By Anna Pier
KSVY (91.3FM), the Sonoma Valley’s own radio station, celebrated 22 years of serving the community with a grand all-day open house on April 1. Over 150 people, including radio hosts and guests, City Council members, and other interested community members visited the studio at 680 W. Napa. The parking lot adjacent hosted the Open House, from 10 AM to 6 PM, followed by a birthday party happy hour from 6 to 10 PM.
KSVY, plus SVTV (Channel 27 and 28), with all volunteer-run programming, has been licensed since 2016 to the nonprofit Sonoma Valley Community Communications. Officer of the Board of SVCC are President Steve Page, Vice-President Margarita Ramirez-Dalton, Secretary Yvonne Hall, and Treasurer Nate Lamar. Bob Taylor, currently Executive Director, has been with the station since 2007. Program Director and DJ is Ronny Joe Grooms. There are currently 70 hosts of weekly radio shows. Taylor said, “My favorite part about the annual Open House is the people who show up. There are a lot of smiles and shared experiences.”
KSVY played a critical role in maintaining communications in the Sonoma Valley during the horrific fires of 2017.
The station, which has always been a nonprofit, was launched in the spring of 2004 by Bill Hammett (photo), founder and executive director of the CommonBond Foundation (CBF), with a mission of “bridging the cultures of Sonoma.” After obtaining the license from the FCA through CBF, Hammett advertised in the Index-Tribune a meeting at the Community Center for people interested in presenting or being hosts on the new community radio station. At the meeting, 65 people signed up to have a show. Programming included two hours daily in Spanish. The station was located in a small house at 158 West Napa Street, with its studio overlooking the street, adjacent to the house which housed another community treasure founded following month in 2004 by Hammett, the Sonoma Valley Sun.
Hammett told the Sun he is very happy that both ventures he initiated, KSVY community radio and the independent community newspaper The Sun, “are, in a different guise, continuing and thriving.”
Photos by Anna Pier
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