is inviting high school jazz groups, *** On Campus; and we stream their particular performances live. And their parents are actually seeing their sons and their daughters actually performing music that they love. I think it’s very important, because when young people see young people doing things, they emulate those positive things. It’s really passing the torch back. It’s the opportunity for young people to come to the station, to immerse themselves into radio and learn what jazz .. And kids, music that sounds strange, again, it’s purifying the soul. That’s a beautiful testimonial.
(woman) I was shocked when my daughter, who’s 42 … they connected you. (laughter) I learned from them.
(I think Warren Barmore) KCSM is at the college, is there anything else but jazz? Besides jazz?
(Dr. Franklin) Yes, actually, the station is probably 98, 95 percent jazz. But there’s a blues component there, that’s on Friday nights. The blues is probably not as integrated into the minds of the listeners as jazz, but you know, I always say that, how can you appreciate Bach, Beethoven, or Miles Davis .. But that’s one of the things we want to really showcase. Jazz is certainly our primary fare, but blues and gospel is very much a part of that jazz tradition, but or main focus has always been jazz.
(Irwin) Like you said before, it’s a huge spectrum. Sometimes I’ll turn it on and say, I don’t like that sound, but most of the time, if you don’t like a song, stay with the next one and it will grab you. (Once) I heard Charlie Hayden and ***, spiritual, and felt my whole body unwind. It’s a great station.
(I think Barb) Where is Jazz on the Hill?
It’s June 6, 2026. Saturday.
(Audience) Where?
(Franklin) It’s on the hill. It’s on campus. Random conversation followed.
How do you get there?
Maybe public transportation, on buses –
(Franklin) That’s a very good point. Maybe we might want to work with the City of San Mateo, see how we can partner with them, see if maybe they can assist us. Again, our budget for Jazz on the Hill last year was $114,000. That’s the money we have to raise so we can put on Jazz on the Hill. Anything beyond that – One of the things I want to do with the city is, see if we can do some type of barter agreement whereby they would actually underwrite the cost of the shows.
But I agree … the campus is beautiful.
(Sam Trans was mentioned as a possibility for transportation to the event … someone mentioned connecting him with Sam Trans) Please do. I promised my staff that, one thing I was going to do, was get out of the Ivory Tower and go where the real people are. So I can get a better perspective or how things are going on.
Irwin asked if Dr. Franklin had any connection to the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. He answered: that he’d heard of it, and random conversation followed … Someone asked who is running the Bach now, and the answer was that the family had taken it over. The presentation ended with applause.
Kevin remarked, Great to fulfill your passion, to which many agreed. Kevin presented a gift to the speaker and told him that in his name, we would inoculate 15 children against polio in disadvantaged countries. Barb reminded everyone about the next Coastal Cleanup and Foundation event on Treasure Island, and encouraged carpooling.
Paul Harris awards were given to Nancy and Elizabeth for their work on the fundraiser – it was Nancy’s third Paul Harris – Nancy is also a Paul Harris Society member – and Elizabeth was recognized with a ruby Paul Harris pin. Christine presented them. Kevin said that later this meeting there would be a fundraiser meeting.