“Giving these girls…a place to go where positions of authority are exclusively held by women will boost their confidence and give them a safe place to ask hard questions about the sexism they encounter out in the world.”
-Julie Sabatier, producer of the KBOO program “DIY, Portland”
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I’m Aaron Henkin, host of the NPR Station Showcase with PRX. Each week this podcast highlights some of the innovative work that’s being produced locally at the hundreds of different public radio stations around the country. This week we’re turning our attention to Portland, Oregon, where KBOO producer Julie Sabatier broadcasts a monthly program called “DIY, Portland.” Julie recently spent some time at a rock and roll camp for girls. She survived the experience, eardrums in-tact, and here’s a bit of what she has to say about it…
What do you think this camp does for the girls that a co-ed rock camp might not?
This is something that the women who work there address really well in the piece; I think there’s something special that women create when they’re together that just can’t happen when men are there. And giving these girls, most of whom are probably in co-ed environments all day at school, a place to go where positions of authority are exclusively held by women will boost their confidence and give them a safe place to ask hard questions about the sexism they encounter out in the world.
When you were making this story, did you kind of start wishing that there was something like this around when you were a kid? Are you still thinking about going to one of the ‘Ladies Rock’ camps for grown-ups?
Yes. I totally did wish I had had something like this. I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t want to leave there. I went to an all-girls school and I think that has helped shape me in positive ways, but it would have been great to have a place where I was encouraged to be loud and have fun while learning an instrument at the same time. I don’t think I’m going to do the Ladies Rock weekend, though, because I don’t know anything about how to play drums, guitar or keyboard and one weekend probably wouldn’t be enough for me.
Did any of the kids at the camp know that you have a radio show? Did they hit you up for some air-play?
The kids understood that I was there from KBOO radio, but I don’t think many of them listen to the station. Since I don’t have a music show, I couldn’t really offer them any airplay beyond the piece I was working on, which is more of a narrative explanation. Interviewing kids was a new experience for me, though. They really wanted to talk, but then when I pointed the mic at them, they got sort of shy and giggly.
Let me ask you to tell us a bit about your radio background and your show on KBOO, “DIY Portland”…
I started volunteering at KBOO about 3 years ago. It’s one of the most established community stations in the country and I’ve learned a ton from the staff and volunteers that run the place. “DIY, Portland” is a monthly, half-hour show that I do there all about what I call “revolutionary do-it-yourself projects,” which is a really broad topic. I’ve been doing it for a little over a year and I’ve covered a lot of different kinds of stuff including arts and craft projects, open source software, zines and self-publishing, underground restaurants and over the summer I even did a show about a radio barn-raising with the Prometheus project, where people built a low-power station in Woodburn, Oregon in the course of a weekend. I’m a journalist by trade, so sometimes my DIY stuff spills over into that, too, but mostly it’s a chance to highlight cool stuff people are doing with limited resources to create the world they want to live in.
Julie Sabatier is the producer of “DIY, Portland,” which airs on the community radio station KBOO in Portland, Oregon. You can hear some complete episodes of Julie’s half-hour program online at the Public Radio Exchange. That’s where producers from around the world share their work. Log on, write your own reviews and help influence what ends up on the radio at www.prx.org.