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!hen Gina Micciulla first heard that
the radio station where she and her
partner, Rebecca Marshall, had built a
loyal following was unceremoniously
changing its format and firing all of the on-air
staff, she was stunned. “It’s the nature of the
business to follow the bottom line, but it was
unusual to change the format so quickly.”
Within 15 minutes, at high noon June 2,
KBBT-FM had become KVMX-FM. The
morning show trio that had been so involved
in the Portland community— including riding
on a float and serving as hosts during this year’s
gay pride parade— was history.
The outpouring of support for The Beat’s
Gina, Cort and Rebecca was amazing. “We got
over 1,000 e-mails from all sorts of people—
doctors, lawyers, construction workers, men,
women— all upset that we were fired. But that
doesn’t matter at the corporate level,” Gina
quips. “We won the popular vote, but corporate
won the Electoral College.”
Many people wondered whether the rela
tionship between Rebecca and Gina con
tributed to the firing. “No,” Gina says. “It was a
decision made in New York; the local manage
ment was behind us.”
She says she has no resentment or anger
because it happens all the time in radio. In
fact, they even immediately were offered a job
in another city but turned it down.
Gina calls it a “quality of life” decision.
They just love Portland.
She’s moved almost every two years since she’s
been in radio. "The biggest difference this time is
the fact that I am so involved in this community.”
And she is. She, Cort and Rebecca have
served as the hosts of tons of charity events and
still are doing so.
Turn the Beat around
Their future was already uncertain at this year’s pride parade in Portland
But her great passion, as many listeners
know, is pets. Gina even was written up in the
Wall Street Journal for being instrumental in
organizing the first-ever dog blood drive in the
country. “Portland has more pets per capita
than any other city in the U.S.,” she says.
She actually looks at being fired from the
radio station as a lucky opportunity to make a
real difference in the pet community. Lucky for
Portland pets and their people.
Gina actively has been looking to create
the first indoor/outdoor dog park in the city.
“I’ve found the perfect place; what we need
now are sponsors.”
She hopes to create a place where dogs can
run and play and where their people can social
ize, too. She envisions a park where, even in
had weather, folks can come and exercise their
dogs, meet each other and maybe learn a little
something about pet care.
She has her own Internet site,
www.ginaspets.com, a fabulous resource where
people can go to find out all sorts of cool
things like where to adopt pets, educational
training opportunities, pet health information
and the like. There are even links to help lost,
injured or displaced animals.
This is a valuable service because it’s a 24-
hour lost-and-found pet site. You can go there
any time of the day or night and post informa-
tion. It is in partnership with the Dog Nose
News, a publication for Portland pets and peo
ple and coincidentally another new lesbian-
owned business.
And Gina’s entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t end
there. For the past several months she has fol
lowed her heart and started her own dog-walking
business. Now, she is expanding even that.
She recently sealed a deal with Pups and
Cups Dog Wash and Cafe, located at 4516 N.E.
42nd Ave. She will be managing that business
and opening her own dog day care service in
the same building early next year. She will con
tinue to walk dogs while all this is going on.
“Pups and Cups is owned by my friends Lita
Monaghan and Eric Bergson,” Gina says. “I
actually told them about the idea when 1 was
planning to do it myself last year, so they took
the idea, with my blessing, and opened Pups
and Cups.
“I have been involved since the beginning,
but now it’s official. I am very excited and can’t
wait for our listeners who have become our
friends to come and hang out with me, drink
some coffee and wash their dogs. We offer self-
and full-service dog washes.
“This is the same place that we have obedi
ence classes on Monday nights. We will be
doing some exciting things at Pups and Cups,
like movie night, where you can bring your dog
in and hang out, drink, eat and watch movies.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca is back on radio and
has been doing the news for KXL-AM with co
host Brian Calvert. So despite the short-lived
radio silence, the Beat goes on for Gina and
Rebecca.
in
L y n n THOMAS is a Portland free-lance writer
and musician.
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