EAST COUNTY MAGAZINE with Editor, Investigative Journalist Miriam Raftery and the East County Magazine News Team

Fri 5pm, St 8am, Mon 5pm, Tues 9am

Award-winning editor and journalist Miriam Raftery and her award-winning magazine East County Magazine focus on news and events of their area. Miriam and her news team also report news of the larger San Diego and national and international news that may affect East County.

East County Magazine has up-to-date information on wildfire and emergency news.

ABOUT EAST COUNTY MAGAZINE

East County Magazine is your community media. We reflect the public’s interest, not special interests.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to provide in-depth news and events coverage for the inland areas in San Diego County, reflecting the broad diversity of people and issues in our region, particularly those under-represented in other media. As nonprofit media, we reflect the public interest—not special interests, with a strong commitment to covering social justice issues, diverse and mulicultural voices, community concerns, environmental/land use issues, and nonpartisan political stories in our region’s urban, rural, mountain and desert communities. We also celebrate our region’s attractions and rich cultural heritage, with special sections such as Visit East County, People Power, Tribal Beat, Refugee Voices, Arts and Music, and more.

East County Magazine also founded and operates East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts, keeping people safe and informed throughout San Diego County via e-mail and Twitter alerts. In addition we produce the East County Magazine radio show on KNSJ 89.1 FM.

https://eastcountymagazine.org/

https://eastcountymagazine.org/wildfire-and-emergency…

FRIENDLY FIRE with Don Kimball, Wed 7pm, Sat 2pm

A Voice For and About Veterans

Tune in to Friendly Fire tonight at 7pm to hear Linda Pentz Gunter the Executive Director of Beyond Nuclear and author of No to Nuclear. Linda discusses the latest nuclear agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia which would allow the Kingdom to build a nuclear power plant.

https://beyondnuclear.org/

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AN EVENING OF MUSIC BEGINNING AT 8, AN ECLECTIC MIX ONLY ON KNSJ IN SAN DIEGO. LOCAL DJs SPINNING VINYL THAT WILL BE JUST WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

THEN A BREAK AT 12 AM WITH SOMETHING’S HAPPENING AT MIDNIGHT–SOME SURPISES FOR YOU AS WELL AS NEWS AND MUSIC AND THOUGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS THAT ARE MORE THAN HEADLINES AND SOUND BITES. PERSPECTIVES AND VOICES YOU MAY HEAR ONLY ON KNSJ WITH NEWS REPORTS THAT WILL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT TOMORROW.

AND THEN A COOL SEGUE BACK TO MUSIC AT 3AM.

With Mike and Arthur Aguirre LIVE Sat 11am-Noon

TODAY WE’RE TALKING COFFEE with JOHN RIPPO

Call in with your questions and comments: 619-790-KNSJ (5675)

Climate crisis, economics, roasting coffee, local roasters and coffee in San Diego and always much more.

John Rippo publishes www.theespresso.com, a site that engages San Diego’s coffee trades and provides daily information to consumers about local coffee roasters.
 

By Suzanne Potter 

Jun 24, 2026

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary next week, conservation groups said national wildlife refuges remain essential to preserving the country’s natural beauty.

California’s 43 refuges span 1.6 million acres. Congress established the National Wildlife Refuge System 60 years ago, and it has grown to more than 570 sites nationwide.

Jeff Aardahl, a wildlife biologist and California senior representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said cuts from the Trump administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency are hampering the system’s mission.

“Operational budgets have been reduced,” Aardahl pointed out. “The number of wildlife biologists, interpreters and refuge managers have also been reduced. So the National Wildlife Refuge System now is under great stress.”

California’s refuges span every corner of the state from south to north, with protected lands from San Diego Bay to Humboldt Bay, from the Salton Sea to Clear Lake. Several refuges, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, are struggling because they depend on water allocations from the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which has prioritized water deliveries to farmers and urban areas in Southern California.

Aardahl noted the wildlife refuges, along with 262 protected areas designated by the state, shelter thousands of fragile species.

“These refuges support many imperiled native species like the southern sea otter, checkerspot and monarch butterflies, red-legged frog, San Joaquin kit fox, gray wolf, and California condor, which is endangered,” Aardahl outlined.

Much of the funding for the refuges comes directly through congressional appropriations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional funding comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the future of which is tied to the America the Beautiful Act, a bipartisan bill currently before the U.S. Senate.

Suzanne Potter, Producer

Suzanne Potter is a journalist with 30 years of experience as a reporter for TV, radio and print news. She spent 15 years as a local TV news reporter in Palm Springs, CA and Providence, RI. She earned a B.A. in Mass Communications from UC Berkeley and spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris. She lives in Palm Desert, CA, is married with four children and is a longtime leader with the Boy Scouts of America

FRIENDLY FIRE with Don Kimball Wed 7pm, Sat 2pm

A Voice for Veterans

Guest CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON, formerly of Greenpeace

Don and Paul are in conversation about the perils of the latest war in the Middle East to the oceans and to the planet.

About Captain Paul Watson–formerly of Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society and the star of the reality TV series Whale Wars. Now the head of the Paul Watson Foundation.

TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre LIVE Call-In Show Sat 11am

OFF SHORE OIL DRILLING IN SAN DIEGO?

RICHARD CHARTER

Call us with questions or comments at 619-790-KNSJ (5675)

Richard Charter spent much of his early childhood growing up among the tidepools of the Northern California coast. He currently directs the Local Government OCS Coordination Program, a project of the County of Santa Cruz, continuing four decades of professional dedication to protecting fragile marine ecosystems. Richard engaged with four Administrations in Washington and multiple Members of Congress to maintain the bipartisan 27-year annual renewal of the offshore drilling moratorium that long protected the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as Florida’s Gulf Coast and Panhandle from expanded offshore oil and gas leasing.

Richard coordinated the local government support leading to the designation of California’s Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, Channel Islands, and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries and helped secure a declaration of permanent protection from offshore drilling for Alaska’s fishery-rich Bristol Bay in 2015.

Richard is currently working to coordinate local government and public responses to the current Trump Five-Year Offshore Drilling Plan, to protect California’s Marine Sanctuaries, and to address the emerging global threat posed by seabed mining. He is co-producer of the award-winning documentary film on seabed mining, “Defend the Deep”, which can be viewed online at http://TheDeepMovie.org

For those wishing to participate in the current campaign to protect the California Coast from offshore drilling, his project’s website is http://SaveMyCoast.org

KNSJ FM COMMUNITY MEETING TONIGHT AT 6:30. FOR ZOOM LINK CALL 619-283-1100

ALL AGES WELCOME

KNSJ FM COMMUNITY RADIO IN SAN DIEGO IS A DYNAMIC STATION WITH A UNIQUE PLATFORM. JOIN OUR MEETING. WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOU AND YOUR INTERESTS. FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED IN CHANGE. COMMUNITY RADIO IS POWERFUL AND IN TOUCH WITH OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, EVENTS, NEWS AND THE CREATIVE ARTS. BESIDES HAVING INFORMATIVE SHOWS AND INTERVIEWS-CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE RIGHT HERE WHO TELL THEIR STORIES AND EXPERIENCES, WE HAVE A FANTASTIC ECLECTIC MUSIC BLOCK WITH SAN DIEGO DJs SPINNING VINYL AND CAREFULLY CURATING MUSIC YOU WILL HEAR ONLY ON YOUR LOCAL STATION–KNSJ FM.

Sunday 10am

Latest science, authors, issues – from climate change, oceans, forests, pollution, solar storms, the economy, and peace. Ready for re-broadcast, computer, iPod, or mp3 player. As heard on over 104 non-profit radio stations in 5 countries.

Alex Smith – photo by Philip Smeltzer

About Alex Smith
Host of syndicated weekly Radio Ecoshock Show – the cutting edge with top scientists, authors and activists. Fourteen years on the air as of 2020. Previously a researcher for global environment group, print journalist, homesteader, world-traveler, and private investigator.

Mo & We 6am, Tues 3:30pm

Sea Change Radio is a nationally syndicated weekly radio show and podcast focused on the shift to environmental and economic sustainability.