Radio Malibu KBU 97.5 — Malibu’s first and only radio station — just passed a major milestone: one year on the air and counting.
General Manager Hans Laetz took a few minutes out of one of his hectic 70-90 hour unpaid workweeks to talk about the hoops he has jumped through to bring quality 24/7 news and music programming to the city.
A lot has happened in KBU’s first year of operation.
“We got it on the air, we got the music where we want it, got the computers set up and got 12 community volunteer music shows launched,” Laetz explained. “This has gotten so much beyond just being ‘Hans’ radio station’ — it’s blooming like I hoped it would.
“It’s a fun station — it’s all about enjoying. I’m having the time of my life,” Laetz said. “I have people walking up to me at Pavilions because they recognize my voice. It’s so gratifying to see a car with a KBU sticker go down PCH, and I don’t know who they are. On social media, we get 1,200 people per day. But the message I want to put out there is it’s Malibu’s radio station, it’s not my radio station.”
It turns out that doing the weekday local news is way more time consuming than Laetz would’ve guessed.
“I thought I’d just be reading a few calendar items,” he said, but “people call me and send tips, tweets and messages on Facebook … I’ve got more news every morning than I can get on the air. There’s so much happening.”
Of the 12 community volunteer music shows that run on KBU each week (mainly in the evenings and on the weekends), 11 are produced by Malibu residents. The station saves money by not having a studio; Laetz runs the controls from home, and music show contributors stack up shows at their homes.
“That was Phase 1,” Laetz said. “With Phase 2, we’re getting ready to train people on how to do live shows from their own homes.”
Laetz can barely contain his enthusiasm when he talks about the shows.
“Bill Bixler is an awesome former Malibu High School music teacher who does a weekly Sunday night jazz show called ‘Bix Mix,’” Laetz said. “His wife Leslie is doing a two-hour blues show, and my daughter, Erin, is doing a Latin jazz show.”
KBU’s centerpiece program is “Come Together With Brooke Halpin and The Beatles.”
“Halpin lives in Malibu, is a world famous author on The Beatles, does lectures at universities and has been a guest on just about every Beatles show in the country,” Laetz explained. “’Come Together’ is now being picked up by public radio stations in five other states, and we hear from listeners all over the world.”
Halpin himself praised Laetz by saying, “Hans not only does so much for the community, but he recognizes that Malibu has a great pool of local talent.”
Laetz himself picks out the music that the station plays in between shows, news and the various PBS programs. He finds songs by subscribing to national music publications and following certain radio stations.
“The record labels have found us,” Laetz explained. “We’re making a name for ourselves in the alternative rock world — they hear about us from the labels and ask us to launch stuff.
“About once per month, I’ll play something just to rattle people’s cages, like Merle Haggard or mariachi music,” Laetz said with a laugh. “Some guy from Paradise Cove said he’d never listen to our station again after I played one of those.”
The station has had its share of technical challenges, and Laetz is pleased that the computers — nicknamed “Jaws,” “Godzilla” and “Mothra” by his programmers — are finally talking to each other.
Although the little-public-radio-station-that-could has followers from around the world, its over-the-air broadcasts from Trancas only reach radios in the western half of Malibu. Fortunately, it appears the Federal Communications Commission will permit KBU to install a signal booster that will kick radio reception up all the way to the Civic Center area in about six months. KBU has begun to fundraise for the booster.
“We’re starting to sell underwriting in the community — not advertising,” Laetz explained. “It’s a tax deductible donation where a business can support the station and we’ll return value by mentioning that business.”
No one at the station is getting paid a salary — all money goes toward expenses.
A complete listing of programs and schedule is available at kbu.fm.
