#50. Media Magic: Matt Knight on Access Humboldt’s Evolution, Community Impact, and Rock Legends

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, 100% Humboldt with my new best friend, Matt Knight. Hi, Matt.

Matt Knight: Hey, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's it going?

Matt Knight: It's going good. It's… Things have been crazy, but it's a good kind of crazy.

Scott Hammond: So usually you're on the other side of this asking the questions, so I'll, I'll be asking the questions today.

Matt Knight: Okay. And I'll be providing the answers.

Scott Hammond: Nice. There you go. Tell us, uh, tell us who you are and what you do.

Matt Knight: Uh, well, um, my name is Matt Knight and I work for Access Humboldt. I am the trainees- training and facilities coordinator. Is, or is it the f- facilities and training coordinator? Can never k- keep those two straight. And I'm also the station manager for our radio station, KZZH

Matt Knight: 96.7.

Scott Hammond: Wow. And you've been with them for?

Matt Knight: 12 years.

Scott Hammond: 12 years, wow.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So describe Access Humboldt for those that don't know it, although they've been watching it for 20 years.

Matt Knight: I hope so. Yeah, so-

Scott Hammond: Fif- maybe 15

Matt Knight: … Access Humboldt is a nonprofit media organization. We run four TV channels on the Suddenlink cable system.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Um, we… Our main reason for being is to broadcast, uh, public meetings, so we bring democracy, your democracy to you, uh, so you can participate and not have to get in your car and drive down to the, the supes chamber or Eureka City Council or Ferndale or, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, various boards and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … stuff like that. Um, in addition to that, we maintain a, uh, a studio where we teach people how to make their own

Matt Knight: content.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: So we, we, we do classes in podcasting and, um, a- and, uh, field video, uh, using field video gear. We have a television studio.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: Um, and we teach people how to do that so they can mount their own productions.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: And in addition to that, um… well, and I mentioned the radio station, KZZH.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: We run, we run a radio outlet. Um, and w- also very involved in broadband policy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Um, uh, Sean McCaughner, our director, is… That's kind of his area, but he's very involved in-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … universal access and broadband policy.

Scott Hammond: Which is a real big deal.

Matt Knight: It is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I remember when Suddenlink… It was Cox Cable-

Matt Knight: Yes

Scott Hammond: … cut the deal with, with Sean and the team-

Matt Knight: Yeah. Mm

Scott Hammond: … as part of their, uh… How does that work? So let's go back.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: It, it's probably 18, 20 years now, right?

Scott Hammond: Where-

Matt Knight: In 2006, I believe.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Um-

Scott Hammond: The Cox sisters were, uh… They owned the cable system, which is now

Scott Hammond: Suddenlink-

Matt Knight: Right

Scott Hammond: … which is now Optimum or…

Matt Knight: Well, the way it works is, is that, uh, in exchange for public right-of-ways, because w- that's what they were using to string their cables and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … their, their, their cables up and bring them into your house, um, they agreed to pay a certain amount from their cable franchise

Matt Knight: fees to Access Humboldt, uh, in order to, you know, broadcast these, um, uh, public meetings-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … and support our community media center.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: So lo- lo these many years, they're-

Scott Hammond: That's now what-

Matt Knight: Through-

Scott Hammond: … is it four channels?

Matt Knight: Four channels.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Matt Knight: Yeah. We've got, uh… Let's see. We've got, uh, Educate, channel eight.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Uh, then there's 10, uh, 11, and 12.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I, I, I watch them a lot and it's, it's, it's so cool to see what's going on at the Rio Dell City Council meetings.

Matt Knight: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wish we had a McKinleyville City Council meeting, but, well, hey, wait, we're not a

Scott Hammond: city yet.

Matt Knight: We're not a city yet, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: But, uh, there is a, um, public, uh, services district, though.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, MCST is up there.

Matt Knight: Yeah. So they, they haven't… I, I'm, I'm not sure what the requirements are. They may become below, below the threshold because all of these kind of districts I think are supposed to have some sort of public

Matt Knight: recording-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … available to the public. Some of them are better at doing that or not. But we've added a bunch.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Uh, Rio Dell. We've got Trinidad. We, you know, we've got, uh, the fire district up in Arcata. These, the, those are fairly recent adds.

Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.

Matt Knight: So a lot of people have gotten on board and-

Scott Hammond: Super local.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. What I like about what you have, so you've just recently moved from Eureka High last year or so. It's been-

Matt Knight: It's been, uh, two years now

Scott Hammond: … two years.

Matt Knight: We… It was July of 2022.

Scott Hammond: Wow. And you were at Eureka High, now you're at CR.

Matt Knight: We are at CR, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Let me show it to you on the map. Can I… It's right o- it's right over there.

Matt Knight: Gee. Okay, it's… Yeah.

Scott Hammond: South of Eureka.

Matt Knight: That's right. You're pointing right at it.

Scott Hammond: But the cool thing is that it's a very affordable, uh, entry for a, a layperson to come in and learn, and learn media, right?

Matt Knight: That's right, yeah. Well, you know, let's, let's face it, we all have a, a, you know, a, uh, studio in our pocket now.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Matt Knight: Our smartphones are-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … are movie, uh, video cameras, and a lot of them have editing capability. And I think what Access Humboldt provides is, is the expertise to make it look good-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … and to, um, you know, get your voice out there. And that's, you know, another one of our missions is really to… for people to have a place to express themselves. Now, of course, there's lots of other as- um, outlets now like YouTube

Matt Knight: and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … and what have you, but-

Scott Hammond: But you have the tech and the technology.

Matt Knight: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love that. So I could come in with, uh, my Huckleberry Flint show from last night with a bunch of random videos and download it and edit it up and-

Matt Knight: You could

Scott Hammond: … do a 30-minute program.

Matt Knight: We have editing stations, uh, for, for our members.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: So we are a member-driven organization.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: People become a member of Access Humboldt. We just, uh, came out with a new creator membership, which is a little bit more, but it includes all of the education.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: So that… You… We used to charge for that and, but now if you're a creator member, you get all of that for free. And the, the other thing that we did is we used to schedule. We'd have Saturday classes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: That's when you would come in, you'd get an orientation, you would take field certification.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: Uh, but now we've made an instant certification. So you can come in, instantly become a member-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … uh, get certified in the use of the equipment, and walk out the door with the equipment the same, the same day with it.

Scott Hammond: And, and go to work.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's got my renewal today. So it's 35 for that?

Matt Knight: 30.

Scott Hammond: 30. What a, what a easy price point.

Matt Knight: It's such a deal.

Scott Hammond: Yes. It's such a deal. So I could come in and learn to be a DJ on the, uh, as well on the radio station?

Matt Knight: Right. Well, the thing about us is that we do not do music.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So we're, uh… KZZH is basically a public affairs station.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So a lot of talking heads.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Um, we have, you know, so-Our idea is to get local people getting their voices out-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … doing podcasts like this, including your show, which we carry.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey.

Matt Knight: Uh, on-

Scott Hammond: Hey, there I am right now.

Matt Knight: There we are. You're on KZZH.

Scott Hammond: There she is. Yeah.

Matt Knight: Or you're on Channel 12, so you-

Scott Hammond: Oh, so it broadcast on radio too? I didn't know that.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hear that, Nick? And Nick never talks, so he, we, you couldn't hear him on the radio.

Matt Knight: Uh, we, we were talking before. He, I heard his voice.

Scott Hammond: Actually, he's upwards of t- one, a buck 80 in podcasts, so he's h- h- he's heard.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anyway.

Matt Knight: Yeah. So yeah, so that's Access Humboldt in a, in a nutshell,

Matt Knight: yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's so cool, man. I, I love it. So y- uh, you used to be an insurance agent.

Matt Knight: I, I did, yeah.

Scott Hammond: We talked about that.

Matt Knight: Oh.

Scott Hammond: What did you do? Tell us the Matt story. Where'd you come from, and what'd you do, and how'd you get here?

Matt Knight: Oh, wow. Okay. Boy, we're going back to the Jurassic Period now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Uh, yeah, I, you know, I'm from Southern California. I was born in Los Angeles, uh, in Queen of Angels Hospital. It doesn't get any more LA than that.

Matt Knight: But-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. What part of LA did you grow up in?

Matt Knight: I grew up in, actually, in the San Gabriel Valley in a town called Whittier-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … which is also known as Nixon's hometown.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right, right.

Matt Knight: So, uh, yeah, so, uh, grew up there. Um, you know, played in rock bands. I was a recording engineer.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: Um, and then at one point or another, needed to get legit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Uh, so, uh- … I got sh- I got shipped over to, uh, to England, to London, England, and I worked for a Lloyd's broker there for a year.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Matt Knight: So we did b- uh, deep water, blue water marine, um, um, oil platforms, um-

Scott Hammond: Lloyd's of London.

Matt Knight: L- for Lloyd's of London. We were Lloyd's brokers.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: And so, uh, did that for a year, came back and took a detour into the entertainment industry.

Scott Hammond: S- huh.

Matt Knight: Um, I worked for recording studios, uh, ran recording studios, um, played in bands. Uh, we played on the Sunset Strip. You know, we, um, we, we, you know, we were rock and rollers.

Matt Knight: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Matt Knight: … it was the New Wave era.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: So, you know, uh, there was that. And then I got married.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: And I really needed to get legit, so at that point-

Scott Hammond: So then

Matt Knight: … uh-

Scott Hammond: Packed up the guitar.

Matt Knight: … um, I, I, I went to work for a, a, uh, surplus lines broker in Pasadena, and-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: … things happened. As you know, in the insurance business, things happen, and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … uh, eventually winning, going, went into business with my dad.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: So my dad and I opened up something called Knightsbridge Insurance Services, and we had that for, oh, 15 years.

Scott Hammond: Is that here in Humboldt?

Matt Knight: It was, it started off in West Covina.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: But I decided, my wife and I decided when my first child came along that we wanted to get out of LA-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … and be in a rural community.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Uh, Whittier is very much like a rural community.

Scott Hammond: Is Whittier own- Orange County, technically?

Matt Knight: It's kind of right on the border.

Scott Hammond: It's right there, yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Um, and my wife grew up in Upstate New York-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Matt Knight: … and so she's very much loved the rural lifestyle. And so the nice thing about, at the time, the whole fax. Remember faxes?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: You know? Uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Matt Knight: … that was all blowing up. And email was just sort of starting to

Matt Knight: happen.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And so, uh, I could be in California. I could be anywhere in California. And so, uh, we looked all over the state and came to Humboldt County, and people were just so nice, and it was just so beautiful. And, uh, you know, we, you know, this is where we decided to land, so we-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … I opened up a, an office on 2nd Street.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: And I was there for 14 years.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: Next door to the Gallegos.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right, right, right.

Matt Knight: Joe and Paul, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Is he still around?

Matt Knight: He is.

Scott Hammond: I saw him somewhere.

Matt Knight: I haven't seen him in a while, but, uh, I, I, my spies tell me he's still, he's still out there.

Scott Hammond: He was the very first political ad we ever did for the Tri-City Weekly Newspaper.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So I worked for, for Ron at the Tri-City. Remember these things called newspapers?

Matt Knight: I do, yeah. They-

Scott Hammond: That were made out of print.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He was the first-

Matt Knight: If you had a bird- if you had a birdcage-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: … you probably know all about them.

Scott Hammond: Good one. Good one. I've never heard that one. The, uh, so he's the very first political ad that we'd ever ran-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in the paper for a, for a cover. So it was a, it was a, a decade of first, first, uh, uh, big, uh, casino ad that we had ever run, so it had always been, you know, more traditional Pearsons and things.

Matt Knight: Yeah, Joe and Paul are the, just the nicest people.

Matt Knight: They're-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, seems like a nice guy

Matt Knight: … super, super nice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Our friend Bill, uh, knows him well, and so, um, so what do you like about Humboldt?

Matt Knight: Um, I like the fact that there aren't 18 million people here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Um, that's, that's, that's probably number one on my list. Um, you know, living and working in Los Angeles, in the Los Angeles area-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, you spend your life on the freeway. Um, but just the natural beauty.

Matt Knight: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … you know, we live out in the sticks in, uh, in the Yokel River

Matt Knight: area, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … um, and, you know, we got trees and that we can hug.

Matt Knight: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … you know, it, it's, uh, it's-

Scott Hammond: They don't mind

Matt Knight: … you know, it's a good, it, it was a good place to raise our kids.

Scott Hammond: I bet. How far back, are you back as far as Headwaters?

Matt Knight: No, we're, uh, we're, we're on Bird. We're on the f- the first covered bridge.

Scott Hammond: Okay, gotcha.

Matt Knight: If you know the covered bridge.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Matt Knight: We're, we're, I won't say where.

Scott Hammond: Sure, yeah.

Matt Knight: But we're, we're, we're out there. In fact, I live, uh, which, which is so great about being at CR is I actually can walk to CR now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, do you go through the woods?

Matt Knight: I can walk down the hill to CR.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Matt Knight: Yeah. It takes exactly the same amount of time as it does to drive there.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: So it's, yeah, and I-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … and it's just a beautiful walk, and-

Scott Hammond: That's, so you're on the other side. Okay, gotcha.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Just above the center, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty neat. Oh, that's a great area down there. I heard you could, there's trails back there.

Matt Knight: There is, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We have a new trail system behind McKinleyville where we live. My wife's been hiking.

Matt Knight: Sure, the Hammond Trail.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, the Hammond Trail's down, uh, toward the ocean. This is on the Green Diamond property behind east of Central, so it's kind of a newer trail system. Um, so l- let's talk about some of the shows on Access.

Scott Hammond: So we got-

Matt Knight: Okay

Scott Hammond: … you got Ray and his brother. They do their shows, and you got Paul Bressoud and…

Matt Knight: Okay, well, I don't have anything to do with Ray Olson's show except-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … for being a big fan of his-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … because he is awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And him and his brother, him and his brother are awesome.

Scott Hammond: He's been a guest. He's, he's great.

Matt Knight: He has been, yeah. Um, he, yeah, so, uh, if you're talking about the shows that I produce-

Scott Hammond: I wanna hear about those too first

Matt Knight: O- okay, well, I, um-

Scott Hammond: You would know more about this

Matt Knight: … I, re- I, I kinda do, yeah. Um, well, as I was telling Nick, uh, before he came in, I, I pr- produce like a, you know, seven or eight shows.

Matt Knight: Um, uh, probably North Coast Journal Preview, which is a show that we produce with the editors of the North Coast Journal.

Scott Hammond: With, with Jen and-

Matt Knight: Jen and Thad, yep, and Kelby now. Kelby, our, um-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … weekly fellow.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: Um-

Scott Hammond: So she, does she kinda moderate that, or is-

Matt Knight: Well, well, Tanya Shrum is our host for that.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: And she's amazing. She's-

Scott Hammond: And I know Kelby a little bit.

Matt Knight: Yeah, Kelby's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah, he's, he's, he's great. He's, um, they've been working him in, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … to the show, and he's, he's really a, a super nice guy.

Scott Hammond: Who's the bald guy? Is that a different show with the glasses?

Matt Knight: Uh, that was, uh-

Scott Hammond: It's, is that a different-

Matt Knight: … Redwood Wonk.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: That is Redwood Wonk, so we're talking about David Frank.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Um, so I don't know if he wants to be described as the bald guy, but he-

Scott Hammond: Hey, man

Matt Knight: … we just did, uh-

Scott Hammond: Hey. You got another bald guy here. Fellow bald, David.

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Shine that-

Matt Knight: Yeah, we just did, uh-

Scott Hammond: Shine that thing

Matt Knight: … I just got through editing that show. Uh, we recorded it last night. I edited it this morning.

Scott Hammond: What's his background? Is he a attorney?

Matt Knight: He works for Inter News.

Scott Hammond: Okay, so he's at Arcata. Or wherever.

Matt Knight: Uh, right, and they're actually closing that office, so he's, he… But they've got- decided they're not doing offices anymore, as like a

Matt Knight: lot of, uh-

Scott Hammond: Go figure, yeah

Matt Knight: … organizations have done.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Matt Knight: But yeah, so he's worked for Inter News for quite a long time, and, uh, him and, uh, Eric Kirk, who I think you also know.

Scott Hammond: Kirk, yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Uh-

Scott Hammond: What a nice guy

Matt Knight: … he's been a guest on your show, I think, or-

Scott Hammond: Has he, yeah

Matt Knight: … been on a guest on Nick's show. I'm not sure which, which show we're talking about.

Scott Hammond: No, Eric was at a big encouragement to me early on, I think even when I wrote my

Scott Hammond: book. Um, I, I didn't know, but we made this c- nice connection. He's nice guy. He, he's in SoHum, or used to be.

Matt Knight: He… I'm not sure where his offices are, but he, I think he's located up in northern,

Matt Knight: m-

Scott Hammond: He may have moved

Matt Knight: … he's up here now.

Scott Hammond: He was, he was, uh, he is an attorney, right, or was?

Matt Knight: Right. Kirkhamer, Eves,

Matt Knight: LPs.

Scott Hammond: He's-

Matt Knight: I should know this 'cause they're underwriters of our-

Scott Hammond: He

Matt Knight: … of our Thursday night talk show, which is another show that I just did today.

Scott Hammond: Right. So let's talk about that.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So a couple of your shows. So, a- and it's you and the other guy that owns The Works. That's another show.

Matt Knight: That, that's a personal show.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So that's not something that's connected to Access Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: That's just something I, we do for fun.

Scott Hammond: So you're making it personal now.

Matt Knight: I am. I'm taking it personally.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you should.

Matt Knight: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Don't we all?

Matt Knight: Yeah, so, yeah, so we do the, the North Coast Journal-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … Redwood Wonk, which is a show about politics.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Uh, we do, um, kinda like a finger in a like socket r- lately, but, uh, it's still good. Um, Community Voices, which is the show a lot like this one that you have actually been a guest on. We've been doing that-

Scott Hammond: So with Paul

Matt Knight: … for about 10 years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Uh, started off with, uh, Jan Kreplin, then we had Dave

Matt Knight: Silverbrand-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … as host for five years, and then, uh, Paul Bersu is now our, our permanent host for that show, and he-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Matt Knight: … so we've been, we've been really blessed with talent on that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Matt Knight: I do a show called, uh, Radio Centro with Pueblo de Centro, Brenda Perez.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Uh, so that's a Spanish language show.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: Um-

Scott Hammond: Do you speak Spanish too?

Matt Knight: I do not.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: I, I, I kind of-

Scott Hammond: I don't

Matt Knight: … understand, uh, some of it.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Matt Knight: I understand enough of it to produce a Spanish language drea-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … uh, radio and TV show.

Scott Hammond: I don't know how I missed Spanish. Grew up Southern California, took all the Spanish classes-

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and managed to drop out and never, never really picked

Scott Hammond: up on it.

Matt Knight: I got As in Spanish and I c- you know, I, I'd be at a l- at a loss to carry on a conversation, but I can kinda figure out what people are talking about, so it's good enough to make a, a show.

Scott Hammond: Mucho gusto, amigo.

Matt Knight: Si.

Matt Knight: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Si

Matt Knight: … I was thinking of the Mel Blanc, uh, routine, but I won't get in, go into that. Um, and then we do a show called Focus on CR-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … which is, uh, about the staff, students, and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Matt Knight: … uh, faculty of CR.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And we need to get, kinda get back to that, but it's summertime, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … that's not happening. Um, and, you know, just various other things that we produce in the, in the, in the community.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Matt Knight: So one of the other things that Access Humboldt does is we work as a production

Matt Knight: company.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So for example, I just got through with a big project I was telling Nick, uh, 37 videos for the Humboldt Bay Symposium.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: So I just finished that project up.

Matt Knight: I got-

Scott Hammond: What is, what is that?

Matt Knight: Humboldt Bay Symposium is, um, it's, it's put on by, I'm gonna get the acronym wrong, I think it's SEAC.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Matt Knight: Um, and don't ask me what it stands for, but it's basically, uh, discussing, uh, issues having to do with the bay, and of course, wind power is a big issue now.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So they're talking about, uh, uh, s- things like sea level rise, wind

Matt Knight: power-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … um, you know, uh, ways to, you know, just make, make the bay a better place-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … and stuff, so very interesting. I've got my marine biologist education from editing this show.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Matt Knight: I'm telling you right off the bat.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: But a lot of really great information.

Matt Knight: Um-

Scott Hammond: That's quite a project too, right?

Matt Knight: It was-

Scott Hammond: Wind power

Matt Knight: … it was a huge project.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And I just got through doing something for, uh, the English as a second language for College of the Redwoods.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Matt Knight: And so I've got, I've got a couple of other things stacked up out, out there in the future as well. So I, I, you know, I'm there s- basically picking them up and putting them down all the time.

Scott Hammond: Are those billable hours, so we would hire you to come and-

Matt Knight: You would hire us

Scott Hammond: … produce a show?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Right.

Scott Hammond: I imagine you're pretty affordable.

Matt Knight: We are, yeah, we're affordable, and, uh, you know, we, we work exclusively with nonprofits.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: So we're not doing car commercials.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: You know, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … so, and we, we, we work to make it affordable for nonprofits-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … because of- of- often nonprofits just don't have a lot of ready cash, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Matt Knight: But, uh, so yeah, so that's been one of the other missions of Humboldt County-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … to been, to support the nonprofit community. We've done that through the productions. We've done that through, uh, using the, our radio outlet-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … and, you know, just highlighting-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … various, um, you know, nonprofit organizations.

Scott Hammond: See, we as Humboldt Heroes, the veterans organization, should have hired y'all for the last vet. He's a World War II vet.

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: He r- he led the parade at, in, in Normandy a few weeks ago.

Matt Knight: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: At the 80- 80th anniversary. He's just a really neat guy.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, George Mullins.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Super sharp. Came in uniform. I mean, this guy was like… hardcore World War II. Wonderful man

Matt Knight: And of course, we had you on about Humboldt Heroes for, on the-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Matt Knight: … in the Community Voices show.

Scott Hammond: Yep, yep. Yeah, so yeah, maybe we should look at that at some point. So tell me about the show with you and the guy from The Works, and-

Matt Knight: Okay

Scott Hammond: … you guys are always talking rock and roll, and that, that always interests me-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … as an old-

Matt Knight: It's, it's, yeah, it, it's not necessarily just rock and roll, although we, well, I think we both like rock and roll. But it, it, the show, the tagline for the show is, uh, Low Pass Filter is a show about music and what it means in our lives.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Do you pick-

Matt Knight: So-

Scott Hammond: … out a record or a band or?

Matt Knight: Basically, uh, well, I'll just give you an example of the last show, uh, was, uh, the title of the show was Songs That Make You Cry.

Scott Hammond: I, I think I saw that.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It was good.

Matt Knight: And so we, we, because we don't wanna get copyright strikes and all that kinda stuff, we don't actually play the music, but we do list things. So we'll, we'll talk about-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … specific songs and specific bands-

Scott Hammond: You could read lyrics

Matt Knight: … and genres and-

Scott Hammond: Can you sing it? Is that a copyright infringement?

Matt Knight: It might be. I don't know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's an infringement-

Matt Knight: It, it-

Scott Hammond: … for some of us to sing songs.

Matt Knight: Yeah. But yeah, it's a really enjoyable conversation. B- Bannon is just, is fabulous, and his, his knowledge is-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … way, way up there, of course, you know, being into that business.

Matt Knight: Um, so yeah, it's one of the fun things that I, uh, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … I don't get a lot of fun, so that, that's one funny-

Scott Hammond: That's the fun show

Matt Knight: … that's the fun show, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Matt Knight: I mean, they're all fun. I, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … uh, especially, uh, you know, like for example, North Coast Journal Preview is, is just a hoot because first of all, Jen Cahill, she's a hoot. And, uh, but they're just really nice and fun people to be with, and we always have fun discussions before and after the show and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're fun

Matt Knight: … and so, yeah, so it's kinda like a coffee klatch, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … or something. We, you know, we always, we're dishing and talking-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … talking, uh, you know, dirt on people and, and stuff like that, the stuff that doesn't make it on the air, you know, so.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. No, that's good. It's, so who films all the local meetings for, say, Trinidad City Council, Arcata, blah, blah, blah?

Matt Knight: It's done in a couple of different ways.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Um, we have operators that we employ.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Uh, we use a device called a TriCaster, which is basically a band in a box sort of production center.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: Uh, it's a video switcher, audio switcher. Um, and, uh, then we have what we call PTZ cameras, point, tilt, zoo- uh, zoom cameras.

Scott Hammond: So it's automated.

Matt Knight: It's not automated, but it's something you can control with a joystick.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So, uh, there-

Scott Hammond: On the spot or remotely?

Matt Knight: You can, actually both.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Matt Knight: Yeah. So, um, s- for, for things like the boards of, Board of Supervisors for Eureka City Council, uh, for Fortuna City Council, we actually have operators in the building.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: But for the some of the smaller jurisdictions, we operate the meetings remotely.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: So Jru- uh, Jrusha Wahome, who's our digital content manager-

Scott Hammond: She's terrific, by the way

Matt Knight: … she, she is, oh, man, uh, we would be lost without her. She, she is just-

Scott Hammond: Wanna shout out to her.

Matt Knight: Hi, Jrusha.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, she's amazing.

Matt Knight: Uh, but, uh, she often o- operates meetings

Matt Knight: remotely.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And, uh, also Juan Carrillo, who's, uh, who's been our production manager.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: He's kind of moving out of that role, but, uh, they a- he also will get into it. And some of the meetings are just a single camera.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Like, for example, Rio Dell, they just have a camera, and they or

Matt Knight: Zoom.

Scott Hammond: Just, just pointed at the-

Matt Knight: Yeah, pointed at the dais

Scott Hammond: … the board, yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah, to a pro- pointed it at the, at the board. And Zoom is also, you know, with the, uh, advent of COVID, and so that's one of the things that Access Humboldt did when COVID came along was, oh, we had all these public meetings that you couldn't hold.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Right? So they're like, "Well, how do we get our meetings onto line?" You

Matt Knight: know?

Scott Hammond: Zoom it is.

Matt Knight: And Zoom, Zoom ended up being it. Um, and then as we came out of COVID, then, uh, there was the whole, "Well, we, now we need it to be a hybrid meeting."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Matt Knight: Which means that some people are gonna come to the meeting.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: There'll be people in the room, but other people are gonna wanna participate.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Um, so Access Humboldt applied their, our expe-

Matt Knight: expertise-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … to, to making that happen for these jurisdictions.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So I can call in and participate in government.

Matt Knight: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Imagine that.

Matt Knight: Public comment, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. What, we finally did our first public comment on the We Are Up project a few months ago.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: It was fun.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah, it-

Scott Hammond: I actually left McKinleyville and went down to the chambers and-

Matt Knight: Sure, sure

Scott Hammond: … said stuff

Matt Knight: It's, it's, you know, it's your participary, uh, participatory democracy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: You know? So, uh, when you do that, when you go, and I think a lot of people don't realize that, uh, you know, this is a way of getting your voice heard. Some people do realize it, and they abuse it.

Matt Knight: But I mean-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … um, it's, it, and, uh, like what I, I tell people, uh, uh, I've often told people is, like, if you want, if you've got a message that you want to encapsulate-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … you can go down and, you know, as long as, I guess it's germane, uh, to what the board is talking about-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … you can go down, and it'll get recorded.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And you can go and go to ar- you know, Internet Archive and download that-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … and slice it up and put it on your Woo- YouTube channel or-

Scott Hammond: Whatever

Matt Knight: … send it to whoever you wanna-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … send it to. And, and it's a, a very cheap way of, of getting a production done, I guess.

Scott Hammond: I'm, I'm laughing to myself because there's a few key people that, that testify a

Scott Hammond: lot or-

Matt Knight: Yes, there are

Scott Hammond: … commentary.

Matt Knight: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Like the one guy.

Matt Knight: Kent-

Scott Hammond: You know the-

Matt Knight: Kent Sawatzky

Scott Hammond: … you know the one guy. Is that Kent? Is he-

Matt Knight: Hi, Kent

Scott Hammond: … he's, hey, Kent. Is he, he, is he the guy that's always sort of coaching the board and complimenting-

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … them, and he's-

Matt Knight: He's the consigliere, I think, yeah

Scott Hammond: … he's pr- he's pretty, uh, uh, what's that word?

Matt Knight: Consigliere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I like that. He, he's-

Matt Knight: Remember The Godfather?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he's that guy.

Matt Knight: Robert Duvall.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Matt Knight: He was, he was the consigliere.

Scott Hammond: And this guy who's really, he's kind of encouraging, and he-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … he applauds them, and then he, he'll chastise them a little bit.

Matt Knight: Then, yeah, then he'll…

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And then the anti-vax folks from, from way, from a ways

Scott Hammond: ago and-

Matt Knight: Yeah. I've kinda missed that. Well, s- my first job for Access Humboldt was covering the Board of Supervisors.

Scott Hammond: Okay, so you know-

Matt Knight: So I covered the Board of Supervisors-

Scott Hammond: Seen them all

Matt Knight: … for almost two years. So I sat in the room with a lot of these people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And, uh, you know, so I, you know, and that's a fascinating thing too is, is just to see, uh, the s- the supes work, uh, close up.

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: You, you know, youYou tend to look at people and they become sort of cartoon characters and that sort of thing, but when you see them in action and- They're real folks … you see them working, they do work hard. Yeah. You know, and, uh, I really appreciate that. It happens. We had- Yeah … uh, Natalie Arroyo on, uh, Thursday Night Talk today. Mm-hmm. We pre-recorded a show with Natalie and- Oh, sure do … Jared, Jared Huffman. Well, Natalie is a superstar. Mm-hmm. So she always does great. Mm-hmm. And of course, Jared Huffman is also a superstar, so he, he, he- The Energizer Bunny. Yeah. Yeah. And just, uh- Hey, Jared, what's up? This, this won't be out by the time this happens, but we, we ba- actually broke some national news on Thursday night Talk.

Matt Knight: Oh, really? So you'll just have to watch it to find out. You're not gonna share what that is right now? I'm not gonna share it on camera. I'll tell you afterwards. So st- today's Wednesday. Today is Thursday. Is it on tonight? Uh, it will be on tonight at 6:00 PM, yeah. Really? Yeah. Wow, I don't know if I'm gonna be home in time. Should- Right. Well, there's always YouTube. National, is that a first where you broke some news? I think so, yeah. What's he gonna run for? We usually break things, not news. Is he running for insurance commissioner? No, he's not. Okay. No. Yeah, I know that that was talked about. Really? Okay. It, it came up somewhere. Anyway, you know, what's cool about him is whether you like his politics or not, he's in Humboldt, he's involved. He does stuff. He gets crap done. He goes to auctions and he, he goes… I, I've never seen a guy so jacked up and excited about the role of the, the master auctioneer, you know, involving himself. Pretty cool. Yeah, we were talking about this a little before we started, but he is unflinching. He, uh, he is, he is a brave individual. Yeah. And I'm not endorsing him or anything else like that, but I, I, he- Certainly … I've known him, I, when I worked at KEYT-TV- Mm-hmm … 'cause I worked at KEYT-TV- Oh, that's right … for years, and, uh- The PBS station, Channel 13. The PBS station, Channel 13, you know, represent. One of the oldest… W- is it one of the oldest public broadcasting stations? I don't think it's one of the oldest, but it used to be one of the three smallest. Okay. And I think- That I, that I believe, yeah. Yeah. Uh, I think now they've, they've got a partnership with Chico, I think, so it's not- Yeah … no longer qualifies for that. St. Clair Adams, was he- St. Clair Adams … was he your boss? Yeah. No. St. Clair's not been at Ac- at KEYT- No, no, he's- … for years and years … is he, is he still living? I'm not sure. Did you work with him back in the day? I did work with him. Oh, he's legend. Because, see, I was a volunteer for 15 years before I went to work for them. What a nice man he was. It seems- He w- he's a, yeah, he was a very nice man, and Dave, who is no longer with us, was my neighbor for years. Oh, really? Okay. Dave Adams. Okay. So, uh, I know the family and I know his grandkids and all that kind of stuff, and yeah, then we had Ron Schoener. Mm-hmm. And then David something. Is- Is Paul Rex still there? Is it, he was involved with- No, Paul's gone. Yeah. Uh, Karen Barnes is gone. Okay. Um, yeah. Sam Green, uh, who, um, uh, is, I love, uh, was our, my director of production, still there. Wow. And, uh, he's, uh, all kinds of awesome, Sam. You rock. Wow. And, uh- Lot of shout-outs today. Hey, Sam. Yeah, we're doing… Boy, I'm name-dropping. I gotta- It's good. Boy. That's nothing wrong with that. Is that, is, is that wrong? Nick Flores is over there- Is that wrong? … the producer, folks. He's doing great. Hey, Nick.

Matt Knight: Uh, yeah. So, um, I, well, I forget where we were going with that. Um, I w- I was gonna backtrack it to- Uh- … the Board of Supervisors. Yes. Had Virginia on, on the show. Yes. She's great. I love Virginia. Terrific. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Steve Badrone, I didn't know Steve. Had some preconceived notions, as we all do, about people. Yeah. He, he blew me out of the water. He's great, great guy. Yeah, I've met him a couple times, but I didn't- Nice man … really know him, yeah. Yeah. And, and I saw demo- democracy in action with that planning committee as they took testimony and then they approved the We Are Up project in McKinleyville- Mm-hmm …

Matt Knight: which is, oh my gosh, it's gonna be awesome. But y- the, the panel there and the guy, uh, is it Levi? Is that his name? I'm, I'm trying to think of his name. He's the guy that heads the, uh… Anyway, it was fun to see that. Yeah. And, and- Absolutely … experience, like you said, when- The sausage, see the sausage being made. Right. When, and when you see the person- Yeah … you know, to know Pat- Oh, yeah … to know Patrick Cleary is, is, hey, Pat. Yeah. Um- Well, Patrick, I, you know, I nominally worked for Patrick because he was the, uh, um, he was the general manager for KSJU. Oh, right. So, uh, he, he stepped in after, uh, in sort of a tumultuous time and sort of straightened the radio station out, so, uh- Yeah … I worked with Patrick for, I don't know, three years. Let's go there. Not Patrick, but KSJU. Okay. Tell me about your, your history with those guys, 'cause KSJU was a really great, legendary college radio station. It really was. Yeah, um, well, I started in the late '90s. Um, I just started off as a volunteer. I was, did what they called a monitor shift. Hmm. And that was just putting a show on the air and reading the ID at the top of the hour. Huh. And then went there, from there to a show called, uh, Alternative Therapy- … which I did for 19 year- I think I remember that, actually. Yeah. Okay. And now I'm down to KMUD. Huh. So I do, I've done a show down- Same show? Same title? No, it's called, that show is called, uh, A Little Night Music in the Afternoon. Huh. And, uh, my radio name is Matteo Noche-

Matt Knight: … down there, so. Yeah, radio- I bet, I bet it is. It's just an opportunity for puns, basically. Uh, but yeah, KSJU was a, was a fantastic station and, uh, really a service to the community. Oh, boy. And, uh, I, I, I'm not shy about saying that the fact that, uh, the, the university gutted the station is criminal. Yeah. Um- Right up with the Lumberjacks football team. The Lumberjacks footb- uh, uh, Third Street Gallery, um, the nurses program, which they've kinda brought back, but it just seems like- Street Travis … anything having to do with public service, uh- … anything that's a benefit to the community, um, has just, uh, just gone by the wayside. Um, and this is just a function of, you know, uh, education as a business. Um- Yeah … it's all bottom line. Um- Sad … you know, people are m- making their careers and climbing the, the corporate ladder of, uh, education. Sure. And, uh, you know, they don't really care about the townies that much- Sure … anymore. So it's really sad because, I mean, that was a public service that people really appreciated. And supported, right? And supported. Yeah. And in turn supported the university for that, and I think they shot themselves in the foot by doing what they did. It was a win, win, win, win. Yeah. Did it pay for itself or was it expensive? Depends on who you ask. Yeah. Uh- Who's running that number? Well, yeah, yeah. So you know how the voodoo accounting goes, but, uh, you know, the-At ti- different times, they would say that it wasn't covering its own, um, uh, um, you know, expenses, but they do this thing called in kind, right? Where they, they, uh, kind of voodoo accounting where they say, "Well, we're, we're giving you this amount," you know, which you never actually

Matt Knight: see.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: It's just on paper.

Scott Hammond: It's rent.

Matt Knight: Right. And so,

Matt Knight: well, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So rent. Some of-

Matt Knight: Car rental.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: You know, um, electricity, overhead, the, the, the building or what have you. Um-

Scott Hammond: So they're inventing-

Matt Knight: Which they-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … was paid for back in the 1960s, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: So, uh-

Scott Hammond: Or before.

Matt Knight: So it, excuses were made and said that they weren't making, that we weren't covering our, our, uh, expenses, but I, I don't believe that was true.

Scott Hammond: The president was not Tom Jackson. It was the woman before.

Matt Knight: No, it was Lisa Rossbacher, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. She killed the football team too, right?

Matt Knight: Yes, she did.

Scott Hammond: Lumberjacks, man. Shout out to the Lumberjacks. Great football program for-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what, 80 years? I, I… They were around a long time.

Matt Knight: It, yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Scott Hammond: That was-

Matt Knight: But of course, we got CR.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: You know, represent. We have the CR football team, which is-

Scott Hammond: Of course, theirs are still playing.

Matt Knight: They have been doing fantastic.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: And in fact, KZZH, the first year back, we covered, uh, their football games, their home games.

Scott Hammond: You guys do-

Matt Knight: Up at, at, uh, Cal Poly Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Well, how, how about, do you guys do, um, Crabs games too?

Matt Knight: We do not do the Crabs.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Yeah, that is, uh, ESPN Radio.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Okay, yeah, they have a local contract-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … with those guys.

Matt Knight: Yeah, they do a great job. I know the guys that, that call the games, and they're

Matt Knight: fantastic.

Scott Hammond: All right, let's call some names out. Let's, let's do some name dropping. So Brooks Otis, he was great.

Matt Knight: Yes, Brooks Otis.

Scott Hammond: He was, o- owned Wildwood Music. Hey, Brooks, what's up?

Matt Knight: Yeah, fantastic.

Scott Hammond: Love him.

Matt Knight: Metal steel player.

Scott Hammond: What a cool guy.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So David Grisman walks into the store one day, the m- the fiddle, mandolin player, Bluegrass legend, and, and Brooks is fiddling with some things, and he looks up and he goes, "Well, hello, David." It was just like-

Matt Knight: Well, I bet-

Scott Hammond: … dead, deadpan

Matt Knight: … I've been in the audience at Center Arts when Grisman has called out, "Is Brooks Otis out there?"

Scott Hammond: Seriously, that's wonderful.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Here I am. That's great.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then Greg Devaney. We all knew Greg.

Matt Knight: Yeah, Vinnie, Vinnie Devaney.

Scott Hammond: Vinnie Devaney.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a great guy.

Matt Knight: His, his daughter, Nerily, uh, who used to appear on his show-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Matt Knight: … as a little, little girl, her and her sister-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … are now, uh, she's now running Humboldt Hot Air.

Scott Hammond: Okay, what's… Tell me what that is.

Matt Knight: Well, it's an internet radio station.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And in fact, they've got their, uh, their construction permit for a LPFM station.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Matt Knight: But they've been running a LPFM station with a lot of people from

Matt Knight: KHSU-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: … um-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Matt Knight: … doing music shows. So that's-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Matt Knight: … that's a music outlet.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. How about Alan Almsted?

Matt Knight: I haven't seen… I saw Alan in connection with a, uh, with a video project, but it's been a coup- couple years.

Scott Hammond: He used to do the radio show with the, the, uh, uh, f- Foggy Night Lights up in-

Matt Knight: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … Fairquite

Matt Knight: … that might've been before my time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he had a long, long-running show, I think.

Matt Knight: But yeah, you know, mentioned Gus Mozart, uh, Buck Calhoun, who calls the Crabs game, Tim Warner, uh, Halima the

Matt Knight: Dreamer.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: Uh, you know, there, there's, you know, it, the, the, this goes

Matt Knight: on and on.

Scott Hammond: And Lorna, right?

Matt Knight: Lorna, yeah.

Scott Hammond: She's w-

Matt Knight: Yeah, Lorna Ryan.

Scott Hammond: Just saw her.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, she was, uh, doing some DJ work the other night.

Matt Knight: Yes, she is. Yeah, she's a fabulous DJ, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we were at, at a, at a birthday party, and she said, "Scott, Scott Hammond, g- you're not allowed on the dance floor. You must leave the dance floor." And I go, "Who's… Is that you, God?"

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I went o- She's great. I love her.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: She's a sweetheart.

Matt Knight: Very nice.

Scott Hammond: So kind of a legendary cotillion of l- wonderful family of radio-

Matt Knight: Well, I mean-

Scott Hammond: … legendary

Matt Knight: … with a hybrid station, uh, I mean, we had NPR. We had local public affairs, which is one thing that KCH, uh, that KZZH has taken on.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: So things like, uh, Art Waves with Wendy Butler. We now do a show that also in conjunction with Humboldt Hot Air called Art

Matt Knight: Attitude.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Um, Eric Kirk, of course, did Thursday Night Talk, and we've taken on Thursday

Matt Knight: Night Talk.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: We do a community calendar. We, you know, so we-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … we've adopted a lot of the, the programming-

Scott Hammond: That's neat

Matt Knight: … um, Mad River Anthology, you know, so the poetry show and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Matt Knight: … so.

Scott Hammond: David Holper, yeah.

Matt Knight: I know David Holper, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Dave's been on S- yeah, he was on the show.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's been on TV several times.

Matt Knight: Yeah, yeah. Well, we used to be like, um, he was my daughter's soccer coach.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Matt Knight: So I, that's, I've, that's how I-

Scott Hammond: Small town.

Matt Knight: Yeah, so that's how I've known, I've known David Holper. But he's, he's done Community Voices, and he's, you know, done various things

Matt Knight: for us.

Scott Hammond: Was David Reed at KHSU when you were there?

Matt Knight: He was.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah, he's now at, uh, at, uh, Food for People.

Scott Hammond: Also been on the show.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's kinda weird. We know all the same people.

Matt Knight: I see him, I keep seeing him at the Crabs games.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Matt Knight: Yeah, I see him walking by. "Hey, David."

Scott Hammond: Hey, David.

Matt Knight: So but I haven't actually… There's a, a KHSU reunion coming

Matt Knight: up.

Scott Hammond: Oh, fun.

Matt Knight: So the engineer, Kevin Sanders, has organized a reunion in September. Uh, so I'm gonna get to see all these people that I haven't seen in a really long

Matt Knight: time.

Scott Hammond: So Gus Moz- Mozart, also known as, uh-

Matt Knight: Russ Cole

Scott Hammond: … Russ Cole-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, was doing the sound last night at Huckleberry Flint out at the Folklife Festival in Blue Lake, which was remarkable, and he's, uh, he's done a lot of shows for Bruce Cockburn, I guess.

Matt Knight: Yes, he-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … yeah. He's Bruce's sort of go-to road guy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I wonder if he did the sound for Bruce when he was here last. I bet you a nickel probably.

Scott Hammond: Who knows?

Matt Knight: I don't know. I haven't, like I said, I haven't talked to Russ in a while.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: He's not, he's not taking my calls anymore.

Scott Hammond: He's pretty, he's busy.

Matt Knight: If you're out there, Russ.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Russ. Call the, call the band. So Dick Taylor, those guys say that, that, uh, that Russ is the, the fifth band member, or I guess he'd be sixth, but-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … his sound, his sound is key to their sound.

Matt Knight: Yeah, he, consummate professional. He knows, he, he knows how to get things done.

Matt Knight: He-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … you know. Of course, he did Center Arts for years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: He was the sound guy for Center Arts for many years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And he and I w- we also worked on, um, The Nutcracker, so that was another thing I did. I-

Scott Hammond: So he was Center Arts, okay.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: For all those shows with everybody.

Matt Knight: Yeah, before Pablo, yeah, he was.

Scott Hammond: James Brown and Phoebe King.

Matt Knight: I don't know if he was there when James Brown was there, but that was a great show.

Scott Hammond: I bet it was fun.

Matt Knight: I, uh, that was an amazing show.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: And he died like six months later.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: So i- it was, it was-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Matt Knight: … it was like I'm, I'm glad I got to see that, uh-

Scott Hammond: So s- let's, let's go to music for a minute.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So-

Matt Knight: Let's go

Scott Hammond: … um, let's, let's, let's take you to the music world.

Matt Knight: All right.

Scott Hammond: You, what, what bands do you like locally that you feel comfortable calling out to go, you know, I, I am particularly in favor of the Abyssinth Quartet or, you know, who… Or are they a quintet? I'm not sure.

Matt Knight: Mm.

Scott Hammond: But who, who do you like w- that you, you'd feel comfortable shouting out, and then who's your, what are your go-to, um, uh, bands that you like personally growing up in the new wave-

Matt Knight: Uh, well, I'm just-

Scott Hammond: … era

Matt Knight: … going to, I'm just gonna profess my ignorance about, about the local music scene.

Scott Hammond: Okay, cool.

Matt Knight: I don't really know that much about it. I, you know, I, I am a guitar player, and I- I've just basically been woodshedding for years, you know, and I've been w- recently trying to break out of that, but, uh-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Matt Knight: … it hasn't worked out all that well. But, uh, so I don't really know, uh, a lot of the local bands that

Matt Knight: well.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Matt Knight: I mean, I, you know, I grew up in the '70s, and so I grew, went through the rock era, and I was a big prog

Matt Knight: fan.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: So I loved bands like Yes and Gentle Giant and all that kind of stuff.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. Oh, yeah.

Matt Knight: But somewhere along the lines, I think I got infected by the B-52's.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: So, and, so-

Scott Hammond: Who are really old now

Matt Knight: … they're really old now, but they're still fabulous.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they still play, right?

Matt Knight: They do.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And, um, as a recording engineer, I worked with a lot of acts that, uh, you know, that, in the punk scene. So I really got-

Scott Hammond: Oh, fun

Matt Knight: … involved in the punk scene, bands like the Angry Samoans and T.S.O.L.

Matt Knight: and-

Scott Hammond: Did you ever see The Ramones?

Matt Knight: I have seen The Ramones, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: In fact, I saw them with the B-52's.

Scott Hammond: How cool are you?

Matt Knight: Uh, I'm not-

Scott Hammond: That's really cool

Matt Knight: … I don't know. I, it was, I was cool enough to put my money up and buy the

Matt Knight: tickets.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: Uh-

Scott Hammond: What are, what are-

Matt Knight: So, so I kind of went into that, you know, sort of realm, and-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Matt Knight: … I was in a new wave band.

Matt Knight: So I-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Matt Knight: … I was a keyboard player, and I, you know, so we, we, we played new wave music 'cause it was the '80s, right?

Scott Hammond: Of course. It's LA. You have, what are you gonna do?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Uh, so I mean, since then I have very eclectic taste. I mean, I, I love jazz. I love classical music.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Matt Knight: Um, I have the show, as I mentioned, called, uh, oh, I already said what it was called, so I'm not gonna repeat it, but anyway-

Scott Hammond: Say it. You can call it out.

Matt Knight: Uh- So I mean, I, I like f- I like new things that sound old and old things that sound new, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … um, you know, I'll throw in some jazz. I'll throw in some country. Uh, it, you know, um, the only thing I don't really like is that Cookie Monster metal stuff.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Matt Knight: You know?

Scott Hammond: Rrr, rrr.

Matt Knight: You know? Uh-

Scott Hammond: Rammstein,

Scott Hammond: Rammstein?

Matt Knight: Rammstein, yeah. Uh, uh, maybe they're okay.

Scott Hammond: My kids like them.

Matt Knight: But, uh, uh, but yeah, I d- I, I just-

Scott Hammond: Slipknot, Slipknot

Matt Knight: … I don't really call that music, but, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … you know. I've been, you know what I've been listening to? I'm g- giving a shout-out to a local radio station-

Scott Hammond: Do it

Matt Knight: … which is The Lounge.

Scott Hammond: The Lounge?

Matt Knight: Yeah. Uh, Larry Trask-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, runs a great radio station called The Lounge,

Matt Knight: 94.1, and-

Scott Hammond: Is it part of Patrick's, uh, K- K, um-

Matt Knight: I don't know how pat- involved Patrick still is in LCCI. He, he probably is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: I just don't know. I-

Scott Hammond: They were bought out, I, I believe.

Matt Knight: Um, but this-

Scott Hammond: But-

Matt Knight: … is, like, uh, f- '40s, '50s, uh-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: … popular music.

Scott Hammond: What are they call, what, what's the, uh, the number on the dial?

Scott Hammond: 94?

Matt Knight: 94.1.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So I don't know why-

Scott Hammond: The Lounge

Matt Knight: … I know why I'm pumping, uh, other people's-

Scott Hammond: The Lounge

Matt Knight: … uh, radio stations.

Scott Hammond: It's fine. Yeah, that's-

Matt Knight: It's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it got me through the whole, uh, you know who administration, basically.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: So I, and I may need-

Scott Hammond: Re- Reagan?

Matt Knight: And I may need it again, so I- … the way things are looking. But, uh, but yeah, so we, you know, we're blessed in

Matt Knight: this county-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … with a lot of great media, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … and a lot of great radio stations.

Scott Hammond: And talent, and people that have ran it all.

Matt Knight: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I, I think, and you're a kind of purveyor of that. The, uh, saw The Ramones in '77 in, at San Diego State-

Matt Knight: Nice

Scott Hammond: … University, and it was listed as one of the top 10 shows in the history of San

Scott Hammond: Diego.

Matt Knight: Wow.

Scott Hammond: So you had Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, and I think The Stones came once or

Scott Hammond: twice.

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: But The Ramones show was right up in there 'cause it was at the beginning of slam

Scott Hammond: dancing.

Matt Knight: Sure.

Scott Hammond: And it was really quite a, quite an experience, uh, you know, drinking rum and slam dancing. It was really-

Matt Knight: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … a thing. You know, at 17, that's pretty fun.

Matt Knight: Yeah, I watched my wife disappear into the mosh pit at, at an X show.

Scott Hammond: Kinda scary.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Come back.

Matt Knight: She came back o- she, she got out w- fairly uninjured, but she, she, she was very much into it.

Scott Hammond: Somebody explain, you know Miles Cochran, right?

Matt Knight: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So Miles has been on the show, so shout, hey, Miles. And is he part of y- uh, of y'all?

Matt Knight: No.

Scott Hammond: He does his own thing.

Matt Knight: He works at Caltrans.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, but his, on his radio, uh, this week-

Matt Knight: We do carry-

Scott Hammond: Last week I know Miles

Matt Knight: … Caltrans District 1, uh, in our news block that we do-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Matt Knight: … at noon and 5:00 PM on KZZH if you wanna hear some local news. Um, so we, we do carry the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … um, a Manny Machado has been doing it since then-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … who you might remember is a sports guy.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. I know Manny.

Matt Knight: Uh, um, so he works for Caltrans. I think he's been recording those lately.

Matt Knight: But, uh-

Scott Hammond: This is like-

Matt Knight: … Miles is awesome. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … we're gonna call this the shout-out show, I think.

Matt Knight: It is.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Manny, what's up?

Matt Knight: Who else can we name?

Scott Hammond: Hey, Miles. What's up?

Matt Knight: Who else can we name check?

Scott Hammond: Patrick Cleary. Uh, wait, we did that. So The Ramones is on that list.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Also, the Grateful Dead, they did a show at Civic Center, downtown San Diego, that was apparently remarkable and remembered.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And somebody put them on a list.

Matt Knight: I am not a huge Dead fan.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Just gonna-

Scott Hammond: But Yes was cool

Matt Knight: … I'm just gonna-

Scott Hammond: Saw Yes in San Diego.

Matt Knight: I saw Yes many times.

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh.

Matt Knight: Yeah. And Blue Öyster Cult, that's my, uh, my, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that would be cool

Matt Knight: … my secret, my secret love.

Scott Hammond: In the day.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Did you guys see the-

Matt Knight: Well, I saw them down the road here at Bear River Cas- Casino.

Scott Hammond: How many guys are left?

Matt Knight: Well, the, the, the two important ones.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Buck, Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom, who are the singers on all the hits-

Scott Hammond: They're the guys

Matt Knight: … and the writers of all, all the hits.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Uh, and they were-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Matt Knight: … fantastic. The new band was fantastic.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, often they're better.

Matt Knight: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we've seen-

Matt Knight: But it wasn't like back in the day when they were shooting lasers into your eyes and stuff, you know?

Scott Hammond: It lacked the lasers.

Matt Knight: Yeah, they kinda, they kinda-

Scott Hammond: The panache

Matt Knight: … they, they, they don't do the lasers anymore, but-

Scott Hammond: We've seen Chicago a number of times, and they've replaced several people. It, but they have key ones. They're, they're spot on. They're wonderful to see those guys and just-

Matt Knight: They kinda lost me after Terry Kath died.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: I, I, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh

Matt Knight: … but I was huge fans, uh, of them too because I'm a horn player, so I-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Matt Knight: … I, in high school I was a trumpet player and… trombone player. And so, uh, you know, you had the, like, Lighthouse, you had the, like, Chase, you had the, like, you know, Power- Tower of Power.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Matt Knight: You know, uh-

Scott Hammond: Blood, Sweat, and Tears?

Matt Knight: Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

Scott Hammond: A lot of horns.

Matt Knight: Absolutely, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah. Uh, do you, so have you seen the movie that Terry Kath, uh, it, it was done by his daughter.

Matt Knight: No, uh-uh.

Scott Hammond: It's, um, gotta find it. It's, it's amazing. She did this really nice documentary about the arc of his life, and, and it all centered around this lost

Scott Hammond: Fender Strat that, that was his.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: It was his prize Strat. He, he, he showed him playing it and show… It just, he's just fast and amazing.

Matt Knight: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And I won't ruin it for you, but they, they do find it-

Matt Knight: Okay

Scott Hammond: … finally at the end of the show, and it, it kinda connects the, the movie in a nice way at, in the other. The other one is, I like is the studio musicians from LA that did all the sound for the Association, Beach Boys, Bonanza, The Monkees.

Matt Knight: The Wrecking Crew.

Scott Hammond: Thank you.

Matt Knight: In fact, I actually worked with Hal Blaine-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: … who, who was the drummer for The Wrecking Crew.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: I worked at a s- a studio called City Recorders, which was at Pick-Vanoff Studios, which was at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: Um, and it was kinda the studio where you had people on the way up and on the

Matt Knight: way down.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: So you had, um, uh, um, so this particular session was a stockbroker-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … who could afford Hal Blaine.

Scott Hammond: Cool

Matt Knight: Uh, and so, uh, you know, it was great because Hal Blaine at the time was running around town. He had two bob-tailed trucks set up with two different drums-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … that were already pre-miked.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: And so they would just, these, he had two technicians who would roll everything in, snap it together, and you would just take the snake out and pu- plug it, plug it

Matt Knight: in.

Scott Hammond: And play.

Matt Knight: And, and then he would walk in, you know, and he walked in, you know, "Hi, hi, hi," handshakes all around.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And then look at the chart, look down, you know, his glasses, and go, " " And then so, "Okay, bye. See you every time."

Scott Hammond: That was it.

Matt Knight: And, you know, you know where to send the check and all that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … sort of stuff, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Gotta go

Matt Knight: … yeah. Yeah, so he, but he was fabulous.

Matt Knight: Uh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And it was a privilege to be in the same room with him.

Scott Hammond: All those guys.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So Glen Campbell came from that, right?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And Leon Russell, huge.

Matt Knight: I don't know if Leon Russell was in The Wrecking Crew. Tommy Tedesco, there's a great documentary out-

Scott Hammond: That's the one I was thinking of, yeah

Matt Knight: … Tommy Tedesco's son-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … who shopped it around for, like, th- 30 years, because-

Scott Hammond: It's a great show

Matt Knight: … when I was in Hollywood in the '80s, Tommy Tedesco's son was shopping that around on VHS tape.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: But they couldn't get the rights to things.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Matt Knight: So, you know, it costs money to play music and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … you know, and stuff like that, and so he spent like 20 years or 25 years rai- raising the money to play the, the songs that they were playing on.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Matt Knight: Um, they finally did that, and if you get a chance to see this, it's just, you'll be amazed at all the bands that, uh, The Wrecking Crew played on. Vanilla Fudge and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Matt Knight: … uh, just, like, uh, Mamas & Papas, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … and The Byrds, and you know-

Scott Hammond: The Monkees, The Beach Boys

Matt Knight: … The Monkees. Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, they were, um, l- I was really surprised. All, all the, a lot of se- uh, The Association.

Matt Knight: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, a lot of themes for, for Hollywood shows too, for sitcoms and different-

Matt Knight: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … Bonanza, which is not a sitcom, but-

Matt Knight: But

Scott Hammond: … could, could be, I guess.

Matt Knight: Depends on who, who you ask.

Scott Hammond: Kinda depends on, yeah, so.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you c- so you came from that era.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's, that's amazing.

Matt Knight: Yeah, uh, it was a, you know, and, uh, it, for example, we, we work with Eric Burdon, who's, uh, the guy-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … from The Animals, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Matt Knight: … it, it, the, we, we did what was called spec records.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Matt Knight: So, uh, you didn't have to pay for the studio time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … but the studio owned a portion of the record.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Matt Knight: Uh, you, you would pay for your engineer, you'd pay for tape, what have you, and the musicians or whatever, but-

Scott Hammond: But they got a piece of the pie.

Matt Knight: You got a, you got a piece of the pie, and so we did a, a project with Eric Burdon. I don't think it ever saw the light of day. Maybe it did, but, uh, he, uh, I remember sitting in the office with the, uh, office manager, and he was just-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Matt Knight: … going off on Eric Burdon, saying, "This guy is a has-been. Nobody will touch him."

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: And, you know, he's, you know, he's, he's, you know, just poison, you know?

Scott Hammond: Was he a Brit?

Matt Knight: He is a Brit, yeah. And so we get up and walk out of the office, and who's sitting right outside the open door but Eric Burdon.

Scott Hammond: Listening to this?

Matt Knight: List- I, he had to have heard every word he said.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: Pops up, shakes hands all around. Couldn't have been a nicer guy.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: He just-

Scott Hammond: Good for him

Matt Knight: … uh, great, but, you know, he probably said, "Well, if I wanna get this thing, I better," you know.

Scott Hammond: Better shine.

Matt Knight: But I felt bad, because I, I didn't completely agree with that, because, uh, he was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … a very, very talented guy.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Matt Knight: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: The Animals, yeah

Matt Knight: … I didn't really th- I don't really think people are over just because they're not making hits anymore.

Scott Hammond: Well, Johnny Cash, he was nev- I mean, they, he was drawing crowds of 50, 80 people-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … before R- is it Rick Rubin? Is that his name that-

Matt Knight: Rick Rubin, yeah

Scott Hammond: … produced the last few records?

Matt Knight: Yeah, American Recordings, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, what an amazing… That's a cool, uh, story too.

Matt Knight: Yeah, absolutely. I didn't work with, uh, Johnny Cash, though. I'm just gonna say that right, right out front.

Scott Hammond: You did or did not?

Matt Knight: Did not.

Scott Hammond: Okay. And then there's the story of, uh, uh, Glen Campbell, his final tour-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … which is a, this, uh, I, who, what is it called? It's not Who Am I? That's Br- um, This Is Me. What a great f- film about his life and his, his struggle with Alzheimer's-

Matt Knight: Right

Scott Hammond: … and trying to get awareness out there.

Matt Knight: Well, I actually know a couple people, the Johnson brothers, uh, who, uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … were in a band, uh, that people might remember called Small Fish. Boy, we really are-

Scott Hammond: Small Fish

Matt Knight: … wa- uh-

Scott Hammond: Hey.

Matt Knight: Um, but they were his next-door neighbor.

Scott Hammond: Oh, how about that?

Matt Knight: So they played with his kids-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Matt Knight: … uh, growing up.

Scott Hammond: Let's call out a couple more names. So Frank Zappa, did you ever see him in LA?

Matt Knight: I did. I saw him at the Joe's Garage at Pauley's Pavilion,

Matt Knight: yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. UCLA?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There, that's cool.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They said The Stones-

Matt Knight: The Tubes-

Scott Hammond: Uh, The Tubes

Matt Knight: … opened, opened for them.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: And one of my favorite rock and roll stories, if we've got time for this. I don't know if we have-

Scott Hammond: We do. You're fine, yeah

Matt Knight: … can we fit this in?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're great.

Matt Knight: Um-They, The Tubes were doing a, uh, version of, uh, El Paso.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: You know, the Ro- Mar- Marty Robbins tune.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: The very violent of, of, of, uh, Rob- Marty Robbins tune. And, uh, right at the salient point of the song, when the, uh, protagonist gets shot, the bass player raises a,

Matt Knight: a shotgun-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … that's wired with s- with… It's wired with squib packs. I don't know if you know what a squib pack is.

Scott Hammond: Sure, the fake-

Matt Knight: The little explosive thing-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Matt Knight: … right there, and shoots Fee Waybill, and it sprays fake blood all over the entire audience.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: And the entire audience just goes, "Whoa!"

Scott Hammond: Freak, freaking out.

Matt Knight: Like this, you know? And I'm like-

Scott Hammond: The Tubes

Matt Knight: … "This is rock and roll right here."

Scott Hammond: This is, this is theater, man.

Matt Knight: This is rock and roll.

Scott Hammond: So-

Matt Knight: So-

Scott Hammond: So much for Alice Cooper and David Bowie.

Matt Knight: Well, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Now, The Tubes, they were white punks on dope, right?

Scott Hammond: Is that-

Matt Knight: White punks on dope.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: Lots of, they had budget hits. They had a ton of hits.

Scott Hammond: What a, yeah. No, they were, they were pretty prolific. The other guy I, I wanted to talk about was, um, so the, the, the Voodoo Lounge in, in, uh, on Sunset Strip, uh, uh, with, uh, Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson-

Matt Knight: Oh, the Viper Lounge.

Scott Hammond: The Viper Lounge.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm sorry. The, the, the, uh, the band was the, uh, Voodoo Vamp- or Hollywood Vampires, with Alice Cooper, Joe

Scott Hammond: Perry-

Matt Knight: Johnny Depp

Scott Hammond: … Johnny Depp, yeah. Watching Johnny Depp play was interesting up at, we go to a lot of shows up at the Britt Festival, and-

Matt Knight: He knows how to pose with a guitar in his hand.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: I don't know if he's good or not.

Scott Hammond: He played okay. Uh, he was something.

Matt Knight: He was in a Jeff Beck tribute that you can find online-

Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?

Matt Knight: … not too long ago.

Scott Hammond: He was a guitar player when he was discovered in a, in a coffee shop in Florida.

Matt Knight: Really?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, before he was an actor.

Matt Knight: Okay, well maybe he's good, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: And now he's a pirate, and a rock and roll guy.

Matt Knight: I don't think he's a pirate anymore, but, uh, but, yeah, he made a lot of money off of being a pirate, that's for-

Scott Hammond: So we're gonna go see Keanu Reeves' band-

Matt Knight: Okay

Scott Hammond: … up at, up at Jacksonville.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna go see, um-

Matt Knight: Think maybe a nicer guy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, a really nice man. And then, uh, Jason Bonham-Led Zeppelin Experience. That'll be fun.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Be loud.

Matt Knight: Sounds like it.

Scott Hammond: We'll see. Jason's been in a lot of bands. We'll see how they do, and then, um, to change it up, the, we're gonna go see the, um, they're Cuban, the,

Scott Hammond: um, Buena Vista Social Club.

Matt Knight: Oh, wow. Is there anybody still alive from that?

Scott Hammond: They are, yeah, old guys that are still playing.

Matt Knight: Hey, well, they were old when Ry Cooder made that record.

Scott Hammond: Go figure.

Matt Knight: Maybe they've, maybe they had the Cu- being Cuban, they probably, you know, smoking cigars and sipping rum.

Scott Hammond: Cigars.

Matt Knight: They, that keeps you alive, right?

Scott Hammond: It's, it's preserving. Preserving effect.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it. Yeah, we just saw Judy Collins, who still has-

Matt Knight: Okay. Yeah, she's still out there

Scott Hammond: … 50, 55 albums.

Matt Knight: Wow.

Scott Hammond: 86 years old, still-

Matt Knight: That's crazy

Scott Hammond: … still could totally carry a tune.

Matt Knight: Yeah, I'm sure she can. She, she still is.

Scott Hammond: Oh, she's, and she's pretty funny. She's actually pretty, pretty sharp. She's on stage and, where she'd lose track, she's, "Oh, I don't care. Let's just go on." And she would carry, she's gracious. So, hey, part of our show-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … where we ask you about what you like about Humboldt.

Matt Knight: Okay, I thought we already did that, but that's fine.

Scott Hammond: No, we're gonna go specific.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So you got a-

Matt Knight: All right

Scott Hammond: … you got a day off, what do you do in Humboldt? If you could do anything you want, no expense spared, what, what would, what would you do, Matt?

Matt Knight: Wow.

Matt Knight: Um, I, you know, the thing is, is I'm such a homebody.

Matt Knight: It, it's-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Matt Knight: … it's, it's pretty crazy. I, you know, I kind of live out in the woods, so if I take the dogs for a walk in the woods, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Matt Knight: … you know, it's, uh, just commune, uh, with nature and stuff. I mean, generally, if I have any free time, I'm, uh, I'm pl- I play guitar.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Matt Knight: So, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm, I am at home a lot. And I do enjoy, well, I also do a radio show, so that's something else I like to do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. You do it from home?

Matt Knight: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Matt Knight: I drive down to KMUD.

Scott Hammond: Or walk over the hill. Oh, I guess you can't walk over that hill.

Matt Knight: Right. Yeah, no.

Scott Hammond: That's a long walk to Garberville.

Matt Knight: That is. It's a bit of a, bit of a hike.

Scott Hammond: Is it in Redway or Garberville?

Matt Knight: It's in Redway.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I've heard they're really a great lot down there.

Matt Knight: They are. They have been so welcoming and so nice to me, and of course, I'm on the

Matt Knight: board now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Matt Knight: So, uh, um, that has been a f- interesting experience. I was gonna say fun, but that would be not true.

Scott Hammond: Uh.

Matt Knight: Uh, but it hasn't been un-fun, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: But, uh, yeah, KMUD is, is great, and it's kind of like the Last Dog Standing of that kind of interesting radio station-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … that's a hybrid of information and music and local news. Lauren, here, 'cause here's another shout-out, Lauren Schmidt.

Matt Knight: Hey, Lauren.

Scott Hammond: Hey. What's happening, Lauren?

Matt Knight: So is, is fabulous. She's one of the best news people in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.

Matt Knight: Uh, her reporting i- through disasters and all that kind of stuff, and she is just a gem, you know? So the, there's a-

Scott Hammond: Right

Matt Knight: … uh, uh, an embarrassment of riches, shall we say, down there.

Scott Hammond: That's good. No, that, I, I just, I, it's a tribute to Humboldt. Okay, question number two.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You can eat anywhere you want. Here's a big check. Where, where do you, uh, take your sweetie to go eat?

Matt Knight: Oh, wow. Okay. Um, well, I, The Sea-

Scott Hammond: And-

Matt Knight: … The Sea Grill is-

Scott Hammond: And what do you have?

Matt Knight: The Sea Grill is good.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Matt Knight: Um. Um, I like, uh, the sushi, so there's, uh, Ichiban, who's down there. It's, this is not expensive.

Matt Knight: I mean, I-

Scott Hammond: Ichiban's great.

Matt Knight: Yeah. I, I, I like, like a little sushi now and then.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're right down the alley from my, my office in Eureka.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Oh, I know. Okay, here we go. Uh, and this is gonna be the, I don't know, the best-kept secret or the worst-kept secret, is, uh, um, El, El Pueblo

Matt Knight: food truck.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: They make the best burritos in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: That's saying something.

Matt Knight: They are, uh, currently they're down on, uh, Washington in, next to a Mexican restaurant, ironically. Um, there's a restaurant-

Scott Hammond: Washington

Matt Knight: … on, on Broadway, and then they're back, there's a little, uh, Pandera, their little, uh, bakery that they have.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Matt Knight: But they're opening a new place. Um, it's all built. I'm not sure why it hasn't opened.

Scott Hammond: That's the one that's down over off of, by AT&T and-

Matt Knight: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … whatever street that is.

Matt Knight: I'm not sure why it hasn't opened yet. But anyway, the burritos are killer.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: They are so good.

Scott Hammond: Any reason to think they wouldn't carry that burrito over to their t-

Matt Knight: They will carry the burrito.

Scott Hammond: They have a taqueria in a whole 'nother-

Matt Knight: They are. They're gonna do that, and I can't wait.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they rebuilt that.

Matt Knight: 'Cause it'll be closer for me, because I, I won't have to drive all the way in to Eureka to get my burrito on Wednesday, which I did.

Scott Hammond: I see. It's all about the burrito for you.

Matt Knight: It is all about the burrito.

Scott Hammond: Well, that's-

Matt Knight: El Pastor.

Scott Hammond: El-

Matt Knight: Super burrito.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay, that's a good tip.

Matt Knight: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I'm from San Diego, home of everything amazing, like Mexican

Scott Hammond: food.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, we always joke about, you know, hamburger in my taco, you can't do ground beef. Don't, don't do this to me, bro.

Matt Knight: No. No, no, no.

Scott Hammond: And so-

Matt Knight: That's just wrong.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, and they're, and many people do, don't do that, and there's still many people that don't have v-Authentica. You know, it's-

Matt Knight: Right

Scott Hammond: … but you're telling me this one does, so we're gonna go.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Matt Knight: Absolutely great.

Scott Hammond: Great deal. Here you go. You get time to go to a beach. Which beach do you go to? And who do you go with?

Matt Knight: Ah.

Scott Hammond: And what do you do at the beach?

Matt Knight: Hmm. Well, I mean, we used to take our kids to the beach-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … and we would go down to King Salmon.

Scott Hammond: How many kids, by the way?

Matt Knight: I have two girls.

Scott Hammond: Grandkids?

Matt Knight: No grandkids.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Matt Knight: They, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do they stay local, the girls?

Matt Knight: They're in San Diego.

Scott Hammond: Oh, how about that?

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, great town.

Matt Knight: In fact, my youn- my youngest daughter, um, I shouldn't, shouldn't out her, she just turned 28 yesterday.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Matt Knight: So, uh, yeah, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Shout out

Matt Knight: … shout out. So I, uh, w- we haven't really gone to the beach that much since-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … since, uh, the kids, uh, grew up and flew away, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Matt Knight: So, uh, but I mean, there is just so many, I mean, like the Lost Coast is another great area to go to.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Magical. Shout out to all of San Diego.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Hi, S- hey, SD.

Scott Hammond: Say SD.

Matt Knight: Hey, Padres.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, go, go Padres.

Matt Knight: Padres fans.

Scott Hammond: I like the Padres. So, uh, we'll, we'll wrap it up by asking you the, the, the tougher… Some people struggle with this question: who are you? What do you want?

Matt Knight: I'm sure I'm going to struggle.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's okay.

Matt Knight: I've been struggling since I got here.

Scott Hammond: That's okay. I think he's done great. Shout out to Matt. Uh, so who, who are you and what do you want? Uh, who is Matt Knight? And number two, what, what are we gonna say on your tombstone at your, your eulogy, your, uh, celebration of

Scott Hammond: life-

Matt Knight: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … um, in the woods or wherever that is and, and, you know, what, what, who are you? We'll start with that.

Matt Knight: Well, you know, I, I, I just, personally, I just strive to just be kind to people and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … a- and, and be a caring person.

Matt Knight: And-

Scott Hammond: Imagine that in these days

Matt Knight: … I, I know. It's kind of-

Scott Hammond: It's crazy

Matt Knight: … it's kinda nutty. But, uh,

Matt Knight: um, you know, I am just sort of mild-mannered and, uh, you know, I, I, I, I love the arts, so I'm an artist, too.

Matt Knight: I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … I probably shouldn't have, uh, brought that out. But I, I, I, you know, I just really like the soft music and arts and, you know, and just being nice to people, right?

Scott Hammond: Right on.

Matt Knight: Why can't we just all be nice to people?

Scott Hammond: We can.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: And what w- uh, what was the second bit of that?

Scott Hammond: And, uh, what, what about your legacy? What's, what's your-

Matt Knight: Oh, the thing on my tombstone?

Scott Hammond: What's your tombstone? What are, what are we talking-

Matt Knight: Then my, my tombstone will say, "I told you I was sick."

Scott Hammond: That's a good… Is that from a line from something?

Matt Knight: I don't, probably.

Scott Hammond: That's a good one. I like it. Well, appreciate you coming.

Matt Knight: Yeah. Thanks, Scott.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, pretty cool.

Matt Knight: It's been a pleasure.

Scott Hammond: Any parting shots? Anything you wanna sh- oh, let's do the shout-outs for everything Access. So, uh, how do we find y'all?

Matt Knight: Okay. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How do, how do we give you money?

Matt Knight: Right.

Scott Hammond: Are you on the web? Are you on social media?

Matt Knight: We are. accesshumboldt.net is the place to go.

Scott Hammond: accesshumboldt.net.

Matt Knight: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Write that down.

Matt Knight: It's all one word, lowercase.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: And, uh, you can go there and find out what we're doing and how to support and how to become a member, and, uh, you know, hopefully come down to CR.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, take a tour.

Matt Knight: Uh, we're in the old administration building-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Matt Knight: … at CR, which is a fabulous building.

Scott Hammond: It's easy to find. It's right there, right?

Matt Knight: Well, you would think it would be easy to find, but, uh, people have trouble sometimes. But anyway-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Matt Knight: … once you do find it-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, you'll find a g- a great, uh, facility filled with people who really wanna help you-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Matt Knight: … uh, create content.

Scott Hammond: Cool

Matt Knight: And, and, and, you know, for me, for the radio station, I am, I've got 24/7, 365 to fill. So I am looking-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Matt Knight: … for people who want-

Scott Hammond: Content

Matt Knight: … to do, um, you know, shows about the community.

Scott Hammond: I think it's a, it's a killer value.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you're looking for folks to come in.

Matt Knight: Well, and we'd rather have your content than your money.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Matt Knight: I mean.

Scott Hammond: That's a good word.

Matt Knight: I think a lot of people d- also don't realize, um- … I, I know we're at the end here, but, uh, that, uh, w- on our television

Matt Knight: stations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … we will take any content.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Matt Knight: Any, any content that you, as long as it's not obscene-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Matt Knight: … as long as it's not copyright material-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Matt Knight: … as long as it doesn't libel or slander anybody. Uh, so if you've got a video, a home movie-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, whatever-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Matt Knight: … uh, you know, we will put it on the air. It costs you nothing.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Matt Knight: But we, anything that you wanna share with the community.

Scott Hammond: accesshumboldt.net.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Social media, too, I imagine.

Matt Knight: Social media, yeah, we're @accesshumboldt, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Matt Knight: … we have a Facebook page, and there is a KZZH page. So if you go to KZZH LP-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Matt Knight: … you can find out about all the shows that are happening there.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for being here.

Matt Knight: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate you.

Matt Knight: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Have a good day.

Matt Knight: All right, you too.

Scott Hammond: See ya.