SANTA CRUZ — For six years, KSQD has brought an eclectic mix of music and public affairs programming to the radio waves in the Monterey Bay area.
And just like any newly minted 6-year-old, KSQD will be celebrating with a big party. The station will be hosting its annual Squid Fest West birthday fundraiser concert March 15 at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, featuring live music, food and beverages, many silent auction prizes and an opportunity to continue supporting community radio.
Station Manager David Bean said KSQD formed out of a long line of community stations in the Monterey Bay area, starting with KLRB in Carmel and continuing with KAZU in Pacific Grove, which Bean said used to present a mix of music and talk like KSQD until it became an NPR affiliate primarily focused on news and talk.
“The Monterey Bay is actually pretty famous for its caliber of radio in the region,” he said.
However, the true predecessor of KSQD was KUSP, a Santa Cruz-based noncommercial station that hosted a mix of music and local programs from 1972 until its closure in 2016. In 2017, Central Coast Community Radio purchased the frequency at 90.7 FM which launched as KSQD in 2019 with a crowd of more than 50 people counting down in unison until the station went live.
Operated by Natural Bridges Media and funded through community support, KSQD hosts a variety of programming related to subjects like current events, politics, the environment, art and culture, LGBTQ+ issues, science and more. It also plays a wide-ranging mix of music, including genres like folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass, gospel, world music, classical and just about everything else. Starting in 2023, KSQD expanded to two additional frequencies at 89.5 and 89.7 FM that have allowed it to broadcast out of Monterey and Prunedale, respectively, and expand its reach throughout the Monterey Bay region.
Bean said Squid Fest West evolved out of annual birthday parties to raise funds for the station.
“The birthdays started at local venues in the area, and then a couple years ago, we started doing Squid Fest West at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz that just has a wonderful little theater that provides us the opportunity to present local musicians, and also run a silent auction,” he said.
Bean said board chair Rachel Goodman chooses artists to play the festival every year. This year’s lineup includes the local acoustic group Painted Mandolin Trio, the duo of Congolese singer Samba Ngo with Mali and Burkina Fasso griot Mandjou Koné, local Americana group Sharon Allen and The Dusty Boots, singer-songwriter Lucas Lawson, Canadian American married folk duo Dan and Laurel, and homegrown singer-songwriter Ginny Mitchell.
“All the music represents a potpourri of genres popular in the local community from Americana and folk to a little bit of rock, and then we’ve got international music represented,” said Bean. “All of those are the kinds of music that we play on KSQD and more.”
There will also be a bevy of silent auction items. These include a five-night stay in a Yosemite cabin, a two-night stay at the Carmel River Inn, a one-night stay at the Big Sur River Inn, a guitar repair and T-shirt courtesy of the House of Twang in Soquel, handmade silk kimono scarves by Jo Kenny, a case of habanero sauce from Two Dog Farm, a framed poster of an earthquake benefit concert signed by the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Graham Nash, six tickets to Felton Music Hall shows of the winning bidder’s choice, a shuttle for up to seven to the San José Mineta International Airport and more. Proceeds from the auction will support KSQD.
Bean said stations like KSQD provide a local voice for the Monterey Bay and create “a community of intellect and passion where people are presenting information that’s not available any place else.”
“You only get this at a listener-supported community station with volunteers that is not controlled by advertising,” he said. “We get no federal government money at all. We get very little corporate money, if any. It’s all individual patrons who donate. All of that put together, this is the kind of station that represents the people from the grassroots off the street in the community. That kind of voice is invaluable.”
Squid Fest West is 1 to 6 p.m. March 15 at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Tickets start at $28.52 and can be purchased at EventBrite.com. For more information, go to KSQD.org.