Ideas from the Edge with Mike Beevers

1. Name:  Mike Beevers

2. title of your Show:  Ideas from the Edge

3. Broadcast Date and Time:  2:30  every other Friday

4. How long have you been on the air?  About 1 year   

5. What brought you to KFCF?  Listener to Kfcf since 78 KPFA since 72

6. Please give a brief description of your program.  Interview with authors and activists sometimes politicians

7. Who all are the players involved in putting things together?  Vic, myself and Rick Flores ( Rick had me on as a guest interviewer on his show for about a year once per month)

8. What are some issues that you have the opportunity to speak about on your program that you might not be able to elsewhere?  (Everything on the show is not well covered elsewhere,  the Iraq war, local politics, peak oil, China’s importance, the perspective of a Guantanamo guard, Interview with an Israeli soldier refusnik, etc etc.  there are many books completely outside the mainstream press coverage for example Jeremy Skahil was on CNN last night we interviewed himon his book about “Blackwater” almost 6 weeks ago.  Only because Blackwater has made recent news does his name even come up, yet the information in the book is vital to understanding the war in Iraq.

9. What are some memorable moments you’ve had as a programmer with the station?  Interviewing John Dean, presidential historian, author and Watergate whistle blower.  The man is a genius but affable.  Also,  I was one of the first wave of people to interview John Perkins after he wrote “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”.  Also amazing was Capt. James Yee, Chinese American Muslim who was a guard at Guantanamo, his story was horrifying and fascinating.

10. What are some strengths you feel you’ve developed in part due to hosting your own program?   I have learned to listen more and say the name of the station, interviewee, and program more often

11. Have you previously been involved in radio/communication’s If yes, when & where? I have been an amateur actor and member of the Valley Improvisational Players for 9 years, not radio experience

12. What are some of your favorite programs on the KPFA/KFCF airwaves?  Guns and butter, Democracy Now,  Local programs on the Environment Air politics.

13. What one word describes the feeling you have once you’ve just completed a show?  Sanctimony

14. What advice would you dispense to folks in the community who have something to say and feel they don’t have a venue in which to do it?  Try it, any idiot can do what I am doing.  In my case it is in fact my ignorance that makes a good interview.

15. Are there other Independent media outlets that you might encourage readers or listeners of your program to check out?  Yes, I would love more listeners or other media venues for the show.  I may not be that entertaining but the authors we interview have really fresh ideas you don’t get anywhere else.  Life is ideas, and the Bush administration will ban them if they could.