Years ago while at an international media conference in Arizona I suggested that an attendee from Norway come with me to visit Access Tucson. It was a lively Saturday afternoon and the former VFW building was full. A hip hop band was just winding up their recording session as a group of bell ringing seniors pulled on their white gloves for their turn in the studio. The hip hop cameraman told us he was staying on to help these “cool ladies” make their program. On the stairway we ran into a guy with a military uniform who was getting ready for his show, Veteran Jews for Jesus. Downstairs we watched a native program producer with a long black braid down his back edit his coverage of a local Pow Wow. We spoke with a woman lawyer who had finished a program giving legal advice for immigrants. The Norwegian professor had never seen anything like this. She was so impressed with these examples of democratic media that she asked the staff whether I had called ahead so they could create a PR set-up. The staff laughed and invited her to come back any day.I visited Tucson several times after that and I can vouch for their years of amazing work. Once Sol Maria and I stopped by on a road trip to NY from San Diego and we witnessed the set-up for an all night homeless program produced on the street across from the center. The center closed at 10 but the access staff left a long cable threaded across the street so the homeless show could operate live. The show even took phone calls via a pay phone outside the bar near their “set”. This photograph is from the next morning. Sol wanted to know if they really went on all night long so we left our motel at the crack of dawn and bought coffee and donuts and stopped by to see if they were still there. They were still on live and let Sol Maria do the "out-fro" for the show!
I just heard today that Access Tucson will close on May 31. This is a terrible loss- not just for Tucson, not just for the US, but for the world as a model of what democratic media can be.
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