Fresno Is A Podcasting Hotbed

What's a podcast you say? Well, go check out What's A Podcast and come back.

Alright, hopefully you now know what a podcast is; now why not check out some Fresno related ones.

Here are some brief words on Fresno's current podcasts:

LIBATION
Fresno's newest podcast is the ultimate for music geeks. These folks have some massive knowledge about music, but not in an elitist way. Devoya and DJ Bradley are very accessible and pro's at broadcasting. And, they are lucky enough to have Ried May making the whole thing sound perfect. You're guaranteed to learn something new about music or a band. Even with all of the different forms of media today, there is still a void in intelligent music discussions and this podcast fills it. I would even like to hear them talk more about music and have them play less. Decide for yourself at Libation.

FLOWING WITH FAMOUS
Hosted with the snarky hipness of Jarah and Malcom and engineered by the moonlighting Ried. The podcast is a great extension of the Fresno Famous website. "Flowing" has topical Fresno related guests and they love to play cuts from local artists discs - and, on occasion, have them play live. Go to Flowing right now!

SOUND POLLUTION
Block some time, shoo the kids away and take in Fresno's most listened to (probably) podcast. Chris and Brad are the kingpins of local music. Apparently, they have the ability to get any local musician they want to appear; and Chris and Brad make it sound like they are best friends with them. A more focused show with guests playing live more would make for an ultimate Fresno musicians podcast, but then that would be less sound polluting. Listen up at Sound Pollution.

DORKTOWN
Plenty of Fresno References, F-Bombs, Mr. Rude talk, games and idiocy. X rated and setup similar to a radio show. Bells and Mikey are heavy into playing games and talking about Fresno watering holes. Occasionally they drift from Fresno topics and into the Hollywood and music world. These fools are rarely serious, often entertaining but sometimes boring. It's the only podcast for nerds and Armos. Download some shows at Dorktown . Don't worry, nerdness isn't transmitted through mp3 files.

AUDIBLE WIFFLE
Yep, you guessed it, a podcast about wiffleball. This one is only for hardcore wiffleball fans and alternative Fresno sports fans. It is hosted by the same folks as Dorktown with some Fresno Wiffleball League players thrown in for good measure.
Audible Wiffle

BUCK CITY
It's not in Fresno but it comes from the valley floor. Nick Belardes hosts an entertaining look at Bakersfield's creative scene. It's chock full of creative types, for guests. Go to
Buck City and find Nick's podcast along with two other's he's involved in: The Puck Show and Smalltown Girls.

Canal Paths

Every Fresno City Council member that wants to improve Fresno's central core, please step forward - not so fast Council Member Duncan.

Barely reported in local media was Tuesday's City Council approval of $250,000 in grant money to be used on a new canal trail. The planned trail would go from West and Ashlan to Manchester Center. The money will go towards acquiring land, environmental reports and construction.

This proposed canal trail is positive and needed step for Central and all of Fresno. I commend the Council for voting for it - I commend every one but Jerry Duncan.

I'm having a hard time finding out why he voted against it. Maybe because it's not even close to his District Six area - Why spend money on improving stuff that's not in North Fresno?

Too Many Conservative Watts

The recent hullabaloo about the undercover Fresno PD DUI sting revealed something unexpected: KMJ has too much power.

This isn't news to some but it may be something you haven't thought of before.

Fresno radio station KMJ reaches most of California and parts of neighboring states. In fact, while living in Phoenix, I was able to listen to it at night. But that's not the kind of "power" I'm worried about.

Ray Appleton and his callers (95% conservative - that's just a guesstament but I'll bet that's pretty accurate) put a stop to the undercover DUI stings - for the time being.

The day the Fresno Bee article came out revealing the details of the police sting, Appleton spent his whole two hours talking about it. He was against it as most of his callers were - me too, but who cares. Police Chief Jerry Dyer even called into the show to voice his concerns about the PD sting.

The next day the DUI sting was put back in the police liquor cabinet, citing the public's negative reaction, on Ray's show, to the sting. There was also similar reaction on Dale Julin's show, but, we all know whom is the king of radio in Fresno.

This kind of conservative talk show power is a little disconcerting. All it takes is two hours of conservative complaining and bye bye police-program-we-don't-like.

Southerners Get Some Checkpoint Relief

DUI crackdowns in North Fresno? NOW, we're upset.

For far too long, the drunk drivers in North Fresno have been ignored. Every weekend there's a checkpoint in central Fresno or Downtown, Tower District, Southwest, West Shaw, but never North of Herndon. How could all those affluent white people be driving drunk? Nobody's ever left Campania's sauced, right?

Party's over Northerners, you are being watched.

The Fresno Bee reported Wednesday that the Fresno P.D. recently conducted a sting at the popular North Fresno bar The Dirty Olive. An undercover Po' Po' would hang-out in the bar and follow drunks (in the officer's opinion) outside and watch them get into their cars. He would then LET THEM drive off drunk as he alerted his fellow officers what car they should pull over.

This has been all the talk around town today - somehow I don't think it would be if the sting was conducted from a strip club or a Mexican bar. But, since it was a Northerner bar, everybody's pissed.

I don't agree with this new Fresno P.D. method. It's an obvious cash grab. If they were really concerned about drunks getting behind the wheel, they would stop them before they drove off - but that wouldn't get them the $800 bones they charge for impounding a drunk drivers car.

I DO agree with them finally taking their nation leading drunk driving stings to North Fresno. It's time they too were afraid to have a couple beers with their dinner - just like us Southerners.