Every year, WGRN 91.9FM radio commemorates their Earth Day Birthday to celebrate their first broadcast in April 2016. This year they partnered with WCRS 92.7/98.3FM community radio to hold a special celebration at El Vaquero with food, drinks, an awards ceremony and more.
The Earth Day Birthday celebration was held Saturday April 19 at the El Vaquero party room, 3230 Olentangy River Road
Awards recipients:
Producer of the Year:
Evan Davis, producer of "Conscious Voices" and "Your Music" and a long-time supporter of community radio in central Ohio.
Evan comes from a family of artists and social justice activists. His grandparents were charter members of the Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles, where his mother, folk singer Leslie Zak, was an occasional guest on the children's music show, Half Way Down The Stairs. As a child he attended numerous protests against the Viet Nam War, and would later organize protests in Columbus against the US war on Iraq.
In 1990 he became a participating artist/shop owner at the New York Renaissance Festival where he kept his radio tuned to Pacifica station WBAI and listened to Amy Goodman in the mornings when she was the news director there, and listened to the debut broadcast of Democracy Now. During the presidential campaign of 2000, Amy Goodman had a chance interview with then president Bill Clinton, who called in to WBAI unsolicited to give a campaign pitch. She asked him tough questions, as always and Clinton became audibly irate. Soon thereafter the Pacifica National Board appointed a Clinton ally, Mary Francis Berry as its chair, and she ushered in a number of Democratic Party donors from the Clinton camp to various administrative positions. Heavy censorship ensued throughout the network. Long standing programs hosted by radical Black and Latino/a and Jewish producers were cancelled or reduced and replaced by less challenging fare. Reporters with the national Pacifica Network News went on strike, leading to the cancellation of the broadcast. Those reporters founded an independent news agency called Free Speech Radio News, and Evan became their Ohio correspondent, covering labor and environmental news, election integrity, prison reform, and anti-free trade struggles until FSRN folded 17 years later, learning interviewing and broadcasting skills from experienced veteran reporters and audio engineers.
Also in 2000, Congress passed a bill opening up spaces on the FM dial for community-based low-power radio stations. Evan began working with fellow radio pioneer Ken Kraska to bring a Pacifica-affiliated LPFM station to Columbus, and after several years of hard work and difficult negotiations, WCRSlp was born, broadcasting just 5 hours a day at first. Evan began producing an eclectic music show, Your Music in those early months which is now the longest-running music program on community radio in the whole state. He also contributed to a fledgeling public affairs program called Conscious Voices, eventually becoming its executive producer.
WCRS broadcasts on two frequencies, 92.7 and 98.3 fm and the 98.3 fm transmitter and tower were located in Grandview at Evan's candle and pottery studio until 2023 when the tower was moved to its present site in Worthington. Evan helped launch a second community radio station, WGRNlp a few years after WCRS, which is operated by the Green Education Fund. Both stations carry both of Evan's programs today.
Volunteer of the Year:
Juanita Brown, producer of "The Pink Pill" and WGRN Board member.
Juanita Brown sits on the Board of the Central Ohio Green Education Fund (COGEF) that operates WGRN 91.9FM. She has been an activist for over 30 years. Previously, she worked in banking and was a manager of a small business.
Juanita created the feminist support group, Women Against The Beauty Deception. The group promoted women’s self-esteem to combat the culture's insistence on unrealistic images of beauty. They garnered a newspaper article as well as television appearances. Juanita gave presentations to the community pointing out how advertising portrays women – with unattainable ideas of beauty or as sexual objects.
Juanita was one of the first local producers on WGRN. For several years Juanita has been the host of the radio show, “The Pink Pill,” lately with her co-host Dr. Marilyn Howard. It currently airs on WGRN 91.9 FM discussing feminism, racism, politics, entertainment and current events. She is also a Free Press Board member and a volunteer for RESULTS (Raise Your Voice to End Poverty).
