Artist stories

For the special program during the KZSC Spring Pledge Drive, Betsy McNair came on to the show, Artists on Art, as the guest.  Betsy is a DJ for the KZSC music show, Breakfast in Bed.

Betsy is “multi-media” artist (this is my term) practicing cooking, book authoring, DJing, and Mexican tour guiding.  During our interview, she explains that even though she’s never picked up a pen or a paintbrush to make a picture she is an artist.  Her life practice is  her work of art.

Concerning cooking, she talked about mixing flavors together in a dish as an art form. Concerning DJing, we discussed the activist role of bringing women’s voices to the radio that generally mostly has male voices.  A great deal of our show was her sharing her art of djing.

Concerning Breakfast in Bed, Betsy is entering her 16th year of playing “women’s music for everyone”  every Sunday morning from 9am to noon.  She is a part of a collective that began 35 years ago here on the UCSC campus.  These women are safe to say that they are the longest running women’s music radio program in the world.  The show’s creation inspired by a UCSC class devoted to studying “women’s” music back in the early 70s. From that class, several women got together and started a radio show that was only “womyn’s” activist music.   Over the years, Breakfast in Bed has evolved to include music featuring male back-up musicians and softened the political bent.  As Betsy says, it’s not needed as much anymore.  Today maybe due in part by the internet and programs such as garageband, we have a plethora of music written and produced by women.  Hallelujah!