Spread the Love Raises Over $19K to Build KBXE

There was a great turn out for Spread the Love this weekend. The food was great, the music rocked, the trivia was quizzical and the people were generous.

At Spread the Love, we raised $19,240.86. A huge thanks to everyone who came out to help spread the love for KBXE!

Building a new community radio station is a big project with many parts. Recently Northern Community Radio received a $150,000 grant from the George W. Neilson Foundation to help build KBXE's studios in Bemidji. This grant depends on our raising an additional $50,000 in matching funds.

All together we've raised $33,896.86 towards making that $50,000 match.

We would like to start renovating the space and building the studios in March, which is less than a month away.

You can help my pledging to KBXE's capital campaign.

Pledging to the capital campaign is separate from membership to Northern Community Radio. You can pay your contribution over 3 years, spreading out the payments however you like.

The budget for the entire KBXE project (including the tower and transmitter) is a little over $1,000,000 and includes $250,000 in community donations.

The KBXE Studios are 2,500 square feet, so that breaks down to $100 per square foot to build KBXE. How many square feet can we put out down for?

You can get more information and/or pledge by calling 800-662-5799 or by emailing kbxe@kbxe.org.

Thank you for your consideration.

Spread the Love THIS Saturday

There will be fun and games galore at our annual Spread the Love party and fundraiser this Sat., February 5th, at the Blue Ox Bar and Grill in downtown Bemidji starting at 6pm.

Julie Crabb and Brandon Chase will be hosting love-themed Green Cheese Trivia with prizes from the Bar Bell Bee Ranch, K.D. Floral and Gardens, Chocolates Plus, and Chronicle Books.

And we’ll have great live music with The Limns from Minneapolis, a high energy rock band with influences of reggae and funk.

It's all to help Spread the Love for 90.5 KBXE, the new radio station we’re building to secure and enhance the service of KAXE and Northern Community Radio in Bagley, Bemidji, Puposki, Erskine, Clearbrook, Buzzle Lake and beyond.

Get more information, and find out how you can help build KBXE, at Spread the Love this Saturday, Feb 5th at the Blue Ox Bar and Grill in Bemidji. The Taco Bar and veggie alternatives start at 6 with trivia and music throughout the evening to help Spread the Love for KBXE.

You can RSVP on Facebook here.

Let's Spread the Love

Wondering what KBXE is? It’s a new radio station we’re building to enhance the service of KAXE and Northern Community Radio in Bagley, Bemidji, Gonvick, Shevlin, Debs, Wilton and beyond.

You can get more information, and find out how you can help build KBXE, at our annual “Spread the Love” party and fundraiser starting at 6pm on Saturday, February 5th, at the Blue Ox Bar and Grill in Bemidji.

We’ll have a Taco Bar and vegetarian alternatives, and fun and games including love-themed Green Cheese Trivia with Brandon Chase and Julie Crabb.

Plus live music with The Limns, a high-energy reggae-rock band from Minneapolis.

Join us on Saturday, Feb 5th at the Blue Ox Bar and Grill in Downtown Bemidji starting at 6pm to help Spread the Love for KBXE.

You can RSVP on Facebook here.

KBXE's Clearwater County Fair Kickoff

by Doug MacRostie

When we arrived to set up and the Clearwater County Fair yesterday, some other radio station was in our spot (and we had rented the BEST spot). This was quickly resolved and didn't seem to be too big of a deal to anyone. But still, for our first event IN Bagley, we bumped out a different radio station..., "Hi, here comes KBXE" ;). A sign of things to come? lol.

Right away we had issues tying knots to hang weights for the booth, a new thing we hadn't tried before. After one knot untied unexpectedly, we inquired at the booth of Cub Scout Pack 53 of Bagley to see if anyone could help us. Josh and Sam came over and saved the day! As they were working on the knots and we were chatting about this new station we're building, we found out that Josh actually already listens to KAXE, streaming on his smart phone! (KAXE isn't available on-air in Bagley...hence, KBXE is on the way). We didn't even have everything set up yet, and right away we had someone signing up for more info and volunteering help for the station. The perfect start for the fair - not to mention the Cub Scout booth was covered in KBXE stickers all day after that :)

When we were set up and ready to go, we could hear the Country Oldtime Tuners performing on the Pine Stage behind us. A duo with a guest, they had two guitars, vocals and accordion playing traditional country and gospel music. The Pine stage is a nice shady area, with an artificial pond and benches. One thing is for sure, the Clearwater County Fair has a great atmosphere! We forgot to bring our extension cords so we didn't have any music playing, and the red light on the tower wasn't flashing. That is all fixed starting today - so if you stopped by yesterday, you have to come out again to see the full effect (not to mention the live music).

Today's live music at the KBXE Booth will be performed by Eric Carlson at 4pm and Aaron Tank at 6pm. Tomorrow (Saturday) is our "big day" of music, with multi-piece bands including drum kits. A lot of people said they would be back tonight (Friday) to see Lance Benson at 6pm - check out the full schedule at KBXE.org and stop out and say HI!

What is KBXE?

KBXE Brings Local Bands to Clearwater County Fair

90.5 KBXE will be at the Clearwater County Fair in Bagley from Thursday August 5th through Sunday August 8th. Many local musicians will be stopping by to perform at the KBXE booth including Lance Benson with Steve Ross and Mark Bauer, The Brothers Burn Mountain, Drew Warne-Jacobson & Friends, Aaron Tank and Eric Carlson. Plus we’ll have drawings for CD packages, KBXE stickers and more info on this soon-to-be-built radio station from Northern Community Radio.

Performer Schedule
Friday August 6th:
4pm: Eric Carlson
6pm: Aaron Tank

Saturday August 7th:
2pm: Drew Warne-Jacobson and Friends
4pm: The Brothers Burn Mountain
6pm: Lance Benson with Steve Ross and Mark Bauer

Sunday August 8th:
2pm: Miriam Tell
4pm: Katie Corning

What is KBXE?

Why Is KBXE?

by Scott Hall & Maggie Montgomery

There's much excitement and energy for KBXE, the new station Northern Community Radio is building to better serve the Bemidji and Bagley areas. Many people have come forward in Beltrami and Clearwater counties to help us with the planning, building and fundraising. Some listeners from other parts of the KAXE listening area have asked, "Why are you building KBXE?"

The answer is to preserve community radio in that region. Many new radio stations have been built in north central MN since KAXE first went on the air in 1976. It is getting harder to get KAXE’s 91.7 signal to Bemidji due to HD Interference and summer fades, and the signal will get worse because the FCC just gave radio stations permission to increase the power of their HD transmissions. In the case of 105.3, it's possible we could lose that signal altogether because it's in the commercial spectrum - which means a commercial entity could take the signal and we would have no recourse.

Northern Community Radio intends to preserve a signal for community radio in our region and has the financial resources to expand its service. Failure to act will mean loss of audience, and that will erode our financial support. KBXE will add energy, creativity and substance to Northern Community Radio’s programming, on both KAXE and KBXE, and on our websites and social media networks.

This is an opportunity to expand our mission to over 40,000 new people and several communities to the west, including people who don’t currently have access to a public radio signal, giving more people the opportunity to directly participate—the opportunity to create radio programs and other media using Northern Community Radio’s facilities. KBXE will be a regional broadcaster and an asset in its communities of service.

KBXE will broadcast at 90.5 and is the best solution to guaranteeing a reliable signal for those many loyal KAXE listeners. It will also enable us to reach people who may have never heard KAXE. This is an exciting opportunity and we hope you'll be involved.

We have a very active Publicity Committee that is planning monthly (or more) events - whether you'd like to share ideas, answer questions at an info table, want to help with construction, or just have a lot of energy to focus - please let us know, email kbxe@kbxe.org, or call 800-662-5799.

91.7 KAXE & 90.5 KBXE, Northern Community Radio

[originally published 9/11/09 on 91.7 KAXE Notes]

In early August, the FCC awarded Northern Community Radio a construction permit to build a new radio station that would serve the Bagley/Bemidji area.

We hope you will call KAXE at 218/326-1234 if you have any questions or want to help build KBXE! You can join a committee for construction, fundraising, events, technical crew or publicity OR you can come to the next general meeting.

KBXE will be a noncommercial station licensed in the city of Bagley. Depending on the final location and power of the KBXE transmitter, the station could serve Bemidji, Fosston, Gonvick, Clearbrook, Debs, Erskine and Zerkel.

KBXE can broadcast at as much as 100,000 watts, or it may be more cost effective to use less power. In some respects, the location of the transmitter will determine the ERP (effective radiated power) of KBXE. A high power station cannot be located near some other stations due to interference issues, while a lower power station would have more location options.

KBXE’s construction permit was originally awarded to the Headwaters Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (HUUF) in Bemidji. Northern Community Radio signed a purchase agreement with HUUF to obtain the construction permit, at cost. HUUF was interested in bringing a community radio station to Bemidji. The HUUF agreement stipulates that Northern Community Radio cannot transfer KBXE’s license to any other organization for at least 10 years. This is so Northern Community Radio cannot just build and then sell KBXE to make money. HUUF definitely wants a community radio station to serve the Bemidji area, but did not think this was something they could do themselves.

Now Northern Community Radio is the sole owner of the KBXE construction permit. Northern Community Radio’s board of directors will “own” KBXE on behalf of the community. Our organization’s mission, which is to “build community in northern MN through radio broadcasting, cultural events and interactive media,” will guide KBXE just as it does KAXE. KBXE will serve a wide broadcast area just as KAXE does.

Northern Community Radio was interested in a new station because KAXE’s signal to the west is experiencing more and more interference. Translators are low priority for the FCC and do not have the protections that full-power stations do. KAXE’s Bemidji translator is in the commercial band, making it especially vulnerable. A commercial broadcaster could take its 105.3 frequency for a full-power commercial station if the FCC opens another filing window. The radio spectrum is a limited natural resource. KBXE’s 90.5 frequency is the last remaining noncommercial frequency that can serve the Bemidji area.

In all, 5 entities applied for this broadcast license. A settlement agreement allowed both the Unitarians and Leech Lake Reservation to squeeze in their proposed stations before Northern Community Radio purchased the construction permit. Leech Lake Reservation is building a tribal station that will broadcast at 90.1 FM. Its call sign is KOJB.

Northern Community Radio plans to build studios in Bemidji, although the location hasn’t been determined yet. At an initial gathering in Bemidji with about 80 KAXE members, those attending said locating downtown, building green, and including a performance space were important considerations. They also thought KBXE should be a mix of KAXE and locally originated content, that KBXE should air NPR programs, and that KBXE should have its own version of the Morning Show. Everyone wants to meet again in a month or two. New people are welcome to join the process at any time!

A committee is working now on a tower location. They are trying to determine if we can build a tower of if we should rent one, and where.

Another group is looking at studio location options. They are looking at land and buildings and talking about the pros and cons of locating with other organizations and building new versus renovating.

Yet another group will help raise the money to get the project done. The project will have to show significant community support before it will be able to get matching money from foundations or government agencies.

There is a lot more to do, including reaching out to more people in the Bagley area, but this is a start!

There is a deadline. KBXE has to be built and operational by March 23, 2012 or Northern Community Radio will lose its construction permit. The tower and transmission plant are high priority in getting the station on the air by the deadline. There are a lot of unknowns, but we think it will cost at least $1 million to build the tower, transmitter and studios, and possibly closer to $1.5 million.

Call or email KAXE/Northern Community Radio if you have ideas, want to sign up for a committee or would like more information: 218/326-1234 or kaxe@kaxe.org.