For each DJ at community internet radio station BFF.fm, a time slot means something a little different. It’s a chance to express themselves. A chance to connect to a larger community. A chance to … leave the house. And that’s kind of the point.
Amanda Guest, who founded BFF.fm (short for Best Frequencies Forever) 10 years ago this week, has a lot to say about what makes the community internet radio station so awesome. But perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the station, which is housed in the Capp St. collaborative art space Secret Alley, is its commitment to being a platform for just about anyone.
“We’re just not interested in clout,” said Guest. ”To me, this is just about authentic self-expression. And that, in and of itself, to me, is extremely cool.”
‘People you know from the neighborhood.’
Who are the more than 100 BFF.fm DJs? “People you know from the neighborhood,” Guest said. She’s proud of the human touch that the BFF.fm community brings to everything the station produces.
Commercial DJs once had more autonomy and power. “Now, it’s all algorithms and computers,” said Guest, adding that when Spotify first came out, BFF.fm’s DJs were “all starting to play the same stuff.”
The fight for human quirk and inefficiency is surely a familiar one to San Franciscans. So Guest asks DJs to curate playlists by hand (or, in one case, from hats) and avoid algorithmic curators. That’s been a draw for some retired commercial DJs to join BFF.
“Every DJ on the station has the opportunity to make a radio station that represents themselves,” Guest said. Scrolling through the schedule on the station’s website (where you can listen to shows live or on-demand), that much is obvious. BFF.fm’s offerings range from typical broadcast fare, like the Thursday morning Roll Over Easy talk show, to the eclectic, like Vampire Dear‘s horror film soundtracks, to the downright weird.
“The shows at BFF.fm are like my children.” Guest said. “They all think that they’re the favorite. But I love them all equally.”
Take Monday’s martyrs, which is probably the only show on the station to use algorithmic curation. In this case, it’s more of an experiment than an optimization. Creepy AI-generated voices read AI-generated copy about their AI-generated playlist, creating a bizarre audio experience.
“You can literally do whatever you want,” said BFF.fm DJ Lelonnie Taylor.
Watching Taylor and Guest chat, they constantly name-dropped DJs and artists from around the Bay, noticing surprising connections. Taylor actually first heard about BFF from a regular at the coffee shop they were working at; now they broadcast during that regular’s old time slot.
It’s a small city. Community radio makes it even smaller.
A place to connect
Guest left her native Massachusetts for San Francisco in 2012.
“I miss my people,” Guest recalled thinking. “I miss my college-radio days, where I would go down and just hang out on the gross couch and talk about music.”
She had been involved in the station at Salem State University in Massachusetts for more than 10 years, and she struggled to find the same sense of community here. When she suggested starting a station at the Capp Street art space the Secret Alley, management bit.
The Secret Alley is aptly named; from the outside, it looks like any other building. (It’s also rather narrow.)
But behind its unremarkable entrance is a highly curated pastiche of nostalgic scenes, from a kitchen modeled after a midcentury diner to a quaint old front porch to nowhere.
“Everytime I walk in, it feels like San Francisco,” said long-time BFF.fm DJ Ray Aguilera, about the space. “It’s weird … and why does it exist? Whose idea was this and why does this crazy thing exist?”
The building is a coworking space for a slew of independent artists and art collectives, including BFF.fm, which broadcasts from two tiny rooms in the Secret Alley. “We just kind of jam people in there,” Guest said.It’s a social space for the DJs, too. Guest still decides who gets which time slot, and said the compatibility of neighboring DJs is a huge consideration. Once, a shyer DJ didn’t open up until she placed a DJ right after who had “complementary energy.” Now, the two act “like an old married couple.”
DJ Teddy Kuhn wants to get more people in the space. He has helped launch a new initiative: Tuesday night listening parties, where BFF.fm DJs host local artists at Secret Alley and interview the musicians between plays of their songs.
“We’re a hub for music people,” Kuhn said. The station “gives people a sense of connection. And that matters — in this city, one that doesn’t invest in you — a sense of personal connection.”
Celebrating 10 years
“It is very unusual for a small volunteer-run nonprofit to make it for a decade,” said board member McDevitt. “The fact that we’ve done that and we are growing is pretty extraordinary.”
This whole week, BFF.fm is celebrating its 10th birthday with pop-up shows around the city, where a few shows are broadcasting from the wild. They’re encouraging listeners to stop by and say hello.
And tonight, BFF.fm is throwing a birthday gala at the Secret Alley. They recommend a donation of $25, but won’t turn anybody away.
Everytime Guest spoke about the station, she mentioned another new idea, new initiative, or something BFF.fm wants to try next. It’s been a good 10 years, and she has no plans of slowing down.
Mission Local hosted a half-hour weekly talk show on BFF.fm until the pandemic. And, we might someday return.
I knew about Radio Valencia. But not BFF.fm.
How cool! Will give them a listen!
(Storied KGO, whether you liked it or hated it, is history now. And National Propaganda Radio is too nauseating to me now: I won’t count the ways.)