When I was a teenager, I used to make pretend radio shows using my dual-cassette recorder. I always daydreamed of working at a radio station and trying my voice behind the microphone. As an adult, I wound up as a writer and journalist instead of a DJ or on-air host, covering Portland architecture and arts for publications ranging from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to Willamette Week and The Oregonian over the past 20 years. But in 2019, XRAY gave me a chance to combine these pursuits and to embark on the biggest, most rewarding project of my career.

In Search of Portland, my podcast for XRAY, debuted last year and I had a blast. In the attached photo, you can see me behind the mic with headphones draped around my neck, and happy as a clam.

I was stunned to learn recently that its first season was the station's top-rated podcast. It's tied to a larger effort, a book of the same name that I've been writing for the past few years. The idea is to take a tour of the city with an eye for what I call layers of history: places that have seen different buildings on one site that tell different stories, or maybe just one building with generations of different purposes, or maybe not a building at all but a park that draws us together. Yet the star of In Search of Portland is people, whether it's the guests we interview or the incredible parade of historical figures we find in these buildings. Portland isn't a place people go to get famous, but some of America's most iconic artists, filmmakers, writers, dancers, architects, activists and chefs have called this place home.

Honestly I don't like asking people for money, but in a world with so much darkness, XRAY is part of shining a light. But it's also not a thing. It's us. It's a community. And I'm glad to do my part contributing to its stability and hopefully prosperity.

The mass consolidation of media has a profound effect on what we see and hear on a local level. It leads to a decline in support for local artists and local venues, promotion of community advocacy, in the ability to engage civically with our government and those who seek to be elected to it. 

XRAY changes that. And this year has made that more important than ever before. 

This year, while the world has been in turmoil, we've been busy

• giving back to local artists who've lost gigs due to COVID-19

• lifting up hundreds of nonprofits and Black-owned businesses with free spots on air

• educating our community about the privileges they have and how to support their neighbors with our Annual Juneteenth & International Women's Day Teach-Ins

• launching Portland's only daily local news podcast to keep our community in-the-know while apart

• supporting the ongoing civic advocacy, education, and functioning of City Club of Portland when no other radio station would

• interviewing 100+ local candidates (more than any other media outlet) to ensure democracy doesn't die in the distance. 

• and bringing joy and connectedness to the people of Portland.

We are proud to be independent and driven by the purpose of amplifying the best and most distinctive of Portland. Our resources are directed toward supporting the people who support us, and that includes you. By becoming a supporting member of XRAY, you are adding to the resources that help amplify Portland, and Portland’s own artists, venues, activists, innovators, educators, and the community members who make this city run. As a listener named John recently said, "I'm really grateful to live in a city with XRAY." And we're really grateful to live in a city with you.