After funding clawbacks, KRFC explores ‘The Vinyl Frontier’
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Friday listeners know him as “Grateful Steve. ” Saturday listeners know him as “Big Steve.”
Almost none know him as, “Wall Street Steve,” the Brooklyn-born Wall Street stock broker turned head shop worker,turned collectible baseball card broker who recently broadcast his 1,000th episode for KRFC 88.9 F.M. radio in Fort Collins.
“Music. Music is what ties it all together,” said Steve Weintraub, host of the Friday “The Vinyl Frontier” morning show for nearly 22 years.
“[KRFC] connects a wide range of community, and it’s all based on music,” Weintraub said.
The 22 year-old community radio station lost a planned $109,000 – about 15% of its operating budget – in Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant funding, part of the more than $1 billion pulled back in the Trump Administration’s rescission bill.
Yet “Big Grateful Steve” plans to keep on spinning the vinyl he loves.
“I still get that warm feeling whenever I’m playing vinyl. It is a richer, warmer sound than CDs or cassettes, God help me,” said Weintraub. He rolled his eyes.
Video: Chase McCleary, Rocky Mountain PBS
Justin Clapp, the Executive Director of KRFC, said the station was expecting and is prepared for the funding cuts.The station plans on supplementing lost revenue through community events and in future special performances.
“It’s definitely not cheap to run a radio station, a lot of that goes towards operations,” said Clapp.
Although KRFC has five paid staff and four part-timers, Clapp said it relies mostly on its 140 volunteers.
“But the biggest question mark heading forward is music licensing,” he said.
Radio stations are required to pay licensing fees for the music they broadcast. Stations will pay blanket fees to licensing organizations such as BMI and ASCAP, allowing DJs to select music from catalogues with millions of popular songs.
While pricing often varies based on the size and reach of a station, the costs can still add up to tens of thousands each year.
Historically, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting negotiated and paid for internet music licensing fees on behalf of public television and public radio stations like KRFC. These stations will now be responsible for those costs.
“Our mission is to support local Colorado artists,” said Clapp. He pointed to the “NoCo Flow,” the station’s commitment to play at least two Colorado artists every hour between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m, Monday through Friday.
“We don’t want to shut out any artist, no matter how big or how small they are, and this definitely could be something that affects radio stations with the amount of music they play and where they’re getting their music from,” he said.
Weintraub selects his music out of a bag with about 30 vinyl records, these chosen from his personal collection which numbers in the thousands. Delivered in his distinctive Brooklyn accent, Weintraub reads witty song introductions that he writes out by hand on a legal pad he keeps in front him. He occasionally mixes in the weather report.
Grateful Steve’s Friday morning show “The Vinyl Frontier” is soon to enter its 23rd year on the air. Video: Chase McCleary, Rocky Mountain PBS
His producing partner, Deni LaRue — a career radio professional, KRFC volunteer DJ (she hosts a number of KRFC shows, including the NoCo Flow Breakfast Blend and Locally Sourced Mondays, among others) and Weintraub’s wife of more than 40 years who he credits with launching his KRFC career — preps and places the vinyl on the studio’s dual turntables.
The couple were some of the station’s earliest DJs. Before KRFC, there was KCSU, a volunteer and student-run station based out of Colorado State University.
KCSU turned into a student-only operation in the late 90’s, and it took eight years for impassioned community members like LaRue to earn a license and launch KRFC in 2003.
More than 22 years later, LaRue and Weintraub continue to broadcast from the KRFC studios in The Music District of Fort Collins every Friday and Saturday. Neither plan on stopping anytime soon.
“[Radio] is personal. That’s what I like about it,” said LaRue.
“It’s so important these days to actually be connected to something and to be a part of something. That really fills a need in us as human beings, I think, and adds to our happiness and our health both.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.