Volunteer Spotlight January 2016: Diablo

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This month, we had a chance to interview Diablo, host of The Sacred Circle "TEMENOS", about his experience with KBOO and his love for community radio!

Diablo and Ellie D
1. Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised here in Portland, Oregon. I'm a single dad and Mental Health Clinician, working in the field for over 27 years, nearly 14 at my current clinic. An avid bike commuter, I ride to work each day from Portland up to Vancouver. I'm a Burner, part of the Oregon County Fair Family, and an active ride leader/organizer with Pedalpalooza. I grew up listening to KBOO, which was the only place back in the day, in the early 80s, where you could catch that old school Hip-Hop.
 
2. What's your favorite thing to do on a Saturday?
 
I work four 10 hour days, so Friday is kind of like my Saturday, so I like to sleep in a little bit (especially if I was on air until 3am the night before.) On actual Saturdays, I like to make breakfast with my daughter while listening to various podcasts, then go for a bike ride together — often down to our local library or along the river or to a park.
 
3. What has been your involvement in KBOO?
 
I went to a Volunteer Orientation in Fall of 2010 with my daughter after coming back from Burning Man where I had cut my teeth on radio at BMIR (Burning Man Information Radio) many years earlier. But only doing radio once a year wasn't enough, so I wanted to become involved with our local community radio station. I had recently injured my leg so it took me a while after that initial orientation to get fully involved. But once I did, we helped out with pledge drives and the Book and Record Sale and began taking all the classes that KBOO offered. I  got involved in the the News Department and the Engineering Work Group, where I helped out with live music and our remote broadcasts. My daughter Ellie joined the Youth Collective. About two years ago, I began helping Steve Bricker, the host of the the Roots of Rock & Roll, with his show since he was no longer able to load up his records on the turntable. A year and a half ago, a late night slot opened up on Thursdays (which worked out perfectly with my schedule since I didn't work on Fridays.) I submitted a show proposal and got it! I have been doing late night radio for the last year and a half on The Sacred Circle "TEMENOS" with Diablo. I've subbed a few times on one of my favorites shows on KBOO The Melting Pot with Takimba. I also began teaching the Introduction to Audio Production training this year.

I wrapped up the very first year of my show with a historic 5 hour live remote broadcast from What The Festival located on the other side of Mt. Hood near Dufur Oregon, KBOO's very first live broadcast in all our 47 years from an electronic music festival! It was a nice little cherry on top of my first year of programming on KBOO!
 
4. What have you learned? 
 
Whew! So much. I guess besides learning everything in all the classes KBOO offers, I've greatly improving my production and radio skills. I've also learned about all the great work KBOO is doing with ALL the incredible information and news I hear every morning on our broadcast of Democracy Now!, our Public Affairs programs, our evening news and our broadcast of Hard Knock Radio. I've learned just how valuable it is to be part of such a dedicated and creative community.
 
5. How does it help your family/community/etc/?
 
Obtaining this knowledge has allowed me to do radio with my daughter, like on her amazing piece she did with my mother (who has since passed away) about meeting JFK for the KBOO Youth Collective. And being able to bring in other community members, fellow DJs, Music Collectors, and live bands to share their music and passion with our listeners helps the community too.
 
6. Why is KBOO important?
 
It provides invaluable resources and knowledge for our community: information and music that is unavailable elsewhere. KBOO is a crucial counter point to the main stream media's dominance.
 
7. What else do you want people to know?