Saving Black Radio In Arizona

In Arizona 2015, the Black and African Americans living here were in collaborative talks about starting our own public media outlet designed intentionally to be a space for Black and African Americans to share community news, share resources and sound off on issues of concern like racism in Maricopa. The need for our space to collaborate, and celebrate, and coordinate efforts to be Black and bold in Arizona is even greater than in 2015. 

In the US there are around 15,000 radio stations and around 230 are Black owned and Black serving. We are the only one in Arizona, broadcasting in the East Valley on 90.7FM since May of 2023. We have been that space to share community news resources and sound off on issues of concern. We’ve broadcast over 26,000 hours of community programming. Our programming features local artists, local businesses, youth, wellness practitioners and candidates in local races.

We have also had the challenge of galvanizing local businesses to support our efforts in the broadcast. Black businesses in Arizona are less than 3% of the businesses in the state. We are dependent on white owned businesses or other ethnic group businesses to exist and we don’t have nearly enough allies sponsoring us in this area to keep us in the Black. We haven’t had the budget for branded marketing or to promote on a billboard in our broadcast area so we use social media. 

In 2024 and in 2025 we were named Phoenix's Best Radio Station by The Phoenix New Times. Our broadcast even changed the landscape of public media. We became the only station airing Jazz in the state. We started to feel as if Black radio in Arizona was being recognized as a jewel of the desert. We were really riding high on the back to back Phoenix's New Time's Best Of and we were only looking up. Even after the cuts made to diversity equity and inclusion, the cuts to local Black serving grants and the cuts to the corporation for public broadcasting we faithfully kept in stride. 

In December of 2025 we were vandalized and had equipment stolen from our Desert Soul Creative Studios in downtown Phoenix. We were devastated. This community media center houses KRDP 90.7FM. The equipment loss disrupted our broadcast and media center service. The violation of our space dismembered our body of volunteers. Some said it didn’t feel safe anymore. When they left we lost important financial relationships as well. 

Since then we have exhausted our resources to restore our facility and we are ready to recruit new and invite those who strayed back to the media center to create. We need $300,000 of unrestricted funding to help us recover from this series of circumstances and maintain our broadcast service and media center. We have to sustain our upgrades with securing the facility, continue our broadcast service, maintain FCC compliance and hold training classes in the fall. Without your support we are left silent in Arizona with no Black owned or Black serving radio station in the state.

But, with your support we could translate our broadcast across the state. This year the FCC has opened translator applications and our platform audience could double or even triple before this filing windows closes. Increasing our public service audience increases our chances build a larger listener donor base. Having the audience as a stronger financial resource secures the future of our broadcast and gives supporters a sense of belonging. 

Desert Soul Creative Studios  is our public media center where education community voices and local journalism thrive. Inside the creative studios programmers get training and hands-on experience in the 13th-largest radio market in the nation. A market desperately  in need of diverse voices and accessible pathways into broadcasting. Our public media center is home to Radio Phoenix KRDP 90.7FM, the only full power Black led and Black serving radio station in Arizona. Desert Soul Creative Studios is the platform for local music and stories that might otherwise go unheard.

Your donation allows those songs and stories to be heard. Can you donate now to save Black Radio in Arizona.