THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015
NORTH COAST
New owners of local radio station
want to include the community
What once was
Calcomm is
now KBGE,
‘The Bridge’
By ANDREW R. TONRY
For EO Media Group
SEASIDE — Perhaps, while
tuning your radio dial anywhere
from Manzanita to Long Beach,
Wash., you noticed Seaside’s 94.9
FM.
Or perhaps you didn’t.
For the past year 94.9 FM,
with a broadcast studio in down-
town Seaside and a 25,000-watt
transmitter on a hill nearby, has
essentially been running on au-
to-pilot.
The DJ was a computer. The
only time a human being was in
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ing live on the airwaves — was
maybe once-a-week, adding
songs to a playlist or performing
some FCC compliance.
Living in California, the sta-
tion’s owners didn’t spend a lot
of time in Seaside. Then, in 2013,
Cal Brady died, and his wife put
the station up for sale.
Seaside’s 94.9 FM was pur-
chased in an estate sale by Mark
Evans and his wife, Mickie Evans.
They closed the deal in January.
Mark Evans wears a shirt and tie
and has a cool, affable voice. He’s
been a part of in the industry for
decades, both on the air and off.
“I have been working for Clear
Channel radio for about 20 years,”
Evans said. Most recently, in San
Diego, he was a news director.
“Before that, my wife and I op-
erated a radio station in Temecula,
Calif.,” Evans said. “That’s where
we got the bug, originally. We’ve
been looking for the possibility to
run a station again, and this one
became available, so we searched
it out and ended up here.”
In January, after closing the
deal on 94.9FM, Evans and his
wife relocated to Seaside, plan-
ning to take a more hands-on ap-
proach.
“We are going to turn it back
into a community station,” Evans
said. “We want to provide news-
casts during the day. We want to
include the community on the air.
We want to bring people in.”
He also hoped to return closer
to his radio roots — focusing on
music instead of handling a small
segment of a conglomerate.
“Clear Channel has become
such a huge corporate company
it was hard to get anything done,”
said Evans. “It’s was suffocating.”
Running the newly dubbed
94.9 FM, KBGE, “The Bridge,”
presents a different obstacle.
“The biggest challenge we
have is to have people want to
take part and advertise on the sta-
tion,” said Evans. “That’s 100 per-
cent of the income of the station,
DQGLWLVVRPHWLPHVGLI¿FXOWWRJHW
people interested in advertising on
the radio.”
(YDQVGLVSOD\HGWKHRI¿FHDQG
broadcast studio in downtown
Seaside. It will remain in the same
location in the Gilbert District, on
WKHVHFRQGÀRRUDERYH7RUR6XVKL
“It will basically be a rock
station,” Evans said. “There are
different connotations of the rock
format. This one happens to be a
AAA station, which means new
rock, new artists and classic rock
cuts, too, mixed in with that.”
Evans stressed that KBGE
would feature more contempo-
rary than classic rock and that
blocks of Led Zepplin (known
Andrew R. Tonry Photo
Mark Evans, the new co-owner of Seaside’s radio station
94.9 FM, will be an on-air personality.
as “getting the Led out,” a staple
of classic rock radio) would be in
short supply.
“I’ve gotten the Led out so
many times I’m Led-less,” Evans,
said, laughing.
“But there’s a lot of new stuff
out there that really sounds good,”
he added. “The Steal is a new
band; they sound really good.
You’ve got Foster the People and
a number of new artists that have
really energized the music scene.”
“Right now my favorite
up and coming artist is Milky
Chance,” said Evans. “Nobody
knows who Milky Chance is, but
the record has been playing over
and over and over for the last sev-
eral months. They’re a band out
of Germany and they’re really
making a lot of noise right now.
‘Stolen Dance’ is the name of the
song, and that’s one of the tracks
we’ll be playing.”
In both music, presence and
community engagement, Evans
and 94.9 FM face an established,
well-loved and formidable pres-
ence in KMUN Coast Commu-
nity Radio.
He’s also running in the face of
growing trends like online stream-
ing.
“The thing with Spotify, Pan-
dora and all of those, it’s a jukebox”
Evans said. “You put your mouse
up and click it and you listen and
that’s it. You’re listening to the mu-
sic, but there’s no interaction.”
“And a lot of times people
want somebody there,” he added.
“Even if they’re just naming the
songs or giving you the time of
day or the weather forecast, peo-
ple sometimes just want a person
there. It’s like riding in a car with
someone.”
Evans allows that reinventing
and establishing KBGE’s place
in the community won’t happen
overnight.
“That can take years,” he said.
Nonetheless, Evans sees po-
tential in the station that was near-
ly left for dead.
“It was neglected,” he said of
94.9 FM. “And we saw an oppor-
tunity to maybe turn it around and
turn it into a fun station again.
“Which is what it was,” Evans
added. “Once upon a time.”
Sunset Empire Transportation seeks volunteers
By The Daily Astorian
The Sunset Empire Transpor-
tation District Board of Commis-
sioners is seeking volunteers from
Clatsop County who are registered
voters and would like to serve on the
District Budget Committee.
The Budget Committee in-
cludes seven district board mem-
bers and seven community mem-
bers who are appointed by the
board and serve a three-year term.
Three community member posi-
tions are open on the Budget Com-
mittee.
Budget Committee meetings
are held up to two times per year.
Those interested in serving are
asked to submit a letter of interest,
which can be emailed to jeff@
ridethebus.org, dropped off at the
Astoria Transit Center or mailed
to Sunset Empire Transportation
District, 900 Marine Drive, Asto-
ria, OR 97103.
For more information, contact
Executive Director Jeff Hazen
by phone at 503-861-5399 or by
email at jeff@ridethebus.org
In addition, Sunset Empire
Transportation District is seeking
public comment on sub-recipient
applications for the Federal 5310
Grant Program “Enhancing Mo-
bility for seniors and people with
disabilities” and the State Special
Transportation Funds (STF) “for
older adults and people with dis-
abilities.”
Sub-recipient applications
may be viewed at www.ridethe-
bus.org or copies of the applica-
tions are available at the Astoria
Transit Center.
Public comment on any of
the proposed projects may be
submitted in writing to Atten-
tion: Public Comment, 900
Marine Drive Astoria, Oregon
97103 or by email to pc@ride-
thebus.org
The public comment period
closes at 5 p.m. Friday.
Oral public comments will
also be heard at the special pub-
lic meeting of the Special Trans-
portation Fund Committee at
10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Asto-
ria Transit Center.
For more information or if
you need this information in an
alternative format, contact Elisa-
beth Pietila at 503-861-5372.
3A
Seaside Police installs
Barnett as lieutenant
By The Daily Astorian
Seaside Police Chief Dave
Ham announced Thursday the
promotion of Sgt. Steve Bar-
nett to lieutenant.
Barnett has more than 40
years of law enforcement ex-
perience, including the past
32 years with the Seaside Po-
lice Department. He served as
the department’s lead criminal
detective investigator for 17
years before returning to a pa-
trol sergeant position last sum-
mer, according to Ham.
Barnett found himself in
a lengthy legal dispute about
three years ago when he alleged
his First and 14th Amendment
rights were violated by Clatsop
County prosecutors and that
WKHGLVWULFWDWWRUQH\¶VRI¿FHLQ-
tentionally interfered with his
employment.
Oregon Care Partners is of-
fering no-cost caregiver training
classes on the Oregon Coast to
help family members and pro-
fessional health care workers
alike provide quality care for ag-
ing Oregonians. Paid and unpaid
caregivers, family members,
health care administrators, pub-
lic safety workers, social work-
ers, and members of the public
are encouraged to attend.
The schedule is as follows:
• Friday: “Medication Man-
agement in Older Adults Part 2:
Care Team Principles,” 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m., Bob Chisholm Com-
munity Center, 1225 Avenue A,
Seaside.
• March 4: “Living with Mid-
dle Stage Alzheimer’s — For
Caregivers,” 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Tillamook Adventist Church,
2610 First St., Tillamook.
• March 14: “Living with
Early Stage Alzheimer’s — For
Caregivers,” 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
Clatsop Community College,
Columbia Hall, Room 219,
1651 Lexington Ave., Astoria.
• April 18: “Living with
Middle Stage Alzheimer’s —
For Caregivers,” 9:30 a.m. to
3:30 p.m., Clatsop Commu-
nity College, Columbia Hall,
Room 219, 1651 Lexington
Ave., Astoria.
• May 16: “Living with Late
Stage Alzheimer’s — For Care-
givers,” 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Clat-
sop Community College, Co-
lumbia Hall, Room 219, 1651
Lexington Ave., Astoria.
To register for classes, go
to www.OregonCarePartners.
com. For information, call 800-
930-6851 or email info@ore-
goncarepartners.com
Astoria Yacht Club to host
seafood dinner Saturday
The Astoria Yacht Club
holds a seafood dinner at
6:30 p.m. Saturday for its
members and their guests
at the Yacht Club clubroom
at 300 Industry St., Suite
201. RSVP to Curt Yoder
at yodercu@gmail.com by
Wednesday.
The purpose of the yacht
club is to promote the sport
$39,680
-$2,000
-$500
-$3,292
of boating, provide facilities
for the use of members and
guests, and to host activities
contributing to the good of
the community in general,
and the boating community
in particular.
Anyone interested in be-
FRPLQJ D PHPEHU FDQ ¿QG
information at www.astoriay-
achtclub.com
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