After four years on the air as Malibu’s only radio station, the nonprofit KBUU-FM 99.1 now needs the community’s support.
KBUU was a major source of evacuation information during the Woolsey Fire tragedy. Live broadcasting continuously from 8:18 p.m. Nov. 8 through 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 9, KBUU literally stayed on the air until the lines burned up at 8:45 (the last half-hour was audio from KTLA. The station kept residents informed of the fire’s progress from the time it jumped the Ventura (101) Freeway at Agoura Hills until it crossed the Santa Monica Mountains and reached Malibu’s unincorporated areas, and continued to broadcast even after the entire city was told to evacuate at 7 a.m.
At the Casa Escobar “Concert for a Cause” fundraiser held last Friday night, Master of Ceremonies Brooke Halpin, a longtime local resident who does KBUU’s weekly radio show “Come Together with The Beatles,” explained that donors could give to victims of the fire through the Red Cross, or support KBUU at the event.
“KBUU is all volunteers,” he told the audience. “Nobody gets paid—we do it because we want to serve the local people. But KBUU has serious debts, some of which occurred because of the fire, and we need funding so we can continue to serve the local community seven days a week. We need about $25,000.”
“The morning of the fire, KBUU General Manager Hans Laetz, with help from Scott Tallal, was telling everybody what was going on with the fires and the evacuations,” Halpin continued.
Laetz confirmed in an interview that even though the main KBUU studio in his home didn’t burn, much of the outdoor transmission and relay equipment at various locations in and around Malibu did burn. Replacing that equipment “has drained all the money we’d been saving for this year’s annual costs, which include insurance, music rights, computer support, National Public Radio dues, etc.,” he said.
“We currently have to spend $120 per week for gasoline to run generators, which is an expense we didn’t have before the fire,” Laetz explained. “And we have to drive up a treacherous private dirt road with sharp turns at Rancho del Cielo both morning and afternoon to put gas in the generator.” In fact, it’s his wife, Station Manager Diane, who makes those hazardous trips most of the time.
Laetz also had to spend thousands of dollars to replace incinerated radio broadcast equipment, purchasing solar collectors, generators, batteries, routers, power rectifiers and other electrical equipment for remote sites.
“One of the problems is that right now we have just one of everything—one generator, one microphone, one transmitter. There’s no back-up, and if something breaks, we’re off the air,” he continued. “Long term, we need to buy more stuff. It’ll be at least three to six months until we get power back to the transmitters, and in the meantime, we’re looking at some solar options, but it costs nearly $12,000 for a large solar installation.”
Laetz said the station understood its needs were less pressing than those of people who lost houses.
“So many people in Malibu are in desperate need of financial aid that we only want to be everybody’s third-favorite charity right now,” he joked. “We don’t want to divert money away from those who really need it.”
Laetz praised Laura Espinoza-Lunden, a musician and songwriter with the band Lunden Reign, who also does a twice-weekly radio show on KBUU—the “Rock Radio Show.” Lunden utilized her years of local television news experience to provide continuous live reporting from various locations in and around Agoura Hills and Westlake Village to KBUU.
“She provided key intelligence on the night of the fire,” Laetz said. “She had information that the fire captains didn’t even seem to have and stayed on the air for six continuous hours, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.”
Lunden also organized the KBUU fundraiser at Casa Escobar, which included live performances by Lunden Reign plus performances by singer/songwriter “Allie” Gonino, best known for her acting roles in “The Lying Game” and “10 Things I Hate About You” on ABC-TV. Singer/songwriter/musician Colin Kyffin opened the evening. Laetz confirmed the evening raised $600 for the station, which covers the cost of operating the emergency generator for 21 days.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to KBUU can send a check to: KBUU, 6402 Surfside Way, Malibu, CA, 90265. Or donate via Paypal on the Radio Malibu 99.1 Facebook group or radiomalibu.net pages.
