Dear Friends,
This week I’m asking you to support KDVS by visiting http://kdvs.org/give or calling 530 752-0728. If you call that number during the 5 p.m. hour on Wednesday, April 22, I can give you a shout out on the air.
When I teach classes, host faculty forums for UC Davis, or speak at open mics or storytelling festivals, I rarely write scripts. I like to perform without a net, discovering where a spoken paragraph is headed while I am still inside it. A phrase might lead to a memory, that memory to an insight, and that insight to another sentence. Sometimes the connections surprise even me.
Abraham Lincoln understood this concept well. In his 1850 “Notes for a Law Lecture,” Lincoln writes, “Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer’s avenue to the public.”
My most consistent avenue to the public has been my KDVS radio show, Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour. A public service of mine for more than 25 years (the show is the same age as my son, Jukie), DAPATH has aired more than 1,000 episodes, during which time I have interviewed over 2,000 guests. And I run these shows conversationally, focusing on listening and engaging with guests. With the exceptions of my interviews with Ralph Nader and Margaret Atwood, I don’t even write out interview questions ahead of time when preparing a show.
My KDVS fundraiser show is April 22nd at 5 p.m., and I could use your help. I am hoping to raise $500 for our campus and community radio station, a goal easily reachable with your help.
Please visit http://kdvs.org/give or call (530) 752-0728. If you call that number during the 5 p.m. hour on Wednesday, April 22, I can give you a shout out on the air.
Please consider these ten reasons to support the station.
- KDVS gives students and community members real broadcasting experience.
Students and community members learn announcing, interviewing, audio production, journalism, engineering, and programming in a live public setting, and with volunteer opportunities around the clock. - KDVS preserves truly independent radio.
Unlike algorithm-driven streaming platforms, or even your own smart speaker at home, KDVS allows human beings to make surprising, personal, and local programming choices. KDVS gives us all a chance to recognize and celebrate humanity and human programming choices. - KDVS exposes listeners to music they would never encounter elsewhere.
College and community radio give first breaks to important new artists long before commercial stations notice them. I’m sure you would rather make discoveries rather than make peace with the repetitive pablum presented by corporate radio stations. - KDVS strengthens Davis cultural life.
The station connects local musicians, writers, activists, artists, poets, and audiences. If you care about our community’s culture, you should support the outlet that platforms and amplifies the best part of that culture. - KDVS provides public-affairs and specialty programming commercial radio rarely airs.
Community voices, niche music, experimental shows, and underrepresented perspectives still find airtime. For example, I believe I host the only poetry and technology radio show in the nation. - KDVS creates continuity between the university and the broader community.
It serves both UC Davis and the surrounding region rather than functioning only as a campus outlet. Communities like that of Davis work best when town and gown share resources and opportunities. - KDVS supports curiosity and discovery.
Listeners tune in not merely for familiar content, but for surprise, experimentation, and serendipity. As Marcel Proust said, “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” - KDVS preserves a tradition of volunteer-driven broadcasting.
The station depends on people who care enough to make radio for reasons beyond profit. In hosting a public affairs radio show for 25 years, I have not made a single dime, even though the experience has profoundly enriched my life. - Financial donations to KDVS help maintain the practical infrastructure of broadcasting.
Equipment, licensing, streaming, archiving, and transmitter costs require ongoing financial support. We have a huge antenna about midway between north Davis and Woodland that requires upkeep and maintenance, an effort made possible by our donors. - Supporting KDVS helps preserve noncommercial public space.
In a fragmented media environment crowded with distractions, community radio KDVS still creates shared listening experiences.
Thanks for your support for my ongoing efforts to enrich our community with offbeat literary programming since the year 2000.
I think the rain is done for the day, so come sit outside at tonight’s Pub Quiz at Sudwerk! Expect 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on small words and small devils. Today’s pub quiz comes in at a svelte 856 words, two words lighter than last week.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: associations, Australians, astronomy, categories, comedians, commanders, conferences, country songs, devils, disasters, donkeys, dragons, dragons, echolocation, entertainers, executives, fairies, flatterers, footsteps, fuel pumps, Germans, governors, heavy metal, hospitals, irritations, Massachusetts polls, measurements, memories, mountain nations, mythology, National Poetry Month, Oscar nominees and winners, patents, peaks, phonies, physics, polymers, pronouns, quarterbacks, soles, sonnets, Spanish-speaking countries, superheroes, television personalities, textiles, thrills, Yankees, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.
We are now past 100 Patreon members, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Cathy, Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.
Best,
Dr. Andy
Trivia Questions from Last Week:
- The Hero’s Journey. The first of the 12 steps of the hero’s journey is The Call to Adventure. The second step is “The BLANK of the Call.” What R word fills in the blank.
- Taxes. What is the two-word term for the fixed amount that reduces your taxable income, effectively setting the floor below which most filers owe nothing?
- Sports. What NBA team, once home to Bob Lanier and Dave Bing, currently leads the Celtics, the Knicks, and the entire Eastern Conference with 60 wins?