When KBCZ 89.3 FM first signed on in 2015, few could have predicted the impact a small community radio station would have on the San Lorenzo Valley. What began as an ambitious idea from a handful of determined residents has grown into one of the area’s most trusted sources of information, local voices and community connection.
On July 23, staff, volunteers and supporters gathered to celebrate KBCZ’s 10th anniversary with pizza, memories and a Certificate of Recognition from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, honoring a decade of service to the mountain communities.
Although Pellerin was unable to attend because of an injury, her field representative, Lisette Jones, presented the certificate to Station Manager Tina Davey and the station’s volunteer DJs.
“Gail is on the air with Rosie Chalmers one Monday each month, and she really enjoys connecting with her constituents that way,” Jones said. “She shares what’s happening in Sacramento and how it affects the people of Santa Cruz County. We love celebrating local media, and Gail is a former journalist herself, so these kinds of awards are especially meaningful to her.”
For Davey, the recognition belongs to the dozens of volunteers who have filled the airwaves over the past decade.
But KBCZ almost never happened.
District Manager Hallie Greene of the Boulder Creek Recreation and Park District remembers when a small, determined group of community members approached the district with an unusual request: help create a radio station for Boulder Creek.
“It was kind of a rogue group of community members that came to the rec center asking us to support the endeavor,” Greene recalled. “At the time, it felt like a long shot.”
The original plan was to pursue a low-power FM license through the Federal Communications Commission, a highly competitive process with limited opportunities. Instead, circumstances aligned in an unexpected way, allowing the fledgling organization to purchase an existing station license — a fortunate turn that accelerated the dream.
Once the Recreation District board approved the purchase, enthusiasm was plentiful. Funding was not. A core group of volunteers immediately began fundraising and laying the groundwork, but Greene quickly realized passion alone wouldn’t sustain the station.
“Like a lot of nonprofit projects, if there’s not some organizational backing and at least one employee, it’s really difficult to keep something like this going,” Greene said.
The Recreation District made what Greene now considers one of its best investments by creating a paid station manager position and hiring Davey.
“I’m really lucky Tina stuck around this long,” Greene said. “She’s helped develop the rules, the culture and the direction of the station. It’s not easy to manage the technology, the programming and all the different personalities that come with community radio.”
Over the years, volunteer DJs have come and gone, but Davey has remained the steady hand at the helm, cultivating a station that reflects the unique character of the San Lorenzo Valley, and that uniqueness has only become more apparent with time.
Greene said that many small, non-commercial stations have replaced live personalities with automated programming or artificial intelligence.
“It really made me appreciate what we have,” Greene said. “To have real people in the studio, local personalities who know the community, especially with so little funding — that’s something special.”
The station’s eclectic mix of music, interviews, public affairs and local storytelling has become an extension of the community itself, and Greene believes that community radio represents a different kind of recreation than many people expect from a recreation district.
“People think of recreation as jogging or sports,” she said. “But connecting with people is recreation, too. Being a DJ, creating programs, sharing music — that’s another way people come together.”
That sense of connection became indispensable during the CZU Lightning Complex Fire in 2020. As evacuations spread across the San Lorenzo Valley and power, internet and phone service became unreliable, KBCZ became a lifeline. Volunteer DJs stayed on the air providing evacuation information, emergency updates and reassurance for anxious residents searching for reliable information.
Six years later, Greene said people still thank the station for what it did during those frightening weeks.
“I think that’s still one of the biggest things people remember,” she said.
Greene lost her own home in the fire, giving her a deeply personal understanding of what the broadcasts meant.
“It was such a huge experience for so many of us,” she said. “I’m proud that we’re now in an even better place to respond if something like that ever happens again.”
Today, KBCZ has established strong working relationships with local fire agencies, the Sheriff’s Office and Santa Cruz County emergency services, ensuring the station can once again serve as an essential communications hub when needed.
While emergency preparedness remains an important part of its mission, most days KBCZ is simply what it set out to be: a station where neighbors hear familiar voices, discover local musicians, learn about community events and stay connected to life in the valley.
Ten years after a handful of residents imagined what seemed like an unlikely dream, the station has become something few communities can claim — a truly local voice.
In an era increasingly dominated by algorithms, automation and syndicated programming, KBCZ continues to prove that there’s still something irreplaceable about hearing your neighbor behind the microphone.
“We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished, and we’re looking forward to the future,” Davey said.
