Starting a radio station is no small feat. But Gary Betts and his wife Virginia Blakelock have spent the last seven years raising funds and jumping through hoops to get KBLU on the air. Now, if you're in the Pendleton area and you tune in to 90.5 FM, you can hear the product of their ongoing efforts.
"It's a bizarre and eclectic mix," Betts says.
KBLU offers much more than the standard fare of classic country western and hard rock hits that you might expect from a community station.
"Right now, they're hearing all of that plus they're hearing Edith Piaf, contemporary french cabaret music, Lucie Bílá, who was this pop diva in Prague," Betts says. "And we have some nice singers from Kazakhstan. They do a pretty good job."
And soon KBLU hopes to provide locals with other content, including old-fashioned radio theater, a community events calendar, and bedtime stories for children — read by parents and grandparents, among others.
"We had several mothers all independently come up to us and ask if we could put on a bedtime stories for kids so they could put the kids to bed, turn on the radio and collapse on the couch." Betts says. "It seemed like a pretty reasonable thing to do."
The station has suffered numerous set backs in the time since Betts and his wife first attempted to get it on the air. Strong winds toppled their first radio tower, and they lack the manpower to adjust the solar cells that power the station. The cells need to be turned individually so the sun can hit them at the ideal angle for energy collection.
"Paradoxically, here we are at the most sunny time of the year almost, and we're barely getting enough to be on the air," Betts says.
However, as their influence and quality of content grow, Betts believes the station can provide a positive service to his community. And if nothing else, both Betts and his wife are enjoying the content themselves.
"All the sudden I turned the radio on and it was playing my favorite music!" Betts says. "I thought, I want to listen to this station."