Pam launched VenturaRocks.com in 2009 to support Ventura’s music scene.
Pam Baumgardner is host/DJ/producer of the Pam Baumgardner Music Hour airing at 5pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and again on Sunday at noon on KPPQ 104.1 fm and streaming on myTuner. With a degree in radio and TV broadcasting from Fullerton, she began her career as Stephanie Rose at KEZY/KPZE out of Anaheim, then moved to Ventura in 1988 for a job at KZTR. She earned her Program Director stripes converting KXBS radio (The Bus) from oldies to alternative rock. She worked at KHTY in Santa Barbara as well as at KBBY in Ventura.
She launched VenturaRocks.com in 2009 to support Ventura’s music scene and running a website to support local artists and writing the Music Scene column for the Ventura Breeze. Pam produced VenturaRocks at CAPS, a half hour music TV show highlighting local artists such as Crooked Eye Tommy, Medicine Hat, Shaky Feelin’ and others. When KPPQ launched she jumped onboard enthusiastically and created The Pam Baumgardner Music Hour, one of the first locally produced shows back in January of 2017 that highlights local artists out of the 805 as well as artists who come to our county to play. The show has many faithful listeners from across the county and the nation. She joined CAPS Media’s Board of Directors and continues to be a true champion of both community radio and tv.
Pam says, “It was my favorite thing in the whole wide world listening to my favorite artists and bands on the radio growing up, and to be able to do that over the span of almost forty years has certainly been a privilege.”
Pam joined the KPPQ crew with a wealth of experience that she has generously shared with other DJs at the station. In the past six years CAPS staff members, directed by Elizabeth Rodeno, have trained more than 100 local DJs and produced hundreds of hours of original programming on KPPQ. Unlike Pam, many of her fellow DJs had very little or no prior experience in creating radio programming. All the KPPQ DJs share Pam’s enthusiasm for the CAPS Media community of voices.
July marked the reopening of CAPS Media Center to current members. In the fall CAPS Media Center will expand training and access to members of the public who become new CAPS members. As a kickoff, in the coming months, the CAPS crew is planning an Open House, where the public will be invited to drop by and take a tour of the Center including the video studio, editing stations, and KPPQ radio station. The knowledgeable CAPS staff will give brief overviews and demonstrations on the multiple CAPS gear. At the daylong event, guests will learn the benefits of becoming a CAPS member and how to utilize the full extent of the CAPS Media resources and staff expertise. More information on the Open House will be provided in the coming weeks on the CAPS website at capsmedia.org, on KPPQ, on social media, and elsewhere.
CAPS Membership will be open to anyone who lives, works or goes to school in Ventura. The annual membership fees are currently $40 for an individual or $100 for a nonprofit organization.
