Dan Krotz – One of the fun things I do at the Eureka Springs Independent is produce a weekly Internet radio program – a podcast – featuring local businesses, artists, and small-scale farmers. The show is the Ozark Radio Hour, and I spend most of my time on the program writing scripts and editing audio files. Once in a while, though, I get out and interview somebody. Earlier in the year, I got to talk with Eureka Janet Alexander about her work as a jewelry maker and her life as a long time Eureka Springs resident. Janet is such an ebullient, trash-talking artist-genius, that my spirits were lifted all week long.
I got interested in Internet radio when I investigated getting an FM radio license. An FM license didn’t cost much, about $10,000, but a Christian radio broadcaster in Springfield, Missouri, has a powerful transmission tower on a hill just outside of town, powerful enough to muffle and smother the small station I had in mind. The upside is that you can get Jesus 24/7, but you’ll need a computer, or telephone or car radio app, to listen to us.
The Ozark Radio Hour is hosted by local actor, activist, and business owner Richard Pille, and retired Circuit Judge and working attorney, Gerald Kent Crow. So far, they’ve kept their promise to inform most folks about what’s worth knowing, and to infuriate at least once listener each week.
The show’s Cultural Editor is author and publisher, Sharon Laborde. Sharon does all the real work on the program, and is joined by T. Racy Johnson, covering the local music scene, and Lee Mitchell, who pitches in with Holiday Island updates.
So far this year, the Radio Hour has featured Greg and Vicki Schneider at Railway Winery, the folks at Bear Creek Nursery, artists Drew Gentle and Stephen R. Feilbach, and many other talented and always local folks. This week, Sharon Laborde interviews author, and city alderwoman, Joyce Zeller.
If you’re interested in being on the radio, let me know here at the Independent, at info@ozarkradiohour.com, or stop me for a chat if you see me around town. I’m the fat guy in the “Karma Cafe” sweatshirt.