Health Matters wasn’t Lynn Szabo’s idea. Paul Critz, co-founder and director of KFUG Community Radio, had visited Redwood Urgent Care to discuss underwriting possibilities. Next thing Szabo knew she had a spot on the air to discuss all things health and why Del Norters should care. “It was kind of amazing,” she said. “He came up with a show idea and for me to do [it]. He took a minute and a half to come up with it.” Seven years after that meeting, Health Matters has outlived both Redwood Urgent Care and the COVID-19 pandemic. Critz let Szabo choose the topic and he’d ask the questions. A physician assistant is taught to translate medicine into “regular-people talk,” Szabo says. Especially during the pandemic, and to this day, Critz nurtured that message and helped Health Matters spread beyond Del Norte County. “Paul told me it plays in Klamath Falls, it plays in Brookings and it plays in Humboldt as well as Del Norte,” Szabo said, adding that Health Matters is also posted to KFUG’s YouTube channel. “People were picking up the show and linking it to other things and so I really think it got way beyond just the northwest part of California.” KFUG’s reach has been global since its inception thanks to the Internet. But there was a time when atmospheric conditions had to be right in order to hear its deejays via the actual airwaves. The brainchild of Jim “Weird” Wayman — who, along with Critz, “caught that errant synaptical spark” — KFUG began as a Part 15 AM station that was low-powered and unlicensed broadcasting via transmitters “sprinkled around Crescent City.” According to John Degler, a long-time member of the KFUG Board of Directors who became involved with the station when Critz asked him if he had an audio cable he could use, the broadcast could be heard regularly in parts of Crescent City and at Pelican Bay State Prison. The audio cable Critz asked to borrow connected the station computer to the antenna at Critz’s home in the Bertsch Tract, Degler said. Back then, much as today, the station’s shows were spearheaded by volunteers focusing on a variety of things from classical music to heavy metal to on-air talk. “The interesting thing about Part 15 rules is there are no real rules — you could broadcast profanity,” said Degler, whose Whiplash Radio was one of the first shows on KFUG. “But Paul was really strict about what went on the air. He always wanted to have some kind of news or public information to it. That had always been the goal.” In about 2013, the Federal Communications Commission began seeking applications for low-power FM licenses. Critz was one of the first to submit KFUG’s application, Degler said. At that point, KFUG was operating from 270 I Street in Downtown Crescent City. The station replaced its AM transmitter atop the Elks Lodge with an FM transmitter and Critz became stricter about profanity, but “it was still volunteer deejays still playing what they wanted to within FCC regs,” Degler said. “[It was] people going down there to have some fun and do something outside of their box,” he said. Currently KFUG is pushing about 300 watts through its antenna, though it’s only rated for a 100 watt signal, Degler said. It reaches the Bertsch Tract, the prison, sometimes all the way to Brookings depending on weather conditions. According to Degler, while KFUG is similar to other low-power community radio stations, its emphasis on youth programming is unique. Volunteers spearhead KFUG’s radio shows, but its news program, Redwood Voice is driven almost entirely by young people ages 18-24. KFUG began broadcasting Redwood Voice Community News as a weekly show in 2019. Today it’s the only newscast coming out of Del Norte County. “Paul always wanted it to be what it is becoming now — a news generation and broadcast station,” Degler said. “He always wanted that, it just took forever for it to come about.” Now, in addition to the Redwood Voice newscast, KFUG is Del Norte’s link to programs like Democracy Now!, EcoNews with Tom Wheeler and National Native News. It’s a venue for everything from the United Methodist Church of Crescent City’s Sunday services to local real estate to KFUG Kidz Hour. Szabo still records Health Matters every week. With Critz’s retirement last week, KFUG’s new executive director is Heather Polen, who has a storied background in local radio herself. “The original SoB — sweet ol’ Bill Stamps himself — gave me my start in radio at 15,” she said via text. “Who else would give a kid the keys to a radio station and a six-hour show?” Back in the early 1990s, getting an FCC license was necessary and fairly simple to come by, Polen said. Stamps paid for hers and from noon-6 p.m. on Saturdays, Polen spun country music on vinyl and CD for KPOD. Back then commercials came on eight-track cassettes and syndicated shows came in on large reels. Polen said she got the news from the AP wire. “I would have to read through all of the international, national, state [and] regional news to find what it was I was looking for,” she said. “I had to do the fishing report, the weather report and the nautical report every single hour. I was the only person in the radio station.” Polen, who joined the KFUG Board of Directors earlier this year, said she’s deejayed at corporate gigs and live events, including the California State Fair. She has also been the general manager at Tsunami Lanes as well as several grocery stores and works with senior citizens on asset protection. Polen also ran against incumbent Dean Wilson for the Del Norte County District 5 supervisor seat in the 2024 primary election. She said she felt it’s important for listeners to know that though Critz has resigned, KFUG will be led by someone “who loves radio, who has a history here and who wants to preserve Paul’s legacy.” “I think the biggest legacy that Paul has with KFUG is his dogged insistence that everyone has a voice and that voice is important and should be heard,” she said. “People were allowed to be who they are and to speak their truth. And whether or not he agreed with that truth, he understood that it was who they were … and he would hold the mic and let them tell that story.”