{"id":41814,"date":"2014-10-30T10:28:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T17:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/?p=41814"},"modified":"2014-11-11T16:21:41","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T23:21:41","slug":"pasadena-weekly-cover-story-invitation-to-an-uprising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/2014\/10\/30\/pasadena-weekly-cover-story-invitation-to-an-uprising\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasadena Weekly Cover Story: Invitation to an ‘Uprising’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Pasadena Weekly, Invitation to an ‘Uprising’: Sonali Kolhatkar brings her politically progressive morning radio show to television<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Waer 10\/30\/2014 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an uprising of a new kind occurring in Pasadena this fall. <\/p>\n

Thanks to a massive fundraising effort through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, KPFK\u2019s popular talk radio program \u201cUprising\u201d now airs on both radio and television. <\/p>\n

Their goal was to raise $60,000 in just 30 days. Not only did they meet the goal, they exceeded it for a total of just a few dollars shy of $62,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cUprising\u201d host Sonali Kolhatkar says the fundraising wasn\u2019t easy \u2014 she and her producer, Bipasha Shom, asked every family member, friend, former colleague and neighbor they could think of to help raise the money. <\/p>\n

Kolhatkar knows fundraising in the future won\u2019t get any easier, either, but she knows they can do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public media industry is in a funding crisis right now. It\u2019s unheard of that two people with such a small team could raise this much money, and in such a short period of time,\u201d Kolhatkar says.<\/p>\n

Although it may seem like a lot, Kolhatkar says money goes quickly in the world of television. \u201cSome laugh hysterically at how small our budget is,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the commercial world, that amount wouldn\u2019t be enough to hire one full-time person to hold a camera. But in public radio, it\u2019s a lot of money \u2014 we really stretch our dollars to the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Money raised will fund the show\u2019s start-up expenses and operations, including salaries for two sound engineers and TV equipment, such as cameras, lights, and a state-of-the-art audio mixer, which will allow the show to do live-to-tape recording. Half the funds will pay one person who is very experienced with the studio equipment to help Kolhatkar and her small team put the whole show together. <\/p>\n

For Kolhatkar, who is of Indian parentage and was born and raised in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, the expansion of \u201cUprising\u201d from radio into an additional television broadcast is very exciting, and more than she could have dreamed of early in her radio career.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bleeding Afghanistan\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Possessing degrees in physics, astronomy and astrophysics, Kolhatkar\u2019s journalism career took a less than conventional trajectory. While working at Caltech\u2019s Spitzer Science Center in the early 1990s, she learned about the plight of Afghan women and their struggle against the Taliban. Wanting to more actively make a difference in the world, Kolhatkar quit her lucrative career at Caltech and founded the nonprofit Afghan Women\u2019s Mission (AWM), providing support to Afghan women. Her involvement as AWM\u2019s director led to writing, as well as multiple national speaking engagements and media interviews. A friend suggested that Kolhatkar get a job at Pacifica Radio station KPFK, 90.7 FM. Kolhatkar auditioned for a host position at the station in 2002, and now, years later, hosts the station\u2019s popular drive-time morning talk show \u201cUprising,\u201d which she created in July 2003.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Kolhatkar, along with her husband James Ingalls, a Caltech astronomer, wrote \u201cBleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence,\u201d with a forward by fellow broadcaster David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio, a Boulder, Colorado-based syndicated weekly talk program.<\/p>\n

In the book, available on Amazon.com, Kolhatkar and Ingalls draw from declassified government documents and interviews with Afghan activists, lawyers, students and refugees to paint a disturbing picture of the country under American occupation. <\/p>\n

As described by Amazon, \u201c\u2018Bleeding Afghanistan\u2019 boldly critiques the exploitation of Afghan women to justify war by both conservatives and liberals, analyzes uncritical media coverage of US policies, and examines the ways in which the US benefits from being in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Need to See TV<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kolhatkar believes her experience with the hard sciences (and particularly cosmology, studying the origins of the universe) prepared her for a career in journalism by providing her with a deeper level of understanding about how things really work. She says her science background has served her well as a journalist. <\/p>\n

\u201cScience is about trying to understand how things work. That\u2019s journalism, too \u2014 it\u2019s uncovering why things are the way they are, learning about their origins. This approach has made me a better journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUprising,\u201d Kolhatkar says, offers a different, more realistic take on news, and a perspective people are seeking but haven\u2019t yet found in the white-male-dominated US news media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [\u2018Uprising\u2019] present ourselves differently. People need to see women of color, hear their perspective on topics. Then we are less likely to see one another as \u2018others\u2019 \u2014 as different from us,\u201d she says. \u201cThis sets us apart from most other things you see on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfiltered Voice<\/strong><\/p>\n

A natural beauty, Kolhatkar says maintenance of her personal on-camera appearance is not in the show\u2019s budget. The show, she says, has more important things to worry about than funding a hair and makeup person. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m by no means physically perfect. I know the pressures women face when on TV. But if we want to reflect real people, we need to look like real people. My hope is that people will pay more attention to what I am saying, which is what they do with male on-camera journalists. And if they don\u2019t, well, that\u2019s their problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kolhatkar says she landed at KPFK for very a specific reason.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was the only place on the radio dial that gave an unfiltered voice to the world \u2014 people who questioned what presidents and pundits say; people who understand that it\u2019s important to hear ordinary voices. And KPFK does that,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I would have walked in the door of anywhere else. Had there not been a KPFK, I wouldn\u2019t be a journalist today.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the first time a KPFK show has been turned into a TV broadcast. Only one other Pacifica program \u2014 \u201cDemocracy Now,\u201d with Amy Goodman \u2014 started as a radio show and now televises its radio broadcast on television. Kolhatkar says it was upon this model that \u201cUprising\u2019\u201ds TV program was built. <\/p>\n

Kolhatkar says she hopes the TV version of \u201cUprising\u201d will serve as an example of what a news show can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that somehow through this crazy attempt to broadcast a TV and radio show with such a tiny handful of people that we will make a dent in the media landscape. We bring lots of professors, investigators, researchers, but the kinds of questions we pose are usually rooted in the interest of ordinary Americans,\u201d she says. \u201cI hope people notice that and it\u2019s validated. If we\u2019re good enough, we\u2019re hoping viewers respond.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cUprising\u201d can be seen on Free Speech TV via Direct TV, Roku, and Dish Network. DISH Network Channel 9415, DIRECTV Channel 348,Burlington Telecom 122 and 200 part-time cable affiliates. It can also be heard at 90.7 FM from 8 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"Pasadena Weekly, Invitation to an ‘Uprising’: Sonali Kolhatkar brings her politically progressive morning radio show to television<\/em> By Rebecca Waer 10\/30\/2014 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an uprising of a new kind occurring in Pasadena this fall. Thanks to a massive fundraising effort through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, KPFK\u2019s popular talk radio program \u201cUprising\u201d now airs on both radio and television. Click here to read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-daily-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41984,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41814\/revisions\/41984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}