Author: Alfredo Casuso

media contact: 

David Perry / David Perry & Assoc, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@andresdavidperry-com
Brad Fuhr (323) 877-2020

KGAY 106.5 Radio Sold to Local LGBTQ+ Media Company 

Purchase of Popular Radio Station KGAY by Palm Springs Entrepeneur Ensures LGBTQ+ Ownership & Programming in Partnership with Gay Desert Guide

2 August 2021 – Palm Springs, CA:  Nearly three years ago, when radio veteran and founder of Gay Desert Guide Brad Fuhr helped launch KGAY 106.5, the airwaves and audience responded – big time!  Now, in a new agreement, Sunnylands Broadcasting has sold the popular franchise ensuring that “KGAY stays Gay”.   LGBTQ+ programming will be expanded with popular KGAY hosts returning to the airwaves today, Monday, August 2: John Taylor in the mornings and Chris Shebel in the afternoons. 

Fuhr is operating, then purchasing, the popular KGAY AM 1270 and FM 106.5 radio stations from Sunnylands Broadcasting, combining with his established digital and social brand, Gay Desert Guide. 

“Today’s audience accesses information and entertainment 24/7 across multiple platforms and with multiple devices. The new combination of KGAY Palm Springs and GayDesertGuide.LGBT meets that need, in real time, and in every medium”, said Fuhr, who is leading the two companies.

The new entity is organized as a California benefit corporation and provides multiple programming streams including the well-known and popular KGAYPalmSprings.com, AM 1270 and 106.5 FM music channel in addition to the #ILoveGayPalmSprings podcast.  Expanded programming will follow. The station will launch a new public service campaign called “KGAY Cares” for local non-profits. 

“KGAY should stay gay and this plan does just that,” said Greg Smith, co-owner of Sunnylands Broadcasting. “We have always been and remain committed to keeping the radio station in the ownership of an LGBTQ+ company. We are thrilled that the radio station will be operated by Brad  who is both an experienced broadcaster and a successful champion of the LGBTQ+ communities.

Understanding the challenge of reaching the LGBTQ+ audience, Fuhr and his team are taking an integrated approach to the new venture. The popular website and social media platforms GayDesertGuide and #ILoveGayPalmSprings will be re-integrated into KGAY radio for content, promotions and advertising plans.  

 Locally, KGAY entered the marketplace on Christmas Day 2018 with an immediate fan base. “KGAY has been remarkably successful” says Fuhr, noting that the station has worldwide listeners via its streaming platform and easy discovery as ‘K-GAY,’ the best call letters in the world.  “This will only expand and improve with new ownership and our integrated marketing plan.”

The station plays dance hits from the disco era to today.  Brand manager Chris Shebel originally concepted the dance hits format nationally.  He notes, “I was fortunate to be the first programmer of KGAY Palm Springs and I look forward to resuming that role. KGAY is a unique radio station with a strong role in our diverse Coachella valley communities. I’m excited to return to KGAY to oversee the music we play and help make our performers a strong part of the community.  Thanks to the current owners’ desire to keep the station in LGBTQ+ hands, we have an opportunity now to make KGAY a part of our communities for years to come.” Shebel will host afternoons on KGAY 106.5 Palm Springs.

With the highest concentration of LGBTQ+ residents in the USA, the Coachella Valley has proven that KGAY is a winning radio format. Add to it the nearly eight years of GayDesertGuide.LGBT being a top digital destination and the future bodes well. The new on-air, social media and digital platforms combine during a moment when Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley are emerging from the pandemic. 

The takeover was effective at midnight August 1, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the launch of MTV, which declared ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ with its first song.  Fuhr believes radio is still alive and kicking, and is happy to be returning to his roots, which started at his hometown radio station at age 15. This morning, the Coachella Valley is waking up to the new KGAY Palm Springs.

The station will be known as KGAY 106.5 Palm Springs and will provide the community with a daily take on what’s happening in the LGBTQ+ communities that it serves.  Gay Desert Guide is already known for its comprehensive coverage of news, events, attractions and tourist information through social media and its website. 

In the coming weeks, new content and features for the combined media portal will be launched, along with a full schedule of programming, all available online at www.GayDesertGuide.LGBT and KGAYPalmSprings.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Monday, August 2, 2021

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

MAYOR LONDON BREED AND SFMTA WELCOME CABLE CARS BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO

The SFMTA will run mock service and will solicit the public’s help and feedback ahead of the official return to revenue service

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) today welcomed back cable car service to San Francisco streets. Following the successful completion of operator training and mechanical inspections, the public is invited onboard to provide feedback on vehicle headways and customer experience during the month of August. Cable car revenue service will resume in September.

“I am so excited to announce that cable car service is starting back up today,” said Mayor London Breed. “Our cable cars are part of what makes San Francisco a world-class destination, and their return is just the latest sign that our city is bouncing back. I want to thank everyone at the SFMTA for their work during the pandemic to keep our transit system running and for everything they’ve done to bring back service in the City.”

Last March, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SFMTA temporarily halted cable car service as part of the City’s emergency response. This decision was made to best protect operators and the public. Muni resources were then shifted to a core network to serve essential workers and accommodate physical distancing on San Francisco’s most utilized lines. The result was the longest cable car shutdown in the system since the full system reconstruction in the 1980s, requiring significant work to reboot the system and bring it back better. Now, as the City shifts its focus to supporting economic recovery, locals, regional visitors, and tourists will see the triumphant homecoming of the cable cars and hear the iconic bells chiming from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf—and all of the backdrops in between.

Starting today, we will ask the public to help the agency roll out a soft launch of the system by riding the lines when cable car conductors are making stops and inviting passengers aboard for the duration of “mock service.” This mock service will be irregular, not following a particular schedule as the SFMTA works out the official rollout of the system. The SFMTA will not be collecting fares for cable car rides during the month of August in exchange for the public’s help riding the system.

“Our cable cars are a symbol of San Francisco and central to the city’s economic recovery,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “It’s a treat to work with the public during our mock service as we gear up to officially welcome back cable cars this fall.”

By early September, all three cable cars will resume revenue service: the Powell-Hyde, the Powell-Mason and the California lines. Service is planned to run from 7:00 a.m. until about 10:00 p.m., though cars returning to the cable car barn after 10:00 p.m. will continue to take riders to Chinatown.

Anyone interested in cable car service updates is encouraged to subscribe to text or e-mail updates for more information.

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Media Contact: David Perry & Assoc, Inc. / David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

Michael Costa MPP Named Executive Director for
California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A)

State’s Leading Voice on Aging Issues Led by 30 Year Veteran
on National and Local Stage

www.c4a.info

29 July 2021 – Sacramento, CA: The Board of the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A) has named Michael Costa MPP as the organization’s new Executive Director, succeeding the retiring Derrell Kelch in that role. Costa will begin full time in early August.

“Michael is joining us at a pivotal time and will build upon the strong success of the C4A in advocating for additional investments for older adults and people with disabilities.  With his experience we are in great hands,” said Victoria Jump,  President of C4A.

Costa has over 30 years’ experience developing and implementing products, programs and policies impacting older adults and other vulnerable populations. He has worked with Area Agencies on Aging, local Community Benefit Organizations, and state trade associations, helping them understand and respond to opportunities in an evolving market and regulatory environment. His accomplishments include  gaining coverage and payment from government and private payers for breakthrough drugs and medical technologies, evaluating opportunities for new healthcare/social service hybrids, and developing strategies and infrastructures integrating social and healthcare service provision.

“I’m excited to join C4A, ” said Costa, 69.  “I look forward to expanding the organization’s contributions to social and health policy development benefitting older adults and people with disabilities in California.”

In addition, Costa has served on a number of national and local committees and taskforces that developed and  implemented policies promoting equity, non-discrimination,  increased access, and affordability. Examples include the 2020 Biden Campaign Health Policy and LGBTQI+ policy committees, where he developed Long Term Services and Supports and LGBTQI+ policy recommendations, and the San Francisco LGBT+ Aging Policy Taskforce, where he served as Chair of the Health Care Subcommittee.

Costa has been Vice President and Practice Leader at Lash Group Healthcare Consultants; Vice President and Corporate Secretary of 3R Holdings, Inc.; Vice President of Account Management at RXCentric.com; Director at Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield; and Executive Director of Quintiles Transnational, Inc.   He has a BA from McGill University, an MA from Harvard, and an MPP in Health Economics and Policy Analysis from the University of Michigan, where he currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. 

In his role as Executive Director Costa will, in concert with the C4A Board and Executive Committee, evaluate the opportunities for C4A to continue to develop and grow as an active advocate for older adults and people with disabilities in California. C4A looks forward to establishing collaborative partnerships to respond to initiatives such as CalAIM, the State Master Plan on Aging, and various federal Medicare and Medicaid program and benefit proposals currently in development. It is the Board’s belief that Michael’s leadership, knowledge, and experience will be very instrumental in achieving these goals.

“As an association, Meals on Wheels California has previously drawn on Michael’s substantial expertise,” said Daryl Twerdahl, Meals on Wheels California Executive Director. “We look forward to working with him and C4A now to amplify our collaborative relationship to improve the lives of vulnerable populations in California.”

The California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A) (www.c4a.info) is a nonprofit organization representing California’s 33 area agencies on aging and is the leading voice on aging issues in California. C4A works closely with the Administration on Aging, the California Department of Aging, Department of Social Services, Department of Rehabilitation as well as key provider associations. C4A and its members administer programs that enable older Californians to live independently for as long as possible.  The purpose of C4A is to advocate on behalf of older persons, persons with disabilities, their caregivers and families, to provide leadership within the aging and disability communities, and promote a service delivery system that provides individual choice.  

Alive and Well: American Incendiary Populism 

by  J.D. Murphy

6 January 2021 meet 26 November 1933. This has happened before, and also, sanctioned by a chief executive.

Let’s review: The Oath of Office of the Congress of the United States:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

In stark relief in the attack by Mob Trump on the members of Congress, their staff, Vice President Pence, and the Capitol Police, it has never been reported or rumored that any Congressional oath of office taker physically opposed the breaching the Capitol building.  Genuinely terrified for their lives, all reportedly fled or hid, including the 147 Republicans who subsequently refused to confirm the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden. The Capitol Police were the oath of office surrogate against enemies domestic.

One may confidently assert that if the individual homes or businesses of Mob Trump were breached,  they would—likely absent reflection—use any means necessary to protect themselves and their property.

True to his word, President Trump orchestrated a protest in Washington, D.C. to coincide with the day Congress was to confirm 2020 Electoral College votes naming Joseph R. Biden President of the United States. Trump loftily proclaimed that he would march from the White House Ellipse to the Capitol building: “If you don’t fight, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Mob Trump embraced this statement as a mandate to physically interfere with the outcome of an allegedly rigged election of Joe Biden by personally confronting members of Congress after breaching the Capitol building. 

President Trump never walked the walk,  but instead retreated to the White House  to watch the attack on television for hours before being convinced by his family and staff to ask Mob Trump back off. 

Some 500 Mob Trump ideological mercenaries have been charged with assault that placed Capitol Police, members of Congress, their staff, and Vice President Pence in harm’s way. Mob Trump succeeded in delaying the vote to confirm Biden’s  presidency more than 13 hours after the attack on an authenticated democratic election result commenced.

As chief constitutional officer of the United States, former President Trump was the linchpin in the seditious assault on democracy. Trump’s incendiary populism has an ill-omened political precedent, the 1933 lynching of two white men, in what is now known as Silicon Valley, by a press-estimated mob of 10,000-15,000 men, women, and children. The roar of the lynch mob was audible ten miles away, a horror reprised by the roar of Mob Trump breaching this nation’s enduring symbol of democracy, our Capitol building in rabid pursuit of members of Congress and Vice President Pence. 

The 1933 lynching was also orchestrated by a Republican chief constitutional officer, California Governor, James “Sunny Jim” Rolph. Rolph became incensed when an attorney provided the life savings of the father of one of the accused kidnappers and murderers pleaded for the deployment the national guard. The local vigilance committee politically managing the lynching was overseen by a Republican attorney who helped elect Governor Rolph and the county sheriff who ran the jail where the accused were confined for a spurious arraignment that never took place, and barely provided symbolic resistance to the lynch mob.

Rolph not only refused to call out the national guard, but promised to pardon anyone convicted of the lynching. The accused, one severely brain damaged as a child still sleeping in the same room as a twenty-seven-year-old unemployed adult, the other, a twenty-nine-year-old married father two wholesale oil and gas salesman. The brain-damaged man was arrested 150 feet from the San Jose Police Department allegedly on a pay phone with the father of the kidnap and murder victim.

Exploiting, like President Trump, his chief constitutional role to incentivize the breaking of the law, Rolph’s public pardon proclamation was carried in both in print and on the radio throughout California the day of the lynching, attracting some 200 reporters and both still and newsreel photographers. A San Francisco newspaper doubled its circulation the day following the lynching, selling 1.2 million copies. Complicit in protecting the identity of the lynch mob members, faces in newspaper photographs of the lynch mob were editorially defaced.

Like members of Mob Trump enraged by transparently false claims that Joseph Biden’s election was stolen, members of the Silicon Valley mob genuinely believed that the two men accused of the kidnapping and murder of the Valley’s golden boy bound him, then threw him into the San Francisco Bay off a bridge, then attempted to extort ransom with the false promise that he would be returned home safely. Two weeks prior to the lynching, the sheriff and the F.B.I had verified two eyewitness accounts that placed the kidnap victim with five men one-half our following the kidnapping, but deliberately withheld the information.

Citizen rage engendered by transparent falsehoods endorsed by chief constitutional officers have no boundaries, while those taking an oath based upon the constitution are uncomfortably constrained by understandable physical self-preservation.

Congress is likely to have the opportunity to courageously exercise its oath given former President Trump’s continued exercise of his incendiary populist tropes. 

Murphy, is the author of “American Incendiary Populism”. He is a founder of the University of Phoenix authored an insider account of its formation and what transpired at the nation’s first accredited for-profit university after he resigned in 1997: “Mission Forsaken: The University of Phoenix Affair with Wall Street.”Subsequently, he wrote and produced the award-winning feature film, Valley of the Heart’s Delight based on the Republican politics of the 1933 San Jose lynching starring Pete Postlethwaite, Bruce McGill, and Gabriel Mann.

Media Contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

Manny’s Presents “What We Learned” Series of Discussions
at Iconic Mission District Venue July 28 – September 28, 2021
Live-in-Person Events Will Also Be Available Online in Virtual Component

www.welcometomannys.com

23 July 2021 – San Francisco, CA:  With a cautious but optimistically-forward looking perspective, Manny’s (www.welcometomannys.com) has announced its summer series of live / in-person programming at its iconic Mission District location (3092 16^th Street at Valencia, San Francisco) beginning July 28 and running through September 28 of this year.  The series will also be available, in real time, via a digital component / “Zoom.”  The schedule includes interactive conversations with civic, political, and cultural leaders around the Bay Area including San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed, SF Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton, SFSU President Mahoney, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts CEO Deborah Cullinan, SF Department of Public Health Director Grant Colfac, Department of Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinreid, City Controller Ben Rosenfeld, religious leaders, venue owners and more. The two-month series of in person talks at Manny’s is entitled “What We Learned” in which leaders from all aspects of civic life examine what we’ve learned so far from the last 15 months. 

“This is a series about looking forward,” said Manny Yekutiel, Manny’s founder. “These conversations are designed to provide a forum that is thorough, informative, and joyous. It is a way to stimulate dialogue from as many angles as possible so that we can move forward with understanding and strength. I can’t wait to dig into it all!” 

The full schedule follows:

7/29 @ 6:00 PM – What We Learned: The California Recovery w/ Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom Mayor Michael Tubbs

8/3 @ 7:00PM –  What We Learned: Emergency Preparedness with Dep. of Emergency Management Director Mary Ellen Carroll

8/4 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: Educational Institutions w/ SFSU President Lynn Mahoney & USF President Fitzgerald 

8/5 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: Universal Basic Income for Artists: Discussion w/ YBCA CEO Deborah Cullinan

8/5 @ 7:30PM – What We Learned: The Press with Newly Founded San Francisco Press Outlets

8/10 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: Homelessness with Director of Homelessness Services Shireen McSpadden

8/11 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: Our Transit Systems w/ SFMTA Chair Gwyneth Borden & BART Dir. Lateefah Simon

8/12 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: Climate and the Environment with Dep. of Environment Director Debbie Raphael

8/18 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: The Place of Physical Religious Sanctuaries in Society

8/26 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned About our Parks: Discussion w/ Recreation & Parks Manager Phil Ginsburg

8/26 @ 7:30PM – What We Learned: The Important of Live Music Venues 

9/15 @ 6:00PM – What We Learned: SF’S Finances w/ Controller Ben Rosenfield & Chief Economist Ted Egan

9/16 @ 6:30PM – What We Learned: Keeping SF Clean with Dep. of Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried

9/28 @ 6:30PM – What We Learned: Our Public Health System with Dep. of Public Health Director Grant Colfax

“As we look forward to the future we think it’s important to take a moment to dig into our learning – from the environment, to the budget, to our schools and religious sanctuaries, to our political institutions and parks,” said Yekutiel.  “This is the appropriate moment to take stock of what we learned and how to use those learning to inform the future.”

Since opening its doors on Election Night 2018, Manny’s has become an epicenter of community involvement, dialogue and civic engagement having served over 50,000 people, staged over 500 events, donated space to more than 150 area nonprofits and charities, and hosted 17 presidential candidates in his first year alone. Also, in addition to receiving much media and public attention, Manny’s was recognized for his above-and-beyond achievements by the California State Senate as “Small Business of the Year.” 

Manny’s is a people powered, community focused meeting and learning place in the heart of San Francisco that combines a restaurant, political bookshop, and civic events space. Manny’s goal: to create a central and affordable place to become a better informed and more involved citizen. Manny’s offers its events space to nonprofits, activists and civic organizations to spread their message and do their work as well as hosting its own civic and arts related programming. Manny’s kitchen is run by the non-profit, Farming Hope, which hires formerly homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals and trains them in the food skills needed to work in the restaurant industry.