Mutiny Radio

Mutiny Radio is an internet radio station operating from the Mission District of San Francisco, California. The station has an eclectic talk format, hosting local shows with interviews, as well as live performances of comedy, music, hip-hop, theater, storytelling, philosophy and poetry. Shows are streamed live online and made available in podcast form on ITunes and other platforms.
Mutiny radio reports on progressive, alternative, independent news through their site. Their in-station gallery is available to local visual artists showcasing their work.
Social Media.
A mobile application was created in 2020.
History.
The Legacy of Pirate Cat Radio
Mutiny Radio was founded following an ownership dispute of the station's predecessor, in which DJs questioned the leadership and finances of the station, the previous station's live stream and podcast archives were taken offline and the staff decided to reform as a collective with more oversight and accountability. According to a March 2011 statement by the collective members, "Our efforts from the beginning have been to extract ourselves from the ownership situation and focus on our core mission: making quality radio and building a supportive community. That is what we are focusing on now." They stated their plan is to work "more democratically." This reformation initially consisted of putting podcasts up on the website Ustream to maintain radio operations and keep the community intact. DJs continued to work from the former cafe. The full relaunch was ready by the end of May, with Programming Director Aaron Lazenby stating that they were "tired of living in the wake of that drama" and adding that "we’re ready to be something else." There was a closing ceremony on May 31, 2011, hosted by DJ Nylon.
Mutiny Radio Relaunches as an Internet-Based Station
On June 1, 2011, the station was relaunched as Mutiny Radio, a name chosen to reflect "the right balance of where we’ve come from and where we’re going," according to Lazenby, which "showed the scars" of the past, but also expressed their new future. According to the website, the Mutiny Radio live stream "features the same eclectic mix of live music, interviews, DJ performances, news, and comedy the members of the collective have been producing for the past 6 years."
Unlike its predecessor's illegal broadcast, Mutiny Radio is an online-only radio station. In 2012, the station successfully raised over $5,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to be used for rent and other expenses to keep the station operating.
Local Participation, Protest, Activism and Journalism
Past coverage of local events has included Occupy Wall Street West protests, live screenings of the 2012 Presidential Debates in affinity with Occupy the Debates, participation in the Phono del Sol Music and Food Festival, and an annual Block Party in cooperation with the Box Factory and other local businesses. Monthly broadcast events are coordinated with local bar Asiento and Oakland Art Murmur. Mutiny Radio also took part in San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee's honoring of the 50th anniversary of Tony Bennett's recording "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" with other stations across the city.
Musical Guests
Guests have ranged from musicians such as George Clinton, Jane Wiedlin, Mary Wilson, Micky Dolenz, Toots and the Maytals, Roky Erickson and punk rocker Meri St. Mary to a variety of local bands. The band Monkey appeared on the show "Afternoon Delight" in 2017.
Awards
Merry Toppins and Vaperonica Dee's weekly podcast "Cannabis Cuts" won "Best Smoke on the Air" from San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay 2012.
Mutiny Radio also hosted local activist and poet "Diamond Dave" Whitaker on the Friday afternoon Common Thread Collective, who was honored in 2016 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. February 2 is officially Diamond Dave Day in San Francisco.
Mutiny Radio and San Francisco Comedy
After starting at the station in 2008, in June 2013, comedian, poet, and feminist activist Pamela Benjamin became station director. Since 2016, the station has hosted an annual Comedy festival which airs 25 comedy shows in five days. In 2017, there were approximately 100,000 downloads of podcasts per month.
Many local and famous City, North Bay, and East Bay comedians have hosted or participated in Mutiny Radio shows. Mutiny Radio produced 4 comedy open mics and 2 showcases every week in 2017, and it has continued to offer a variety of comedic programming. Notable contributors include Aaron Atkins, Warhol Kaufman, Rachel Pinson, Ernest Evangelista, Nathan Loe, Mike Evans Jr., Luke Neumann, Mark Noyer, the cast of Sylvan Productions ("Vice" channel's "Flophouse"), Terry Dorsey (Cobb's Comedy Club), Matthew Quirk, Evelyn "Eerie" Diamond, Bernice Ye, Sunny Dennis, Marty Cunnie (F-Bomb Comedy Train), Chris Ferdinandson and Mike Nordstrom (Like An Adult Podcast), Kala Keller, Alyssa Westerlund (StorySlam Oakland), Steve Poggi, Timothy Renato-Pizza (Fourteen Threes, ToggleDownfall), Kelly Evans, and website developer David Stolowitz (KSCO 107.9 FM Santa Cruz, Ugly Mug, Bocci's Cellar).
The 2019 Comedy Festival was covered in the San Francisco Examiner.
Financial Troubles
In 2015, scalpers took advantage of a Mutiny Radio free ticket giveaway and attempted to resell tickets on Craigslist using the station's name without permission, harming the station's reputation with music venues.
In July 2019, a video went viral of host Capital Pilcrow being punched by an audience member, who proceeded to destroy the door window on the way out.
Like many small businesses and community organizations, Mutiny Radio has been adversely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Director Benjamin has produced outdoor comedy shows for the Mission since May 2020 to mixed reception. By June, the shows were limited to clean humor only.
Benjamin continues to rely on GoFundMe and Venmo donations to fund the station's increasing rent and operating costs. As of July, $7000 had been raised for rent and maintenance, funding the station for an additional two months of quarantined operation.