For a small radio station, KFCF, with its unique and eclectic blend of offerings, has left a big footprint in Fresno throughout its 50 years of broadcasting in the Valley region. All the while, the station has promoted and championed local arts and artists from every creative endeavor you can imagine.
Now, the Fresno Arts Council has bestowed KFCF with its prestigious 2025 Horizon Award in recognition of the station as an outstanding arts business.
Nominating KFCF was GiGi Pavlovich, a volunteer and former board member. She is no stranger to the local artistic community, having been active for more than a quarter-century in Fresno’s vibrant theater scene as an actor, director and producer.
She had long recognized the station’s influence as a purveyor of local arts programming. In an elegant letter, Pavlovich summed up for the arts council why KFCF was deserving of their honor.
“Since 1975, KFCF, listener-supported community radio, has provided free, on-air coverage for artists, arts and cultural organizations, and arts events. The station has showcased the world of artists and art forms in Fresno including music, poetry, literature, theatre, mural arts, folk art, ethnic art and outsider art.
“KFCF and their program hosts have created an array of programs that seek out the diversity and depth of arts in the Central Valley. KFCF has always truly realized its core belief that the arts build connections that make our community more livable, compassionate and engaged.”
As president of KFCF’s board of directors, Mike Beevers’ reaction to the Horizon Award was “ecstatic and almost sanctimonious.”
“I’ve witnessed KFCF do amazing things with music, poetry and art,” said Beevers. “These include sponsoring organizations like the Fresno Poets Association with our nonprofit tax status, to on air interviews, to live music broadcasts and even partnerships with visual arts groups like Gallery 25.
“KFCF has been important to the arts in Fresno. The award is unarguably well deserved.”
Like others in the KFCF orbit, the connection for Beevers is deep, “extremely important to me personally. Over the 40 years I’ve been listening, KFCF arts programs have changed my life for the better, no question. And with community support, they continue to.”
KFCF grew out of the struggles for free expression and academic freedom at Fresno State College in the late 1960s. The Fresno Free College Foundation (FFCF) was founded as a platform to oppose the arbitrary and oppressive actions of the administration against professors and students.
Chemistry professor Alex Vavoulis was thinking ahead. He wanted Fresno to have access to the kind of politically progressive, arts-oriented programs that Pacifica Radio was broadcasting via KPFA in the Bay Area and KPFK in Los Angeles. The FFCF became the platform for KFCF to become the Valley’s first non-commercial broadcast medium.
From the beginning, the foundation and KFCF were involved in the local music and poetry world, broadcasting from their humble workplace, first in a trailer, then in a custom-made studio that station engineer Randy Stover built above his garage.
Most programming at first was from their Berkeley sister station KPFA, which provided a window on the world beyond the Valley. Meanwhile, KFCF added more locally produced shows. It was a powerful mix that developed a loyal listenership and kept growing.
Starting as an 18-year-old all-around volunteer from the station’s earliest days, Rych Withers was already a radio freak, having spent his youth listening to shortwave stations around the world and occasionally even catching Pacifica stations.
Working on engineering with Stover and on-air, he learned all the radio skill sets. Now he is KFCF general manager and chief engineer.
Withers emphasized the impact KFCF has made in promoting and supporting local arts. “KFCF has supported local artists and local performances over the years. We actually recorded and played the Fresno Philharmonic concerts when we went on the air, and have supported folk, jazz, blues, reggae, poets, spoken word and more over the years.
“We also have interviewed upcoming performers to promote their shows. When KFCF went on the air, it was many people’s first exposure to music outside the mainstream, and I think we helped those alternative musical styles to flourish in Fresno and the Valley.”
Although the station still faces financial challenges, as do many nonprofits, its reputation is on solid ground in the community, Pavlovich explained. “According to the latest Nielsen Survey, KFCF currently has an estimated monthly listenership of over 22,000 individuals. People engage with the station because of the relevant and dynamic programs.
“KFCF also assesses audience engagement through various metrics, including financial contributions from listeners, listener feedback, event attendance and, more recently, online streaming statistics. By all measures, KFCF has successfully and continuously reached a substantial audience in the Central Valley who appreciate and support the arts. Their audience is engaged and growing.”
Out of a total of 168 hours broadcast hours in a week, KFCF broadcasts music and arts programs for 115 hours, or 68% of KFCF’s airtime. Pavlovich emphasized that KFCF has done more than simply airing arts programs, it has bonded and supported artists and arts ventures of all kinds.
“KFCF’s show hosts, many of whom are artists themselves, seek out and regularly connect with local artists, poets [and] musicians to interview and promote their work and their events through regular weekly and monthly programs.
“The programs may include samples of the artist’s work, if music or poetry, or in-depth discussion of theater or painting a mural, for example. All shows focus on the artist’s unique perspective on their work, the art scene in the Fresno area, their influences, and the importance of art to the community.”
Community engagement is also part of the station’s larger commitment, Pavlovich observed. “KFCF is notable for what they produce on air, and in who produces it. KFCF’s show hosts, all volunteer, have long running, popular shows, and have gained large followings.”
And she noted KFCF is active beyond on the airwaves and on the street, “KFCF continuously co-sponsors events with arts groups through on-air publicity, emails to subscribers, social media, webpage presence and volunteer help at the event.
“Recent examples of co-sponsorship include Porchfest ’25 and collaborations with the Rogue Festival and the Fresno Film Festival.”
Those traditions and the station’s reach continue to grow stronger, Pavlovich stressed. “KFCF was awarded a City of Fresno, Measure P Grant to host a series of live performances featuring the diversity and range of talent in Fresno with singers, songwriters, poets and instrumentalists. The series of 11 concerts, KFCF’s Tower Live! was also simulcast on the air for each event.”
“We have done hundreds of live and locally recorded shows over the years.” Withers called to mind some of the radio station’s innovative programming adventures. “We have done live, original radio dramas, broadcast live music from the Olympic Tavern, the Wild Blue Yonder and around town.
“We broadcast Ken Kesey when he joined some local poets. One remote was from on top of Friant Dam. No one showed up. I’m proud of what we’ve done, and with all the equipment we got last year from a Measure P project grant we can continue with great live shows.”
The other 2025 Horizon Award recipients are Claudio Laso for the Artist Award, Ella Rutiaga for the Youth Award, Kehinde Solwazi for the Ella Odorfer Educator Award and Juan Felipe Herrera for the Legacy Award.
The presentation will take place at the 40th Annual Horizon Awards and Fresno Arts Council third annual State of the Arts event, scheduled for Oct. 19 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at The Grand (1401 Fulton St.) in downtown Fresno. Tickets are available through eventbright.com.
