Ken McKenzie-Grant

Experience

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  Public Radio KUT-FM

  Oct 1984 - Mar 2003

  Producer-Host

  Overnight, Live Set, & occasional shifts subbing for Phil Music, Texas Radio, Eklektikos,Weekend NPR's Metropolitan Opera, All Things Considered & Morning Edition News

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  KVRX-FM, UT Student Radio (orig. Student Radio Task Force)

  Apr 1986 - Dec 1988

  Founding Program Manager (KTSB cable FM)

  Team-Building; Volunteer Recruitment, Training & Evaluation; Policies; Budgets; Representation to the University Administration; Equipment & Facilities Management

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  SunLife Production Services

  Sept 1988 - now

  Producer-Designer

  For most of my adult life, I've split each week's hours between station-based Broadcast Production (digital Music & Eco-Information programs), and the Care of Trees (treeHouse construction) & Water Features (spas, pools, fountains) as a small business man. I offer a range of management skills in support of non-profit groups, as well as for individual clients. Have a PROJECT IN MIND? Feel free to get in touch!

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  SunLife Services Company

  Sept 1988 - now

  Arborist-Owner

  Birth into a mobile military family (both parents were native Texans) encouraged my early study of different environments like central Texas, California and Spain, experiencing the ways that various cultures create and use Design resources within distinct settings. Photographic coverage of 1970 Earth Day activism in upstate New York led to co-founding a high school “Ecology Club” and later, to coursework in the Natural Sciences and Communications at UT Austin. Nightly employment then as a club DJ - with days devoted to tree care & renovating landscapes - established an expansive set of practical, entrepreneurial skills within a healthy, creative and resourceful mindset.Enthusiasm for Conservation politics & salvage Recycling went public on radio (Pacifica FM Houston) when I began producing ‘Embrace the Earth’ in 1979, updating that Environmental Talk format for Austin station KFON-AM in 1990 while hosting freeform Music programs on UT's KUT-FM. Digital photography & various social media are currently surpassing music and microphones as the preferred means of connection to issues of Sustainability and Environmental Justice. I also support and participate in various regional American Indian activities, between my professional commitment to individual residential clients and Austin-area Green events. Please ask if you're curious.Given growing global interest in designs & dwellings that utilize Repurposed and Natural Building materials (treehouses, cob, Strawbale, earthbag, stable Earthblock, cordwood, Tiny house & whole-timber framing), my passion has been providing promotional support and a variety of Resource and Site Planning Services for worthwhile permacultural & educational projects. Show less

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  Austin POWWOW & Heritage Festival

  Jan 1995 - Jan 2003

  Producer-Host (Inter-Tribal Concert Series)

  Invited by the school district's Native American Parents Committee to create free, all-ages Contemporary Concerts within the annual Crafts Market, we proudly set a precedent for Texas: Introducing a stylistic variety of American Indian storytellers, flutists, poets, singer-songwriters & dancers; as well as rock, country, blues & reggae Bands from across the continent - to audiences in the city of 'Live Music.' A smaller Heritage Entertainment Tent continues now, each year. Ken also served as MC for Reception Dinners with traditional entertainment for dance participants, head staff, local sponsors & volunteer crew. Show less

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  KoOp Community Radio

  Sept 2005 - now

  Producer-Host

  Currently On Air @ 6 pm. every Tues., developing "HEARTBEATZ: Indigenous Hour" w/ NdN news & oldies, World Beat & environmental web-documentary segments. (Past shows: Shades of Green, NdN Heart Beat, Pilot Program, Spirit, Sunshine 69, Vox Pop); Program Cmte. 2006-'10; Benefit Producer: 'KoOp & Jim Hightower' Outdoor CONCERT w/ Live Austin Mayoral Debate, Spring 2012; Serving on TEBC's Board of Directors since 2018. Live stream now available & Active 24/7 at: www.Koop.Org

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  Design-Build-LIVE

  Feb 2006 - Feb 2017

  Founding Vice-President

  Primary partners: Earth Day Austin HQ (central); TreeHouse retail (locally owned Home Improvement Store, SW); Livestrong Foundation eastside HQ; Casa De Luz event space south (macrobiotic foods) for Non-Profit presentations. Monthly educational meetings, 1996 - 2016EDUCATING the interested public as to how the NATURAL BUILDING movement - and largely, an organic, non-toxic "Permaculture mindset" - helps carry SUSTAINABILITY far deeper into modern lifestyles than merely efficient Green building. Using a revitalized variety of age-old techniques (often eschewing manufactured products & conventional construction practices), we connected an international diversity of individual 'DIY-ers' (do-it-yourselfers) and 'Permie' Design practitioners for decades of Workshops, in the style of old-fashioned American barn raisings. The Austin area has long been home to such a professional Community! D~B~L [501 (c) 3] (formerly Tx Strawbale Assoc. & Sustainable Building Coalition) will introduce by invitation: [projects, classes & site visits] www.designBuildLIve.org < In Transition as of 2017 > Show less

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  Texas Educational Broadcasting Cooperative (KoOp Radio)

  Nov 2018 - now

  Senior Board Member