Daily Inspiration: Meet Calvin Worthen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Calvin Worthen.

Calvin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Desert Soul Media, Inc. is an educational non-profit ‘bridging the digital divide’ between access to and training on digital media equipment and software; and the intergenerational, underrepresented populations in the digital media arts industry. Our highest priorities are Black and African American youth, seniors, and families.

We are telling our stories, our way. As a trauma-informed organization, with care and prevention in our programming, we understand the needs of our target audience and their relationship with historical trauma. Our programming creates space for much-needed expression connecting individuals to resources for health and wellness, along with local businesses, services, and products. Black radio breaks racial barriers among listeners and draws a diversity of audiences to the sounds of Black and African American musicians, celebrations, culture, and creativity. It creates space for the keepers of the culture to commune, builds, and reaffirm Black culture to itself, for itself, by itself.

Our mission to restore and retain Black radio in Arizona is a history-making mission. There are more than 15,000 radio stations in the country and there are only 224 that are owned and operated by Black and African Americans. We are not going to talk about why the owner doesn’t reflect the population percentages, or about why Arizona lost its only station more than twenty years ago. What we are going to talk about today is the opportunity for us to create history, create; a space for a community to search and discover its own voice and create social change.

Desert Soul Media is in Phase Two of our strategic plan that began in the winter of 2020, check our Instagram to catch up. In this Phase, our goal is to maintain 3 years of operational funding to qualify for federal funds through the corporation for public broadcasting and we need more than $500,000 each year to operate our broadcast networks. In three years we can build our audience, and draw support from our listeners, along with local and national businesses.

We will serve as a beacon of culture and connectedness for the Black community across the state of Arizona. Some of the benefits that this station will bring to the valley and beyond are a source of information: to disseminate health messages to reduce disparities, to increase political participation and activism, and to create space as a promotional platform for Black and African American-owned businesses, products, and services. We need this… We need this more than we even know. And we need your help…

If you are a supporter of our culture, or ever did the nay-nay because you were feeling happy, even if you have affirmed yourself with a ‘we gone be alright’ because you didn’t want to worry about it anymore; know that these cultural expressions come from our struggle. Don’t just take part in our expressions, join us in our struggle. So, we is us again.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Access to capital. We were gifted an online radio station and the acquisition of our FCC application’s happened within 14 months and we grew faster than we had capacity. We initiated our campaign to restore Black radio to the Valley in December of 2020.

We were broadcasting by July 2022. The gifted online radio station included a studio suite and outdated broadcasting equipment. We have had to replace computers and some important broadcast equipment.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a Certified Trauma Support Specialist I host trauma-informed community workshops throughout the Valley.

I manage the Black and Historical Trauma Healing Project at Tanner Community Development Corporation hosting trauma informed workshops at Tanner Properties, and I perform locally and has been featured at the Black Theatre Troupe, Lunchtime theatre at the Herberger, Arizona Storytellers, Tempe Center for the Arts theater and the Arizona Talking Drum Studios. What sets me apart? I’m a culture keeper. My why is for us, for us to establish for ourselves Black culture and for us to maintain Black culture for posterity.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up in the church. I sang, danced, preached, prayed, and served until I didn’t. I learned more about myself and stepped away from the church, but I still minister threw the arts. I played sports in high school and college.

Contact Info:

• Website: listen2krdp.com
• Instagram: @krdp_radio
• Facebook: Facebook.com/krdpradio
• Twitter: @Krdp_radio
• Youtube: YouTube.com/@krdpcommunityradiojazz90.75
• Other: desertsoulmedia.org

Image Credits
A. Tray Salaam, Fabrice Beohourou, Darold “Cheeseburger” Bien-Aime, Tashema Oates, Calvin Worthen, and Floyd Alvin Galloway