Ferguson Grand Jury Decision to be Discussed by Springs Community Leaders

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Nov. 20, 2014 - PRLog -- Leaders in the local, state and national civil rights and faith communities will discuss the implications of the coming grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, in the premier episode of a new radio series to be webcast by Colorado Springs’ new community radio station, at www.kcmj.org this Friday, November 21. Veteran journalist and community activist Rosemary Lytle will host the new series, Up Close With Rosemary Lytle, which will examine perspectives often left out of the public discourse.

“When an unlikely little suburb like Ferguson, MO became a household name because of the police shooting of young unarmed Michael Brown, it was obvious that communities everywhere would need to communicate,” explained Rosemary Lytle, the NAACP State President who is known in the Springs for her long-running Gazette Metro News columns and her progressive hyper-inclusive style of civil rights activism.  “So it occurs to me that this is a critically important topic for launching a new radio program. As the Grand Jury verdict is announced, we will need to communicate -- everywhere. People will need to process, to dialogue, to test their beliefs about this country against that indictment decision."

Community radio, Lytle said, is a safe space for such conversations and even strategy development to happen. "We are not an island, here in El Paso County," she added. "What happens in Ferguson, happens here, and now thanks to community radio we can now better address a void in the voices that rise -- for all the world to hear." “One of the primary purposes of community radio in Colorado Springs is to bring voices to the airwaves that would not otherwise be heard,” remarked KCMJ’s founding chair, Dennis Apuan. “You would not expect to hear this important conversation on the commercial radio stations in town.” Dave Gardner, KCMJ's Public Affairs Director agreed: "This series, and the Ferguson roundtable, are a perfect fit for our city’s new community radio station; voices with a perspective that deserves to be heard."

Lytle’s program is one of the first locally-originated programs to be announced by KCMJ, which is currently heard on the internet at www.kcmj.org. The non-profit, volunteer-run organization is raising funds to erect a transmitter and antenna to eventually broadcast a low-power FM signal at 93.9.

Rosemary Lytle worked as a reporter, and later as a columnist (known then as Rosemary Harris), at the Gazette. She won media and community awards for her thrice-weekly column that focused on culture and community. Later, Lytle worked as a Communications Director at both the ACLU of Colorado and 9to5 National Association of Working Women. Most recently, she has led the communications consultancy, Lytle Dantus Public Affairs, with her daughter Courtney-Rose, a Colorado College graduate, and husband Frank, a retired military officer and NAACPer. Lytle has served in increasingly higher capacities with the NAACP and was just re-elected Chair of the national non-profit, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, an anti-death penalty group. Rosemary also admits to long having aspirations of hosting a regular community radio show.

The premier episode of Up Close With Rosemary Lytle will run Friday at 7 am and 7 pm, Saturday at 11 am, and Sunday at 8 am. Additional airings are likely. For interviews, photos or other graphics, contact us.