Sam Jasmine Settles In At KFAI

by Jeff Nygaard

The October issue of Access Press published a farewell to Martha Hage upon her departure from the weekly local radio show “Disabled and Proud:  It’s NOT an Oxymoron.”  Six months later, when asked how things are going so far, new host Sam Jasmine gives a simple answer:  “I really have enjoyed it!”

Regular listeners will know that although the job of hosting the show is new for Sam, she had long been the engineer for Disabled and Proud (DAP).  This has made the transition to hosting the show easier than it might have been.  Still, she said, “It’s more work than I expected.  In some ways it’s easier now; in some ways it’s harder.  One of the ways it’s easier is that there are fewer people to blame when there are screw-ups!”

Sam has long been interested in the airwaves, having studied in the field.  “I actually went to school in music education, then switched to broadcasting,” she said, adding, “I have NO idea why I did that!”  After toying with the idea of doing some commercial voice-over work, and then deciding against it, a friend told her about DAP and introduced her to Hage.  The rest is history.

Sam laughed when she remembered the rocky start to her stint as DAP’s engineer.  At the beginning of show’s existence, it was taped in the studio, then broadcast later.  At Sam’s very first session, a technical malfunction caused an entire taped show to disappear; they turned on the tape and there was nothing!  Faced with no alternative, she and Martha were forced to run the show live for the first time.  It went so well that the show has been run live ever since.

When Sam agreed to take over the hosting duties from founder Hage, she realized, as she put it, “I had to decide what the show meant to me.”  She decided that her “goal was to educate.”  There’s no doubt that DAP has served to educate both the disability community and the larger community about a wide range of issues.  “And,” Sam says, “I’ve learned a lot.  It makes me learn.”

Asked if she had a dream guest for the region’s only show by and about people with disabilities, she reflected and said, “If I could have anybody on the show, I’d like to have an actor or actress with a disability who has ‘made it’ on TV, and have them come on to talk with a nondisabled actor who has played a person with a disability on TV.”

Just a few months short of its ten-year anniversary on the air, “The Radio Show That Brings You Insights Into, Ideas about and Discussions of Disability Culture” seems set to continue the Tuesday night tradition of important programming started by Hage.  While the show will undoubtedly reflect the personality of its new host, Sam stresses that she sees the show first and foremost as a community resource, saying, “I don’t want it to be MY show—I want it to be theirs!”

DAP can be heard at 7:00 every Tuesday night on community radio station KFAI, found at 90.3 FM in Minneapolis and 106.7 FM in St. Paul.  Or, listen anytime on the Web at http://www.kfai.org/disable.htm.  Sam welcomes your story ideas, good thoughts, criticism or other feedback; call the station at 612-341-3144, extension 817.